Ellen Wagener

Family Tree (With a Secret Portrait)

2024

pastel on paper b. 1964 I became interested in landscape painting because there were no confines, except the edge of the paper and an ever-changing display of color, rhythm, and texture outside my front door. Landscape painting is a method that expresses my inner response to and reverent feelings for nature. I look for connections between things—how one color flows into another, forms engage and separate, how one point in space influences another. The changes focused along the horizon are constant; they are governed by the seasons, the weather, or the cyclical nature of the agrarian landscape. There are no grand gestures, just subtle variations that, when combined, create a certain splendor. I convey in my paintings what is most pleasurable to me, such as discovering tenuous beauty in spontaneous cloud formations, and the repetition of endless corn and soybean rows captured on a rolling landscape. The process begins with a "drive-by-shooting" and a sketchbook. I make large pastel paintings...

pastel on paper b. 1964 I became interested in landscape painting because there were no confines, except the edge of the paper and an ever-changing display of color, rhythm, and te...

pastel on paper I became interested in landscape painting because there were no confines, except the edge of the paper and an ever-changing display of color, rhythm, and texture out...

charcoal on paper b. 1959, Philadelphia, PA Mark Pomilio’s current research has focused on creating images, which embody principles of geometry, fractals, cloning and single-cell m...

Chicago-based fine art painter Bruno A. Surdo is classically trained in drawing and oil painting in the tradition of Renaissance masters. With strong command of the human form, Surdo creates dynamic compositions of people and places that communicate a rich commentary on the world around him. Depicting trees from personal encounters, Surdo’s latest body of work entitled “Tree Spirits” takes us on a foray into the forest, where leaves, branches and burls express something deeply personal. Applying his mastery of figurative realism to the natural world, he experiments with form and texture to uncover the intangible spirits of trees. This charcoal drawing entitled “Memory of Leaves” beautifully illustrates the branching form of a mature birch tree. Loosely drawn with informal, sketch-like linework, the tree is shown in the middle of winter, bare of leaves and white with frost. Surdo’s skillful placement of shadow illustrates the forking branches with incredible texture and effortless realism. The intricate play of light and dark is accentuated by the stark white background, a negative space that isolates the tree in space and time. Restricting the composition to only a portion of the tree trunk, Surdo accentuates the tree’s abstract form, lingering on areas of unusual shape or texture. Seeking to convey the strong emotional response elicited by his initial encounter with the tree, Surdo focuses on the tree’s sculptural form, contrasting the strong trunk...

‘The Tree’ 2014 Image 88 x 58 cm woodcut (available from edition of 30. 20 prints) Artist’s statement My preferred method of making images is through relief printmaking. I like exploring this expressive language in a dialogue between positive and negative, representation and abstraction, control and accident. I use lino...