Abstract Impressionist Art

Artist Comments
"The vase in this painting is the main character," says artist Oksana Johnson. "This handmade Italian ceramic piece is a work of art in and of itself. I selected other elements for this composition to support and complement its timeless charm." Oksana applied distinct brushwork on the blue and white vessel and created a striking balance of color with the soft peach roses.

About the Artist
Oksana’s paintings embody the tradition of Impressionism in the truest sense of the style. While Impressionism in its 19th Century roots was intended to change both the method and perception of painting modern life, Impressionist work in a contemporary context is arguably entirely about aesthetics. Oksana’s paintings beautifully capture serene city and garden scenes with soft painterly strokes and a delicate depiction of light. She often works en plein air, particularly when she travels in Europe, following in the footsteps of the Impressionist masters. When she’s not travelling or painting outdoors, Oksana can be found admiring her tranquil view of the Pacific Ocean from her San Francisco home and studio.

Words that describe this painting: flowers, bouquet, still life, roses, table, floral, vase, impressionism, still life, representational, oil painting, purple

Yellow Roses and Italian...

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"My intention is to draw the viewer into the scene and create a sense of tranquility," shares artist Nancy Jadatz. Seawater meande...

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Apples on a branch glow in warm light, accentuated by the cool abstract backdrop. Sherri applied paint primarily with a palette knife. She says that because o...

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Artist Maurice Dionne exhibits an autumnal impressionist view of a charming parkway canal. Fall colors beautifully create warmth from the crisp leaves on the ...

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Festive holiday ornaments spread out in artist Hadley Northrop's jubilant impressionist rendering. A window display of a store in Los Angeles during the yuletide, the kind of still life that catches the painter's eye. Light beams from red chili pepper string bulbs, a spotlight, and reflections from the city street reflected in the round baubles and the shop window...

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A close-up view of cherry blossoms against a colorful garden by artist Colette Wirz Nauke. Inspired by the beauty found in nature, Colette focused on these seasonal flowers and their rich and captivating colors. Part of a series, this painting depicts different shades and light found in an abundant garden in the late evening.

About the Artist
Colette Wirz Nauke gathers inspiration from her surroundings and memories and fuses them with her imagination. She has been greatly influenced by Impressionism...

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Artist Heather Foster paints an impressionist portrait of a brown horse. She takes inspiration from a colt she witnessed at Bishop's Lodge, a small complex on the outskirts of Santa Fe...

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Artist Elizabeth Garat presents an impressionist autumnal pond. She works on landscapes from direct observation, inspired by the changing seasons. "This is a pond I visit throughout the year," shares Elizabeth. She captures a quiet mood with the blooming red berry...

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Artist Elizabeth Garat paints an alluring empty backyard woods bathed in the golden sunset. The crisp fall foliage turns the terrain ...

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A radiant still life with blooms of pastel pink and yellow against a periwinkle backdrop by artist Mary Pratt. "Painting from life, I created a neutral glass ...

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A semi abstracted autumn landscape focusing on texture and warm hues. Brilliant red rushes at the edge of a pond in the foreground. A stand of tall trees in t...

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Inspired by the beauty, artist Colette Wirz Nauke shares a gorgeous view of cherry blossoms. Vivid colors and bold brush strokes fill the canvas. Colette aims...

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Artist Mandy Main based this painting on a walk she took in Tuscany just after a rainstorm. Billowing clouds float in the robin's egg blue sky. Long shadows e...

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A small coastal farmhouse tucked into a spring landscape, nasturtiums in the foreground give way to old eucalyptus and Cypress trees in the distance. Inspired from a scene in northern California that Kip sketched in one of his notebooks nearly 25 years ago. Part of his signature series of impressionist landscapes. He captures forest scenes, marshes and prairies throughout the year, playing up the changing color palette of the seasons and the specific lighting conditions. He focuses less on specific places than the overall feeling of the scene.

About the Artist
Kip Decker boasts more than 40 years of experience with acrylic paint. His images come from places he has lived - everywhere from Arizona to Oregon to Colorado. He finds inspiration in nature and admires the work of Post Impressionist artists. He likes to think of his artwork as "lyrical expressionism." Kip currently lives across the street from a small lake where he enjoys watching the birds.

Words that describe this painting: barn, California, flowers, field, pasture, trees, impressionism, landscape, representational, acrylic painting, blue

Near Half Moon Bay...

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Artist Onelio Marrero paints a canoeist greeting the dawn in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. A dramatic sky unfolds, revealing the colors and warmth of a brillia...

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Painted from a photographic reference, artist Joanie Ford rendered this painting with contrasting soft tones. "I wanted to represen...

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"It's all about the subject and the light," says artist Faye Vander Veer, when asked about her inspiration for this painting. "I saw this young girl talking on the phone while I was doing some sketching at a local coffeeshop. The light was the first thing that caught my eye, then I did a few sketches to design the composition. I kept wondering about her. I never saw her face, but it is so interesting to me how our lives can change in an instant all because of one phone call...

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In an impressionistic style, artist Maurice Dionne paints a busy mall filled with pedestrians on Sparks Street in Ottawa, Canada. "During lunch, many office w...

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A calm saturates the night while pleasant chatter fills the air. Artist Onelio Marrero finds inspiration from the burning light of the fire pit against the ba...

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Artist Patricia Prendergast depicts a popular fishing spot along the American River in Sacramento, California. "There were actually many fishermen there when ...

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One of artist Onelio Marrero's close neighbors is a master at the art of Bonsai. "When spring begins, my neighbor, Mark, goes about placing his potted plants ...

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Artist Samuel Pretorius depicts a breathtaking view of Switzerland's famed Lake Thun. A stunning landscape comes into view fro...

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Artist Janet Dyer captures a quiet strip of road in the rolling hills of rural England. Gestural broad strokes of bold and deep c...

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I enjoy making trips to Palm Springs to collect inspirational material for paintings. I am especially drawn to the bougainvillea blossoms that grow so well in...

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Artist Melissa Gannon paints a natural landscape of red. "I really wanted to explore all the variety of the fiery shade against muted blues and yellows," says...

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A young girl reaches for her father's ready hand to guide her while she walks along a low wall in a lush garden. "I love gardens, and paint them often, so the...

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Artist John Jaster paints an impressionistic view of a golden aspen forest. Tall trees painted in bold yellow, green and blue sprea...

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"Mount Diablo is a majestic presence throughout California's Bay Area," says artist Catherine McCargar. In this painting, she capt...

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"The sunlight danced across the water and on the foliage hanging over the stream, creating a frame for the deep woods beyond," Patri...

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This painting was inspired by my view from a hotel balcony in Paris. I captured the motion and texture of the moment in my signature style to inspire the view...

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A vibrant bouquet of red and turquoise flowers fill the composition in this joyful still life. Artist Jeff Fleming describes his painting style as kinetic impressionism. Jeff started the piece with a pencil sketch on the canvas, then with gloved hands, he applied oil paint using his fingers. Jeff says he created the energetic flowers and vase in this scene purely from imagination.

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: impressionism, flowers, vase, spring, blooms, Iris Scott...

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"I had to have my roof replaced last year and to my dismay, a cardinal couple had made a nest on a tree limb that would have been in the way of the roofers taking off old shingles," shares artist Judy Mackey...

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"I used artistic license to ramp up the expression of color in this piece in an effort to enhance the feeling for the viewer," explains artist Jill Poyerd. "T...

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Artist Judy Mudd paints a rustic country landscape in the style of impressionism. Farmhouses and silos adorn the misty pink background. Searching for new and ...

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"Vietnam is a country of contrasts - lowlands with lush green ricefields like this one as well as mountains around every corner," says artist James Nyika. "This picture was so compelling because of the huge color contrast of the bright luscious foreground and the greying distant mountains. I wanted to capture these contrasts that are pervasive throughout the country."

About the Artist
Artist James Nyika paints the glowing atmosphere of cities across the world. As a child growing up in Kenya, he found art materials at the student bookshop and also borrowed just about every art history volume from the British Council library in Nairobi. "I checked out the same books over and over just to stare at the art, to try and understand how it was created," says James. With family encouragement to study engineering, James moved to the U.S. and immersed himself in science studies at Boston University. Several years after embarking on a tech career, he set a goal to create at least one painting a week, never throwing away any works and learning as much as possible in his off hours. Today, James still balances his full-time career designing large software systems with his prolific output as a painter. "Painting is a great antidote to the regularity of a computing profession and I really value it for the uncertainty that it brings - something frowned upon when writing code."

Words that describe this painting: Vietnam, paddy, rice field...

Artist Comments
A thickly textured palette knife painting of an old saguaro cactus standing against a blooming spring desert backdrop. "This painting was inspired by the incredible Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California," shares artist Lisa Elley. "It's where the Colorado and Mojave Deserts collide with amazing vistas and dazzling flowers."

About the Artist
Working almost exclusively with a palette knife, Lisa Elley maneuvers her artistic blade with an uncanny fluidity. Why paint only with the knife? She says, "when I paint with a brush, which I do occasionally, I tend to focus on the detail. With a palette knife I can't focus on the detail too much, so my paintings are looser, and more gestural, with bigger sweeps and strokes." This technique is called wet-on-wet. And it seems to be quite popular, as she has been bestowed the title "Knife Queen" by her facebook fans. Fun fact: Lisa's high school art teacher told her to study harder at math, as a career in art was "impossible."

Words that describe this painting: desert, Mojave, flowers, floral, spring, cactus, sun, mountains, sky, landscape, California, Joshua Tree, impressionism, landscape, western, representational, oil painting, purple

Desert Bloom...

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Artist Crystal DiPietro displays an impressionist view of flourishing Palo Verde trees. It blooms with bright yellow flowers in th...

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Softly painted narcissus blooms form a bouquet of fresh fluorescence. "I painted this piece while taking part in an online demo with IranSheen," says artist F...

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Onelio lives near Manhattan and travels there often. Grand Central Station is one of his frequent stops. "It is a marvelous interior space that bustles with c...

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"On December 21st, 2020 I witnessed the Great Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn," shares artist Elizabeth Garat. "Astronomers said these planets hadn't appear...

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"I used a palette knife to paint a feeling," says artist Judy Mackey. In this upbeat still life, Judy rendered a bouquet of bright red carnations, adding abstract dashes of yellow and red to build the emotion of the scene she experienced in her studio. She worked all prima, layering wet on wet paint until she achieved the desired sculptural surface.

About the Artist
Originally from Japan, Judy Mackey embarked upon her professional artistic career over a decade ago after connecting with a local artist. He taught her how to skillfully wield a palette knife instead of a paintbrush, which gave rise to her own stylistic development. Judy uses this technique to create heavy texture. Her medium of choice is oil paint, with which she enjoys mixing and creating new colors with limited pigments. Her work glows with sweet simplicity in a painterly, impressionistic style.

Words that describe this painting: flowers, floral, vase, still life, impressionism, palette knife, alla prima, texture, carnations, impressionism, flora, representational, oil painting, blue

Grocery Store...

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Artist Catherine McCargar paints a classic white house perched on top of a hill. Lush greenery circles the delightful scene. She depicts serene surroundings r...