McBride Gallery | 4/5-5/3 | Annapolis, MD

Little Wonders

The National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society’s third Small Paintings exhibition features 125 paintings.

On April 5 the National Oil & Acrylic Painters’ Society will open its third annual Best of America Small Painting National Juried Exhibition featuring 125 paintings that measure 320 square inches or less. The exhibition will take place at McBride Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland, and kicks off with a reception and awards presentation from 1 to 4 p.m.

Included in the exhibition will be works by Patrick Seufert, Lindsay Goodwin, Rose Ann Bernatovich, Tom Altenburg, Jian Wu, Hans Guerin and Robert Akers, to name a few. The works represent a range in subject matter and styles, including everything from impressionistic oils to hyperrealist acrylic paintings.Rose Ann Bernatovich, A Moment in Yellow, oil, 20 x 16"

Goodwin’s juried painting, Royal Colors of Les Trois Rois, depicts the interior of the historic hotel of the same name in Basel, Switzerland. The artist, who often does painting trips throughout Europe, is often recognized for her imagery that freezes moments in time. “Sometimes I will stumble upon some unexpected gem, but this location in particular is actually what drew me to the city of Basel in the first place,” she says. “It was the deep purples of the famous restaurant, Cheval Blanc, located in the hotel of Les Trois Rois that beckoned me. The deep color looked quite fitting for the royal title of the hotel (as Les Trois Rois means The Three Kings in French).”Lindsay Goodwin, Royal Colors of Les Trois Rois, oil, 10 x 8"

Bernatovich was food shopping when she spotted the yellow irises that take center stage in her painting A Moment in Yellow. Returning home, she quickly set to work on pulling complementary items for the still life. “Like puzzle pieces, the cookie jar, glass vase, flower and grapes clicked together. Originally, I was going to set up a grouping of irises, but the lone iris covering the cookie jar like an umbrella felt more powerful,” she says. “Also, I spent time looking for objects that were complementary like blues and violets, but the predominately yellow cookie jar is what tickled the right side of my brain. For me it was A Moment in Yellow and now I needed to go and check my yellow paints then think about dinner.”Jian Wu, Mr. Patrick Dimoh, acrylic, 20 x 15"

Tom Altenburg, Spoonbill, oil, 14 x 9"

In September 2019 Wu was invited to judge the NOAPS Best of America exhibition and hosted a workshop at Montgomery-Lee Fine Art in Park City, Utah. One of his portrait models became the subject of his painting selected for the show, aptly titled Mr. Patrick Dimoh. Explaining the piece, he says, “My first impression of Patrick is that he is a true gentleman. There is also something special in him that captured my curiosity. His steady posture and composed facial expression made me feel the urge to get to know him; not just his facial structure, feature proportion, but his personality, his emotion and his life story. I wanted to paint him the way I felt who he really is, not what he looks like.”

The Small Painting National Juried Exhibition will remain on view through May 3. —

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