Oil Paintings

Artists Describing Their Art:

John Sims - Following some thirty years working as a graphic designer and illustrator I began stone carving in 2000 and in 2002 I returned to college at Christ Church Canterbury in England to study BA Fine Art. In 2007 I went to the Cyprus College of Art to study for a Post Grad Diploma in Fine Art under the great Cypriot artist, Stass Paraskos. At the end of the course I was asked to stay on and run the Summer Schools and to be tutor on the Post Grad course. An incredible experience and an enormous influence on my work. My work now involves less stone carving more often found timber or kebab sticks My drawing in some respects has turned a full circle in the sense that prior to sculpture my illustration work was colourful but painstakingly detailed and stylised. At college I concentrated on measured observational life drawing in pencil which fed into the simple lines of my mainly figuratively based stone carvings. Whilst in Cyprus I re-discovered colour in both my drawing and sculpture. Dreams and mythology filled my waking and sleeping hours. Oil pastel and oil sticks became my favourite mediums to quickly capture these glimpses of ...

Nicholas Down - During the past few years I have had the privilege of visiting some of the most beautiful landscapes on earth including California's Sequoia National Forest, Yosemite and Joshua Tree National Parks, the red rocks of Sedona Arizona, the tough deserts of Canyonlands and Arches in Utah, Monument Valley in Navajo Nation, and of course the Grand Canyon. I was awestruck with the beauty and silences of these places and deeply inspired to create a number of new paintings and films which attempt to capture the essence of what I felt both as an artist and as a human being. I am increasingly aware of the threats to these landscapes, not just in the short term, but in the future, as the effects of climate change begin to alter rain patterns, glaciers and local ecologies in ways we are only just beginning to comprehend. My paintings are part of my extended homage to nature and are my abstract impressions of colour, mystery, and the spirit of place. My recent paintings have been hugely influenced by the winter here in New York State... frozen waterfalls, ice, snow drifts and landscapes blazing in winter hues. Technical Notes I continue to use the ...

Manuela Facchin Varalda - Why painting? For the desire of a deep knowledge of things. Painting, for me, is not only communication, but almost an additional sense, a further perception of world, of the real and of the imaginary, of the material and of the dream, of the objective and of the individual. Painting is for me the place of the revelation, of the primary reflection. As a self taught artist, I have been painting and drawing since I can remember - this is a part of me. I have discovered that Art Wanted is the opportunity to share this part with somebody else, from all over the world, trying to understand, to give a sense to our imagination and needs. Manuela...

Raphael Perez Israeli Painter - Pride and Prejudice: on Raphael Perez's Artwork Raphael Perez, born in 1965, studied art at the College of Visual Arts in Beer Sheva, and from 1995 has been living and working in his studio in Tel Aviv. Today Perez plays an important role in actively promoting the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual) art and culture in Tel Aviv, and the internet portal he set up helps artists from the community reach large audiences in Israel and abroad. Hundreds of his artworks are part of private collections in Israel and abroad, and his artworks were shown in several group exhibitions: in Tel Aviv Museum of Art, "Zman Le'Omanut" art gallery, Camera Obscura, The Open House in Jerusalem, Ophir Gallery, The Haifa Forum and other private businesses and galleries. In 2003-4 his paintings and studio appeared in a full-length movie, three student films and two graduation films. Raphael Perez is the first Israeli artist to express his lifestyle as a Gay. His life and the life of the LGBT community are connected and unfold over hundreds of artwork pieces. His art creation is rare and extraordinary by every Israeli and international artistic standard. His sources of inspiration ...

Michael Garr - I have been drawing and painting since Junior High. I enjoy quick art, impressionistic yet realistic, and minimal. There are interesting subjects all around us. My inspirations are architecture, people, light and shadow, the sea and boats, imagination... and the old masters. Get out and enjoy your surroundings. All my works are available as signed and numbered prints. I also do commission works, some examples of which are in the portfolio. I donate all proceeds to charity (I have a day job). My opportunities for artistic expression have included drawing on napkins during airplane rides and waiting during my sons' music lessons. In 2012 I took up oil painting for the first time, and my mentor is Lorena Pugh of North Kingstown. I've done both Plein air and studio work in her presence, and am benefitting from the association. We have an informal group who meet and paint in Lorena's studio on Monday nights throughout the indoor season. I will continue to pursue art on a daily basis, and post the finished works here and on facebook for any and all to peruse. In 2003, I legally changed my name back to my original name, Michael Garr, so ...

Tom Irizarry Studio - Oil painter with broad knowledge of historic methods and historic colors. My studio is my laboratory. I make all my paint. My work focuses on elements of the earth air and land. What I observe is beyond a pretty sky or nice landscape. It is the notion that our earth and the universe, are imbued with a specific energy. Historically, this energy was described by the Victorian poet Gerard Manley Hopkins as Instress and Inscape, derived from ideas of the medieval philosopher, Duns Scotus. Scotus argued that there is some matter entirely devoid of form. Paintings can vary from 9 x 12 inches to 6 x 8 feet. Viewers describe a profound feeling from the paintings, regardless of the size. Specialties Historic processes for paint making, mediums, grounds, oils, mineral pigments, oil mediums, tempera mediums, non-silver processes cyanotypes and archival digital pigment prints....

Michael Schaffer - Exploring the realms of color, texture, drama, and feelings are the main ingredients of my art work. To inspire the viewer to deal with the issues presented to him is my goal. To inspire the viewer to interpret and react is my passion. I hope you have been inspired... or at least have an opinion. Art and life have many of the same ingredients for us to enjoy....

Michael Schaffer - Tom Lund-Lack - I am an experienced artist whose work uses the power of imagination to find find the essence of the subject.A It is grounded in the need to celebrate life, and to portray the subject through the transforming power of colour and light. Arrangements of shape, line, pattern and colour are brilliant at conjuringA up powerful expressions, sometimes these can be dreamlike and at peace sometimes exciting and dramatic. My work does not always represent an actual moment, place or object in time, but they areA the result of a process of reflection, recollection and reinvention, a distillation of experience. Art is a very small word having the widest possible meaning appreciation is a subjective judgement and no artist or workA can please everyone.A My aim is to please at least some of you and I am very confident that this aspiration is achievable ...

Shoshannah Brombacher - Art makes the world within the artist visible. Classical music, poetry, Jewish and Chassidic stories, traveling, the love for people and memories of eras gone but not forgotten, cities where I lived and worked, like Amsterdam, Berlin, Jerusalem, New York, or visitedm, lie Prague and Sicily, are the main ingredients of my art. My art is like the water of the canals of my native Amsterdam, Rembrandts city, the deeper you look into it, the more you see. A reflection of a reflection of a reflection...look, what you see is not what you see. My art contains texts and letters, lets writing come alive, and reflects my deep connection with the Dutch 17th century Masters, German expressionism, Russian art and medieval miniatures. My art is also a tribute to music and the world of the great Chassidic masters of Eastern Europe. The Kotzker Rebbe listened to a Chassidic storyteller in the street and stated He told what he wanted and I heard what I needed. That is Art. ...

Donna Gallant - Art is a daily routine in my life. I see, hear, taste, feel and smell the life that surrounds me and I am inspired by the simplest aspects of this world. Whether it be the way the light hits an object or the way objects or forms move in space. I find it all so fascinating and alive. I try to portray these experiences and expressions through my art making....