American Realist More Art

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"The use of a black sky helps create the illusion of glowing water like that found in the Bio Bay of Puerto Rico," shares artist Mitch Davis-Mann. "Quickly ap...

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"The fun of summer captured in a snapshot in time," describes artist Jeff Fleming. This piece creates its own energy with bright colors and splashing water. Jeff describes his painting style as kinetic impressionism. He begins with a pencil sketch, then with gloved hands applied oil paint using his fingers. Details were later added using brushes and string. Once the paint is dry, he moves his painting to his studio floor where he spontaneously splatters and flings paint across the canvas.

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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Two geese turn to regard the viewer along the grassy bank of a quiet lake. "Growing up with my older sister, my mom would always dress us in the exact same clothes," shares Jo Galang. "With the same haircut and similar looks, people would always mistake us for twins since we were almost the same size and height. It was fun back then but as we grew up, we each evolved into our own distinct personalities."

About the Artist
Artist Jo Galang expresses a quiet nostalgia in her airy interpretations of the landscapes and waterways of the Pacific Northwest. Her soft oil paintings capture the meditative sounds of rivers and waterfalls flowing past her easel. During the summer, she spends as much time as possible outside creating plein air sketches and studying the light on the landscape. As a young art student in the Philippines, Jo was privileged to study with the renowned painter Danilo Dalena, who she says encouraged her to be the artist she is today. "I believe my art looks simple enough that people have no idea how much time I have spent working on it," she says. When she is not painting, Jo and her husband enjoy taking road trips, playing cards and finding creative ways to spend time with their granddaughter.

Words that describe this painting: animals, birds, Canada geese, geese, lake, landscape, nature, summer, water, waterfowl, grass, classical, wildlife, animals, classical, realism, representational, oil painting, green

Two Peas in a Pod...

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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 still life is simple, but the combination of red and gray gives it sophistication," says artist Nikolay Rizhankov. A well-worn table stands against a muted background with cracks on the wall. A basket, a few apples, and a red mug...

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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...

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"Great horned owls spend a lot of time sitting and intently watching, rotating their heads to look at whatever interests them, including me," shares artist Emil Morhardt...

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A delicate portrait of a Canada goose against a pastel backdrop. "Spending time alone in nature is something I take advantage of whenever possible," shares ar...

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"Where I live, the coconut palms are dressed in the summer in magnificent colors that reveal a range of chromatic harmony," shares artist Andres Lopez. "It is as if the trees want to tell us, 'look at me...

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In this dreamy forest scene, artist Candice Eisenfeld used a palette knife and thick, semi-dried acrylic as the top layer to achieve the essence of tree bark textures. Background layers of tree forms are embedded in thin, white veils of paint and varnish to achieve an early morning, atmospheric effect.

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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"Hibiscus blooms are astonishing," says artist Jay Jensen. "The brilliance of color exceeds the range of oil pigments. They have fascinated me ever since I vi...

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A crashing wave breaks the stillness of the horizon, with a brightly reflected sunset on the moist sand. Artist Mitch Davis-Mann started this piece as a plein...

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"The historic Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles has a cafe on its street level called Best Girl," explains artist Hadley Northrop. "The floor is a classic bl...

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This is a California plein air style oil but painted in the studio.

About the Artist
Steven Guy Bilodeau prefers to create his works in one session...

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A worn brick sits dramatically in the middle of an abstracted space. Rendered in detailed layers of coral, brown, blue, turquoise, white, and yellow. "I found...

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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 Mitch Davis-Mann started this piece en plein air during a fishing excursion with his father and grandfather before finishing it in his studio. The serene ocean glimmers under calm winds...

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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 two nearer whimbrels look to me," shares artist Emil Morhardt. "They look as though they might be discussing whether or not to let junior fly to Florida ...

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A baseball spins through the air, streaked with reflections from the blue sky above. High, slow moving clouds give the ball outsize scale and speed. Part of a s...

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A glowing sunset stretches over the sea, with 12 waves peaking to catch the orange glow. Warm and cool colors work together in the scene, drawing the eye to the distant horizon and the vastness of the water.

About the Artist
Artist Mitch Davis-Mann creates luminous, dream-like seascapes and landscapes. Amazingly, he paints many of his meditative scenes while also working on an assembly line at one of the biggest automotive manufacturing plants. "We build 500 to 650 cars per day per shift, and in between building those cars I have 35 or so seconds," says Mitch. "Build one car, run over, add a detail with those 35 seconds, then rush back to the next car." On a typical workday, Mitch spends almost five hours in front of the canvas. In the beginning, he says it was a frustrating process, where he would lose his place constantly and by the time he remembered what he was working on, the next car would arrive. It eventually became a rhythm though, and now it keeps him focused in the factory. When he's not working, Mitch enjoys traveling, mountain biking and playing in a darts league every Thursday. His work has been exhibited in galleries in Canada and the United States, a local museum show, and on loan to the legislative assembly building in Toronto.

Words that describe this painting: waves, sunset, ocean, water, sunset, dusk, evening, sky, seascape, seascape, realism, representational, oil painting, purple

Twelve Apostles...

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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," ...

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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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A close-up view of two ducks looking astutely at the viewer. "There's something highly engaging, and perhaps a little unsettling, about the way these young fe...

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"These two glowing marbled godwits are painted at the edge of the surf on a soft late evening on a Santa Barbara beach," sh...

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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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A panoramic sunset along the Pacific coast, replete with rolling waves, fresh kelp along the shore, a burning twilight sky, and frolicking birds. "The composition of this painting supports a narrative reading from left to right as a flock of seagulls...

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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 find...

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"In this painting, a cold winter storm rolls in from the Pacific," shares artist Jesse Aldana. "The icy blue water and sky are accented with warm notes of clo...

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"Ravens look highly intelligent," says artist Emil Morhardt. "This one was slowly and purposefully striding back and forth about ...

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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 grand old oak tree stands in a clearing. Bright sunlight illuminates the leaves and casts an intricate pattern of shadows across the gentle green grass. "The ...

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An uplifting, light-filled landscape that combines old world realism with a modern aesthetic. Cumulus clouds gather at the horizon and sweep upward across the sky, enlivening the landscape. The cool blues of the sky contrast with the warm oranges and ochres of the hills. The long horizontal format gives a contemporary feel and a sense of calm.

About the Artist
Mandy Main is an art historian and landscape painter based in the Southern California desert. She has long been passionate about 19th Century American landscape paintings, which has been influential in her artistic practice. Mandy works in series, generally three paintings at a time. Her process begins with a vision of a place she has been, but she takes creative liberties with the aesthetic details. The artist is captivated by light and shadow, and strives to instill her work with moody drama through the representation of these elements. Using layers of paint and glazes, Mandy achieves mesmerizing atmospheric depth, encouraging the viewer to gaze and be still.

Words that describe this painting: landscape, realism, nature, clouds, sky, sunlight, countryside, panoramic, hills , landscape, realism, representational, oil painting, blue

Golden Hills...

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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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This is a piece I painted after I did a photo shoot in my backyard. I was interested in photographing the saxophone on a bright sunny day with a field of grass ...

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An evening sky of pristine clarity unfolds across the canvas while the low horizon is dominated by a massive old tree and a warm light on the porch of a littl...

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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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"These two friends were at the Santa Fe rodeo grounds, early in the morning, just after they were fed," shares artist Heather Foster. "They were relaxed toget...

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"This guy was at the Santa Fe rodeo grounds," explains artist Heather Foster. "Rodeos are a crazy world where an empty field one day becomes a busy town overnig...

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Artist Jo Galang says this piece was inspired by a lovely bouquet she received from her son and his girlfriend on Mother's Day. "It was so beautiful, and the ...

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A calm evening glow settles on Santa Monica's curving shore and pier in the distance. A man strolls among the palms while another figure looks out on the scen...

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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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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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The Coquitlam River near Jo's home in British Columbia is a favorite painting subject. She enjoys regularly walking the riverbanks from one end to the other w...

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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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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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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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In this dramatic seascape, Jesse Aldana describes a stormy evening on the coast near Santa Barbara, CA. A cloudburst races across ...

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Inspired by a view from the lower part of Shannon Falls in British Columbia, Jo captured the mesmerizing power of the cool water rushing over the sunny rock bed...

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"This sweet spot can be found around the base of Shannon Falls in British Columbia, the third highest falls in the province," explains Jo. "There you'll also ...