& Contemporary Figurative Painters

Collecting Resource Guide

Figurative Art & Contemporary Figurative Painters

Michelle Torrez, Clouds, oil, 20 x 20. Models, Muses & Magic The great figurative painter Nathan Oliveira once said…

“Though I have considerable interest in Europe and traveling, I am most content in simply working and allowing the world that I’m creating to unfold before my eyes.” Lane Timothy, Boys and their Toys, oil, 48 x 60.

Indeed, figurative artists enter the secluded universe of their studios and get lost in capturing the many moods of their models and muses. Welcome to our special figurative issue, in which we introduce you to an exciting cadre of artists working in this time- honored genre. These masterful painters pick up charcoal sticks, pencils, and brushes to create a line, then another and another. For the uninitiated, it’s a bit of magic to be- hold: Lines coalesce to bring a figure to life, offering us a window into the range of emotions and truths that comprise the human condition—our joys, strengths, disappoint- ments, and dreams, all reflected in a face or a gesture. Flip through the following pages and contemplate the mystery, meanings, and beauty evoked by a sampling of today’s top figurative painters. Joseph Todorovitch, Succulents, oil, 40 x 30.

www.SouthwestArt.com 2 Vintage Americana Lane Timothy creates classic scenes with a contemporary twist

By Rosema ry Ca rstens

Like a modern-day time traveler, artist Lane Timothy wanders through the decades to portray images of times past. His vibrant paintings of American life and culture evoke memories of simpler eras. And his distinctive retro style sets him apart from the pack. Timothy lives and paints on the top floor of an urban loft in the heart of Salt Lake City’s art district. Originally a fac- tory, the loft looks out onto busy streets, and the artist often spends long hours people-watching from his balcony or gazing beyond the city skyline to the Wasatch Mountains. With large open spaces and 20-foot-high windows, it’s an ideal work environment with plenty of room and light. Some of Timothy’s earlier pieces hang on the walls and numerous works in progress sit on easels awaiting final touches. He’s often so immersed in research or interested in what’s going on outside his windows that it’s not unusual for early evening to roll around before he begins to paint. He loves those quiet, hushed hours in his perch high above the city, when the energy outside dies down, and it’s just him, the paint, and the scene before him on the canvas. Lively jazz or bluegrass plays in the background, and he quickly falls under the spell—that “old black Alley Cat, oil, 60 x 48.

www.SouthwestArt.com 3 magic” of a bygone era. He often works until 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning, using professional lighting to make certain his colors remain consistent no matter the time of day. This is especially important since he tends to work from one side of a painting to the other, completing whole segments as he goes rather than working one color at a time throughout the composition. Beginning a new piece, he first applies an underpainting in the scene’s domi- nant colors, then blocks in basic shapes, sketches in his composition, and lays in the lights and darks in a monotone. At that point, he sets the painting aside to dry under a heat lamp and turns to another in progress. Timothy does not work wet paint into wet paint, but prefers the crisp, bright color he feels is only pos- Boys and Their Toys, oil, 48 x 60. sible by working coat by coat. “Color is important because it has so much to do with how my figurative work stands out from others,” says the artist. “Drying each layer completely before brushing on the next ensures that all colors hold their power—skin tones are brighter, blues more vivid. Everyone can use more color in their lives!” To create his signature, highly finished canvases, Timothy combines loose, trans- parent brush strokes to create a subtle glow in facial features with flurries of heavier strokes to indicate movement and dimensionality. In the tranquil scene portrayed in THE GARDEN TERRACE, the woman’s face is alight with softness and femininity, while the artist’s more dynamic strokes in her skirt, his skilled capture of highlights and silken shine, create strong awareness of her body. He develops the polished surface of each painting by applying numerous washes and glazes, building slowly, layer by layer. The artist has explored various me- diums, but emphasizes, “I love oils. They are so forgiving. I can create beautiful hues and a more dimensional effect. It’s the only medium for me now.” As a work nears completion, he does a final check to make sure his color palette is distributed evenly to result in a comprehensive whole. But, he ad- mits, it’s hard to let go: “I never know when to stop—I could go on and on. I finally had to make a rule for myself. Once I sign it, I never touch a painting again.” The Garden Terrace (detail), oil, 36 x 24.

www.SouthwestArt.com 4 Solitude, oil, 48 x 36.

www.SouthwestArt.com 5 Born and raised in Missoula, MT, position in Salt Lake City with a high- It took a while before hitting his stride with six siblings, Timothy knew from an profile advertising firm. But he found it and finding his own unmistakable voice, early age that art was his destiny. Both of wasn’t for him. He longed to return to but find it he did. “I’m focused on con- his parents encouraged his interest as he painting and, in 1997, despite the benefits temporary figurative work with a vintage dabbled in watercolors, acrylics, pastels, of working for a prestigious company, he twist,” he confirms. and pencils as a child. By the age of 7 he returned to Montana to be a full-time Airplanes, trains, motorcycles, scoot- had sold his first painting to his second- artist. He just was 22. ers, trucks, and cars from the 1940s grade teacher for $10. A few years later at Today, having returned to Salt Lake and ’50s figure prominently in Timo- a store’s closeout sale, Timothy bought City, Timothy is more focused and ener- thy’s slice-of-life vignettes. Family his- a bucketful of oil paints for $25 and dis- gized than ever and spends long hours tory and memories provide him with covered the medium he would work in at the easel. He never hires models, but a deep well of inspiration for his work. from then on. In 1993 he was awarded a prefers instead to have friends and his Growing up, he often heard tales about Charles Russell National Art Scholarship, former wife pose for him, which he feels his grandfather’s World War II piloting which he used to attend the University of brings more realism and greater diver- adventures. And he flew sidekick with Montana, where he excelled in art and sity to his subjects. His reputation over his father, who piloted single-engine graphic design. Always restless and a bit the past decade has spread like a prairie Cessnas over Montana’s jagged moun- of a renegade, Timothy soon dropped out wildfire; his work is regularly exhibited tains peaks and open plains. His father of college to start a graphic design com- in galleries and is held in celebrity and also built hot rods as a hobby, which pany, preferring to develop his own ar- private collections throughout North sparked Timothy’s loves of classic Ameri- tistic style from scratch rather than from America, Europe, and Asia. can automobiles. His painting BELLE AIR- formal classes. Two years later he again Early in his career, Timothy experi- ESS tells it all in the exaggerated, dramat- sought change and accepted a key design mented with various styles and subject ic swoop of fin on a turquoise and white matter, painting 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, his high school people and scenes dream car. One of his favorite pastimes is that reflected his to hunt for props for his paintings. life in the West. Timothy’s fascination with modes of

Belle Airess, oil, 48 x 48.  Departure, oil, 60 x 48.

www.SouthwestArt.com 6 American Dreamer II, oil, 48 x 60.

travel from earlier eras fits naturally with clear, including the boots and cowboy His work conveys the feel of days gone by his love of figurative work. The attitude of hat, the guitar case, the long empty road, with a fabulous air of nostalgia.” the people in his paintings suggests that and the look of anticipation and hope on Timothy is a painter immersed in his- trips back then were more romantic, more the girl’s face. The painting’s narrative is tory. It constantly whispers in his ear, adventurous, and filled with more possi- rendered with exquisite skill and control, conjuring generations and events before bility than the frenzy encountered today and yet there is room for individual inter- his own. But he avoids talking about what in airports and on the highways. He fre- pretation. inspires specific paintings. “I want to quently portrays people on the verge of Influenced by the work of John Sargent draw viewers into a painting, to suggest arriving or departing, prompting viewers Singer as well as Norman Rockwell’s a story but leave something to their own to wonder about the narrative arc of the all-American paintings, Timothy creates inventiveness,” says the artist. “I want a scene and the stories of the people in it. emotional connections through his por- painting to bring a smile to their faces, “It is very easy to place yourself in one trayals of ordinary people. Even when and I want its ‘meaning’ to be framed of his pieces,” says Christi Bonner Manu- painting war-related scenes, he tries to by their experiences and memories, not elito of Bonner David Galleries in Scott- show “the more tender sides of war”—the mine. I don’t want to spoil that.” F sdale, AZ, which represents Timothy’s caring between comrades, for instance, work. “His work is an invitation to per- or the longing for those left behind. Rosemary Carstens, editor of the award-winning sonally experience a treasured memory.” Each painting suggests the innocence of webzine FEAST, is writing a book about Mexico City In STARS IN HER EYES, everything an earlier time, the unbroken line be- artist Annette Nancarrow, a contemporary of Diego that makes Timothy’s work immediately tween family and community. For the Rivera and Frida Kahlo. recognizable is present: brushwork so viewer, there’s always the sense that a smooth it fades into the background and story is waiting in the wings. As Diane deep, vivid hues—including his signature Waterhouse of Waterhouse Gallery in bright red—that frame the girl’s features Santa Barbara, CA, expresses it, “Lane’s boldly against a twilight sky. Nothing is work is unique. It has atmosphere, it’s extraneous; each nuance of the story is edgy and stylized. It has individuality.

This content has been abridged from an original article written by Rosemary Carstens. © F+W. All rights reserved. F+W grants permission for any or all pages in this premium to be copied for personal use. www.SouthwestArt.com 7 Wrapped in Rainbows, oil, 10 x 8. Pink Umbrella, oil, 12 x 12.

Symphony in Motion Michelle Torrez’s figures move with expressive energy

By Bonnie Gangelho ff

Outside Michelle Torrez’s win- casts a warm light on her easel, and over- dow, snow is tumbling down from the head a set of ceiling fan lights shed a cool skies, wrapping blankets of white around light—together they simulate natural il- two maple trees in her front yard. Inside lumination. Torrez rents a 2,000-square- her home studio, it’s cozy and warm. She foot studio a few blocks away, but lately likes to call it “a cluttered cave.” The 8-by- she prefers the ease of hopping out of bed 10-foot space contains the usual: books, and going right to work in her nearby cre- easels, paints, and canvases. Perched on ative cocoon. a faux Greek column there’s a lamp that On this particular day she is reflecting

www.SouthwestArt.com 8 If You Cut Me I Will Shine, oil, 24 x 12. SSSmokin, oil, 24 x 12. on the past year and realizes a pattern has vre, the observer is left with the sense mastery of an artistic skill such as ballet. emerged in her recent works. “Mostly I’ve that the artist’s cadre of females in- That said, a Torrez painting bears painted beautiful women,” she says. “But cludes some tough cookies. The women other signature elements as well. Her the women I paint, even when they are may wear sexy, elegant gowns, but they expressionistic strokes often evoke a seductive, are strong women. These are stare out from the canvas with a take-no- symphony of movement. The lines go a not victims or delicate flowers. No one prisoners look. The stares, glares, pos- long way in defining her forms and cre- bought the women in my paintings the tures, and body language of the Torrez ating an energy that vibrates from the dresses they are wearing; they bought the women convey strength while just as canvas—whether it’s the sensuous, liq- darn dresses themselves.” easily projecting other aspects of the fe- uid embrace of two tango dancers or the Indeed, in reviewing her current oeu- male persona—joy, thoughtfulness, or carefree joy of a young girl prancing

www.SouthwestArt.com 9 Immortal Silence Sleeps, oil, 18 x 36. across a windswept field. grew up in a tough Denver neighborhood, Kim English, a well-known Denver the oldest of four children. With both painter, recalls that Torrez first entered parents working, Torrez was frequently his class at the Art Students League called on to babysit her younger brother, of Denver nine years ago. She was like who is severely autistic but was undi- many beginning painters, he notes: “They agnosed at the time. It was an era when smear around the paint and try to make there wasn’t much support or informa- the painting resemble what they are look- tion about the disorder. And the house- ing at. Michelle did that for awhile, but hold was chaotic. “We could wake up at she was never happy with the results. 2 a.m. and my brother would be moving And then she started making interesting all the furniture to the middle of the lines—big, bold lines. She also started house. Or he might be cutting off my making big, free strokes. They were a hair. No one slept in that house for little out of control at first, but she reined years,” she remembers. them in. And then she just took off.” From an early age, she turned to art Today, Torrez paints in informal fig- as a refuge. “I often invented a very ure drawing sessions with English and a happy, beautiful world—a place where few other Denver-area fine artists. Eng- I wanted to be,” she recalls. “I loved lish says he is always impressed with to color and make things. I would go her paint application because, like her into the alley and find cigarettes and lines, there’s always a feeling of motion. matches and make miniature hospitals “There’s a lot of energy,” he says. “She out of them.” Later Torrez did draw- is most creative about what she picks to ings for her junior high yearbook. And paint and how she sees the world.” she learned how to survive. In her rough urban school, she entertained the tough- est girls with pictures of naked men. Torrez is the first to admit that Delighted by her handiwork, they in she may see the world differently than turn protected Torrez. many other artists. For starters, she Torrez describes herself as rebellious didn’t have the easiest childhood or take back in those days. She was kicked out of the typical route to a fine-art career. She high school, married at 17, the mother of Fanatic Hearts, oil, 36 x 18.

www.SouthwestArt.com 10 Ebony Eyes, oil, 16 x 10. www.SouthwestArt.com 11 two by 20, and divorced by 23. But edu- cation was always important. Around the time of her divorce, she earned her GED and went on to study passive-solar design in college. But jobs in the field were scarce, and she returned to her first love, art. In 1987, she graduated from the Colo- rado Institute of Art in Denver with a degree in advertising design. She and her two daughters moved to Dallas, where she worked as a graphic designer. But more and more her heart belonged to fine art. Growing weary of days spent in front of a computer, she decided to return to Colorado, where she opened a mural and faux-finishing business to support her family. She also started taking classes at the Art Students League of Denver with English, whom she credits with teaching her how to paint. Soon her work was selling at the league’s art shows and hanging in galleries. Although her road to a career in fine art was more difficult and circuitous than some artists, she has learned a lot on her particular journey. “I think it has taught me to look deeper,” she says. “For example, I had to read my brother all the time to determine what mood he was going through. Now, I try to read people to create a work that communicates on a human level—so you can understand and connect with the person in the painting.” With a successful career established, Clouds, oil, 20 x 20. Torrez isn’t content to rest on her lau- rels. She relishes stepping outside her comfort zone. In 2003, when she heard tional Airport. In 2007, Denver’s Mizel that if you can help someone, you do it,” about a Swiss human rights organiza- Museum mounted a group show, 10 Torrez says. tion that was going to Sudan to attempt Global Artists Interpret Genocide, and Torrez As this story was going to press, Tor- to rescue people out of slavery, Torrez again was asked to exhibit her African rez was hard at work in her studio creat- signed up for the trip. paintings. She donated all the proceeds ing paintings for a February solo show “Radical Muslims had taken over the from the sale of her works to help pur- at Shaw Gallery in Naples, FL. A bevy of government and they were trying to chase food and medicine for the Suda- strong women are emerging on her can- eliminate all dark-skinned races. It was nese victims. vases. When asked about the reoccur- genocide,” Torrez says. “They were kill- “It really gave me a sense of pur - ring theme, she replies, “because that’s ing the men and raping the women and pose. That I could do something I love the way I am. My paintings are about training the children to become soldiers. and make a difference in the world,” she strength, but they also reflect different I wanted to document this and put a face says. “I want to create meaningful work aspects of myself and my experiences in on the human suffering there.” that lifts people up and connects people the world.” F She spent two weeks with the orga- to each other and offers a deeper under- nization in Sudan and sketched and standing of humanity.” Torrez figures Bonnie Gangelhoff is the senior editor at took reference photos—material she she inherited her social conscience from Southwest Art. turned into a series of paintings when her mother, who eventually became one she returned home. The paintings were of the founders of the Autism Society of displayed in a show at Denver’s Abend Colorado, a resource, research, and sup- Gallery and also at the Denver Interna- port group. “I was raised with the idea

This content has been abridged from an original article written by Bonnie Gangelhoff. © F+W Media, Inc. All rights reserved. F+W Media grants permission for any or all pages in this premium to be copied for personal use. www.SouthwestArt.com 12 Eyes on the Prize Figurative artist Joseph Todorovitch works hard for his success

By Vi rginia Camp bell

The past few years have been mo- mentous for California figurative painter Joseph Todorovitch. In April 2009, his painting ANTIQUES won the Grand Prize at the Portrait Society of America’s inter- national competition in Washington, D.C. The previous year he’d won the People’s Choice Award in the same competition and also signed on for exclusive representation with Arcadia Fine Arts, a New York gallery he had long admired. Major prizes and new representation have given Todorovitch the confidence to become even more focused in his work, finding new expression within the traditional discipline of figurative painting. While his winning piece from the 2008 competition sold for around $40,000, well above the artist’s usual range, Todoro- vitch did not want to sell the grand prize painting. ANTIQUES was simply too spe - cial to him. It is certainly an eloquent introduction to Todorovitch’s work for anyone who has not seen his paintings. He painted it with the Portrait Society competition specifically in mind. “After doing well in 2008, I set out to make a more significant painting—larger and

Antiques, oil, 46 x 30.

www.SouthwestArt.com 13 Drawing Class, oil, 12 x 12. more ambitious,” says the 31-year-old art- speaks about her character. I chose the artistic strategy. “The articles in the ist. “I wanted to paint a very subtle por- antique store because we both like to go painting are antiques, but their arrange- trait, to really articulate the flesh tones, antiquing, and we crave those kinds of ment is contemporary,” he notes. “The just like what you see in real life.” things around us.” The personal quality items are unified by a common thread The model who posed for ANTIQUES is of ANTIQUES had many dimensions, ac- of craft and style and attention to detail. a close friend of the artist. “I like paint- cording to the artist: “Sometimes I am And then there is a unique arrangement ing people I know,” says Todorovitch. interested in capturing the model’s state of color.” The unusual color of the mod- “Kristin is very supportive of art, and of mind, and sometimes I’m interested in el’s tights create an eerily beautiful har- she’s a patient, comfortable soul. She was having the model represent my state of mony with her gold top, the blue settee, able to convey the qualities I wanted, like mind.” In this painting, it is easy to con- and lacy drapes. “Kristin arrived wearing simplicity and calm. I wanted this paint - clude that he is painting both. those tights,” he says. “I had never seen ing to be a personal painting of a friend His approach to this piece—his most gray tights before.” in an unusual environment, yet one that ambitious to date—is an example of his The gray tights also serve to emphasize

www.SouthwestArt.com 14 Choices, oil, 18 x 24.

her legs, which are positioned to suggest les Academy of Figurative Art. Painting convey in ANTIQUES,” says Todorovitch. that she has just tentatively taken a seat people has always had a profound hold “The slightest change in a figure’s posi- or is about to get up. “In every painting on Todorovitch, encompassing all the tion can dramatically change how the I do, I like to highlight some area of ana- complexities of representational paint- painting is perceived.” In many paintings tomical structure, and in this case it’s her ing plus the challenge of portraying re- Degas was a master of that calculus, as legs,” says the artist. The positioning of alistic flesh tones, and, more important, well as the use of composition to convey the legs echoes the sharp curves of the evoking the emotions of the people them- psychological information. settee’s arms and constitutes the most selves. The subtleties of his endeavors Bouguereau, an academic salon painter dynamic compositional lines in the paint- have led him to regard several artists of highly refined pieces, was celebrated ing. The contemporary body language as inspirations. Among them are Edgar in his time but later fell out of favor. combined with formal furniture from an- Degas and William Bouguereau, who, Only in recent years has there been a re- other era results in a painting both com- while near-contemporaries during the newed interest in his works. “His figures pelling and ambiguous. 1800s, were very different in style. are extremely convincing, with multiple Degas, broadly identified as an Im- figures in very complex compositions. Todorovitch grew up in San pressionist, had a modern psychological And the intermingling of flesh tones is Gabriel, CA, and earned a degree in art orientation from which Todorovitch has amazing,” observes Todorovitch, who is from California State University, Fuller- learned a great deal. “I think of Degas in awe of Bouguereau’s subtle handling ton. He then studied at the Los Ange- when I think of the ideas I was trying to of skin. If one could imagine a painting

www.SouthwestArt.com 15 that was two-thirds Degas and one-third Bouguereau, it might look like rather like a Todorovitch. One of the things Todorovitch particu- larly admires about Bouguereau is his tireless work ethic. Bouguereau’s style was labor-intensive to begin with, and on top of that he had a strict ethical dedica - tion to painting. Todorovitch can identify with that. Early in his career he worked multiple jobs to support himself and his young son, Ezra, who was born when Todorovitch was just 20. Finding the time to paint was hard-won, and he was care- ful not to waste it. At the time he painted psychologically evocative portraits of friends, people he knew from the art world and the local music scene. Those paintings were gen- erally less complex than his work now, but they exhibited that striking quality that Todorovitch naturally captures and emphasizes on canvas. Five years ago his life began to change significantly when a gallery in Laguna Beach became his exclusive representative and began to sell his work consistently. “Suddenly I didn’t need other jobs anymore,” says Todorovitch. “I had just been offered a job by UPS. I’d worked for them before, loading planes, and had to call to turn down the job.” There is a slight tinge of regret in Todorovitch’s voice when he recalls this, as he has an almost old-fashioned respect for hard work, whatever the activity. With his focus now on painting, his artwork has shown rapid gains, especially in his handling of paint and his willingness to tackle more complex com- Succulents, oil, 40 x 30. positions. That’s partly because he moved into a bigger, better studio instead of a bigger, better apartment. The larger stu- Todorovitch’s work is now finding a paintings. Complex and ambitious. They dio allowed him not only to paint more wider audience. He is thrilled to be rep- involve figures in elaborate settings. And effectively, but also to teach. Two nights resented by Arcadia Fine Arts, noting, they take much longer to do.” a week he holds a workshop in his stu- “Some of my favorite painters are there. Todorovitch’s awareness that he has dio, during which time he paints with his I’ve admired the gallery since before I a lot on the line right now expresses students. He also teaches one day a week, was with any gallery at all.” Todorovitch itself not so much in words but in his splitting his time between the L.A. Acad- is now painting in two parallel efforts: actions. He works long hours, whenever emy of Figurative Art and the Laguna He’s producing canvases to sell on an on- he is not teaching, taking care of Ezra, College of Art and Design. Todorovitch going basis in the gallery, and he’s creat- or sleeping. “I have no time for anything says he sees “a big difference” in his work ing a body of work in preparation for his else, especially now,” he says. “I want to now compared with what he produced first one-man show at Arcadia, which is be diligent.” F four or five years ago. “The change,” he scheduled for October of this year. The says, “is in my comfort with paint. With gallery gives him wide berth in deter- Virginia Campbell, the former editor in chief of how it behaves and the possibilities that mining what these new pieces should Movieline, has also written for Elle Décor, Depar- come from that—what it can do, what be. “They just say, ‘Take your time,’” says tures, and Traditional Home. ideas it can convey.” Todorovitch. “These are very thought-out

This content has been abridged from an original article written by Virginia Campbell. © F+W. All rights reserved. F+W grants permission for any or all pages in this premium to be copied for personal use. www.SouthwestArt.com 16 The Feminine Form A range of interpretations of women and girls from 10 talented painters

Rachel, oil, 28 x 31.

With a commissioned portrait like RACHEL, inspiration is always found Timothy in the utterly fascinating revelation of the person painted. Depicting the “beauty, grace, subtlety, and power of the human figure is the visual equiva- lent of a symphony, completely engaging the artist, subject, and viewer. Norman Note the banquet scene depicted on the Japanese screen and the cranes in flight on the cloisonné vase, both adding symbolic richness to the work and further revelation of the person painted. ” www.SouthwestArt.com 17 The Feminine Form

Aaron Westerberg

I am inspired by clarity and mood. LOCKET presents a mood unencumbered by story particulars. The viewer is forced “to participate.

Locket, oil, 19 x 14. ”

www.SouthwestArt.com 18 The Feminine Form

Dancer Backstage, oil, 16 x 12.

Carolyn I am always looking for an interesting and, to me, exciting way to paint form. A painting can be expressive and use dynamic brushwork while still exploring the nuances that suggest dimen- Anderson“sion and turn a figure from light into shadow. ” www.SouthwestArt.com 19 The Feminine Form

Kaleidoscope, oil, 42 x 44.

I was in Mar del Plata in Argentina, on the big expansive beach Jeffrey there. The beach is such a part of family life, and there are children everywhere. I was caught by the graphic quality of this one “girl against the ocean. I placed her in this array of soft colors Terreson against the shadow of the background. I loved doing this one! ” www.SouthwestArt.com 20 The Feminine Form

Night Lights, oil, 24 x 30.

My intention was to capture the peaceful and re- laxed moment of the night. I used cool and calm col- Zulia Gotay de ors in a horizontal composition to obtain this mood. “I want people to identify with my figures, and it is al- Anderson ways important to me to achieve a connection between the figures and nature. Using my imagination in my work is a challenge I enjoy.” www.SouthwestArt.com 21 The Feminine Form

Child at Her Table, oil, 20 x 24.

For me the painting CHILD AT HER TABLE is the perfect cross between my love of the figure and being outdoors. One sunny afternoon while I was painting a still-life set-up “under a patio awning, my daughter Sophia approached and sat down at the table. The spontaneous scene before me and the type of light and color that poured over her over- whelmed my senses. I quickly ducked into the studio and retrieved a fresh canvas. She Tom sat quietly while I painted rather quickly in the alla prima method. The light began to change, but that was not of concern because I realized I had already captured precisely what I was after—the sense of brilliant light, my daughter’s calm patience, and the Balderas wonder of the fleeting moment. ” www.SouthwestArt.com 22 The Feminine Form

Remember When, oil, 16 x 20.

This piece is one of the few I’ve done using natural lighting. The majority of my training in school was with artificial light sources. I’ve recently begun to challenge myself with different lighting situations. I photographed the model, the sister of a friend, in Hsin-Yao “various poses in my studio. The most eye-catching situation came from outdoor light through one of the windows. She starting playing with the ring on her finger, and at that moment I wanted to create something that evoked a sense of nostalgia, linking diffused Tseng backlighting with memories of when she received the ring. ” www.SouthwestArt.com 23 The Feminine Form

Weight of Fire, oil, 48 x 44.

I like to leave interpretations of my work to viewers, Joan but for me, this painting is about finding one’s balance amid the raptures and burdens we willingly expose our- “selves to in our eager attempt to throw weight and light Barber upon the myriad paths that surround us. ” www.SouthwestArt.com 24 The Feminine Form

Celeste, oil, 36 x 48.

The painting CELESTE evolved from a photo I took of a little girl more than 20 years ago. I never had a daughter, and most everyone that sees the McCreery painting asks if it is me or my daughter. I believe subconsciously I created an “image that represents the child in me and the daughter I never had. In the background are Elizabethan images found on playing cards (symbols I use a Jordan great deal in my work), which represent chance and fate. ” www.SouthwestArt.com 25 The Feminine Form

Giner Bueno

I am inspired by my native Valencia. It’s my feeling that every color has its “own sensuality, and the intensity of the Valencian light plays a fundamen- tal role in my work. My brushwork is vibrant, nervous, temperamental. My inspiration comes from the outdoors— from the beaches to the gardens— anywhere I can capture the ever- changing and contrasting light. This scene is nothing more than a point of reference. One never paints anything exactly as it is. My intention is to paint the sensations that I feel rather than realities I see. En La Playa, oil, 26 x 18. ”