Today is the last day of the blog. I hope I was able to expose and educate a lot of people about the Arizona art scene. I know I learned a great deal.
Day 370: Diana Creighton
I use human and animal figures in my work to tell stories and create a conversation in oil paint. The painting becomes a kind of
magic world in which each character takes a turn on the stage.
I use that world to find gesture and expression and to see familiar
things in a new way.
Lately, I’ve been using a jaguar and bear as stand-ins for various human traits. They
are powerful, but they get distracted, get into scrapes, act foolish and cause trouble.
Sometimes life is too much for them.
The puppets and wind-up toys are their own little community. The world can turn upside
down in a heartbeat, and they don’t have much control over it.
In my world, the characters are unconfined and allow me to explore emotions, relationships and cultural themes with a light heart but a serious purpose. I hope each viewer
will find something different and personal in the paintings and expand the conversation.
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Diana Creighton grew up in Los Angeles, where telling stories is a major industry. She
graduated from Stanford University, where she studied art and story-telling, taking a
degree in American Literature. In the summer she studied at Otis Art Institute in Los
Angeles, and after moving to Phoenix, she continued studying art at Arizona State University.
She now lives in Oracle, Arizona, a small town with a big artists’ community in the
Catalina Mountains northeast of Tucson. She shows regularly in regional juried and invitational shows. Her work is in public and private collections.
For information and prices:
dianacreightonart@gmail.com
520-896-2234
602-505-0329 (mobile)
To see more paintings visit soupbangstudio.com.
Day 369: Charles Harker
For the last several years I’ve worked exclusively in vector graphics using Adobe Illustrator to license artwork on various products in online galleries and stock image sites. Prior to that I painted with acrylics for many years. Recently I’ve imported some older acrylic and digital paintings into Photoshop and reworked them. Painting with the mouse is like using a brush, more immediate and natural than vector design. It looks painterly since the hand shows through, and textures are easier to attain.
My website has links to some of my online galleries:
Day 368: Bodhi Jangles
Artist statement:
I’m a new DIY artist living in Tempe, Arizona drawing the strange creatures that live in my brain. Working primarily in pen or paint markers and digital designs, I mostly make stickers in a street art inspired format. Delving into mixed media, I also make stamps, beginning work with sculpting, and finding anything I can to put art on. I’ve been drawing pretty much all my life but only started seriously getting into the art scene in the past few years. My inspirations span from manga, anime, cartoons, and video games to diseases, genetic disorders, the paranormal, and occult sources. The majority of things I make I feel are given to me from somewhere, as a sort of flash before falling asleep, closing my eyes, or staring at a blank page. The main message I have towards creating art is that anyone can make art out of anything, and I encourage everyone to make something no matter what skills you have.
Instagram: @bodhi_jangles
Email: bodhi.jangles6@gmail.com
Day 367:Gini Heywood
Greetings! I own a lovely Oil Painting Studio & Gallery in Historic Downtown Mesa.
I earned my degree from one of the oldest Schools of Fine Art and Design in the nation, with additional studies at The Scottsdale Artist’s School. Also in Mesa, I operate an Instructional Studio where I teach in a comfortably relaxed and intimate environment. My work is collected in the U.S. and Canada and has been used by an international corporation for its diverse projects. Several of my canvases were honored with public display at the Capital Building during the year-long Arizona State Centennial Celebration. I have completed numerous large portraits of prominent personalities and I enjoy tackling all other genres, as well. Creating artwork for business and civic reproduction as well as commissions and gallery sales of originals and prints has always played a significant role in my career, too.
Art is fun!
I am a member of The Oil Painters of America; The Portrait Society of America; and a proud co-founder of a successful local art association, The Ateliers Group.
gini@giniheywood.com
Day 366: Steve Simon
Steve Simon has been painting professionally for 25 years. With a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA, Simon took an unusual path to becoming an artist. Originally from Chicago, the young businessman found himself in his late twenties living in the Parisian artist quarter of Montmartre while working on a management consulting assignment. It was there he made the decision to leave the business world in favor of becoming an artist. He moved to Newport Beach, CA where he opened his own gallery featuring his landscapes and seascapes. Soon he began self-publishing coffee-table books of his art.
Twelve years ago Simon moved to Sedona, AZ with his wife and children where he began painting the inspirational red rock landscapes. Seven years ago he began an ambitious project of painting a collection of 40 great peacemakers. He just recently finished the collection and is in the process of writing a book about the lessons he learned from studying these luminaries.
Most recently Simon was commissioned by the Marriott Corporation to create original art and reproductions for the rooms, villas, and lobbies of two Maui properties and the lobby art for another Kauai property.
Steve Simon
Painting the Spirit of Beautiful Places
SteveSimon.com
TheGreatPeacemakers.com
Day 365: Johanna Martinez
Johanna Martinez was born in NY in 1970 and has lived and worked mostly in Tucson,
AZ for the last 25 years. She mentored under retired Manhattan fashion designer Gloria
McKay at a young age as studio assistant in her oil painting school and apprenticed
under legendary tattoo artist Spider Webb for 2 years after moving to CT in 1986.
Before moving to Tucson in 1988, she attended Wooster School of Art in Danbury, CT
where she formed the basic understandings of form, line, light, texture, & color, as well
as exposure to materials, methods & visual concepts. Johanna studied Fine Arts at
Pima Community College for 2 years while continuing her work tattooing for the next
10. Future endeavors manifested creatively as a scenic artist, muralist, sign painter,
calligrapher, mosaicist, aerosol artist & faux finisher. She is a multi-medium artist,
designer & educator with experience in both the public and private sectors, working on
stage, film and television in varying artistic capacities & has conducted workshops & art
programs to incarcerated, disabled and “at-risk” youth through schools, museums and
the like. Johanna is well versed in trans-disciplinary collaboration and public “street”
art, preferring to share her skills in public spaces over the confined walls of a gallery. A
small sampling of commissioned work and projects has included Las Villitas (El Paso),
Paint PHX, SW Nutcracker, Crystal Radio, Tucson-Pima Arts Council, Rialto Theatre, Fox
Theatre, Hotel Congress, AZ Theatre Co., Tucson Museum of Art, La Pilita Museum,
Rogue Theater, All Soul’s Procession, The Parish Bar & Grill, Tubac Golf Resort, Casino
del Sol Hotel, City H.S., Fotovitamina, The Buffet Bar, BLX Skate Shop, Pottery Barn,
MOCA (in collaboration with Alex Streeter), Edible Baja, La Cocina, AZ-Sonora Desert
Museum, THHF (Tucson Hip Hop Festival) and more. She is currently an active member
of collective non-profit groups Pan-Left Productions, Luxxarte & Voices de la Calle.
email: materiaprima1@icloud.com
Facebook: Derailed Design
Instagram: #deraileddesign
Day 364: Jeremiah Grande
My name is Jeremiah Grande and I look at the world around me from an artist perspective. I am still on my journey to find my artistic “voice”, but I have found the things I love to draw. My first love, from my childhood, is drawing classic cars. Recently, I developed what I call CD_Art. With a love of the compact disk & geometric art, I have come up with a series of patterns and designs based on the geometry of a compact disk. It has been an interesting and fun journey to see what turns up. Being outside & drawing landscapes is another area of interest I want to further explore.
https://www.instagram.com/jersjourney/
Day 363: Maggie Stillwell
I am an artist, an equestrian and a traveler. Whether traveling on horseback or on my own to exotic cities, my experiences have developed the explorer, the sage and the queen in me, which is reflected in my paintings through bold colors and intricate designs. Follow me on Instagram under LatigoLady, Stillwell Studio of Art, Facebook- Stillwell Art or my website at http://www.StillwellArt.gallery
I attended art school at the Milan Art Institute in Arizona. I currently have paintings at the East Fork Gallery in Gardnerville, Nevada. I have art shows scheduled this summer at Lake Tahoe, . Commissions are available.
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Day 362: Katherine Thompson
My first foray into the world of art as an adult was through art therapy exercises that I was introduced to in the 1990s. The amount of energy that came forth from my unconscious onto the poster board surprised and enlivened me and I knew that I wanted to work with this newfound creative energy and that learning how to surrender to this energy would allow me to live my life in a more authentic way. My goal as an artist is to surrender to the process of creation because this allows my to know myself more deeply.
I began to make what I call off-loom weavings while studying fiber arts at Pima College with Claire Campbell Park. Technically these pieces are macramé and are made entirely of knots. I love the process of making these pieces because it allows me to slow down. Some of my pieces are inspired by images I see in nature, or photos of nature, and some come purely from my intuition.
Collage is another medium that I love to work with. Most of my paper collages involve working with one or two images and allowing the image to come to life in a different and satisfying way. Though I am not Catholic, I seem to be drawn to Catholic imagery. The papers I use are hand-painted tissue papers and other collage papers.
In 2009 I took a workshop with Karen English and began making collages from fabric. These collages are completely free-form and are made by sewing lots of colorful fabric pieces together with interesting curves.
I find the creative process to rejuvenating and life-affirming. My work allows me to know myself in a different and more intimate way and what comes forth in my art often informs me of a larger process in my life.
Arizona Artist a Day 2 