John Jaster

Move Along, Original Painting

2017

Artist Comments
This painting was inspired by the landscape of Central Oregon near Mount Bachelor. The mountain stands proud against the rocky foothills that surround it.

About the Artist
Nancy Merkle;s process begins with a glimpse of color, a flicker of light, a pattern, or a texture. Elements swirl in her mind for hours, sometimes days, sometimes weeks before a design clicks and is transferred to canvas. With the canvas in front of her, she works intuitively -- a mark here, a mark there, a little touch of color, a bit of texture -- until she is satisfied and declares the work finished. Currently Nancy;s work leans toward abstraction; she doesn't paint the world as it is, but as she wishes it were. Bold colors and loose brush strokes are her goal. When she;s not making art, Nancy travels the Pacific Coast with a bicycle strapped to the car and curiosity in my back pocket. Fun Fact: Nancy lived in Alaska until she was five. She had bison in the backyard, bears at the landfill, and a moose who stopped by once in a while to look for sweet grass...

Artist Comments
"As foggy headlands shift shape on the horizon, redwoods materialize out of a palette of grays and blues in this painting of California's Big Sur," says artis...

Artist Comments
A pair in a kayak glides through the ocean under a clear blue sky in this realistic piece by artist Jesse Aldana. Calmer waters in the open sea promise a great day under the warm sun as the light glistens on the crashing waves near the shore. A gentle haze glows where mountains peek through the mist. "The bright horizon hints at a future of limitless possibilities."

About the Artist
California artist Jesse Aldana uses the ritual of sunrise and sunset to capture the spirit of the west. Using a hybrid of realist brushwork and an almost surreal absence of humans, Jesse documents residential neighborhoods, main thoroughfares and coastal scenes across the great city of Los Angeles. Reminiscent of Ed Ruscha, Jesse’s work acts as both a record of the current landscape as well as a metaphor for the openness and sense of opportunity that continually draw settlers to the west coast. Jesse says of California, “the sky is an overwhelming presence.” He frames his big sky compositions with narrow palm trees and low-slung buildings at the periphery of the canvas to illustrate the scale of the scene. In doing so, the viewer can begin to appreciate the sentiment of the final frontier. Jesse works from a home studio in Los Angeles using photographs that he takes of the surrounding area as source material. He holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA from The New York Academy of Art. He regularly exhibits at the Beverly Hills Art Show.

Words that describe this painting: kayak, ocean, wave, nature, sports, realism, water, seascape, sea, horizon, boating, oilpaint, seascape, realism, oil painting

Big Blue...

Artist Comments
"A thick layer of clouds begins to loosen its grip on the Malibu coast as the restless autumn sea besets a pier of stone," describes artist Jesse Aldana. Beam...