Kurt Anderson has a very public presence as an artist—his studio gallery at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, in Alexandria, Virginia, includes a comprehensive display of his art as well as his workspace, which is fully open to the public to observe him as he paints.
Where Micah Dwells, oil, 24 x 20 in.
The artist excels in a variety of subjects, creating intimate portraits and figures, atmospheric landscapes and poignant still lifes. His recent oil, Where Micah Dwells, depicts a woman in a pale yellow floral dress, matched by those same flowers in the backdrop. “I asked this lovely young woman to pose when she stopped by my studio one day, and like most of my portraits, it was made from live poses while visitors watched,” says Anderson. “Yellow peonies seemed to me to be the right flower for her, but while I have done my share of paintings where a woman is posed with an arrangement of flowers, I wanted to take it a step further and make the flowers a part of the figure itself.”
Sweeping Surf, oil, 24 x 30 in.
Another recent piece, Sweeping Surf, captures waves crashing against craggy rocks. “For decades I had primarily focused on flowers and floral still life. But seascape painting became my passion after I moved to the East Coast about six years ago,” he says. “I discovered that the techniques I had honed over so many years painting flowers were especially effective for painting the ocean. Using impasto brushwork to capture movement and subtle shifts in color were always important to my work. These techniques can be pushed further and serve me well in expressing the movement unique to ocean waves.”
On Corolla Beach, oil, 40 x 30 in.
Anderson has written and co-written eight books on painting including his latest, Expression by Design: The Art of Kurt Anderson. He also serves as the executive director of Oil Painters of America. “It’s a privilege to be part of this community of artists and to work on behalf of the thing I most believe in,” he says, “advancing and showcasing traditional representational painting.” —
Powered by Froala Editor
