My Feature Online Show - Telling Stories - May/June 2020

Telling Stories - Feature Show by HorseSpirit Arts Gallery of art by April M Rimpo

May 17 - June 12, 2020

Click Here to see a Preview of my Online Show - under 3 minutes

Click Here for a Detailed Look at Each Painting (12.5 Minutes)

This feature show transitioned from HorseSpirit Art Gallery's physical gallery at Historic Savage Mills to an Online Show at the link provided above.  April reveals several new paintings in this show. You'll see some new themes in April's work but all with a story to share. She'd love to hear what story you see in her work as that enriches the work for all.

In April's art she uses Color and Light to Tell Stories of Life.  Some are stories that capture history, show reveal the effects of time, others are a quiet spot where you can get lost in a calm and dreamy world. She has also included some small work of clouds that return April to her childhood when she would lie in the grass with a friend and they'd tell each other what they saw in the clouds.  

These is a small series that portrays seasons of the year. Rather than just capture the iconic symbols of each season April included birds that she sees at the bird feeders her husband set up in the backyard of their home. In these paintings the birds are all placed on the same mailboxes but their setting changes in each, transporting you from garden, to lake, to farm country, and a snowing drift. 

Most of the work is watercolor that has been mounted, varnished, and either framed or gallery wrapped around stretcher bars.  A few of the pieces are fluid acrylics that are also painted on watercolor paper.  Six of the pieces were painting on Aquabord, a trademarked clay surface available from Ampersand Supplies. These too are varnished providing a very modern display with no glazing.  Two of the watercolors use traditional framing under Plexiglas and a white mat. 

If the 3 minute video peaks your interest, please consider joining Online sessions on the HorseSpirt Arts Gallery's Facebook Page

• Opening: May 17 2 PM EDT - Tune in to see Robin Holliday interview April
• Facebook Live Artist Talk: Friday, May 29 at 7 PM Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

April will also present a Facebook Live demonstration -  painting Magnificent Skies 

• May 23, 2 - 4 PM EDT

Also feel free to comment on this post with any questions you may have about the art shown in the video.

Questions can also be directed to HorseSpirit Arts Gallery at:

301.490.2001        info@horsespiritartsgallery.com 

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. Thank you for your support of April M Rimpo Art.

Contact April and see more of her art on her website

Music License:

Schubert - Piano Trio In B Flat (2nd Movement) performed by Apollo Symphony Orchestra 
License Agreement with SHUTTERSTOCK MUSIC CANADA ULC, doing business as PremiumBeat.com

Artwork 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.

"Nature's Paintbrush" watercolor on Aquabord by Ampersand, 12" X 12"

Nature's Paintbrush, watercolor by April M Rimpo

Nature's Paintbrush

Watercolor on Aquabord™

Varnished and Framed in Black Wood Floater Frame

Available through 

HorseSpirit Ars Gallery's Online Shop

I love the effects of nature and time on things around us. They take items made by man and turn them into beautiful glistening objects. Perhaps no longer functional for their original purpose, but they tell a story of their time in the world. I captured this moment in the journey of the bucket and can of nails, but no doubt not the end of their life; nature isn't finished with them.

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.

"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.

Copyright April M 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.

Represented by HorseSpirit Arts Gallery

Student Brushes by April M Rimpo

Artist at Work by April M Rimpo

I am happy to announce HorseSpirit Arts Gallery is now representing my artwork. They have samples of both my watermedia paintings and my fused glass. HorseSpirit Arts Gallery is located at 8090 Main Street, Ellicott City, Maryland. They are among the first business to reopen since the flood last July. The gallery has been refurbished and is gorgeous.

I am one of 46 artists represented by this gallery.  When you visit the gallery you will find ceramics, fiber and wearable art, glass, jewelry, mixed media, paintings, photography, sculpture, specialty cards, and woodworking. It's a fabulous place to find a perfect gift of art.

Gallaxy I by April M Rimpo

I've included samples of some of my artwork available through the gallery. I hope you find time to visit. 

Latest event at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery:

• Meet the Artists on Sunday, January 22 from 1 to 4 PM

You can reach the gallery at:

 Phone: 410-461- 4505

 Website: http://horsespiritartsgallery.com/ 

Join the Crowd by April M Rimpo

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.

Arriving at Kensington, 24" X 34" fluid acrylic

Arriving at Kensington by April M Rimpo

Arriving at Kensington

Fluid Acrylic
24' X 34" varnished and brushed silver frame
Original SOLD

Prints Available to purchase at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery

info@horsespiritartsgallery.com 

410-461-3505 

 

Arriving at Kensington I walked around Kensington getting to know the town, including the antique shop district and the lovely tea room, but the train station was the spot that struck me as something I wanted to paint.  I'm sure the station has been painting hundreds if not thousands of times, but I had to take my stab at it too.  I was quite happy with the result and hope you are too. 

Here are links to several of my other landscape paintings.

• Flores
• Pigeons I
• Making a Difference
• Ponte Vecchio
• The Conservatory
• Vineyard Life
• The Beach

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.

"Breakfast for Two", 36" X 24" fluid acrylic and watercolor

Breakfast for Two by April M Rimpo

Can you tell I like color?  There is something about orange, blue and purple that just makes a painting sing to me. Complementary colors, you've got to love them.

Breakfast for Two also has a nice balance between curves and the linear pattern of the tiles on the wall. I wish I could say that all of this was intentional design, but in reality it is what I saw one morning while have breakfast with my husband at a restaurant with outside seating. Now I know I was drawn to the scene because of the complementary colors, but I don't think the  balance between line and curve struck me until much later. 

That doesn't mean I didn't make some variations from my original photos.  I combined bird shots, substituted the restaurant plates for one of my own plates, altered the color of the crumpled napkin to continue the colors from the birds, and changed the leftover food on the back plate from what might have been leftover scrambled eggs to waffles.  Wouldn't any self-respecting bird prefer waffles?

Breakfast for Two

Fluid Acrylic and Watercolor

36" X 24" varnished in brushed silver frame

$1950 includes shipping within the United States

Available NOW for Purchase Click Here

Of course those of you who follow my work also know I am drawn to pigeons.  They may be a nuisance, but you have to admit they are one of the more colorful birds in the United States.  Capturing all the variation of blues, purples, lavenders, and sometimes teal blue/green is just plain fun to me.

To see more pigeon paintings you might want to start at my post "Pigeons: Evolution of a Series."

Exhibit at Fairhaven in Sykesville

I will be exhibiting with 6 other artists from the Baltimore Watercolor Society and one oil painter at the Fairhaven Retirement Community in Sykesville.   This is an opportunity to see work from 7 great local artists at the same time. The exhibit will be on display April 15th through June 1st.   I've included 7 of my smaller works and will have prints of some of my newest pieces.  Come join us at the reception on Saturday May 5th from 2:00 to 4:00 PM.  Exhibiting arts: Janet Belich (BWS), Yolanda Koh (BWS), Stephanie Lyon (BWS), Susan Avis Murphy (AWS, BWS), April Rimpo (BWS, WWCA), Andrea Sauer, and Kathleen Stumpfel (BWS).

Fairhaven is located at 200 Third Avenue, Sykesville, Maryland 21784.  Prints will be available in their Store.

Ready to Eat by April M Rimpo

Ready to Eat

watercolor

18" X 14" image

25" X 21" wood frame

$780

Available at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery
410.461.3505 info@horsespiritartsgallery.com 

Pansies by April M Rimpo

Sailor's Delight by April M Rimpo