"Don't Look Back" 8" X 10" Acrylic on Canvas

Don't Look Back by April M Rimpo

I think with this painting I have now painted bicycles sitting at the side of the road, people just out for a ride, commuting to work, in triathlons, and now with Don't Look Back a cycling team on an indoor course.  Perhaps the only cycling activity I have missed is people on mountain bikes.

People often ask if I am a cyclist. I wish I could answer "yes". I haven't ridden regularly since my early 30s when I was trying to get back in shape after the birth of my son.  I am a very clumsy person so the flat terrain around our home in Arizona was perfect for me. During the middle of the morning, before the temperatures rose to their peak, I'd go out to ride. Commuters were off to work and the side streets around our home were fairly empty. There were even wide off-road paths where the clay was baked hard allowing me to travel much like on pavement. I'd often see Roadrunners and occasionally wild animals. We lived near an Indian Reservation that I passed on my ride allowing me to occasionally view a coyote in the distance. It was a lovely time.

For twenty years we've lived in a small East Coast town with narrow winding roads and lots of hills and dales. I haven't ventured out on my bicycle since right after we moved here. I found the constant cars passing me on those narrow roads much too intimidating, knowing how unstable I feel on a bicycle in the first place. My bike sits in the basement awaiting me with the bike helmet poised nearby, tires flat from neglect. But I love to watch cyclists and feel their energy as they fly by, exciting me to paint them and live vicariously through them. 

Don't miss April's other cycling paintings on her website

Click here to Contact April

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

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.

Movement Series

I have been painting bicycle and bicyclist for a while.  In my latest paintings my intent is to emphasize motion, speed, and energy. 

In both paintings I enjoyed letting the background flow into the image of the bicyclist.  In Movement I the background becomes part of the shirt and the race number attached just below his back.

Movement I by April M Rimpo

Movement I

Fluid Acrylic

25" X 18" Varnished Gallery Wrapped Paper

In Movement II the background shapes can be seen running into her flesh tones, helping to ground her in the scene.

Movement II by April M Rimpo

Movement II

Fluid Acrylic

25" X 18" Varnished Gallery Wrapped Paper

You can see both Movement and Movement II on my website under Art > Cyclists Gallery

For your favorite cyclist, consider this.

Set of giclee prints on watercolor of 

Movement I and Movement II 

Each print is 16" (h) X 12" (w)
$150 for the set, includes shipping within USA
Contact April if Interested in a print set.

Movement was selected by juror Carole Pickel for the 8th Annual International Society of Acrylic Painters Open International Online Show.  See the exhibit here.  It was one of 60 paintings selected from a field of 300.

It has also been selected for North Light Books' AcrylicWork5: Bold Values, to be released in 2018. 

Other paintings in April's Movement Series include:

• Race
• Cycling
• Movement III

April's Movement series shown at right 

in an Office Environment

Copyright April M Rimpo 2015 All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

 #bicycles #hocoartist #hocoarts #bikerace #cyclists

Solo Exhibit at Glenview Mansion: Modes of Transportation

A Clutter of  Kayaks by April M Rimpo

I am delighted that my solo exhibit at Glenview Mansion is almost here. It opens on August 2nd, with a reception from 1:30 - 3:30PM. The theme of my exhibit is "Modes of Transportation."  You will find paintings of cars, trains, ships, sailboats, kayaks, dugout boats, motorcycles, bicycles, tricycles, and streetcars; something for everyone. I've been fascinated with painting urban and street scenes for some time and many, but not all, of these paintings fall in that category. A Clutter of Kayaks is a serene painting of several kayakers spending the day on the water. There is also a look at the fate of a car, abandoned by its owner in a field, in More Beautiful with Age. Shipping Port and Freight Yard are two very different views at how we transport goods in and around the United States.

Shipping Port by April M Rimpo

I've become quite hooked on painting cyclists, so you'll see quite a few bicycle paintings in the exhibit. Morning Commute celebrates a group of daily cyclists who ride regardless of weather.  Movement II features a woman who rode in the bicycle race that is routed through our town twice a year.

Movement II by April M Rimpo

I admire people who ride bicycles. I've always been more than a little bit uncoordinated, to the point that, when I turn my head to look for cars, my bike drifts in the direction I look.  It's a problem I have not been able to break, so I admit I don't ride my bike anymore.  The narrow streets in the area where I live feel too dangerous given my "skills." I have, however, learned about the growth of bike trails across America that give me hope that I will be able to ride again. The American League of Bicyclists is a great organization that I have been following recently.  Maybe they will inspire me to get back on the saddle.

The paintings shown here are just a few that you will find in this exhibit. I hope to see you there. The photograph of me with my new custom Custom Candy Bar wrappers is one more reason to attend the reception.  I'll have some of these candy bars with me, so come check out the exhibit.  Someone suggested I make these for each art event I participate with different images of my art;  I thought it was an interesting idea. Let me know if you would collect them.

Hershey Bars with Custom Candy Label of April
with Freight Yard.  Wrapper from www.candywrapperstore.com 

Three other artists also have exhibits at Glenview this month.  They are: Shelley Marie "Naturally Unnatural" mixed media, Caroly Johnson "Illuminations" photography, and Kalin and Thweatt paintings and sculpture. 

Interested in learning more about April's art inspirations, tips about her painting process, or art business tidbits? Want to know when her art is in exhibits? Consider joining her friends and collectors by signing up for her twice-monthly email.

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.

Country Tour - more bikes

Country Tour, 20" X 36" varnished acrylic on paper, varnished

Country Tour

fluid acrylic

20" X 26" image

shipped within the United States*

Available to purchase here

Every year there is a bike race that is routed through our town.  Many years I had errands to run on the day of the race and was unable to get photographs of the racers.  This year I put the race on my calendar so I could be sure I'd have time to get some new reference material.  I took countless photographs that day; I believe I watched the race from the arrival of the earliest riders to the last to make it through town.  I combined three of my photographs to develop this design and took liberties with the colors of the buildings but believe I stayed true to the spirit of the day.

The riders were the inspiration, but including the police who helped direct traffic and the volunteer with the flag who helped direct the riders through the turn were important elements of the occasion.  

You can see some of April's other bike paintings by following the links below:

• Aerial Bikes II - (SOLD)
• Bike Ride
• Bike Trip I and II
• Bicycle Series
• Missing You

You can see more "Traffic Jam" paintings at these links:

• Traffic Jam at the Concert - Concert goes waiting on the ticket takers (SOLD)
• Rush Hour - Enjoy the view when trying to get home
• Traffic Jam III - Cyclists backed up at a crossing (SOLD)
• Full to the Limit - An overloaded canal (SOLD)
• Thoroughfare - Amsterdam: More bikes and trikes than you can believe
• On the Fjord - No spot at the port for the incoming boat
• Traffic Jam - Sometimes it doesn't take much  (SOLD)
• Trapped - Traffic congestion in a tunnel

* For purchase outside the United States, contact April regarding shipping costs

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.