April M. Rimpo Art: fluid acrylic on gallery wrapped paper

Showing posts with label fluid acrylic on gallery wrapped paper. Show all posts

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Art Reception of Work by Students and Faculty at Columbia Art Center

Student/Faculty Show at Columbia Art Center

April's paintings included in this exhibit are:
Coming in for a Landing, Family Day, and A Cheery Place

Join me at the Opening Reception and Pot Luck on Sept 14, 2-4pm. On the evening of the reception there is an opportunity to vote on your favorite work. An award will be granted to the artist with the most votes.

This exhibition celebrates the work of the Students of Columbia Art Center. Attend the reception and vote on your favorite student piece. 2-D and 3-D art will be on display. April plans to have 3 paintings representing her Fun with Fluid Acrylics classes taught earlier this year.

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

Sunday, August 25, 2019

"Two Birds in a Bush" a 8" X 8" fluid acrylic

Two Birds in a Bush by April M Rimpo, 8" X 8" fluid acrylic

I love watching birds in our yard. Golden finch males are always easy to spot since their golden yellow bodies just can't be camouflaged. For many years our Morning Glories manage to survive the winter and by mid-Summer are entwined on a trellis in our front yard. Their variegated blooms from Lavender-Rose to deep purple always make me smile. Most mornings I look out first thing to see how many blooms are opening that day and hope I'll remember to look again mid-day when they truly are at their glory.

Forgive me while I have some fun twisting an old saying; You could have One painting in hand and "Two Birds in a Bush."

This title came about when I asked my friends on Instagram and Facebook to offer suggestions for a title. I received over twenty responses, many of which will likely become titles of other paintings. Your creativity was so appreciated. I laughed when I read "Two Birds in a Bush" harkening back to the expression about cherishing what you have rather than risk losing it by trying to attain something better. That thought actually seems quite in line with my feeling about the moment I captured. For me this painting represents the beauty of nature and something to cherished.

Available at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery
8600 Foundry St Suite 2063, Savage, MD 20763
Phone: (301) 490-2001

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Thursday, May 2, 2019

"Heating Up" 24"X24" Fluid Acrylic

Heating Up by April M Rimpo

Heating Up

Fluid Acrylic, Gallery Wrapped and Varnished

24" X 24"

On exhibit at Bernice Kish Gallery at Slayton House May 9 - June 8, 2019
Available on my website for purchase

Can you hear the saxophones? Base Sax, Alto Sax, and Guitar from Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue brought the audience to their feet numerous time during their performance in 2018 during Voodoo Threauxdown at Baltimore's Pier Six Pavillion. The colors in Heating Up are vibrating with energy, just like the musicians. They may be frozen in time in my painting, but they were moving all over the stage and rocking side-to-side. I love how paintings can bring back memories; I feel like I can hear them now. I hope this reminds you of some time when you saw a great show that just keeps coming back to visit through your memories.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Friday, May 11, 2018

Quite a Run in AcrylicWorks - Best of Acrylic

It never gets old being selected for the Northlight Publications' Best of Acrylic Painting series AcrylicWorks. Each year when the new Edition arrives I am thrilled to share it with friends and to add it to my bookshelf at home.

AcrylicWorks3: Creative Textures featured work that used either tactile textural approaches or the illusion of texture in the work. I had two paintings included: Moving Up and Struggles in the Southwest. I've included the images of the two pages for these paintings.

Since the text for Movement was on the left page, I've included the full page spread.

In each book the artist provides a short writeup about the paintings on inspiration and technique.

At right is the second painting in AcrylicWorks3: Celebrating Textures. I found my southwest paintings were the best subject to show how I create the illusion of texture. Crevices of rocks that provide handholds for the rock climber and the texture of the rocks in the mounds of each grave were perfect subjects.

AcrylicWorks4: Captivating Color included one of my paintings, Freight Yard, which continues to be a favorite of mine. This was likely the first time I decided to do the sky in a color other than blue. I spent a lot of time considering the color scheme of the painting to really emphasize the cranes and freight cars. A blue sky would have diminished the impact of this painting. I retained the texture of clouds but the pale yellow and brown with tiny hints of blue really makes this painting sing.

Freight Yard, 24" X 45" fluid acrylic by April M Rimpo

AcrylicWorks5: Bold Values is the 2018 Edition of Best of Acrylic Paintings and I am delighted to have two works in this book: Lanterns and Movement. Lanterns is in the Cityscape/Urban Scene section, while Movement is in Figures/Portraits section.

Lanterns 24" X 18" Fluid Acrylic by April M Rimpo

Lanterns is available at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery in Ellicott City, Maryland. The colors pop even more in person than they do in the image here. I repeated the colors of the lanterns on the shadowed sides of the building, using purple and other dark colors to build up the middle value and darkers areas. I love how the lanterns reflect in the glass, so I included those reflections in my rendering.

This painting was included in Courtney Jordon's article 25 Acrylic Paintings from 25 Top Artists.

Movement 25" X 18" Acrylic by April M Rimpo

Movement is one of my tributes to the Triathlon that runs through our town each year. I love to photograph the cyclists and then portray them and their energy as they travel through our rural setting. When working on an abstract background, using bold values are essential to emphasize the rider. I so admire these athletes that I love to painting them.

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.

Thursday, September 21, 2017

"Stalks" 18" x 24" fluid acrylic

Stalks by April M Rimpo

Stalks

Fluid Acrylic

24" X 18" Varnished and Gallery wrapped

$1035, including shipping within the United States

Available for Purchase - Learn more here

Selected for the Maryland Federation of Art's Strokes of Genius exhibition to be held from October 27 - November 25, 2017 at Circle Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland. Stalks was one of 70 paintings selected for this National exhibition from a field of 512 entries. Such an honor to be selected by juror Susan Behrends Frank, Ph.D., Curator, The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC.

Stalks was first inspired while walking past our neighbor's corn field. The cow corn was ready to harvest. Everything, including the stalks and husks, had turned golden brown to beige.

Ever fascinated with the world around me, I took a number of photographs. Upon arriving home I located a particular portion of one photograph that was especially enticing. I like the shapes of the leaves and the glimpse of the corn inside. See the bottom left image for the cropped photograph that I decided to paint.

As I often do after finding the image, I put the photo aside. I wasn't ready to paint this image yet. I generally have to think about a subject for a while to know what I want to do.

I worked with the image some more in a photo editing program and experimented with a variety of color schemes. I thought I was going to go with a very exaggerated color scheme, turning the image more toward an abstracted shape, but had other paintings I wanted to complete first. I printed out the image in the color scheme shown below right. It sat on the desk in my studio so I could look at it and consider.

After completing some color scheme experiments using a wide variety of palettes, I went back to the photograph and decided I wanted more value contrast. My selected colors could not achieve that level of contrast. It was back to the drawing board to determine what would be more exciting.

I decided to create a primarily black and white painting with red for the darks in the focal point and yellow for the lights. I sprinkled the yellow around the painting, muting it in the background and allowing small less intense yellow patches to remain on other stalks in the foreground. I'm happy with the resulting drama of this painting. It seems to have elevated this cow corn to something fascinating to look at.

As always I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Original Photograph

Exploring Color Options

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.

Monday, July 24, 2017

"Galactic Light" an 8" x 8" fluid acrylic on gallery wrapped paper

Galactic Light by April M Rimpo

Galactic Light

Fluid Acrylic

8" X 8" gallery wrapped paper, varnished

SOLD

This painting started as an abstract I created by applying some tiny splashes a masking fluid on the paper. Once dry I sprayed the paper with water so form interesting nooks and crannies of water but leaving a some areas dry so there would be some white of the paper remaining. The next step was to apply a couple of very watered down paints using pipettes. I sprayed the paint to make it spread and tipped the paper to let it run and blend. Once dry I removed the mask to reveal all the tiny dots of white left behind.

My first thought was how much it reminded me of a very dark sky where you can see parts of the Milky Way. If you've ever been lucky enough to be in a dark sky area you will first be mesmerized by the sky; I find it nearly impossible to stop staring into space. But once you "come back to earth" you will notice how your surrounding glow from the incredible light coming from the unpolluted sky.

I decided to add the tall cliff with lit trees at the top to represent the glow. My goal was to increase the majesty of the sky by using the scale of the cliff to the trees to give the illusion that the cliffs were huge.

If this peeks your interest about dark skies you can read more about them at the International Dark Skies website.

Thursday, July 6, 2017

"The Bakery" 24" X 24" Fluid Acrylic

The Bakery by April M Rimpo

The Bakery was the result of a trip to the Hudson River Valley. My husband and I wandered around though the towns of the valley for several days enjoying the sights, food and wine. While there we had to stop at the Culinary Institute of America have lunch in one of their restaurants and wander around outside on a lovely fall day. We also stopped in their cafe which had this bakery that served wonderful snacks and coffees. I was drawn to all the activity in the bakery and found I could take some nice reference photos through their bakery window. When working on such a busy scene you really have to pick and chose what you want to include to get a feel for the busy atmosphere but not have a painting that is so overwhelming that you don't know where to look.

The Bakery

Fluid Acrylic

24" X 24" image

$1395
31.5" X 31.5" brushed silver frame

Selected for the Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's
38th Annual International Juried Exhibition

Received an Honorable Mention Award
(All award recipients shown here)

I liked weaving lavender colors through the bakery to offset all the warm colors of the breads and wooden shelves. I think they also provided a nice way to include a sense of depth to the scene.

Generally I start most of my paintings working the full sheet as a unit and maybe toward the end I work final details one section at a time. However on some paintings I feel I need to work section by section from the start nearly to completion before moving on. The Bakery was one of these paintings. Perhaps because there was so much detail of the figures, bread, shiny reflective appliances in the bakery that I felt I have to pay attention to details nearly from the start.

When I work this way, I really have to pay attention to keeping a consistent feel throughout the painting and work so there are still restful areas that don't detract for the whole of the painting. The images of some of the earlier steps of the painting are shown in earlier blog post to give you a sense of how it developed. I provided links to these other posts below.

At the end I needed to work around the whole painting to either subdue or enhance areas to make The Bakery hold together as one.

#aprilmrimpoart

#hocoart, #hocoarts

Friday, February 24, 2017

"Morning Commute" 24"X20" gallery wrapped acrylic

There are a lot of bike riders in the area where I live. You see them year round, in rain, snow, sleet, or hail (oh yeah that was the postal service motto); so maybe the hail part was an exaggeration.

The more I have painted people riding bicycles the more curious I have become about the biking community. Recently I discovered The League of American Bicyclists who are working to improve bicycling across America, inspiring Bicycling Friendly communities, and more. During National Bike Month they advocated a Ride to Work Week across the country.

I also learned about the USBRS (United States Bicycle Route System that was established in 1978 by the American Association of State Highways and Transportation Officials. This is the same body that coordinates the numbering of Interstate Highways and United States Numbered Highways.

Learning about these groups and inspired by my neighbors, I decided to paint "Morning Commute" as a tribute to these organizations and those who support this work.

Morning Commute

Fluid Acrylic on Paper, Varnished and Gallery Wrapped

24" X 20" X 1.75" deep

$1200

More of April's paintings with a transporation theme are:

Sunday, February 12, 2017

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

#bicycles #hocoartist #hocoarts #bikerace #cyclists

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

"From the Canal" 12" X 18" fluid acrylic

From the Canal by April M Rimpo

From the Canal

Fluid Acrylic

12" X 18" X 2" deep gallery wrapped*

$600

Purchase through HorseSpirit Arts Gallery
410.461.3505 info@horsespiritartsgallery.com
Open 6 days a week (Closed Tuesdays)

Amsterdam, one of my favorite places in the world. We've been lucky enough to visit it twice: once in the 90s and once in 2016; we loved it both times. I love the architecture in this city as well as all the great places to walk, visit, and enjoy. This year's trip we were lucky to know someone my husband worked with, who has become a good friend. Our last day in town we met with him and walked all day. We took a short ferry across the IJ, Amsterdam's waterfront, to go to a restaurant on the other side. The return trip was a fantastic time to get photographs on the city. We were coming up on dusk, which enhanced the atmospheric perspective, muting the distance buildings. All the domes, towers, and the varied gable shapes of the canal houses fascinate me. As a result I share with you "From the Canal."

* The image wraps around the edge thus requiring no frame. The painting is varnished to protect it from the elements and damage from UV light.

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

"Full to the Limit" 20" X 12" fluid acrylic

Full to the Limit by April M Rimpo

Full to the Limit
Fluid Acrylic
18" X 12"
varnished and framed in brushed silver frame

Available to Purchase - Learn More Here

Full to the Limit is part of my traffic series on traffic jams and ways to manage traffic. No matter where you travel you will encounter some method to deal with traffic. Although the type of traffic is sometimes surprising, what surprised me more was that despite the method of travel there appear to always be traffic jams.

In Full to the Limit the canals in Amsterdam are the subject. Here you can see a slight bottle neck occurs at a set of locks. In fact I recall when I was photographing the scene that several near accidents seemed a moment away, but none occurred that day.

Although it will take a little hunting to find the cars parked along this canal, we heard that a fairly common accident on the canals was not with the boats, but instead cars getting too close to the edge and toppling into the canal. The adventures of travel.

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

Traffic Jam at the Concert - Concert goes waiting on the ticket takers
Rush Hour - Enjoy the view when trying to get home
Traffic Jam III - Cyclists backed up at a crossing
Thoroughfare - Amsterdam: More bikes and trikes than you can believe
Traffic Jam II - No spot at the port for the incoming boat
Traffic Jam - Sometimes it doesn't take much
Country Tour - Cars waiting on a bike race
Trapped - Traffic congestion in a tunnel

Contact April here

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

"Glacial River" 40" X 36" fluid acrylic

Glacial River by April M Rimpo

Glacial River

Fluid Acrylic

40" X 36" Gallery Wrapped*

$2875

Available at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery

Phone: 410-461- 4505
Email: info@HorseSpiritArtsGallery.com
Open: Open 6 days a week, check their website for hours

Inspired by the small towns in Norway and the fantastic countryside. Glacial River highlights this village sitting along the banks of a glacial river. These rivers are fed by the glaciers making the water a grayish blue. I was told the gray tints were the result of the tiny stone debris in the water because of the pounding of these fast moving rivers over rock. I haven't researched to confirm this, but it is quite believable since the glacial rivers were ferocious in their strength. The white caps shown in the paper are the result of the fast moving water. For those wondering, there is no waterfall, just the love of drips in my paintings.

If you have ever been to Scandinavia you may have noticed that the majority of houses are painted either red or gold. Roofs are often red as well. So you are not seeing artistic license in this village scene, the houses are true to their original colors.

I not only loved the beauty of these villages, but also the majesty of the surrounding mountains and this fantastic river. If you have ever been to Scandinavia, I hope my painting brings back great memories of these pristine countries.

* The image wraps around the edge of the painting, so a frame is not required.

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

"Country II" 12" X 14" fluid acrylic

Country II by April M Rimpo

Country II

12" X 14" fluid acrylic

$395

Available for Purchase Now

I live in an area with a few farms and some new housing developments. Before the developments take over the remaining farms, I periodically take photographs of the farms. They are so tied to nature and the environment I hope they don't all disappear. These farms definitely are part of what drew my husband and I to live in this area.

Often I spend a lot of time planning out a painting and deciding on the color scheme that will convey what I feel about a place. However, this painting was spur of the moment. I had printed out the photograph some time ago. I found it when rummaging through a pile of similar photos on my studio desk. I happened to also have one of my "paper gallery wrapped canvases"* sitting on my desk so I decided to go with the flow, grabbed the "canvas", and started to paint. I really had no plan when I started.

I put some random patterning on the tree and grass areas to get some texture on the paper. The patterns are done using household items with interesting raised areas and soft acrylic paint. Once the patterning was almost dry, I started with my fluid acrylics. Because they were a little damp, the color from the soft acrylic bled slightly, integrating the colors.

I was feeling inspired by some oil paintings I had seen recently and decided to start with blues on the barn, coming back in with the reds once the blues had dried. I'm a bit impatient and spontaneous once I start painting, so although my initial thought was to let the blue dry thoroughly, I didn't. Much like the background patterns, a little color blending occurred. This means the edges are NOT all hard and I ended up with a touch of purple on a barn that still appears weathered red. My spontaneity paid off.

The trees were also painted quickly by applying the lighter yellows and leaf green and then adding in phthalo blue here and there while the paint was wet in order to create shadows and shape to the trees. By this point I wasn't really paying much attention to the photograph, just adding tree shapes and colors that I felt created a vibrant interesting scene.

I had masked off parts of the horse to remind me not to paint over him with the trees. I have to do little tricks like this because when I am "in the painting zone" I can easily forget important things like the horse and before I know it the horse is gone.

* I stretch watercolor paper, generally Arches 140 lb cold press paper, over a stretcher bar and staple it to the back. To stretch the paper I wet the paper first, just like you would do when stretching a sheet and stapling it to a painting board. You let it dry thoroughly before painting. (Note: I usually create the painting first and then stretch it over the stretcher bars, but occasionally I stretch the paper first.)

Other rural landscape paintings by April can be seen at the links below.

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Copyright April M Rimpo

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Art Reception of Work by Students and Faculty at Columbia Art Center

Sunday, August 25, 2019

"Two Birds in a Bush" a 8" X 8" fluid acrylic

Thursday, May 2, 2019

"Heating Up" 24"X24" Fluid Acrylic

Friday, May 11, 2018

Quite a Run in AcrylicWorks - Best of Acrylic

Thursday, September 21, 2017

"Stalks" 18" x 24" fluid acrylic

Monday, July 24, 2017

"Galactic Light" an 8" x 8" fluid acrylic on gallery wrapped paper

Thursday, July 6, 2017

"The Bakery" 24" X 24" Fluid Acrylic

Friday, February 24, 2017

"Morning Commute" 24"X20" gallery wrapped acrylic

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Movement Series

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

"From the Canal" 12" X 18" fluid acrylic

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

"Full to the Limit" 20" X 12" fluid acrylic

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

"Glacial River" 40" X 36" fluid acrylic

Wednesday, October 12, 2016

"Country II" 12" X 14" fluid acrylic

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