Abstract Impressionist Art

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"I wanted to make the boats in the foreground the focus of this marine scene," says artist Judy Mudd. "Therefore, I reimagined the more complicated image of the original photograph and created the misty, mysterious, and flowing environment of this piece." She depicts a cloudy harbor with boats parked...

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Artist Elizabeth Garat paints a dramatic view of the sky above the vast ocean's choppy waters and distant coastal islands. The brilliant rays of the sun illum...

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Artist Judy Mudd takes inspiration from a journey through the lush countryside. She offers a captivating view of the bright field and a rural farmstead surrou...

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Artist Onelio Marrero painted this scene en plein air soon after a snow storm engulfed the woods in his area. Yellowing grass triumphantly emerges from the th...

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A glowing depiction of a cold winter evening by artist Claudia Verciani. Figures stroll down a snow-covered sidewalk illuminated by inviting restaurant lights...

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"I've painted this contemplative piece when the pandemic started and the world started changing around us," shares artist Claudia Verciani. An elderly woman g...

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Artist Mandy Main shows a peaceful inlet surrounded by lush vegetation. Deep shadows contrast with the bright sunlight, leading the eye into the composition a...

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This painting is part of artist Onelio Marrero's latest series exploring the terrain and geology of the hilly northwest of New Jersey. On his painting hikes, ...

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"Free form shapes, thin lines, and blocks of color are juxtaposed to give this painting a contemporary feel," states artist Nancy Jadatz...

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Artist Emil Morhardt captures a group of acorn woodpeckers diving together from a tree. “They really do this,” says Emil. He spends hours with his lens trained on the birds as they argue loudly among themselves until finally taking a jump. The woodpeckers are painted on a thick layer of absorbent ground, giving them a slightly three-dimensional appearance against the gray-stained canvas.

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 Suren Nersisyan paints a vibrant bouquet of yellow and pink roses surrounded by tropical foliage. Thick, textured brushstrokes and a deep violet backgr...

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"When starting a work the most overlooked detail is the size of the canvas," says artist Benjamin Thomas. He explains why the size of his canvases has recentl...

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"This girl was posing for me on a trip to visit a ranch in Pagosa Springs, Colorado," shares artist Heather Foster. "She looked, to me, as if she was wearing black knee socks...

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"Restaurant Julii is a wonderful new fixture on the Washington, DC landscape," says artist James Nyika. "I was strolling the neighborhood and came across this...

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A delightful still life of three home-grown sunflowers from artist Nicole Lamothe's garden each in their own vase. Forever capturing the essence of summer, Ni...

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Part of artist Marie-Eve Champagne's series exploring coastal life and memories. She paints a large growth of cacti near a beach reminiscent of hot summers an...

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"Whether it's fall, winter, spring, or summer it's always time for some colorful birch!" exclaims artist Lisa Elley. A stand of vivid birch trees glows in a b...

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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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A tranquil scene from a stretch on the American River in Sacramento, California. Artist Patricia Prendergast painted this piece by enlarging a smaller plein a...

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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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Cool air blows as the sun radiates warmth into the atmosphere. The early morning light glows from behind a stretch of mountains in the far distance. "I find t...

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"Getting away to the country offers a quiet and peaceful moment," says artist Posey Gaines. "It lends itself to times of reflection and meditation." Posey pai...

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Two women in festive kimonos stroll the narrow streets of old town in Kyoto. "Japanese kimonos have such amazing varieties of colors and designs, and are them...

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"This piece was inspired by the dramatic approach and climb up one of my favorite mountains in southern Utah," says artist Crystal DiPietro. Sharing her depic...

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"This painting was inspired by beautiful Vernazza, one of my favorite villages of Cinque Terre," shares artist Oksana Johnson. "On a bright sunny day, Vernazz...

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Artist Joanie Ford started this piece with a carefully drawn and detailed image. "I had been to similar places in my life, and as I...

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By combining two different reference photos, artist Fatemeh Kian produced this elegant floral composition. "One photograph featured a wall-mounted light, and ...

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Inspired by her memories of Amsterdam, artist Oksana Johnson offers this soft, impressionist view of one of the city's many waterways. "I remember it as a hap...

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"So... The Hard Rock Cafe is at this location, but what really makes the site so beautiful is the surrounding buildings, and in particular the massive shadow ...

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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 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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"There are many truly iconic architectural structures in Japan, and the Odaiba Bridge is one of the more memorable ones!" says artist James Nyika. "I wanted t...

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"There is that point when kids are looking grown but at the same time still look like the young kids that they are," muses artist Heather Foster. "This guy wa...

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Soft light falls tenderly upon a pink waterlily in full bloom at Mission San Juan Capistrano in Southern California. "In this painting, I wanted the water lil...

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"Preparations on a boat to go out fishing can be long, lonely, and time-consuming," says artist James Nyika. "This fisherman is preparing his boat for an even...

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"During an early fall morning on one of my daily strolls, I was coming round a bend and saw this sight - bright morning sunlight ...

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Using a wide variety of brushwork, artist Jill Poyerd set out to capture the beautiful, graceful lines of a set of aging poplar trees along a winter road. "Us...

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A western landscape featuring a quiet lake at the edge of a mountain range. Delicate, misty clouds pass overhead. "In order to conv...

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When artist Patricia Prendergast paints at the river, she often quickly picks up her camera and snaps photographs of other details ...

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A young girl walks along the beach in search of shells buried in the sand. Artist Claudia Verciani used the light coming off of the water to illuminate the ch...

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Sherri posed her model, Bridget, in her backyard garden just as the sun was setting to capture the dramatic backlighting. Golden light silhouettes the figure and works with the shaded areas to build three dimensionality. A timeless and gentle portrait in the warm Arizona light.

About the Artist
Sherri Aldawood didn't intend to always paint flowers, but over time her love of gardens started to permeate her art. She focuses on the light and color of the flowers on the canvas. Sherri prefers alla prima, working with wet layers of paint instead of letting them dry. She keeps the paint as wet as possible by using walnut and clove oil to extend the drying time.

Words that describe this painting: woman, female, feminine, light, evening, garden, impressionistic, figure, figurative, person, people, Sargent, Sorolla, impressionism, people, representational, oil painting, green

Lost in Thought...

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Naoko describes this vibrant scene as a walled garden where all kinds of herbs and medieval plants are in full bloom. The sun shines brightly, illuminating th...

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As the sun slowly sinks behind the sea stacks, waves peacefully roll toward the shore. The sailboats on the horizon are illuminated in the twilight. "I painte...

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Claudia Verciani painted this impressionist scene after seeing fishing boats in Brazil.

About the Artist
Inspired by the great Impressionist painters, Claudia uses paint emotionally to depict the beauty of life. She is most inspired by light, and as such, tends to paint en plein air frequently. Claudia strives to capture singular, transient moments in time in which the contrast between light and dark values are striking. She presents a body of work that conveys traditionally Impressionist influences across varying choices of subject matter.

Words that describe this painting: impressionism, boats, seascape, harbor, impressionism, seascape, representational, oil painting, blue

Three Amigos...

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Nancy Merkle spends a lot of time exploring the nature around her home in Tacoma, Washington searching for special compositions in the landscape. She looks fo...