American Realist More Art

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"Perfection is what comes to mind when looking at the work of the Almighty," says artist Jo Galang. "I found these captivating, perfect beauties at the grocer...

Norman Rockwell - Hand written letter with stamped postmarked envelope Hand written and hand signed letter on artist's personalized stationery with the accompanying stamped and postmarked envelope. Unique. Vintage handwritten, hand signed double-sided letter by Norman Rockwell to his printer at Color Lithographers discussing various matters concerning his prints and editions. This letter was written on the artist's personalized stationery with the accompanying postmarked envelope. True collectors' item. Historic. This letter has been elegantly floated with pocket corners to reveal all four corners, in a museum quality wood frame under double-sided UV plexiglass to reveal both the fronts, as well as the backs of the letter and the original envelope.  Measurements: Frame:  17 inches (vertical) by 10.5 inches (horizontal) by 1 inch  Letter: 8 inches (vertical) by 6 inches (horizontal)  Envelope: 4.25 inches (vertical) by 6 inches (horizontal)  This letter was addressed to Shirlee Scoma (Shirlee Neinskin Scoma - 1917-2007)) whose husband ran Color Lithographers at 225  Varick Street, now known as Hudson Square, Lower Manhattan, which was the famous printing district of the 1960s. It reads as follows: Dear Shirlee, I called Ken Stuart, former art editor of the Post, asking him my understanding of the agreement, that all covers could be made into art prints. He agreed and told me to look up the right type of agreement that I got for all my work with the Post. I found a number of them, and herewith is one.  The section called “Important” spells out the conditions.  This should help you with the difficult Mr. Buckley.  Mr. Lindsay was here today and is seeing you tomorrow. I think he is sold to have you make the prints.  Sincerely,  Norman THE CHARACTERS MENTIONED IN THE LETTER “The difficult Mr. Buckley” was Jim Buckley, the production and technical manager overseeing the lithographic plates at Color Lithographers. In commercial lithography during the 1960s, transferring an original oil painting into multi-color lithographic plates was an incredibly grueling process. Pressmen had to balance ink densities, dot gain, and color separations by hand to get a true match. Norman Rockwell also wanted to assure the printing company before they embarked on this arduous process, that, per his agreement with the Saturday Evening Post, all of their covers could be made into fine art prints - under the conditions described in more detail below.  The "Mr. Lindsay" mentioned in the letter was Donald P. "Don" Lindsay, a prominent bank executive, arts patron, and civic leader from Spokane, Washington In 1963, Don Lindsay—then the CEO of Lincoln First Federal Savings and Loan—wrote directly to Norman Rockwell asking him to create a signature, life-sized painting of a young Abraham Lincoln for the lobby of the bank's brand-new downtown headquarters. Rockwell, who loved painting Lincoln, agreed to the $4,000 commission. Rockwell completed the monumental painting, titled Lincoln the Railsplitter (also known as Young Lincoln), in 1965. Standing over seven feet tall, it became the largest canvas Rockwell ever painted Because the bank wanted to use the image heavily for promotional calendars, prints, logos, and advertisements, high-quality color reproduction was mandatory. When Rockwell notes that "Mr. Lindsay was here today... I think he is sold to have you make the prints," it means Lindsay had traveled out east to visit Rockwell at his home and studio in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During that visit, they reviewed the final artwork, and Lindsay gave his enthusiastic approval to hire the team at Color Lithographers to handle the critical, high-end print run.  Today, the original oil painting Lindsay commissioned is a famous multi-million dollar piece housed at the Butler Institute of American Art ADDITIONAL CONTEXT/BACKGROUND At the time Norman Rockwell wrote this letter on May 22, 1965,he did not own the copyrights or reproduction rights to his Saturday Evening Post covers. Those rights belonged strictly to the Curtis Publishing Company, the publisher of the magazine, so he was not printing these lithographs independently.  Curtis Publishing fiercely protected its intellectual property. Any fine-art lithographs or prints produced during this time had to be authorized, commissioned, or legally cleared by Curtis Publishing. The project Rockwell was collaborating on with Color Lithographers was a Curtis-sanctioned reproduction print run. Rockwell was brought into the process purely to supervise the artistic quality and sign off on the color proofs, ensuring the prints matched his original oil paintings The widespread market for the hand-signed, limited-edition Norman Rockwell lithographs...

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"Being a single father and working a full-time job limits the time I have to paint," shares artist Christopher Garvey. "This...

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Artist Christopher Garvey presents a group of varying glassware in different colors, sizes, and shapes. Set against a tonal background, the focus is drawn to ...

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Artist Jesse Aldana paints a dramatic shoreline view of the Santa Monica Bay. A surfer lines up a final ride as evening deepens under heavy blanket clouds. In...

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A realistic painting of an assortment of glassware set atop a wooden desk by artist Christopher Garvey. A fitting muted back...

Lithograph on wove paper, 1972. Signed by the artist in pencil, lower right. Inscribed "Ed. 250" in pencil, lower left. Published by Associated American Artists, New York. Catalog...

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"The shadow of evening flows over a sandy beach and pauses before scaling the cliffs to meet the moon over Santa Monica's waterfront," shares artist Jesse Ald...

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Artist Kent Sullivan expresses a marshland drenched in a warm sunset. "In the Evening crickets start to chirp and the glow of lat...

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After arranging the composition for this floral still life, artist Nicole Lamothe was immediately attracted to the soft warm lig...

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The setting is the Corner Deli on Kenmare Street in Soho, New York, across the street from Lt. Petrosino Square. I was interested i...

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"This painting was inspired by the dramatic lighting and shadows receding into West 14th Street at sunset," says artist Nick Savid...

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Serenity prevails in artist Jenn Williamson's dreamy and atmospheric skyscape. In her creative practice, she explores light and darkness, searching for beauty in quiet, unnoticed places, thus creating a spiritual oasis. She aims to bring an atmosphere of tranquility to each viewer. "I painted this in the summer of 2022 after I completed a 4-year journey of organizing charity golf tournaments and decided to launch as a full-time artist," shares Jenn.

About the Artist
Jenn Williamson expertly evokes the scenery of British Columbia in her soft abstract landscapes. She utilizes defining horizontal and vertical strokes, coupled with a skillful handling of color, to create significant depth in each piece. Her paintings, though abstracted, clearly convey the atmospheric attributes of the scene–rain, wind, clouds, fog. Jenn’s muted color palette transports the viewer to the Canadian west...

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Every summer, Jo goes down to the Coquitlam River near her home in British Columbia to enjoy the beautiful green surroundings glowing in the summer heat. "I couldn't resist how inviting this scenery was," she says. "Where I live, summer only lasts about three months, so I put this scene on canvas to enjoy it the whole year through."

About the Artist

Words that describe this painting: nature, water, trees, rocks, river, sunlight, woods, summer, forest, stream, riverbank, nature, realism, representational, oil painting, green

A Moment in Time...

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Artist Emil Morhardt displays an impressionist portrait of three brown pelicans. The birds sun themselves in the Sea of Cortez against a subtle greenish-blue late afternoon sky. "I hadn't thought about pelicans having a 3D vision like hawks until I was looking over my photos and saw one of the birds staring straight at me," shares Emil. He references his photographs from a National Geographic Zodiac that the pelicans seemed curious about, allowing very close viewing.

About the Artist
Emil Morhardt is an acrylic painter from Santa Barbara, California who expresses his passion for birds through realistic acrylic paintings. He paints at home in a studio room that has large windows and a north-facing view of the mountains. He observes the animals from this window, watching roadrunners, foxes, bobcats, deer, and coyote run by. Surrounded by this wildlife, Emil paints bird portraits reminiscent of those by artist John James Audubon. He bases his paintings off hundreds of photographs he takes of birds in the wild and at wildlife recovery centers. Emil captures the freedom and inquisitiveness that birds display in the natural world. Before painting birds, he painted landscapes of San Francisco and the Eastern Sierra. Emil was raised in the high desert of California and learned to paint from his father, who was one of the early California watercolorists...

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"These two long-billed curlews are gazing at us with an unmistakable curiosity," says artist Emil Morhardt. "Like many shorebirds, when I sat on the beach qui...

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The sky and sea converge in artist Jenn Williamson's arresting panoramic piece. She explores light and darkness, searching for beauty in quiet, unnoticed places, thus creating a spiritual oasis. "I painted this piece during a season of spiritual and personal awakening from a season of trials," shares Jenn. She expresses the peace and tranquility in her soul for which she is genuinely grateful.

About the Artist
Jenn Williamson expertly evokes the scenery of British Columbia in her soft abstract landscapes. She utilizes defining horizontal and vertical strokes, coupled with a skillful handling of color, to create significant depth in each piece. Her paintings, though abstracted, clearly convey the atmospheric attributes of the scene–rain, wind, clouds, fog. Jenn’s muted color palette transports the viewer to the Canadian west coast...

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While on a summer hike in the woods, Jo discovered this stream and small pool of water. She says she couldn't resist stopping and dipping her feet in the cool...

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Artist Guigen Zha displays elegant lotuses with broad fleeting leaves. He paints the poetic piece with his unique style dubbed virtu...

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When artist Jo Galang moved to Vancouver many years ago, she and her family settled in the city near Stanley Park. "On frequent visits to the park, we would o...

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Artist Guigen Zha pictures a lotus flower in realistic detail. The red mountain beyond renders a crimson glow on the soft green peta...

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I saw this pair zooming around my house, cawing wildly on some crow mission," says artist Emil Morhardt. "One would think that Common Crows are black, but in ...

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A refreshing basket of juicy red apples after a rainstorm. Raindrops slowly dry under the warm sun as leaves rustle in the cool wind. Artist Nikolay Rizhankov...

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"The Galapágos hawk (Buteo galapagoensis) is the same genus and size as the North American Red-tailed Hawk, but a little darker," explains artist Emil Morhard...

James Monroe Letter from James Monroe, 1796 Signed lower right, dated upper right Ink on paper 5 x 8 inches Provenance Edward Bomsey Autographs, 1993 Considered the last “Founding...

‘Wild Boar’, the striking new bronze sculpture by Ben Fenske and Richard Zinon, vibrantly illustrates the ‘new’ Renaissance currently under way. Ferocio...

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This is another view of Campobello Island. I was inspired by the long shadows created in the late afternoon light and by the fact that it looks untouched by h...

Danny Brown’s artworks allocate an intrinsic connection between himself and the diverse communities occupying Los Angeles. Brown combines art history, streetwear trends, and pop art symbolism to create a signature style with a soft and fun, yet edgy character. He is willing to address a very unique point of view about social issues of our day with unmistakable perspectives. His artworks have the potential to influence a new generation of artists, incorporating diversity and respect for varying cultures. This one-of-a-kind acrylic and oil stick painting...

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Artist Heather Foster encountered this inquisitive subject while painting en plein air. "This nosy California girl wanted to be front and center to see what t...

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"Corgis have big ears, big smiles, and have lots of LOVE to share," says artist Jeff Fleming. He displays the two playful canines with endearing grins and sparkling doe eyes. Jeff blends multiple colors and textures, adding depth and character to the composition. He creates dynamic points of interest with finger painting and applying drizzles of color with string.

About the Artist
Artist Jeff Fleming uses fingerpainting to create exuberant portraits of dogs. Growing up in Southern California, Jeff was first introduced to fingerpainting in kindergarten. He painted through high school and college and won several art awards, including Best of Show in a city wide student competition. After graduating with a degree in journalism and advertising, he went to work as an art director. For the next 40 years, he created print, radio and television ads for a number of top agencies. "After retiring in 2019, the clouds of stress and pressure cleared and allowed me to set my creative energy free," says Jeff. He began developing new techniques focused on the excitement and energy of painting. Today, he uses a variety of methods and tools, including fingerpainting wearing nitrile gloves, traditional paint brushes, bamboo shish kebab sticks, kite string, spraypaint and splattering. While working, Jeff always listens to music, including Broadway musicals, dance music and rhythmic Hawaiian tunes.

Words that describe this painting: Corgi, happy, dogs, kinetic impressionism, oilpaint, fun, Iris Scott...

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"Togetherness is a wonderful place to be, and what better reflects a bond of love," says artist Jeff Fleming. He displays a touching portrait of a golden retriever mom affectionately posing with her puppy. Jeff begins with a pencil sketch and applies paint with his fingers, brushes, and string. He drizzles paint in random strokes to create an energetic composition brimming with splashes of color.

About the Artist
Artist Jeff Fleming uses fingerpainting to create exuberant portraits of dogs. Growing up in Southern California, Jeff was first introduced to fingerpainting in kindergarten. He painted through high school and college and won several art awards, including Best of Show in a city wide student competition. After graduating with a degree in journalism and advertising, he went to work as an art director. For the next 40 years, he created print, radio and television ads for a number of top agencies. "After retiring in 2019, the clouds of stress and pressure cleared and allowed me to set my creative energy free," says Jeff. He began developing new techniques focused on the excitement and energy of painting. Today, he uses a variety of methods and tools, including fingerpainting wearing nitrile gloves...

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I've painted this scene a couple of times before. There a lots of dead pines facing the channel that separates the coast of Maine from Grand Manan Island, exc...

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A quiet riverside scene, with lush greens and leisurely moving water. Just above the treeline, billowing clouds linger before revealing a soft blue sky. "I fi...

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"This year, late winter brought several cold storm fronts blowing stiffly across the bay," says artist Jesse Aldana. "With them came batteries of color and sh...

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Artist Guigen Zha displays a blooming lotus flower that echoes through the composition. It blooms from a porcelain Prunus vase pain...

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"Considered symbols of luck, Koi fish are known for their tenacity to swim rushing streams and waterfalls until they reach their goal," says artist Candice Eisenfeld. "They are determined and they never give up. Symbolic in Buddhism, they represent courage and strength."

About the Artist
As an American exploring issues of identity, artist Candice Eisenfeld paints through the lens of the first American art movement, the Hudson River School. Rather than depicting a specific locale, Candice’s artwork evokes a sense of place. These "inner landscapes" are invented, and often reference photographs taken during travels in southern Appalachia and the Blue Ridge and Smokey Mountains. Whether real or imagined, her paintings are influenced by the Dutch Masters, Tonalists, and Chinese painting. Produced on a single wooden panel, the ethereal landscapes are often joined with segments of aqueous color fields which act as commentary for the landscapes, like the chorus in a Greek play. The crisp, hard edges separating the landscapes from the color fields command a sense of order in an otherwise fluid and painterly surface. With two or three sections of the panel competing for attention, the painting creates multiple focal points. Candice's art has been displayed in embassies in Namibia and Belarus, held in the collections of Norwest Bank and Northwest Airlines...

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A realistic rendering by artist Emil Morhardt of a calm but vigilant crow on a powerline in the early morning sun. The bird is pa...

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"I would describe this still life of tulips as uncommon, novel, and intriguing," says artist Nicole Lamothe. "I was initially attracted to the striped leaves ...

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Artist Jo Galang paints bright yellow flowers growing in the forest. Abundant green ferns fill the natural surroundings. She demonstrates beauty and splendor ...

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Artist Onelio Marrero displays a stunning koi pond in mesmerizing shades of deep blue and green. Part of his series of paintings exploring ponds, waterlilies,...

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In the style of contemporary realism, artist Guigen Zha paints a porcelain vase of Buddha's head. A bouquet of blue lotus flowers blooms in the oriental still life. Succulent dew drops glaze the delicate petals. Guigen conveys the message of hope and peace for good in life.

About the Artist

Words that describe this painting: healing, lotus, belief, still life, floral, poetic, cultural relics, Tang Sancai, oriental, Asian, Chinese, oilpaint, realism, ceramic, flower, vase, budha, head, vertical, tonal, still life, flora, realism, oil painting, grey

The Buddha...

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Colorado summer evening. A man walks his dog as storm clouds clear overhead. Warm light from the left reflects off of the many wet surfaces. Classical realism...

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Artist Jinny Tomozy presents a realistic still life of vibrant and colorful produce - an intimate look at the gardener's prize. "I can not resist the bounty of a fresh harvest," says Jinny. The saturated hues of the fruits that have been nurtured all summer finally come to reveal themselves. The shine of the plump globes displays a dance of highlights among the gathering.

About the Artist
Artist Jinny Tomozy reveals the most tender aspects of nature through the sculptural forms of flowers. Her strikingly realistic floral watercolors connect us to the familiar emotions we experience in viewing the spectacular or mundane circumstances of this place we call home. "I am captivated by light touching a surface, the nuances of a shadow, interplays of color, and of other complex facets of our visual world," shares Jinny. After twenty-two years as a teacher of foundations in art education and placing her creative aspirations on hold, she now pursues art full-time and spends more of her days painting and creating. Jinny captures tangible feelings of space and time in her studio at Reno Art Works. In this non-profit gallery, a community of eleven artists works in an emerging art...

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"Traveling in England's Cotswolds region, I sought out a number of impressive gardens designed by Lancelot 'Capability' Brown," shares artist Mandy Main. "This estate, Croome Court, has a colorful history, including its 1979 purchase by John Lennon for use as a Hare Krishna...

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Long-Billed Curlews, some of the largest of the shorebirds, often hang out together, milling around at the edge of the surf, then wading in to feed. I spotted...

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The Clinton Station Diner is one of New Jersey's landmark diners. I was seated in this particular room that is actually a salvaged train dining car. I could n...

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"Common Ravens are a friendly lot, hanging around in large groups at an abundant food source or pairing off to wander as a couple," ...

SUSIE Q. SMITH Medium: Newspaper comics Distributed by: King Features Syndicate First Appeared: 1945 Creators: Linda and Jerry Walter 5.75 X 19.75 Dated August 3, 1954 in top right corner. Like her contemporaries, Aggie Mack, Candy and Patsy Walker (before her conversion to a superhero), Susie Q. Smith was a female Archie-type — not exactly an imitator, because Archie, who had started only four years earlier, hadn't yet become popular enough to spawn imitators, but part of his genre. She attended high school, where her teachers often seemed unreasonable to her, interacted with the opposite gender in a typically adolescent way, and her parents didn't completely understand her. And she was cute and perky as only a teenage girl can be. Susie was the star of a comic strip distributed by King Features, the biggest of the comic strip syndicates, whose other offerings have ranged from Jackys Diary to Prince Valiant...

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Artist Nick Savides captures the beauty of the High Line, above West 25th Street on a stunning spring afternoon. He paints the tre...

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Artist Guigen Zha paints a realistic image of lotuses with a subtle spatial illusion. He shows the beauty of the flower's mysterious...

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A lotus flower sways in the breeze among the high and low leaves. Artist Guigen Zha pictures a cultural symbol of purity in a poetic interpretation. "It is li...

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Artist Guigen Zha displays an exquisite white lotus in stark focus and realistic detail. The flower flourishes with velvety white petals and tender pink tips....

It would be hard to imagine two more different cities architecturally than the formal grandeur offered by Vienna, Austria and the exuberant 20th-century sprawl of Los Angeles, home o...

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Artist Emil Morhardt depicts an Elegant Tern and a Forster’s Tern hanging together in the winter shallows of the Santa Barbara beach in California. Their evening reflections ripple above the water highlighted in gold, silver, and copper leaf. "While the Elegant Terns show up in huge flocks, the much smaller Forester’s tern is uncommon in Santa Barbara, and so a treat to see."

About the Artist
Emil Morhardt is an acrylic painter from Santa Barbara, California who expresses his passion for birds through realistic acrylic paintings. He paints at home in a studio room that has large windows and a north-facing view of the mountains. He observes the animals from this window, watching roadrunners, foxes, bobcats, deer, and coyote run by. Surrounded by this wildlife, Emil paints bird portraits reminiscent of those by artist John James Audubon. He bases his paintings off hundreds of photographs he takes of birds in the wild and at wildlife recovery centers. Emil captures the freedom and inquisitiveness that birds display in the natural world. Before painting birds, he painted landscapes of San Francisco and the Eastern Sierra. Emil was raised in the high desert of California and learned to paint from his father, who was one of the early California watercolorists...

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Artist Guigen Zha paints a white horse wading along blooming lotuses in realistic detail. It stands quietly in the shallow waters as the moonlight dreamily glows on the pond. "It seems to have forgotten where it came from and where it is going," says Guigen. He conveys the message of loneliness being a different kind of beauty.

About the Artist
From cross-cultural life experiences, artist Guigen Zha presents conceptual compositions of traditional Chinese art...

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Classical still life of red lilies and nasturtiums. Artist Nikolay Rizhankov placed the flowers against a linen drape to highlight...

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Artist Guigen Zha paints a realistic still life of lotuses in different stages of development. He props them on Chinese ceramic vases against a background of ...

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Jo encountered this peaceful scene at the edge of a river while on a road trip. "All that green and blue color gives a relaxing feeling after a long day's dri...

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Artist Marie-Eve Champagne shows a realistic depiction of aquamarine crystal clusters on a coral-pink background. The subject opposes the contrasting hue, put...

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Artist Marie-Eve Champagne features a realistic image of beautiful yellow ore in mesmerizing crystalline clusters. An entry to her series of still-life minera...