Mixed Media Art

Artists Describing Their Art:

George Oommen - George Oommen: The Image as the key Born in Munnar, Kerala, India, and educated in India, Mexico, and the United States, George Oommen continues to derive artistic inspiration from the lush green landscapes of his homeland. Every winter, Oommen visits Mankotta, a small island in the inland waters of Kerala in southwestern India, ten miles from Oommen's ancestral home. The weeks spent there fuel his painting year round. What follows is a series of questions and answers by Oommen about his work. The conversation took place over a series of days but reflects a lifetime of thinking about the meaning of his art. Q: What is the goal of your art? What inspires and motivates you as an artist? A: My painting is fundamentally about communicating what I see in my mind's eye. While verbal expression is the predominant form of communication, from early childhood, I have had a facility with visual expression. Painting is my vehicle for this. The specific goal of my art changes with each series I embark upon, but the general objective is always to transfer the image in my mind to the canvas There are many sources of inspiration for me--it could ...

Jose Freitascruz - Borneo > 2003 The tropical rainforest and tales of maritime exploration continue to be reflected in my work. Indeed, travel and displacement condition my work - the many places I lived in throughout my childhood and those others my chronic wanderlust has led me to since then have always had an impact on the choices and directions I have taken. The knowledge that a new perspective can be acquired over things we believe to be "fixed" triggers curiosity and fosters a certain degree of unconformity. The need to find and learn new ways to depict whatever it is I wish to depict keeps me on my toes and doesn't allow me to settle with the tools or the style I am already familiar with - I am constantly "on the move" and my painting is meant to be a record of the path I move along. Perceived from a distance my approach tends to be cyclic, each cycle divided into series. Progression occurs from the outside in aEUR" from the surface to the core, from a certain degree of figuration to abstraction. Upon tackling each new theme I will be struck by the outward aspect of things and charged with a strong desire ...

Jose Freitascruz - Philip Hallawell - I work in various media: oil, watercolor, dry pastels, pen and ink and mixed media. My work is a result of a fragmented view of the world, which gives it a surreal quality. However, my process is not surreal, because I start with a definite theme that I wish to investigate. My main area of interest is people and the human form and I am constantly investigating the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual aspects of Man. Over the years I have developed various series, which I revisit periodocally, investigating different aspects. In purely visual terms, what fascinates me is light and form and how I can use diverse visual elements in a complementary way, opposing, for instance, line and form, or rough and smooth textures. The use of diferent materials to achieve diverse expressions, either alone or as mixed media, along with alternating between a graphic representation and a painterly one, or mixing the two, is a very important aspect of the way I materialize my thinking into images. Equally important is the transition from very realistic images to a totally abstract means of expression and alternating between control and expressiveness....

Christian Culver - Architectural Art Today we see art and architecture of the past as nobody saw it before, we perceive it in a different way. All of us see hundreds of images everyday in the cities in which we live. In no other form of society in history has there been such a concentration of images, such a density of visual messages. One may remember or forget these messages, but briefly one takes them in, and for a moment they stimulate the imagination by way of either memory or expectation. The image belongs to the moment. They never speak of the present, but often refer to the past and always speak of the future. We are so accustomed to being addressed by these images that we scarcely notice their total impact. A person may notice a particular image or piece of information because it corresponds to some particular interest they may have. The fact that these images belong to the moment, but speak of the future, produces a strange effect, which has become so familiar that we scarcely notice it. Usually we pass the image - walking, traveling, or on the TV screen, somewhat different but even then we are theoretically the active ...

Lorrie Williamson - As time passes and history is made, it is exciting to try and capture a special moment of life in a painting. It might be inspired by an earth-shaking event or just an ordinary daily experience. More often it comes as a result of looking for something meaningful to say about life as it is today by painting a picture of it. I have a passion for painting, and a ongoing desire to master the never-ending possibilities that are inherent in making art. I hope to express a mood or tell a story that will grab and hold your attention and make you want to see more....

Rita Levinsohn - Welcome to my world of Other Realities. I am a painter of mystical figurative paintings and abstractions composed of acrylic paint and found objects. My concern is for the future of our planet. The animate and inanimate objects within the paintings reflect many incarnations. The message being that it is possible to create rather than destroy....

Hampton Olfus - ARTIST STATEMENT Over the past twelve years, IaEURtmve been working in acrylic paint, ink, pencil and mixed media. During this time period, I was inspired by an assortment of topics, while repeating one of my mainstay topics, music, and culture. Creating in the moment, allows the intuitive sensibilities too be part of the process. I bring an eclectic aesthetics with me into the studio, which I transfer into what I create. My true emotions, is what I aspire to transfer, visually to the viewer, through the media. Hampton R. Olfus, Jr. Artist ...

James Skuban - About James Skuban Jim Skuban believes the greatest artist in the world is Nature. This is the inspiration that is reflected in his creations. From assemblage art to natural sculptures to innovated style paintings, .........exploring the beauty of Nature through art. Jim has worked with materials and processing for over fifty years. He has been a professional artist for the past twenty five years. This training and experience has given him the necessary skills to be both innovative and unique in original two and three dimensional art. The cornerstone of his art is his ability to use the elements of design lines, shapes, color, form, and texture. He has mastered the use of many materials including driftwood, antler, wood, and rock. It is said that his art evokes the feelings of motion, flow, rhythm, and energy associated with Nature. The combination of experience, skill, and vision has brought his art to a high level of contemporary design. Jim Skuban is an ever evolving mixed media artist in developing a line of environmentally inspired originals. The scenic beauty of Lake Superior greatest of the Great Lakes and the upper midwest forests are mirrored in each of his pieces. His variety and ...

Margaret Thompson - Nothing is what it seems. I am fascinated by the mystery and ambiguity that can come from working with collaged painted papers, and multi-plate printmaking. The initial layering process is usually one of spontaneity and serendipity, and, only later, when the painting starts to take on a life of its own, do I think more consciously about its meaning, the composition, its form and colour. The title is only one way in to reading my pictures, and is merely a proposal: the most interesting aspect to me is what the viewer brings to the understanding of the work.I have a great admiration for Kurt Schwitters, the master of collage, Helen Frankenthaler, master of colour and subtlety, Kandinsky and Miro. I regularly exhibit in London, France and the US....