David Coffin

Spring Rivergold, 2006, 12" x 16"

watercolor and gouache on acrylic-primed paper

David Coffin's art is inspired primarily by his life-long love of pictures, of art history, and of craft and popular-culture traditions and only secondarily by the look of the "World Out There." While he is intoxicated by the beauty of the world, it is the potential of handmade images for giving us unique experiences that keeps him interested in painting. In his words, "I've always been most entranced by paintings built on things that only skilled, imaginative hands can do -- things like invoke non-physical realities, combine ideas and objects that don't meet in Real Life, assemble evocative new patterns, color harmonies and textures, and most of all, generate new feelings in purely visual ways -- that's the enduring mystery of pictures to me. I want to be a part of the exploration of that potential, and if I ever give another person a moment of delight or delicious pause because of something I discovered and brought into existence while painting, it's worth it."

Spring River, 2005, 15" x 22"
watercolor and gouache on acrylic-primed paper

David was a painting major in the late 1960s, but it was only after college that he discovered watercolor to be the perfect medium for his tastes and instincts. He was a transparent watercolor purist for many years and was dedicated to representational imagery in the service of conceptual compositions -- basically a painter with the mind of a collagist, more intrigued with what he might assemble than with what he could find in real life. His work won awards in the Chicago art-fair world in the 1970s and was included in national shows including the National Watercolor Society annual shows; he had a painting published in one of Maxine Masterfield's books and was invited to be artist-in-residence at a community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Spring Riverblue, 2006, 30" x 22"
watercolor and gouache on acrylic-primed paper

Eventually, the need to look for another passion for a living led him to spend several decades as a writer and editor of Threads Magazine, a well-known national publication for fiber arts. Then, in 2000, a powerful dream changed everything. He awoke from his dream of touring a painter's studio and, suddenly filled with an exhilirating enthusiasm for painting again, began to plan his escape from the magazine world. He also decided to let go of all the "purist" restrictions he'd accepted in the past, to allow every possible material, inspiration and impulse, and to let preparation and play merge completely, welcoming abstraction, improvisation and expressive gestures into his work.

Mates, c. 1970, 16" x 12"

Iris Time #3 (part of a triptych), c. 1970, 12" x 9"

Please visit David's blog and be sure to link from there to see his daily paintings on Eyes & Skies.

Linda Hancock

Light Track #4, 22" x 30"

Linda Hancock's work in painting and drawing focuses on light and shadow, positive and negative space. She is drawn to the forms that Circumstance provides -- a bike leaning against a wall with a low sun throwing shadows on the wall, a fence or bench that has its shadow pooling on the ground, an interesting architectural detail with its shadow on a textured surface. Living in Wisconsin, with its many-layered seasons and strong light at all times of year, provides unlimited opportunities for composition. Linda observes, "I paint 'in studio' using photographic references taken while traveling and while on 'time outs' from the studio, when the confines of being indoors and the constant insistence of commissioned work begin to undermine my creativity. A fresh look at common sights reignites my excitement for painting and gives me a jumpstart." Linda's fulltime work as a lettering artist and the years of training in the use of letterforms -- which are really just codified arrangements of positive and negative space -- inform her painting and drawing, and the precision that is required of a lettering artist is visible in the attention to detail in her paintings.

Madison Bike #1, 22" x 30"

Florence Bike, 22" x 30"

Linda has been a working artist for over 30 years, with an emphasis in watercolor painting and drawing. Having built her business as a lettering artist, she decided a few years ago to “finally take some time” to get back to her interest in painting, and she chose watercolor as the challenge to be pursued. An essentially self-taught watercolorist, her emphasis is on still life, with a continuing desire to explore light and shadow. Her paintings have been selected for exhibition in juried shows, most recently winning Best of Show in the ArtKudos exhibition for 2009. Although her undergraduate degree is in English Literature, Linda began studying letterforms at The Colorado College in 1968 and she continues to maintain a fulltime commercial lettering and calligraphy studio in Madison, Wisconsin. She has exhibited in Madison, Minneapolis, MN, Chicago, IL, New York City and London, UK. Her calligraphic work has been selected for the permanent collection of the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison and the Newberry Library in Chicago and has been showcased in many of the juried annual exhibitions in the international publication Letter Arts Review.

Light Track #3, 22" x 30"

Light Track #1, 22" x 30"

Please visit Linda's website to see more of her work.

Carol Carter

Mixed Messages, each panel 30" x 22"

Carol Carter has been painting for 30 years -- exploring figures, places, and narratives. Her favorite narratives revolve around situations that face all of us -- including motherhood, passages of time, sisterhood, aging, connectedness, and other aspects of the human condition. Growing up in Florida, her strongest visual impression was of water as a center for human activity and, in much of her work, water provides the setting for anonymous figures. While evocative and sensual watercolors of swimmers are a signature theme, she is equally at home with dramatic botanical images as well as portraits. Her use of vibrant saturated color adds to the mysterious, seductive, intense and inviting images she paints.

Florida Corkscrew Nature Preserve, 40" x 60"

Swamp Blessed Morning, 22" x 30"

Carol received her MFA from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri. She maintains a studio in St. Louis and teaches at the university level as well as conducting workshops throughout the country. She was awarded an MAA-NEA Fellowship in Painting and Works on Paper in 1994 and was voted Best St. Louis Artist by The Riverfront Times in 2000. In 2002 her work was chosen for the cover of New American Painting magazine and in 2003, the U.S. Embassy sponsored a solo exhibition of her work at the Teatro del Centro de Arte in Guayaquil, Ecuador. She was a visiting artist in Oslo and Stavanger, Norway in 1999, 2001, and 2003. The Turner Center for the Arts in Valdosta, GA held a retrospective of her work in 2006, and she also had an exhibition in Guayaquil, Ecuador in July 2008 and a retrospective at East Central College in Fulton, MO in 2009. Different Strokes, published in 2008 by Quarto in London, England, featured her work both in the book and on the book cover. Her work is represented in many public and private art collections.

Men Are So High Maintenance, 40" x 60"

Renewal, 40" x 30"

Please visit Carol's blog to see more of her work.

Genie Even

Camellia, 11" x 20"

For Genie Even, the greatest excitement about a painting comes with the initial concept, and the greatest pleasure comes when all the components in the process meld to form the painting she visualized. She is drawn to dramatic light patterns, strong values, and exciting color. After sketching from her photo compositions, she begins a careful process of underpainting, developing values, and adjusting the color using transparent watercolor pigments. Although most of her work is realistic, her subject matter varies from floral closeups and unusual plants to figurative works and still lifes. Her work blends a high level of detail with arresting compositions and clear, brilliant color.

Tree Study, 20" x 14"

Genie is a native Californian who graduated as an art major from Scripps College; the well-known watercolorist Millard Sheets was both her professor and advisor. When she returned to full time art in the early 1990s, she studied with many talented watercolorists, including Cheng Khee Chee, Lian Quan Zhen, Karen Frey and Jane Hofstetter, among others. She is a signature member of Watercolor West, the California Watercolor Association and the Texas Watercolor Society. Her work has won many awards, including Best of Show at the Palm Springs Desert Museum, and one of her paintings is in the permanent collection of the Triton Museum of Art in Santa Clara, CA.

Pre-teen Cool, 20" x 14"

Since moving to Knoxville, Tennessee in 2005, Genie has won awards in exhibits at regional art centers in Oak Ridge and Fountain City as well as at the Tennessee Art Association and the Art and Cultural Alliance. She continues to exhibit in national shows, including the Transparent Watercolor Society of America and the Watercolor Societies of Missouri, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas. She is a member of the Tennessee Watercolor Society and the Art Market Gallery in Knoxville.

Croton, 28" x 20"

Fuji Reflections II, 14" x 20"

Please visit Genie's blog to see more of her work.

Jeannie Vodden

Tiny Dragon Just Simmering, 22" x 15"

Jeannie Vodden's interest in the complex textures and patterns found in both natural and man-made objects is the starting point for most of her paintings. She adds natural light, an occasional figure, sometimes a dash of fantasy, and pulls it all together with a limited palette. Her preference for the complex play of form and light is balanced by her preference for a very simple palette -- starting with only three colors and seldom using more than six or eight -- and glazing many transparent layers to achieve great richness and depth of color. Although she doesn't paint full-fledged fantasy art, she enjoys adding touches of fantasy to her portraits to convey an interaction with the magic of life. In Jeannie's words, "My desire is to bring to my work the imagination and curiosity which is so often found in children and to combine that sense of wonder with an experienced artist's hand."

Remnants, 22" x 30"

Nestled, 11" x 15"

Jeannie lives in the Sierra foothills of northern California. She spends her time painting and teaching in her cottage studio, maintaining her garden, and browsing antique and thrift stores for subjects for her work. She returned to school in 1993 to study art at American River College in Sacramento. She studied with Sacramento artist Gary Pruner, whom she credits for not only for his marvelous teaching and passion for painting, but also for his generous support and encouragement as she became a full-time painter and teacher. Jeannie has been conducting watercolor workshops throughout California as well as other states for 15 years and also teaches regular classes at The School of Light and Color in Fair Oaks, CA and at University Art in Sacramento, CA. She has shown her work extensively in the California Gold Country and in the Central Valley -- including Stockton, Lodi, and Sacramento -- and has been accepted into two of the prestigious Crocker Kingsley shows at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Jeannie has won numerous awards for her work, and the State of California has purchased two of her paintings.

Mystic Companions, 30" x 22"

Handling the Muse, 15" x 22"

Please visit Jeannie's website to see more of her work.

A short interruption...

I'm taking a couple of weeks off to be with my family following my father's death. I will be back to posting a regular feature in two weeks.