February 8, 2014

I joined a local art gallery, Blue Line Arts, in Roseville, CA. As an artist member I was filling out my profile. One question: Who is your favorite artist and why? So I write about that on Word, copy and paste it only to find I can only write to 100 characters! Thats about 1 sentence. So I am posting my response here, just because.

Who is my favorite Artist, and why?


     I have so many favorite artists, those who inspire me, that I could not list them all. As I child my favorite was Post-Impressionist Vincent Van Gogh, who still moves  me with his bright colors and thickly laid on oils and bold impressions. 
    My other favorite from childhood was Maxfield Parrish who painted the most beautiful landscapes and murals, and created intricately beautiful and whimsical illustrations for many early 20th century periodicals and magazines. 
    French Impressionist Claude Monet quickly became my all-time favorite with his amazing impressions of light and soft colors. 
   I have since discovered JMW Turner, a British painter from late 18th-early 19th century, who actually inspired Claude Monet, and was considered the Father of Impressionism. He also inspired American landscape painter Thomas Moran, best known for his watercolor, though he used oils as well. His luminescent paintings are stunning. 
    A few other influential favorites I must mention are Georgia O’Keeffe who captured the Southwest with her beautiful, giant flowers and landscapes. 
Other inspiring and amazing artists are: 
Denise Allen – late 20th century Quilt Artist
Augusta Savage early 20th century Ceramicist
Frank Lloyd Wright, 20th century architect
Stephen J Kaltenbach, Conceptual Artist, painter & sculptor, California Artist
Laura Ross Paul, Colorist, Figurative Artist, & educator who resides in Portland, OR
...and of course Leonardo da Vinci, who needs no introduction at all.

JMW Turner
Angel Standing in the Sun
1846, oil on canvas

Thomas Moran
Fiercely the Red Sun Descending, Burned His Way Across the Heavens
1875, oil on canvas