Green

Our second Art competition “Green” started in June 2023 and concluded on July 27, 2023. Art Room Gallery received entries from many countries around the world: USA, Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Taiwan, Australia, Netherlands and France. The Green theme in this competition included a diversity in types, styles and mediums (oil on canvas, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, alcohol ink, digital art, photography). The following evaluation criteria has been used for judging the artwork: creativity, interpretation of the theme, originality and quality of art, overall design, demonstration of artistic ability, and usage of medium. Jury decided to select 70 artworks for inclusion in the exhibition. Aside from First, Second, and Third place Jury also presented Honorable Mention awards.

Thank you, and enjoy the exhibition!

Statement:

Linda McCord works in watercolor, acrylic, silk fusion, and all the printmaking mediums. She does a vast array of subject matter and is one of the rare artists that can do realism as well as abstracts. She loves challenges and when a medium or subject becomes too easy, she moves on to a new medium or sets up more complex compositions. She was a gallery owner for 10 years, and taught painting and printmaking at her local college. She has taken international awards too numerous to list, and her art is in the collection of museums, churches, hospitals, and colleges. She is a signature member of ISAP, NWWS , GWS, and CWA. McCord’s realistic work has been described as abstract realism. McCord says, “I design my art around mathematical concepts rather than emotion.” Statement: Composition is the most important element when creating my art. I love light and shadow and the way the light forms to make various shapes. It is these shapes that I focus on in my work. I repeat the positive shapes in the negative areas to create a sense of rhythm. I love color, but value is more important to me. Contrast of any type excites me. With all my work that involves color, I prefer to use transparent layers rather than direct application. I decided on composition and color by doing a series of thumbnail sketches and paintings. I plan my work carefully, and although the major decisions are made before I start any piece of work, I leave room for flexibility while the work is in progress. Each work in progress is magical and exciting and sometimes even frustrating, but never boring, and always addictive. I love being an artist.

Statement:

I specialize in painting landscapes with water as a major element, as well as classic automobiles. I paint in a realistic style and oil paint is my primary medium. Capturing the raw beauty of our natural world is a joy and painting vintage cars is an exercise in nostalgia. My paintings have been represented in galleries in California, Connecticut, and Vermont, and in an exhibition in the New Britain Museum of American Art. In 2023, three of my paintings were featured in International Artist Magazine. My wife and I split our time between Massachusetts and France.

Statement:

Artist Statement for Garret Demarest These photographic art images were developed by Garret Demarest of Palm Springs, CA. Garret's work has evolved over time. His initial interest was in capturing images of objects but soon turned to people, animals, plants, and flowers as he grew in his studies in psychology and human development that included emotional reactions to color and color psychology. Garret’s later career as an organizational development consultant, took him around the world and provided the opportunity to photograph people and places that captured something unique and spontaneous. Now retired, he spends his free time immersed in his hobby of photographic art where he manipulates original photographs into abstract images resembling paintings of the “Color Field School” brought to life by Mark Rothko and other abstract impression artists in the Mid-20th Century, thus creatively blurring the lines between photography and painting. In his work, he has taken original photos of a variety of different things – flowers, water scenes, sunrises, sunsets - and re-envisioned them through his manipulation creating abstract images using specific colors from the original photograph. His images have inspired mood elevation, re-energizing, dreams, memories, and music compositions. His focus on balance and partnership of colors, helps him select images that move through the visual and emotional excitement of both bold color and muted tones while expressing the emotion of abstract impressionism and “Color Field” art. His patron list includes entries from around the world as well as several business offices and building lobbies.