Horizontal Still-life Drawings and Watercolors

Artist Comments
Painted in a realist tradition, a hotdog in a bun takes center stage in this modern still life. Artist Dwight Smith enjoys exaggerating the scale of objects t...

Artist Comments
Wooden spools convey a natural landscape reminiscent of towering cliffs. Hues of blue threads form a vista mimicking rain pouring down on dry land. The interp...

Artist Comments
Artist Dwight Smith depicts a realistic culinary-themed still life. "The bottle opener was of my dad and mom's from so long ago I don't remember when," shares Dwight. He paints a bright red apple on its side adjacent to it. A focused light source highlights the foreground, while strong contrasts of dark shadows in the background frame the elements.

About the Artist
Dwight Smith depicts commonplace objects with a sense of playfulness and humor. His watercolor still life paintings appear conventional in their soft colors and composed compositions, but upon further observation the juxtaposition of unrelated items make for delightfully surprising combinations and comparisons. This transformation of the everyday, and strong graphic style, lend the work a pop feel. However, pop art is generally cool and ironic. Instead, there is a familiar and comforting sense of kitsch and Americana in Dwight’s subjects. In a similar fashion to the work of American artist Wayne Thiebaud, Dwight paints food and sweets of the American appetite. Doughnuts, hotdogs, and lollipops are captured in all of their potent delight. He plays with scale and composition to bring out a sense of the absurd, but ultimately his goal is to make the viewer smile.

Words that describe this painting: watercolor, realism, still life, culinary, apple, apple cider...

Artist Comments
Artist Dwight Smith paints a realistic still life of a collection of red and green items. Apples, chillis, beans, buttons, and a sp...

Artist Comments
A culinary-themed still life by artist Dwight Smith rendered in the realist tradition. He paints a luscious red apple resting inside a large shell. Light fall...

Artist Comments
Purple and green are two of my favorite colors and wisteria is the perfect subject! I squirted paint directly onto the paper to make a lovely, saturated wash. When dry I developed the piece intuitively. I finished with tinted gouache to highlight the lovely light behind the wisteria. I'm very pleased with the mood of this piece.

About the Artist
Melissa is passionate about color. She finds it to be the most significant form of inspiration to paint. Speaking on influences in her work, Melissa says, “Sometimes it’s an idea that I can’t get out of my head, or a color that I just MUST paint!” She particularly enjoys painting leaves, and the changing colors of Oregon foliage are visible in her work. In 2001, Melissa began teaching art classes, which has allowed her to view her own artwork in a new way. “The information that flows in a class is awesome,” she says. Melissa is constantly learning from the students in her classes, and is more conscious of what it means to be an artistic role model.

Words that describe this painting: wisteria,flowers,watercolor painting,watercolor floral,floral,purple,green,purple and green,nature,floral painting,, impressionism, flora, representational, watercolor painting, green, purple, purple

Mysteries of Purple & Green
Melissa Gannon...

Artist Comments
Artist Catherine McCargar presents a bright and lively impressionist rendering of flowers and leaves. They bloom profusely in a garden, celebrating abundance and color. The flowers, dahlias, roses, and pansies, growing so closely together, resemble a bouquet. "I am equally interested in gardening pursuits as I am in creating paintings," shares Catherine.

About the Artist
Impressionist Catherine McCargar expresses her deep admiration of nature through landscape paintings of Northern California. While she is well-versed in a range of media, her preferred medium for painting is watercolor. The fluidity of the paint allows her to capture the muted undertones and the fleeting light found in the natural world. While the backgrounds of her paintings are impressionistic, the foregrounds of her paintings are often highly detailed, showcasing her technical mastery over her medium.

Words that describe this painting: flora, nature, garden, roses, spring, summer, season, flora, flowers, dahlia, pansy, pansies, botanical, watercolor, paper, impressionism, impressionism, flora, watercolor painting, green

Garden Bouquet...

Artist Comments
Artist Jinny Tomozy presents a bouquet of red and yellow roses in realistic detail. "Sometimes one's discarded items become another's cherished findings, as w...

Artist Comments
Artist Dwight Smith paints a modern realist composition of the ends of pencils. He paints them in different colors to lead your eye through the painting. Dwig...

Artist Comments
A culinary-themed still life featuring a Honeycrisp apple and sewing thimbles. "The beautiful profession of farming requires many hours of pruning or mending ...

Artist Comments
In this realist still life watercolor, artist Dwight Smith focused on the warm contrast of the bright red apple and wooden spools against the dramatic gradien...