Renee Manford

Peoria Road
©Renee Manford

We all have differing perceptions of the things we experience. You might say our own private realities. An artist creates an object of art and we look and we see and we experience sometimes we relate and other times we just don’t get it. Then there is art that is as gently comfortable in a Déjà vu kind of way. Other times everything comes together from the subject, style and substance and I just stand back on my heels.

The art of Renee Manford, and in particular, the piece pictured here did that for me. “I’ve been there” crossed my mind when I saw this image. The subject was rural America, the style Pierre Auguste Renoir and the substance was the focus on the interdependency of man and land embraced by the sky. I was relieved in reading her Artist’s Statement that I didn’t have to “get it” to some specification because I’m not sure many see what I see. Renee says, “I have no expectations regarding what others should see or feel about my art. I want my art to move others in ways that makes sense to them.”She has worked in oil, acrylic, watercolor, ink and graphite and other art forms like sculpting, weaving and pottery.

She has two upcoming exhibits one of paintings at Emerald Art Center, 500 Main in Springfield, Oregon, December 4th through December 28th. Another show of her prints will be held at Island Park Gallery 215 W. C Street, Springfield, Oregon December 5th through January 24th, 2008.

She says “By honoring the partnership between myself and the medium I am using, life is allowed to present itself.” How true that is and not just in creating art but in how we can lead honorable lives as we thrive in the medium of living.

Thank you Renee.

Renee has her own web site at:
http://www.reneemanford.com

Also visit Renee's blog at:
http://www.manfordrj.wordpress.com/

To get a better look at Renee's work and for more information visit her sites.

Anne Teigen - Gentle Wings

"Party of One"
©Anne Teigen

Anne Teigen is a Eugene, Oregon artist. Her work here "Party of One" just captured my mind, reminding me of my consulting days in a place other than home and my solitary dinners or lunches. It also has very much the feel of the fine Italian artist Amedeo Clemente Modigliani. Modigliani's work, in turn, was influenced by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Georges Rouault, Pablo Picasso and Paul Cezanne's paintings.

So here is Anne Teigen's work, wonderfully original and as current as life today. She has taken the likes of Modigliani and Cezanne to a new place and time. This is just one of the wonderful works on her website. Click on the image to be transported to her colorful, enriching and creative view of life. A visit there is like a warm summer breeze in a shaded grove of trees.

It isn't often we can find treasures like this hiding in plain sight unless we look around, in this case I'm glad I did. Thank you Anne for the permission to show this intriguing work of art and a link to your page. Another of my favorites is a piece called "Meet Me by the Window."

Art Quote

"What I am seeking is not the real and not the unreal but rather the unconscious, the mystery of the instinctive in the human race." ~ Amedeo Clemente Modigliani

Denton Lund Revisited

Echos of the Old Men
copyright Denton Lund

I am constantly amazed by the amazing work of Denton Lund. Earlier on this blog I shared another work of Denton but I have to admit I visit his page from time to time and the last visit I was struck by the depth of his work as a visionary whose art is truely a reflection of a deeply spiritual soul on fire. He takes us to a place in the past with his "Echos of the Old Ones" to the beginnings of history and our ties to this earth. To the ones who lived with nature and led great American Nations that thrived long before the European arrived. Please visit his website for a wonderful experience and opportunity to place his work in your home.


On a personal note - I have begun a website for my photography starting with some of my images of flowers.

Nicholas Hely Hutchinson

Nicholas Hely Hutchinson
Winter Storm - Portland Bill
Mixed media 16 x 21 ins

"Nicholas Hely Hutchinson (1955- ) is a painter, influenced initially by Dufy and Matisse, and also drawing on the English NeoRomantic tradition. He settled near Blandford, Dorset, and the countryside of that county and Wiltshire, horse racing, interiors and still life were among his subjects. He studied at St Martin's School of Art and Bristol Polytechnic. Nicholas showed solo with the Montpelier Studio from 1984, later exhibitions including Wattis Fine Art, Hong Kong,from 1992, the Jerram Gallery, Salisbury, 1995, and the Portal Gallery in London. He is represented in the Government Art Collection, Barbican Centre and Unilever, as well as a number of private collections. Hely Hutchinson is the third son of the 8^th Earl of Donoughmore, an old Irish family." ~ Storm Fine Arts Gallery

I found Nicholas Hely Hutchinson nestled snugly in the pages of "Ireland of the Welcomes" a Dublin based magazine. It was at an imaging (X-ray, CAT Scan) lab in Eugene, Oregon. I was impressed with his style and use of muted color. Some images were "fisheye" distorted and others stark, straight-lined and crisp "Shaker" simple. Nicholas struck me as very simply efficient but with a breathtaking flair for flight. This image is a great example of soft rocks and sharp water that appears to me to be blue and white fire. I love his work and it's art for my soul