Canyon de Chelly by Mian Situ

Mian Situ and his wife, Helen, will be hosting a small show of Mian's work this coming Thursday, October 11th at their gallery, Situ Art Gallery, in Laguna Beach California. They have described the show to us as a "giclee show", however, there will be one original oil painting available, Canyon de Chelly (pictured left).  The painting will be sold by silent auction and the minimum bid is $23,000. The reception is October 11, 2007 from 6pm till 9pm. Mian Situ is truly one of today's masters.  With unrivaled capacity to connect with viewers of all ages and cultures, Mian will go down in history as one of the finest [...]

Hopi Basket by Martha Pettigrew

The people go about their daily business....living their peaceful, simple but rich lives....gathering food, fetching water, playing with their children....perhaps simply gathering flowers for nothing more than enjoyment or for a gift. We're taking a trip back in time, away from our cell phones and pagers.  Further back even than railroads, saloons and gunslingers.  Back to a peaceful time.  A time and place to be at peace with the great spirit and revere the magical land of the southwest. This is where the sculpture of Martha Pettigrew takes us.  Having a piece of her work on your desk, or a larger work in your garden is a magic time machine to [...]

Conversations - China by Scott Tallman Powers

We've been thinking more about our qualifications to review artists.  For today we'll leave it at this....one doesn't have to be a vintner to appreciate a fine wine. Versatility, Variety, Virtuoso.  Just a few words that come to my mind as we view the work of Scott Tallman Powers. We're embarrassed to admit that Scott has been a client of our web service for a bit over a year.  His extraordinary paintings, to some degree, have flitted in and out of our consciousness during that time.  However, today we stopped to really peruse his site and we have to say...we are simply amazed. We're hard pressed to tell you which type [...]

Today we return to a project that's been on the back burner for over a year.  We want to share with you information about artists whom we have "found" that you may or may not have heard of -- our mission is, regardless of the artists "fame", to present those that we feel you deserve to know about. Today we take a look at Van Rainy Hecht-Nielsen...you may not know who his is, but you surely won't forget his name.  We've always enjoyed the way Miles Mathis describes Van's name in his "Review of Van Nielsen:" "I always get a mental image of an old Volkswagen microbus, curtained and handpainted, [...]

The Storyteller by Andy Thomas, Oil, 30 x 36"...is there anything better than a campfireon a moonlit evening and a good story?" I originally penned the following commentary as the forward to Andy's Book The Artful Journey.“What kind of painter is Andy Thomas?”I asked myself this perplexing question the first time I saw the artwork of Andy Thomas.  Indeed, most people viewing Andy’s artwork for the first time wonder the same thing.  In answering this question, I’ve found that many people try to mentally categorize artists into discrete little classifications.  Think about some of the terms you may have heard to describe [...]

As a software craftsman with an art background, I am involved in a number of projects in the art industry.  One of the more interesting projects has been serving as web master for RayMar's Online Fine Art Competition, which has afforded me the opportunity to view nearly 2,000 works of art over the past year.Robert Coomb's artwork grabbed me instantly.  In fact, when we re-lauched RayMar's e-commerce web site in January, they wanted me to post images of the art contest entries on the home page.  I was instructed to go ahead and make the selections myself.  I "randomly" chose "First Leaves of Autumn."  [...]

A Review of Van NielsenThe ProdigalSome will wonder if I have the “critical distance” necessary to write about my fellow guild founder, Van Rainy Hecht-Nielsen. Possibly not. But I do have the critical distance necessary to make fun of his name. I mean, could it be any longer? We have foreign-sounding words there, hyphenated no less, mixed together with hippy inventions. I always get a mental image of an old Volkswagen microbus, curtained and handpainted, filled with naked Germans and Swedes growling things like “hecht” and “achtung”, all the while the roof leaks with rain. I hope he will forgive me [...]

I've been watching Jim Wodark's work for about a year now and, to state the obvious, the guy can paint.  Loose brushwork, Plein-Air style, California landscape paintings have become almost ubiquitous, so it's nice to see them done the way they SHOULD be done.  In too many cases, sloppy painters hide behind the banner of "Plein Air."  Not Jim.  He shows us how it was meant to be done.  Controlled yet spontaneous.  Planned yet loose.  Fun yet meaningful.  What more do you want in your plein air paintings?I've known Jim had "it" for a while now.  The rest of the world [...]

I first saw Robert Spooner's paintings almost four years ago and I must say, I've had my eye on him ever since.  Southwest Art just discovered him too and ran a full-feature article about him in the current (March 2006) issue.Robert Spooner paints thick and lucious works.  He keeps everything loose and suggestive, just the way I like it.  I'm not a painter, so I can't pretend to get inside his mind.  But if I were a painter, I think I would make my life long artistic quest (regarding the technical side of my artwork) to see how loose I could [...]

For those who follow the art world, the name Morgan Weistling is not a new one. What can I say? This blog is about artists I love and recommend, it doesn’t mean they’re all “emerging.” They guy is in my top 10 all-time favorites. Yes, he’s THAT good. If you don’t know who he is, you need to see his work right away. Morgan’s entire life has been devoted to pursuing his talent in painting. Read his biography on his web site. Morgan took his blessing of natural talent and nurtured it by learning from great mentors, starting with his father and [...]

I've known about an artist named Jeff Watts for about a year and a half and he's been one of my favorite artists since the moment I laid eyes on his work. For the most part, I prefer painters who have a "painterly" (ie loose brushwork) feel to their artwork and lately I seem to gravitate to those whose painting techniques follow from the russian impressionism traditions. Jeff's work pushes both buttons.I'm sure it drives the artists crazy, but the rest of us have a tendency to refer to artists we discover by the master artist whose work we're reminded of. [...]

I happened across a web page full of thumbnails of Don Sahli's paintings and I just went crazy. I knew that I had just found another great Russian Impressionist, and I absolutely LOVE the Russian Impressionists. Imagine my surprise when I dug into Sahli's background and discovered that not only is he American, but that he started his education at the University of Texas in Austin (Hook 'em Horns! 2006 National Champs, winning the Rose Bowl in the best come-from-behind victory I've ever seen.)As fate would have it, Sahli had the opportunity to study with the Russian master, Sergei Bongart (perhaps [...]

I typically gravitate to more traditional, representational works....call me old fashioned. However, I've been fascinated with Logan's works for several years now. He paints with a sophistication and mastery that I normally have only seen in, shall we say, more "mature" artists. I'm always impressed with the subtle color combinations Logan employs, although his more recent works have a more "graphic" feel, at least to me. Either way, I love his work. I encourage you to see more of it.View Logan Hagege's Artworks:http://www.webartsites.com/4/lp_389/skin_/pg_agregator-artistportfolio.html/qr1_artist-id=36Sincerely,Clint WatsonSoftware Craftsman and Art Fanatic P.S. - If you have comments about Logan's works, or wish to tell [...]