Image of the Day, April 6, 2012

After working for sixteen years as an illustrator, Rob Colvin quit in 1999 to work full time as a fine artist. He readily admits that he still loves to “stylize, design and to find the geometry in the land,” observing that his work is “evolutionary, in that I will start out with an idea in mind, but the piece will evolve into something I didn’t picture in the beginning. The process can be very frustrating when it’s not working and thrilling when it does.”

Rob Colvin, Razorback Bluff, c. 2011, Oil on canvas, 42 x 42 in. Credit: Rob Colvin StudioRob Colvin, Camel Back Canyon, c. 2011, Oil on canvas, 24 x 24 in. Credit: Rob Colvin Studio

Image of the Day, March 20, 2012

Jay Moore (1964-) is a Colorado native who began his career, as so many fine artists have, as an illustrator. Moore credits his work with Clyde Aspevig at the Art Students League of Denver as a pivotal point in his decision to turn to fine art. Beyond actual form and color Jay has a wider and richer frame of reference. He responds to the magnitude and scale of the western landscape by depicting his subject in large-scale paintings—often using bodies of water to orient the viewer’s eye horizontally through the canvas.

Jay Moore, View Down Buffalo Valley, c. 2011, oil on canvas 60 x 80 in. Credit: Crested Butte Plein Air InvitationalLower Ugashik Lake, c. 2011, oil on canvas, 36 x 72 in. Credit: Jaymoorestudio.com

Image of the Day, March 5, 2012

© Copyright 2011. Bill Schenck. All Right Reserved. Photograph, Untitled CO-060, BW, December 2008. Credit: schencksouthwest.com“What has remained constant throughout Schenck’s career is his individuality in dealing with the subject matter of the west. Using the artistic formula of classic western film direction and the photographically reliant systems of contemporary art, he has bridged two genres that resonate with the American experience.”

© Copyright 2011. Bill Schenck. All Right Reserved. Photograph, Untitled CO-070, Color, August 2008. Credit: schencksouthwest.com“Rather than standing as an outside observer to the realities and myths of the west, Schenck is a part of the scene, figuratively and literally. From early depictions of cinematic cowboys to real-life cowboys and cowgirls to poetic reveries about the Native American existence in the Southwest, Schenck melds the real with the imagined, autobiography with fantasy.” - Julie Sasse, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Tucson Museum of Art

Painting of the Day, January 29, 2012

By Donna Poulton

Lee Greene Richards grew up in Salt Lake City on the same city block as such noted artists as Mahonri Young, John W. Clawson, and Alma Wright. Richards was among the first group of Utah artists who went to Paris for training. He studied at the Academie Julian in 1901 and then at the Academie des Beaux-Arts; a number of his paintings were accepted to the highly regarded Paris Salon.

Lee Greene Richards (1878-1950), Big Cottonwood Stream (1932), oil on canvas, 39-1/2 x 32 in. Credit: Springville Museum of Art Lee Greene Richards trained to paint portraiture in the academic style, using tonal colors of brown, gray and black. When his portrait commissions diminished with the advent of the Great Depression, he turned to landscape work. He also worked on projects for the WPA; they can be seen in the rotunda of the Utah State Capitol. Painting landscapes allowed Richards to use broader brush strokes and the brilliant colors found in the imagery of the Wasatch mountains in autumn.

Richards studied with Utah artist James T. Harwood and once said that “I got as much from Harwood as from any teacher that I had afterwards in Paris.”

Read more about Harwood:

Painting of the Day, January 20, 2012

Painting of the Day, January 15, 2012

By Donna Poulton

“My watercolor process involves painting hundreds of abstract shapes, all with hard edges, 
within a representational framework. I paint layer over layer, floating pure color into clear washes, letting the colors blend visually on the paper. I then outline, with India ink, every shape I've just painted. This unifies 
the painting, makes it clean, and creates the effect of looking upon the scene in high-definition, 
as if you could see everything perfectly.” — Jonathan Frank

Frank’s painting titled From the Beginning is in the newly released book, Art Journey America Landscapes: 89 Painters 

Jonathan Frank, From the Beginning, Watercolor, 21-1/2 x 25-1/2 in. Credit: Courtesy of Jonathan FrankJonathan Frank, Soaring, watercolor, 21-1/2 x 14-1/2 in. Credit: Courtesy of Jonathan Fran