James Hartman

Mountain Farmer

2019

Artist Comments
A diverse encaustic painting by artist James Hartman where he simultaneously portrays a vibrant still life and a brilliant seascape. James paints on a base of collage on a cradled panel which is then coated in molten beeswax. After which James fuses the materials using controlled heat. "I enjoy the way the heat can be used to edit the painting."

About the Artist
When James Hartman was in art school, he became fascinated with the Society of Six, a group of artists who painted en plein air (outdoors) and exhibited together in the San Francisco Bay Area during the early 20th Century. James's paintings of the Northern California landscape pay tribute to some of the great Bay Area artists of the past. His expressive scenes feel alive through his vibrant use of color and his painterly brushwork. James’s paintings have an immediate visual impact from a distance, yet up close, dissolve into a series of confident marks and strokes. There is a simultaneous complexity and steadiness in his flattened, color-blocked planes. Knowledge and observation are essential elements of James’s working practice. To this end, he spends a large proportion of his time painting on location. His body of work captures the fresh and sunlit essence of the coastal California hills.

Words that describe this painting: table, still life, encaustic, beeswax, wine, flowers, bay, lemons, vase, water, oranges, mixed media, expressive, food, impressionism, still life, encaustic artwork

Bay Window...

Artist Comments
My intention here is to get the viewer to feel as if they were on a mountain in Northern California. I covered my wood panel with glue and paper as a mordant for the beeswax / damar crystal coating. I use oils and pigments for color and a propane torch to get the medium molten.

About the Artist
When James Hartman was in art school, he became fascinated with the Society of Six, a group of artists who painted en plein air (outdoors) and exhibited together in the San Francisco Bay Area during the early 20th Century. James's paintings of the Northern California landscape pay tribute to some of the great Bay Area artists of the past. His expressive scenes feel alive through his vibrant use of color and his painterly brushwork. James’s paintings have an immediate visual impact from a distance, yet up close, dissolve into a series of confident marks and strokes. There is a simultaneous complexity and steadiness in his flattened, color-blocked planes. Knowledge and observation are essential elements of James’s working practice. To this end, he spends a large proportion of his time painting on location. His body of work captures the fresh and sunlit essence of the coastal California hills.

Cows on Mount Diablo...

Artist Comments
A group of large sea lions emerges above calm sea waters just south of Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. “The great thing about marine mammals swimming aroun...

Artist Comments
This zoomed in view of a lake in the Gila National Forest creates a natural abstraction of bright colors as the intense blue of the New Mexico sky is reflected ...

Artist Comments
A scene from the Texas hill country, I love painting the combination of land, sky and water. I used a palette knife to apply the paint fairly thick and achieve a textured surface.

About the Artist
David has always wanted to be a painter. His professional career consisted of design and illustration roles, but it was not until a brush with his own mortality that David decided to change careers and become a full-time artist. “I quit my job in Houston and moved to the small and slow-paced border town of Del Rio, Texas, where I am now living my dream,” he says. Inspired by the outdoors, he often paints outside or takes photographs on his road trips to which he refers once back in his studio. The resulting paintings are marked by impressionist-style brushwork and a natural use of color. David’s pastoral scenes of the countryside are idyllic, invoking within the viewer a serene sense of calm.

Calm Water...

Artist Comments
A stand of sunny palm trees in Beverly Hills, rendered in bright blue, green, purple and orange. "The sunny blue sky created an atmosphere full of life and beau...