Artist Focus: Erik Tiemens

“My painting practice is driven by the inspiration I find in working from imagination and weaving together elements from art history,” says artist Erik Tiemens. His watercolor and gouache Contours of Change, juried into the 17th International Art Renewal Salon, received an award of excellence from our sister title American Fine Art Magazine,which honors a contemporary artist who masterfully exhibits the influence of historic American art.

Contours of Change, watercolor and gouache on watercolor paper, 10 x 14 in.

“I am especially captivated by the sense of ‘time travel’ painting offers—imagining what life was like in the worlds depicted by the great masters I admire,” Tiemens explains. “Turner’s luminous atmospheres and Ruisdael’s dramatic skies are particular touchstones for me, as are other Dutch Golden Age landscape painters of the 16th and 17th centuries, along with the evocative landscapes of the 19th-century European and American traditions. I am strongly drawn to the process used by early landscape artists—rooted in on-site observation, sketching from memory, and later transforming those impressions in the studio.”

Gold Rush Repair, watercolor and gouache on watercolor paper, 4 x 6 in.

Watercolor and gouache often feel like the most direct way for the artist to work. “This intersection of memory, place and studio practice feels almost magical and forms the core of my work,” says Tiemens. “Through ongoing dialogue with these historical influences, I seek to synthesize their approaches with my own experience of the Northern California landscape, allowing their legacy to inform and inspire my contemporary vision. This exchange continually supplies me with new ideas and subject matter to explore.” —