Artists Out of Bounds Visual Language Magazine Vol 3 No 8 August 2014 7

ARTISTS

OUT OF BOUNDS Artists to Watch and Collect

Carol Jo Smidt . David Terrar . Jonelle T. McCoy . Vanessa Katz . Russ Mackensen

VL visual language magazine

August 2014 Volume 3 No. 8

Contemplation by Vanessa Katz

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Artists to Watch and Collect Carol Jo Smidt David Terrar Jonelle T. McCoy Vanessa Katz Russ Mackensen

Visual Language Magazine Featured Artists this month delve into the beauty of each of the five different artists and their unique approach to creativity.

Carol Jo Smidt has a strong emphasis on color, design and drawing in her paintings. Throughout her painting career, animals have been her major interest. David Terrar was very influenced by reading about the struggle between man and water. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huck Finn, Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea come to mind. In his paintings, water represents life. Water is essential for life. Water is calm and beautiful, or violent and dangerous with hurricanes and storms. Jonelle T McCoy found a cathartic release from years of inner strife and turmoil by painting her passionate emotions using horses on canvas.

The Paso Fino breed she loves deeply connects with her through their spirit called brio, which is their heart and soul, and their astonishing beauty and intelligence. Vanessa Katz found moving from the UK to sunny California brought the contrast between the dull, grey, cold, rainy days in the city and the bright sunny color in the desert as dramatic and was the inspiration to begin painting again after a long absence. Russ Mackensen spent forty years as an architect before discovering the joys of Oil Pastels.

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Carol Jo Smidt

www.caroljosmidt.com

I was an artist from the age of 4, drawing horses and other animals. My passion for art continued with my formal art education beginning at the St. Paul School of Art through graduate studies at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Drawing from my background in graphic design, I have a strong emphasis on color, design and drawing in my paintings. Throughout my painting career, animals have been my major interest.

My paintings are a result of a thoughtful, ongoing, creative and intuitive process. Creating art is a spiritual journey. It is somewhat of a surprise where a painting will lead me. I find that my paintings are more vivid and saturated than real life. I see color in a subject and intensify those hues in a painting. At times, just a title will evolve into a subject that I need to capture in paint.

One of my goals is to bring honor and respect to the subjects that I paint. As a creator of art, I want the viewer to have a positive connection with my paintings.

Win Place Show

Running Horses

Stallions Running

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David Terrar

www.davidterrar.artspan.com

I was very influenced by reading about the struggle between man and water. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huck Finn, Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea come to mind. In my paintings, water represents life. Water is essential for life. Water is calm and beautiful, or violent and dangerous with hurricanes and storms.

Just like water, we go through periods of calm beauty, or periods of turmoil and difficulty. Huck Finn had a raft to carry him down the Mississippi and from one difficulty after another. I believe we all have a raft or boat to carry us through the difficulties and beauties of life. We may call it a family, a career, religion, whatever it is, it’s there to help us get through life. Many of my paintings are of Chesapeake Bay work boats, some are old and rickety and barely seaworthy. The boats represent the lifelong struggle to go out on the water, day after day against the water, rain, and brutal sun to put food on the table and support a family. My paintings memorialize the story of their struggle.

Chesapeake Bay Work Boats,Tilghman

Quiet January at Blackwater Marsh, Maryland

Kent Island Narrows, Maryland

VL Jonelle T. McCoy

http://mccoysgaitedhorseartworks.com

“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

Winston Churchill For Oklahoma woman artist Jonelle T. McCoy this famous quote rings quite true. Jonelle has found a cathartic release from years of inner strife and turmoil by painting her passionate emotions using horses on canvas. The Paso Fino breed she loves deeply connects with her through their spirit called brio, which is their heart and soul, and their astonishing beauty and intelligence. They give her the inspiration to breathe life onto canvas with a wide range of emotion through the use of expressive poses in movement alongside color for mood.

Jonelle is a self taught artist whose professional life began with becoming a scenic artist since 1987. She retired in April 2014 to pursuing her career in fine art full time. She had always been artistic and could be found creating from early childhood. Five months after getting married in 2001 her husband’s disabling work injury caused the already emotionally complex artist to sink into a decade long spiral where her personal art suffered, and she laid down her brushes. She continued to work in the scenic arts, but that was using her talents for someone else’s ideas, not hers. In December of 2009 the blockage was released, her muse returned and she started to paint in earnest, at first rediscovering what she could do, and then after experimentation of a childhood art school project memory she developed her signature line style which has changed, evolved and refined in the last few years. Her chosen medium, heavy bodied acrylic paint, allows her further discovery with the introduction of new types, soft body, liquid, high flow and spray paint. She is giving thought to eventually trying oils again in the near future.

Jonelle is a generous person at heart, and enjoys the reward of giving when she can, and her art has been her biggest way to do so. She’s donated to individuals, organizations and horse rescue efforts from the sale of paintings. She found that the small sized 60 day series she creates annually to help raise money for donation has given her a fantastic challenge to push for new ideas, and some have become studies for larger works.

Perigee Moon 36x36x1.5

Perihelion Sun 36x36x1.5

http://mccoysgaitedhorseartworks.com

Break Free 18x24

Jonelle feels that the painting of the horses has opened her life back up in a whole new way- connecting her with her inner self and clearing out the old stale distressing vibes and replacing them with a positive outlook and the ability to focus these emotions more easily to find peace in life. Like the antsy horse who’s been cooped up in a stall ready to fly out into the pasture to revel in life and release energy, she is ready to continue her quest to climb ever higher, excelling, stretching, exploring and evolving her art to be even more powerfully expressive to the viewer.

Zero to 60

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Vanessa Katz

http://www.VanessaKatzArt.com

Vanessa Katz moved from London, England to the desert in Southern California with her husband, daughter and doggies sixteen years ago. The contrast between the dull, grey, cold, rainy days in the city and the bright sunny color in the desert was dramatic and was the inspiration to begin painting again after a long absence.

“The sunshine makes everything look so vibrant and alive and makes me feel that way too!” Trees, landscapes, animals and everyday life provide her with a wealth of subject matter and abstraction and contemporary non-representational work gives her the freedom to create purely from her imagination and emotions.

“I hope to evoke emotion and a stirring of the heart through my work and when my collectors let me know this is their experience, it fills my heart with joy knowing how art can connect and nourish us at such a deep level”.

Vanessa attended Putney School of Art in London and still attends many workshops to learn new techniques from other artists. She finds the process of learning while experimenting creates much excitement and is very empowering.

Vanessa invites you to visit her website and her very active Facebook page and looks forward to seeing you there.

Destination

Desert Sand

Aria

Desire 1

Azure

Desire 2

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Russ

Mackensen

http://rmackensenfineart.com/

Having worked as an Architect for over 40 years I produced a lot of drawings and renderings of projects, but was not involved in fine art. Yet I have been “seeing” projects in lights and darks, texture, composition, movement and color. All these elements of architecture are the same ones that artists apply to their works.

In 2009 I decided to try Oil Pastels. A drawing medium that allows my mind to naturally transfer what I “see” onto the ground I’m working on. I soon discovered this was a medium not too well known or understood.

An application of pure pigment in stick form, similar to Dry Pastels. They are relatively new in the art world being developed as a fine art medium for Picaso in the 50’s.

My approach to creating realism in my work is seldom attempted due to its difficulty. With a limited palette of colors to work from the direct application of one color is not viable. Working on 400 grit sandpaper everything is mixed right on the final location, so any mistakes are not easily repaired.

In my life and my art I strive to give praise to the Creator of all who forgives my mistakes and allows me to share the beauty I see with those who view my art.

A Blue Plate Special

My Cup Runneth Over

Rose 1

Copper Pomegranates & Oranges

Cosmos in Glorious Light

ARTISTS

OUT OF BOUNDS

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