Beginning December 4, Abend Gallery hosts their 31st Annual Holiday Miniatures Show featuring a variety of themes, styles and mediums. The gallery is expecting to display over 500 miniature pieces by around 100 artists such as Todd Carpenter, Lucia Heffernan, Raymond Bonilla and Mary Chiaramonte, to name just a few.
Connecticut artist Kelly Birkenruth, who paints still life, figure and portrait pieces, will bring the show awe-inspiring work like A Laughing Lemon, a highly realistic still life of a lemon set inside a crumpled newspaper comic.
Kelly Birkenruth, A Laughing Lemon, oil on Artefex panel, 8 x 8"
“It took about a day to set up the composition, playing with various twists and crumpling of the comics paper to achieve the perfect shape, and light and dark pattern,” Birkenruth explains. “In my work, the light is always the most important element in the painting. Whether soft or dramatic, an interesting light source allows the contrast of light and shadow to give depth to the composition. Having a mix of hard and soft edges also helps me give my paintings interest and vibrancy.”
Matt Talbert, from California, will be featuring one of his classic figurative oil pieces Sunflower, depicting a woman wearing a yellow dress, set against abstracted foliage. His distinctive brushwork and his playfulness with texture makes for engaging and dynamic work.
Matt Talbert, Sunflower, oil on panel, 10 x 8"
“Like all of my paintings I start with taking my own reference photos,” Talbert says. “I’m always on the lookout for someone with a familiar face that I instantly connect with. The model here is a woman named Dagny, who I was drawn to by both her beauty and style. Her yellow dress was so vibrant and after I started painting, I realized with all the foliage around her, that she seemed like a flower emerging from the darkness. It’s very important for me that my paintings are not overworked. I need the energy of confidant brushwork and mark making.
Raymond Bonilla, Study for Post Run, oil on panel, 4 x 6"
I also care about the abstract elements flowing from the figure to the background and the interplay between the two.”
Colorado-based artist Sandra Pratt will be displaying several of her oil paintings with themes involving landscape, home and community. One of her most eye-catching pieces is Sunset Mountain, a “fun exploration of color in nature,” says the artist.
Pratt continues, “The Colorado mountains have such an amazing range of yellow and orange red color in the fall. We had been living in town for the past [few] years, and I thought that was pretty nice, but the mountains are at a whole different level of insane beauty. This orange red of the aspen trees is particularly interesting. I am pretty blown away. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stay long enough for me to absorb the awesome beauty. I must rely on photographs to make a painting, but to do it plein air would do it more justice. That’s the great thing about winter, light and shadow stay mostly the same day by day.
Sandra Pratt, Sunset Mountain, oil on panel, 8 x 8"
Pratt gravitates toward simple compositions and likes to explore with different techniques and styles but relies heavily on her palette knife to create her stunning scenes. Besides nature, the artist garners inspiration by times of day; “The crisp clear, bright light of an early morning, versus the warm saturated long shadows in the late afternoon,” she says. Pratt also likes exploring paint using a very singular set of colors and seeing the overall dramatic effect.
Artists are excited to share their many thrilling miniature collections with the public, offering a little something for everyone. The show will hang through January 1. —
Abend Gallery
1261 Delaware Street, Suite 2 • Denver, CO 80204
(303) 355-0950 • www.abendgallery.com
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