"Letting Loose" 20" X 32" Watercolor

Letting Loose a watercolor by April M Rimpo

Letting Loose

Watercolor

20" X 32" painting

Mounted, Varnished, and Framed

The enthusiasm of musicians during a concert, giving their all to the audience, is the subject of Letting Loose. Not only their enthusiasm but also their joy in delivering their best is revealed in their expressions. The lighting of the stage made them appear like they were emerging from darkness, partially obscuring the equipment behind them on stage.

I preserved a few reflections off microphones, drum sets, and other equipment by using a thin mixture of gesso and liquid acrylic medium. These partially masked areas allowed me to complete the background using quick gestural brushwork and highly saturated watercolor paint. Working fast was essential to achieving vibrant colors, imitating the multicolored lights moving about the stage. My energy in applying  paint reminded me of the musicians’ movements during their performances.   

Interested in April's artwork or taking one of her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her twice-monthly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who Select the General Interest topic you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register. Select as many topics as sound of interest. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

"The Perfect Ride" 20" X 12"

The Perfect Ride by April M Rimpo

The Perfect Ride

Fluid Acrylic

20" X 12"

Selected for the Pike Peak International Watermedia Exhibition, April's painting, The Perfect Ride, will be on display from June 4 - July 30, 2019 in Colorado Springs. It is one of 100 paintings selected from a field of 360 entries. Many thanks to all who organize this exhibit and to the juror Martha Mans.

You may guess the narrow street made of cobblestones is not in the United States and you would be right. The Perfect Ride captures the textures of life in this small village and the necessity for small motorcycles for traversing the narrow roads. I don't recall seeing a single bicycle during our travels through this town, since I'm sure the ride would be far from smooth. Most people walk everywhere, as you can see by the amount of foot traffic, but the streamlined motorcycles were good for longer travels. If going between towns and you need to carry goods to market, you might find the Chicken Bus more useful.

I love painting motorcycles maybe more than bicycles, that may be hard to believe, but the equipment is more intricate and provides an additional challenge. Combine the motorcycles with cobblestone and the colors of the buildings and you know I had to paint this. Gaining the right skills to know how to accomplish this painting is why it took nearly 10 years from when I first was inspired until the painting was born.

Interested in April's artwork or taking her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her twice-monthly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who include a selection of General Interest you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register.  Thank you for your interest.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

Inspiration to Exhibit

Some of my paintings that will be in my and Elaine Weiner-Reed's exhibit, "Portraits of Life - The Art of Storytelling," were inspired by a concert that my husband - Chas- and I attended last year.  This post starts with some photographs I took during the concert that lead to many of my musician paintings.  After the video I show several of the resulting paintings. 

The concert was Voodoo Threauxdown featuring Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Galactic, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, New Breed Brass Band, Cyril Neville, Walter Washington and Kermit Ruffins.  

Letting Loose by April M Rimpo 22" X 34"
(Inspiration: The Preservation Jazz Band)

Heating Up by April M Rimpo  24" X 24"
(Inspiration: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue)

Jammin by April M Rimpo  12" X 12"
(Inspiration: Galactic)

Leading the Way by April M Rimpo
36" X 24"
(Inspiration: Cyril Neville)

Showin' Off by April M Rimpo 20" X 36"
(Inspiration: The Preservation Jazz Band)

There are paintings of people in different endeavors and other musicians in the exhibit, but I'll save those for another post.

This is not your standard exhibit. In addition to a reception with a Gallery Talk by both of us, we're also holding two collaboration events with poets and musicians.  They have written work inspired by our paintings that will be read or performed during our Collaboration Events on May 21 and 22, from 6-8pm.  The poets will read on May 21st and Bob Jacobson will perform some improvisations on saxophone or clarinet in response to our paintings.  May 22nd will feature Rogue Collective a group of  violinists and a cellist who bridge the gap between classical and popular music.  They will perform structured improvisations to our paintings. See the full list of performers here.  I hope you can come enjoy our art and these events.

Interested in April's artwork or taking one of her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her twice-monthly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who Select the General Interest topic you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register. Select as many topics as sound of interest. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

"Rockin' R&B" 24" X 12" watercolor

Rockin' R&B by April M Rimpo

Rockin' R&B

Watercolor, mounted and varnished

24" X 12"

A friend of mine mentioned to me that her son was a musician in the Minneapolis area. She occasionally shares Facebook posts when he has live streaming shows or videos.  I loved his music and his whole persona.  He has been great to get to know via his videos. His name is Alex Rossi and you might want to check him out.  

Once I'm inspired by musicians' work it is hard to get them out of my head and I end up doing a painting of them as my tribute to their craft. Rockin' R&B is my tribute to Alex.  I had a print of the painting created for him as a means of thanks. When I gave the print to his Mom to deliver for me she told me how much she loved the painting and how much it touched her.  I was so thrilled since she is a fantastic artist and I feared it would not hold up in her eyes.  I can't described how much joy this painting has brought to me just in seeing her reaction. Thank you my friend.

Some people have expressed their interest in my painting process. I will say it varies depending on the subject matter, but for the musician series I tend to start by working on the background and then moving to the musicians.  I know a lot of artists who always start with the face when painting people because they feel that is where they will struggle the most.  I generally don't do that because I feel like capturing the emotion of the performance is most important and later I move to the details.  Here is a series of images of Rockin' R&B in progress with the finished painting at top, where I finally developed his face.

 
Interested in April's artwork or taking one of her classes? Consider becoming a Studio Friend by signing up for her twice-monthly email. April segments her newsletter so you can select topics you'd like to hear about when you sign up. For those who Select the General Interest topic you will receive emails about twice-monthly. If you are only interested in classes, then the emails will be much less frequent discussing upcoming classes and how to register. Select as many topics as sound of interest. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

"Making Tortillas" fluid acrylic & watercolor 30" X 19"

Making Tortilla by April M Rimpo

Making Tortillas 

acrylic & watercolor

30" X 19" image
Mounted and varnished this painting arrives in a 33" X 22" frame

Available for Purchase on my Website

Provenance:

• One of 115 paintings selectd for the Missouri Watercolor Society's 2019 International Exhibition. - See Mike Bailey's Juror's Statement at the end of the post.
• One of 59 paintings selected for the Illinois Watercolor Society's 33rd National Exhibition 2017.
• Selected for the Laurel Art Guild Open 2016
• First Place Award in the Artist's Gallery of Columbia "Color Columbia" exhibition 2015

I have wanted to paint Making Tortillas ever since I returned from Guatemala in 2008. I have considered different color schemes; different focal points; different cropping of my source photographs, but none of the designs satisfied me. Recently I decided to try a different approach to the scene, cropped in closer and using a much more limited color palette.  It was the happiness of this woman and the gesture of her hands as she went about making her tortillas that I decided was the focus.  The beautiful reflected colors in the table top, which had been a distraction in earlier designs, were really not important.  It was the sense of joy she communicated with her expression that really mattered, so what more did I need?  Sometimes finding that quality that drew you to take the photograph is harder to find than you would expect.  Details that you may not have noticed when you took the photograph start to get in the way of that original inspiration.

For the artists in my audience, I started this painting by masking off much of the woman, the white areas, all the orange and red areas, and the light blue fabrics in the baskets. Then I poured on very wet washes of DaVinci fluid acrylic paint, tilted the paper to let the colors run and mix, added some granular light colored watercolor pigments to add interesting swirls and granular patterns, then let the paint dry.  I almost never use a heat gun or drier since I feel the colors are not as vibrant when I use these.

Most of the painting was done using fluid acrylic and small amounts of granular watercolors.  Exceptions were the red flower on her shirt and the orange/red corn in the basket.  I wanted these to be very vibrant.  I find when I use straight acrylic pigments for reds they seem a bit dull, while watercolor reds seem to almost glow. So after establishing some blues where the dark shadows would be, I applied an orange watercolor pigment to create the underlying color. When the watercolor was nearly dry I added some Alizarin crimson acrylic to create darker red passages.  A number of thin washes of Alizarin and some Quinacridone burnt orange were layered over the orange watercolor to create a variety of red shades. Blues and purples were used in the shadow areas and an Alizarin layer was added on top to add definition to the corn. Throughout the piece I repeated the same colors in different combinations and strengths so the painting holds together.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Making Tortillas and your experience with finding and expressing the essence of a photograph that seemed so right at the time, but continue to elude you when you want to express it in your art.

Mike Bailey's Juror's statement: 
Missouri Watercolor Society 2019 International Exhibition I offer greetings and congratulations to all the artists who entered this prestigious exhibition. It is indeed an honor to have been chosen to select and judge this show! I must say, however, that it was a daunting task to select the best pieces from such a large body of outstanding paintings. It truly was, at times, a ‘hair pulling’ decision making process! Most everyone asks about selection criteria and the reasoning behind the choices. I am a design “nerd !” Design is always the driving first thing which presses me to include or exclude any painting into, or out of, an exhibition. Content, or message, or story in a painting will set me thinking in ways that a simply “beautiful” painting would not. The message is very important. There is an overriding condition, which appears in a few paintings, which holds enormous power . . .and that is creativity. This aspect shows how the artist thinks and exposes the artist’s audacity, authenticity and freedom. It, therefore, carries a lot of weight. . . .at times as much, or more, than content. Lastly, expert technique counts for little. That is to say that a well designed painting that exhibits strong content and / or exemplary creativity will win out over poor technique. As an aside, I must admit to sometimes allowing personal taste to enter into the above reasons for judgment. While I try to prevent taste from entering the decision making, my humanness may, at times, unexplainably enter into the final reasoning. To those artists who did not make the cut, you have my sincere empathy while I encourage you to continue reaching for higher levels of artistic achievement. I know rejection can be painful. It can also be the stimulus needed to advance aesthetically. So, press onward and continue entering; it is very much worth your efforts! 

Sincerely, M.E. “Mike” Bailey, AWS / NWS

* Contact April regarding purchase outside the United States

More of my paintings of Guatemala can be found by clicking on the titles listed below:

• Antiguan Drummer
• Incense
• Guatemalan Girl
• Fruit Vendors
• Street in Sololá
• Poinsettia Tree
• Heading to Market - SOLD
• Messengers
• Woman with a Wrapped Hat
• Hammocks
• The Dugouts
• Wash Day
• His Dugout
• Stopped to Chat
• Basket Maker
• Flores - SOLD
• Back Strap Weaver
• Out of the Sun - SOLD
• Guatemalan Family

Copyright April M Rimpo All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.