Deliberate Meditation - The Work of Laura Browning

"Each piece is directly inspired by a particular experience and is for me a vivid memory of the moment of inspiration, typically an idyllic sunny summer day. I feel the most alive when exploring new places, and as a result, my work is a direct reflection of the moments when life is at its best." - Laura Browning

How to capture the emotion of a bright summer's day on the water? The work of California-based artist Laura Browning attempts to do just that. Inspired by the clear blues and crystalline waters of the Pacific coast, her works embrace the movement and beauty of light on the water. Built-up painstakingly through the layering of thin layers of oil-based pigment Laura's works capture the luminosity and reflectivity of the waters' surface while inviting the viewer to gaze deeper into the depths.

"Salty Air" (30x48)

There is something innate that ties humans to the water, something universally meditative about watching the movement of the sea. Laura's works capture the feeling of the ebb and flow of the tides, so similar to the ebb and flow of life itself, inviting endless hours of introspection and meditation.

"Flash of Blue" (16x16) "Surfacing" (48x48) "Before You Go" (16x16)

Environmentally conscious, Laura paints with eco friendly pigments and solvents in an effort to keep the carbon footprint of her works as small as possible. This conscientiousness ties her works even closer to nature and makes each part of the process a deliberate meditation on the natural world.

"Surface" (12x16)

Laura is a graduate of California State University Long Beach, which is located along one of the most beautiful stretches of coastline in southern California. Undoubtedly inspired by the Pacific coast, along which she lives to this day, Laura also claims travel as among her biggest inspirations. Exploring new places and new bodies of water is important to her process.

Laura has taught workshops at the Los Angeles Museum of art and interned at the Guggenheim in Venice. Her works are widely collected and sought after by connoisseurs and she is represented by several galleries across the United States. She lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Molten Metals - The Work of Leland Brinkman

I’ve always liked abstract art, and I wanted to make some of my own, but with an organic process, so I came up with the idea of using liquid metals and salt-based acids to do it. - Leland Brinkman

Upon hearing the name "Liquid Metal Alchemy" one can be forgiven for imagining medieval men in long robes standing over bubbling pots in a poorly-lit castle dungeon, but there is nothing medieval about the works of Leland Brinkman. His pieces are wildly contemporary, as much science as art utilizing chemical processes and the whims of the environment to create his incredible works of art.

"Aquamarine" (60x48)

Leland's work relies upon the reactions between metal and acid, a process that is as obscure as it is complex. He begins by mixing varying ratios of powdered iron, copper, and bronze with different types of salt-based elements and acids. This mixture is spread over a specially prepared wooden ground which has been painted a solid color. The piece takes shape over the course of 72 hours, as the metals react with the acids and the environment - he writes that the end result of a piece can be influenced by things as seemingly inconsequential as the breeze and fluctuations in temperature.

"Cosmic Sea" (30x36)

Through the reactions between the metals and the salts, Leland creates stunningly complex abstract works that allow for endless interpretation. They could just as easily be an overview of the earth, a photorealistic painting of a splash of water, or an amoeba on a sample plate. The possible interpretations of his work are endlessly mystifying - even more so once one is aware of the process behind it.

"Into the Blue" (48x48)

Based out of Naples, FL, Leland got his start in interior decorating and refinishing - doing custom finishes and fabrication for designers and developers around Naples. He says that he got the idea for Liquid Metal Alchemy while welding, becoming fascinated by the changes in metal as it oxidizes and responds to the environment. He developed the process himself, learning the chemistry and perfecting the mixture until he was able to achieve the effect he wanted. Due to the nature of his fabrication work, Leland has always been close with the arts community in Naples and has watched the art world change throughout the years. He counts his father among his influences, as well as artist Ran Adler, whose work also embraces the ever-changing beauty of the natural world.

In the end, Leland has done what the alchemists of old never managed - turning other metals into gold - although in this case, it's an artistic gold rather than a physical one.

Texture and Feeling; The Work of Frauke Klatt

"My sailboats are often without a hull; the wind and the waves which carry the boats are the most meaningful elements. The crew is not visible – at that point in time when we look at the picture, we have taken over the role of the crew." - Frauke Klatt

Having been an avid sailor for the majority of her life it is no wonder that when Frauke Klatt made the decision to start painting that she would look to the sea before anything else as a source of inspiration. Klatt only began her pursuit of a career in painting after achieving a teaching degree from the university of Hamburg and raising her three sons. Klatt began her exploration of painting with watercolors, developing a unique process of working with the medium that allows watercolor to be painted onto sailcloth. This process, fade resistant and weathertight, was first put into practice on the back of a sailing jacket she has worn for many years. Working with watercolor in this unique way soon developed into an interest in the process of working with acrylics.

Nur Einer Kann Gewinnen (43x79)

The versatility of acrylics as a medium opened up endless possibilities for Frauke and she let her imagination and creative vision take on an entirely new dimension - that of texture. Through the incorporation of thick impasto strokes, layered surfaces of sailcloth and burlap, and the addition of sand as a mixing medium her work becomes a collage of sense-memories of the sea, the sand, and the sky. In her works, the sea is often a multi textured thing, with the addition of sand creating textural bubbles in the foam on the crests of the waves which do in fact project towards the viewer, creating the sensation that one could at any moment simply tumble headfirst into the current.

Untitled I (32x55)

Klatt's work embraces abstraction alongside the power of suggestion; through the use of simple shapes and textural elements, she is able to create a sensation as opposed to a detailed representation. The sensation is immersive in its scope thanks to the monumentality of many of her works. Her goal, she writes, is to put the viewer into the scope of the action as opposed to set apart from it.

Powered By The Wind (27x39)

Able to work as a full time artist has allowed Frauke's work to change and evolve as she explores different ways to implement her technique. This spirit of inventiveness and creativity makes her a much beloved artist in her native Germany where her work has places of prominence in many celebrated private collections. In addition, she exhibits yearly in the UK and Europe to wide acclaim.