"Rush Hour" 36" X 24" Fluid Acrylic

Rush Hour by April M Rimpo

Rush Hour

Fluid Acrylic

36" X 24" gallery wrapped

$2075

April Rimpo is one of 63 artists selected for Maryland Federation of Art's

 American Landscapes Exhibition

by show juror Joann Moser. Joann Moser, Senior Curator Emerita, of Smithsonian American Art Museum was the Museum’s Senior Curator of Graphic  Arts from 1986- 2016.

Rush Hour will be on exhibit August 23rd through September 2, 2018 Reception and Awards: Sunday, September 9th, 3-5pm 

ABOUT THE PAINTING
Although the traffic was at a halt, the undulation of the rolling hills, making waves of city buildings appear before us, provides a different type of motion through the city. I can only hope the drivers, who are waiting to move, can see how lovely the city is laid out before them. Even the crane, that reveals the constant change in every city, seems to add to the rhythm of city life.

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

• Traffic Jam at the Concert - Concert goes waiting on the ticket takers
• Traffic Jam - Sometimes it doesn't take much
• Traffic Jam III - Cyclists backed up at a crossing
• Full to the Limit - An overloaded canal
• Thoroughfare - Amsterdam: More bikes and trikes than you can believe
• Traffic Jam II - No spot at the port for the incoming boat
• Country Tour - Cars waiting on a bike race
• Trapped - Traffic congestion in a tunnel

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.

'52 Chevy Truck Commission

 

"Wall of Wheels" with April Rimpo's Paintings

 I'm delighted to have three of my paintings hanging in this beautiful home in Arizona. These three paintings were collected starting in 2012 with the center painting titled Department Store. Cycles came along second and the latest addition is '52 Chevy Truck, a commission of their truck resurrected from old family photos.

"Wall of Wheels" in situ

The set is displayed in their dining room which is visible from the front door due to the open floor plan of their beautiful Arizona home. I love that they decided to name their display The Wall of Wheels.  

The new '52 Chevrolet Truck painting started when these friends asked if I would be interested in painting the old family truck. They had been inspired when they saw an image of my painting More Beautiful with Age, which is shown below.

Since I really love painting old rusted cars I thought this project would be right up my alley so I asked them to provide some images of the truck. I received several photos of the truck plus an image of the family brand for me to add to the truck. 

I like to create "sketches" by modifying the images in Photoshop® to create a plan for the painting. It also helps with communications when the client does not live near me, as was the case here.  

There were some features of the truck that were not quite as clear as I like when I am painting, so I searched for 1952 Chevrolet trucks on the Internet. I used the images I found to get a clearer image of the Chevrolet logo on the side, to see the headlights (since they were broken in the family's photos), and to research the mirror which was lying on the hood. I also located a 1952 Chevrolet Truck color chart and asked which was the original color and whether they would like a bit of that color added back into the painting. 

All this research resulted in a few more discussions and images from the family of the truck with the mirror in its upright position and other views that better showed the front grill. I created a sketch with the mirror in place, but the family felt it was distracting and I agreed. Additional adjustments were made to the surroundings; for example, one less silo and the removal of some farming equipment that they thought might also be distracting.

Wyoming license plates were the last thing I researched to see some of the details. Although I found the version of license plate shown in their photos, I also found a 1952 vintage Wyoming truck plate. I shared my discovery and the family liked the idea of using the vintage plate. So I integrated this longer and narrower plate on the truck using Photoshop to position it properly on the grill and change the numbers to match those in the original photograph. With these revisions the family was happy and I was authorized to proceed. 

More Beautiful with Age by April M Rimpo

With a completed design I could then relax and enjoy the painting. I did add back into the truck some of the original Cherry Red paint which really helped make the image pop. This commission was a real joy to create and I'm happy to report their reaction to the delivered painting could not have made me happier. And here's what they said about the commission process, "You made this process so easy for us and we knew we could trust you with the details. Perfect is the word that describes the whole process."

Contact April and see more of her art on her website  

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 bi-weekly email.

"Trapped" 36" X 36" fluid acrylic & watercolor

Trapped by April M Rimpo

Trapped

fluid acrylic & watercolor mounted on

36" x 36" X 2.5" deep cradle Cherry Wood

$3110

Available through April's Website

Trapped was born "in my list of must do paintings" when leaving New York City through the Holland Tunnel a couple years ago.  My husband was driving and I was delighted by the reflections of lights in the ceiling and walls of the tunnel. Now you might be wondering, if this was a happy moment enjoying the lights, then why is the titled Trapped?  Well, although the initial moment when entering the tunnel was a happy one, my reaction once I get inside tunnels that are under bodies of water is angst.  I really dislike tunnels under water.  Maybe there have been too many movies about water flooding these kinds of tunnels that works on me.  Generally in the movies this occurs after some bad guy sets off an explosive (not a natural disaster), but none the less these movies have gotten into my psyche.

When invited by the Columbia Art Center to participate in an exhibit titled "Things that Scare Me" I thought of the pictures I had taken and decided it was time to do my Holland Tunnel painting.  Part of me says I shouldn't call this painting Trapped since it was the beauty of the reflections that really made me want to paint this.  While getting ready to paint this I decided to emphasize the dark "hole" at the end of the tunnel, but wanted to contrast it with the beautiful subtle colors in the concrete and tunnel walls. The calming colors surrounding the dark hole make me smile when I look at the painting.  Maybe this painting will end up being therapeutic and help me get over this phobia.  

Other urban paintings by April include:

• Smart Car Choices
• Freight Yard

Contact April here

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.

Rimpo 2016 All Rights Reserved. You may share my work with attribution and a link to this source site, but all other uses are prohibited.

Bike Trip I and II - color options

Bike Trip I by April M Rimpo

Bike Trip II by April M Rimpo

I used two versions of the same composition to explore color options. In the first I wanted to use the three primary colors red, blue and yellow for the color scheme, believing this triad would help emphasize the bikes on the back of the SUV and augment the playfulness of the concept behind the painting. When composing this painting I had also considered a color scheme of just blue and yellow.

After the first version was done I thought I should go ahead and try the second color scheme.  I found the yellows in the painting really brightened up the scheme and it felt happier to me than the original. Normally blues are associated with calm and quiet moods and since there are more blues than yellows I didn't expect this result.  I think the lighter background and yellows end up making this a warm and cheery painting.  Perhaps it is because yellow is sometimes described as the most visible color, so even though I used much less yellow than blue it still draws us in and makes the scene happy, which was my original goal.

Bike Trip II

Fluid Acrylic and Watercolor

12" X 14" gallery wrapped and varnished

$375

Available for Purchase Here

The title Bike Trip was a play on words, so I feel the happy effect of the colors I chose in version II augment the playfulness I intended.  Let me know which painting appeals most to you and why.  I'd like to understand other interpretations of these two versions of the same design.

"Smart Car Choices", 34" x 34" acrylic and watercolor on gallery wrapped paper

Smart Car Choices by April M Rimpo

Smart Car Choices

acrylic and watercolor

34" X 34" varnished gallery wrapped paper
$2550

Available for Purchase

I started this painting just because I enjoy aerial views of cities and felt the cars and vans presented an interested design opportunity.  It wasn't until I got part way into the painting that I felt the painting was more than just an interesting aerial view.  One of the vehicles is of the "smart car" ilk. When I see these small cars on the road I am always amazed at how tiny they are.  They make me grin and wonder if they might fit in better on a bumper car track rather than competing with trucks and SUVs on the road.

The more I thought about the various vehicles in the painting, the more I thought the painting should be about people’s travel choices.  Here we have two large vans, much larger than the “smart car”, that might provide driving and parking issues in a large city. There are also two cars, one a bright red sports car, the other a white sedan, perhaps a rental car.  Then there is the taxi cab where you can just let the other guy drive.  And don’t forget the bike chained to the street sign post.  Lastly, there is the person walking. There are many choices for people with different preferences

Do you find your location drastically affects this choice?  I have always loved sports cars, but alas, I succumbed to a sedan when my son was in high school so we had room for the whole family.  Don’t get me wrong, I now love that car, but at times I miss my sports car.  When in the big city I general prefer walking or taxi if going a long difference. What would be your preference?

Other transportation paintings:

• More Beautiful with Age
• Aerial Bikes I
• Aerial Bikes II
• Delivery Trike
• Missing You
• Streetcar
• Department Store

Interested in a print? Prints are available on watercolor paper or on a gallery wrapped canvas. Check my print shop.

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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.

More Beautiful with Age, 22" X 29 watercolor

More Beautiful with Age watercolor by April M. Rimpo

More Beautiful with Age

Watercolor

22" X 29" image

29" X 36" brushed silver frame

$1400

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder.  I suspect that when we were driving down the road in Vermont looking for a covered bridge my husband never expected me to ask him to turn around and go back for a couple of old rusting cars in a field.  The car closest to the road is the one that caught my eye, but as I walk across the field I discovered there were actually three cars.  The one shown here was not the one that initially caught my eye.  However as I wandered from one car to the next I found the interlacing of the flowers with this car to be the most compelling. There is something about these kinds of contrasts that often draw my attention.

I find just about anything can be an inspiration for a painting.  My husband has apparently learned this with time because he no longer questions me about why we had to drive back to a given place.  I hope this is because he likes the result when I finally get around to doing the painting, but it may simply be easier to go along with it than to challenge my inspiration.

I have even found when traveling with other artists that what draws my eye is not the same things that draws their eye.  I went for a drive one late afternoon with a fellow artist who was taking the same workshop as I.  We were out getting the lay of the land with no particular destination, so I kept stopping to take pictures of the birds, landscape, houses, whatever caught my eye.  As we were returning to the hotel where we were staying I stopped one more time to photograph an egret in the marsh.  She had not seen the bird and mentioned how amazed she was at all the things I see; especially since I was the one driving. You may be thinking you don’t want to be anywhere near me when I am driving; that I am a road hazard.  Well I think I am safer than other artists I know, since I do this in very rural locations and I do pull over to the side of the road to take the pictures.  A short walk to get back to the location is not unusual.  I know some of my artist friends have actually figured out how to take pictures when driving down the highway.  Yikes!   I guess it is all relative.

Well I hope the crazy inspiration for this painting makes you smile and maybe even takes you to a place in your past.  Let me know about what inspires your work.

If this painting really "tickles your fancy" and you might like the original or a print contact April.  Samples of some of my limited edition prints are available in my online shop.

A Review of 2012

2012 was a wonderful year for me. I've been able to focus full time on my art, enter national exhibitions, work with new galleries, learn about the business side of art, and enjoy memories by painting people and places I know and have visited.  I have to thank my wonderful husband, Chas, for all of his support this year, which has contributed in so many ways to my success.
 
The video above includes examples of the art I created and exhibited during 2012.  All paintings I exhibited nationally are included here as are a few examples of portraits I painted for a book of Family Portraits completed in 2012.  Some very recent paintings that have not yet seen the light of day are also included in this video.  Enjoy!

Some of this work will be included in my solo exhibit "Travel the World through Transparent Media"  at the Columbia Art Center in Columbia, Maryland during February 2013.  That exhibit includes my water media and fused glass art.  During the reception on February 9th from 3 - 5 pm I plan to give an artist talk describing the connections between the fused glass and water media pieces.

"Streetcar", 14" X 22" watercolor

Streetcar by April M. Rimpo

Streetcar

watercolor

12"X20" image

in brushed silver frame

$720 within the United State*

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE

Sometimes you just know exactly how you want a painting to look even before the event has occurred.  As I stood in my hotel room poised at the window looking at the street scene below a transit street car had stopped to pickup passengers.  I knew quite a few taxi cabs traveled the street perpendicular to the street car that I had only a small glimpse of from my window.  I knew the orange of the street car and the orange-yellow of the taxi would make a great composition, enforcing the interesting angles of the streets and buildings. I  patiently started to snap pictures hoping to catch a taxi in the frame before the street car moved on its way.  Finally a taxi drove by and I caught its picture.

Since I had seen this painting in my head and was able to catch it live, there was not much to do once I got home to compose the painting.  My primary job was to retain the repeated oranges (street car, taxi, and the reflection of the street car in the windows), simplify shapes, and adjust colors slightly in the windows to make the color theme work as I envisioned it.  Had the taxi arrived after the cable car left I could have taken a picture of the taxi then combined the two photographs in my painting; but catching it live had become almost a game of chase to see whether I could get it before the street car departed.

I liked how other buildings between my vantage point and the street car had created a natural frame on the sides of my composition, but I didn't want the details of the brick building on the right or the stripes of the building on the left to detract so I only hinted at the brick and essentially eliminated the vertical stripes. The angle of the wall in the foreground helped to accentuate the angle at the corner, so I retained a portion of the wall where I could repeat the angle formed by the street car and the taxi.  

http://www.spreesy.com/aprilrimpo/102

Designing this painting in the moment was exciting and rewarding.  Let me know what you think of the final result.

* Contact April regarding purchase 

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.