Row Houses I, 12" X 12" Fluid Acrylic on Aquabord

Row Houses I by April M Rimpo

Row Houses I

Fluid Acrylic on Aquabord

12" X 12" X 2" deep wood cradle

$345

AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE HERE

I have been fascinated by Row Houses since moving to the Mid-Atlantic region. There weren't any in the area where I grew up in western Massachusetts nor in Arizona where I lived for many years. The architecture was new and different to me.  As I've traveled I've discovered the larger busy cities often have beautiful row houses somewhere in the city. 

Between the beauty of these buildings and the presence of a bicycle sculpture I couldn't resist painting this neighborhood. It is a lovely sunny day toward the very beginning of Spring, so the leaves on the trees have not yet arrived, but the smaller shrubs are coming to life with some new growth adding a touch of lovely Spring green to the city.

You'll notice this painting is called Row House I, because I'm sure there are more Row House paintings in my near future.

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.

"Springtime" watercolor 18" X 14"

Springtime by April M. Rimpo

Springtime

Watercolor

18"X14" image

Framed in brush silver frame

$875

Available at HorseSpirit Arts Gallery

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

Each spring Howard County Maryland, where I live, holds a number of events to support Blossoms of Hope. This cause supports the Claudia Mayer Cancer Resource Center at Howard County General Hospital. This painting was done for an exhibit called Haiku for Hope and will be presented with an associated haiku written by a local poet. The child in the foreground links back to the haiku written by Poppy Herrin. Springtime won an Honorable Mention Award at this exhibit.

This painting was one of those selected for banners that were displayed as part of a special ceremony held on National Arbor Day at Lake Kittamaqundi in Columbia, Maryland. The banners used for the ceremony have also been used at the Howard County Welcome Center in Ellicott City.  

Howard County has planted over 1600 Kwanzan cherry trees throughout the county.  The Kwanzan cherry trees bloom about two weeks later than the Sakura trees that surround the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC allowing you to enjoy the beautiful blossoms for a longer period of time.  You can read more about the Blossoms of Hope events at http://www.visithowardcounty.com/blossoms-of-hope, where you can also find a map where the trees have been planted.

Given the opportunity for a banner I wanted a painting that celebrated the cherry blossoms and had a strong graphic line that would lend itself well to the banners.  I use this style in some of my paintings and I like the simplification of shapes with the line work.  Of course a strong value pattern (darks and lights) is essential for a banner format which is perfect for the way I like to work in watercolor.  

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.

"Windows" 19.75" X 13.75" fluid acrylic

Some say our eyes are the windows to our soul, and thus the title of this painting is Windows. My goal with windows is to see whether the emotions associated with particular colors actually impact how am image is interpreted. So here you see two paintings of 5 pairs of eyes. Each is in a unique color scheme. 

Some are done in monotonic schemes where a single color is used at different strengths or mixed with only white or black. Others are triads, where only three pigments are used throughout the painting. A couple of the paintings are done in a complementary color scheme where two colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are used. When complementary colors are combined you get dulled versions of the colors or a very neutral color that is neither warm or cool.

I suspect that because I've used these color schemes to paint eyes that the expression of the person will affect how much the color defines the emotion you feel when looking at the image.  That is the reason I've done two paintings of each image.

If you feel like helping me learn about the impact of color, please add a comments with answers to these questions. To identify each image in your answers please identify an image in the Left column as L#, where the image # is 1 to 5 counting from top to bottom.  Similarly, an image on the right would be R#, where # is 1 to 5 from top to bottom. For example the man's eyes on the upper left would be L1.  His companion painting is in the middle on the right and would be labeled R3.

Here are my questions. 
Which image feels

1. most serious or intelligent?
2. most joyous and full of wisdom?
3. most self-sufficient, alive and confident?
4. most peaceful with inner strength?
5. most tired?
6. sad?

I'll let you know the consensus of opinions in a separate post. Results are shown 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.

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.