Brooks has been passionate about art since her childhood years, but it took some time before she found her true calling. She tried using other natural materials as a canvas, including feathers, stones, and seashells, but something clicked when she started experimenting with dried leaves.

“Working with real leaves feels like collaborating with the forest itself… I’m enamored by the idea of taking what would otherwise decay and make it timeless – taking stories, memories, and precious places and immortalizing them on a canvas grown from the very soil of that moment,” she wrote on her official website.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

After deciding to quit her job to pursue art full-time, Brooks poured her soul into the 100 Painted Leaves Collection, painting a new leaf each day. She’s always looking for leaves with a broad, smooth surface that will let her paintings shine. Each of her tiny paintings requires a lot of time and patience because she chose to work with an incredibly delicate and fragile canvas, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

The post Landscape Painter Katie Brooks Uses Dried Leaves as Her Canvas appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“The natural world compels me to explore it, delve deeper into it, and use the tools at my disposal to paint some frisson of my visceral connection to it,” relayed Hutchings Edlund in a piece she wrote for Artsy Shark. She invites the viewer to create his own narrative within the context of her art and to experience it in a positive and satisfying way. “All of my work is a communication between me and you,” she stressed.

With her work highly esteemed and collected in Canada, England, Germany, France, Italy, and the United States, there are plenty of people with whom she can communicate through her paintings. Her work has also won awards, and in October 2018, Hutchings Edlund was a recipient of the Dutchess County Executive Arts Award for Individual Artist that recognizes an individual residing in Dutchess County [NY], whose achievements in her discipline are widely recognized and who has demonstrated a compelling or unique artistic vision.

But though centered around the natural world, Hutchings Edlund admits to finding inspiration in other settings as well. “I find creative stimulation in unlikely places, such as a city street bathed in glistening, late-day light following a rain shower,” she reflects. “Such stimuli are the seeds from which ideas grow.”

The post This Painter is Compelled By the Natural World appeared first on MobiSpirit.

A creative through and through, Hanson began painting when she was just a child, and has been commissioned by the age of ten (!). When she was twelve-years-old she was officially employed by a mural studio, learning the techniques of acrylics on the grand scale of forty-foot canvases.

But her technique was also formed by observing her natural surroundings. After a lifetime of experimenting in different styles and mediums, it wasn’t until Hanson began rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon that her painting style was consolidated by a single inspiration and force of nature. In these beautiful surroundings, she also decided to take on a life-long challenge: dedicating herself to creating one painting every week for the rest of her life.

“I think the modern or contemporary art world shies away from landscapes or natural beauty,” she told Art Aesthetics Magazine. “I don’t really understand why since it is one of the most pleasing art forms to the eye and certainly one of the most popular.”

Scrolling through her Instagram page, her position is made evidently clear.

The post Erin Hanson Captures the Essence of Nature With Impasto Paint Strokes appeared first on MobiSpirit.

This creative spirit would go on to inspire Merriam’s career choice. At only 15, he entered the Bridgton Art Show and won first place in the student category. This was also where he was introduced to the painter Alan Magee. “I was amazed by his technique — such great realism, done so simply,” he writes. “Alan spent a great deal of time talking with me and set a standard of excellence not only in his work but in his person. I have never been able to match his skills, but I have instead cultivated merits of my own.”

“Through my art, I have learned the importance of following my heart,” writes Merriam, adding that though there were times when he felt like giving up, he eventually turned things around by perfecting his artistic talent. “If it had not been for my weaknesses, I never would have discovered my strengths,” he explains. “As my body of work grew, so did my place in the art community.” Sound advice.

The post Between Realism and Fantasy: Daniel Merriam’s Paintings appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based between Melbourne and the US, Shaw travels the globe to find inspiration. “Most of the time I really need to experience a place before I make work about it,” she told Lost At E Minor. “Recently, I did a residency at SIM in Iceland that allowed me to travel to some amazing places there. The lava flows and melting glaciers create incredible sculptural forms, which inspires how I translate this into the paintings. I am very visceral.”

According to Shaw, her passion for landscape painting was also a byproduct of her travels, while visiting Central Australia. “A visit to Central Australia in 2004 really helped me coalesce ideas about the materiality of paint and how this could connect with the material world through landscape,” she explained. “The sedimentary layers of rocks literally looked like the paint I was playing around with in my studio, and it started from there.”

Exhibited in cities around the world, her paintings serve as reinterpretations of what actually constitutes landscape painting, both within an art history context and a contemporary social context.

Take a look.

The post Enter Kate Shaw’s Surreal Landscapes appeared first on MobiSpirit.

With well more than 200k fans on Instagram, her works have caught the attention of both the online and offline community, appearing in publications like The New York Times, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, and the Smithsonian Magazine.

Based in Brooklyn, Forman’s art takes her around the world, and she has flown with NASA on several Operation IceBridge missions over Antarctica, Greenland, and Arctic Canada. “In all my travels I have never experienced a landscape as epic and pristine as Antarctica,” she shared with ArtStar. “I still haven’t found the words to properly convey the majesty and ethereal wonder of that icy continent!”

“I hope my drawings can facilitate a deeper understanding of the climate crisis, helping us find meaning and optimism in shifting landscapes,” she adds. “I hope they can serve as records of landscapes in flux, documenting the transition, and inspiring our global community to take action for the future.”

Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.

The post These Icy Landscape Paintings Document the Effects of Climate Change appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Justin Gaffrey is an American artist who creates paintings with a lot of depth. All his paintings are unique and quite expressive. This talented artist is a painter who creates an illusion of horizon and depth in all his landscape paintings. These features make them surreal and realistic while maintaining their beauty and color.

Gaffrey taught himself all the painting styles he uses. He did so by exploring different techniques such as the ones used by Monet and Van Gogh. Shortly, he combined these methods to form his own style. This immersion in creative thought, as well as depth of imagination, gave him an opportunity to create amazing art that focuses on the environment.

See some of his work in the gallery below.

The post Artist Uses Impasto Painting Style to Bring Landscapes to Life appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Brooks has been passionate about art since her childhood years, but it took some time before she found her true calling. She tried using other natural materials as a canvas, including feathers, stones, and seashells, but something clicked when she started experimenting with dried leaves.

“Working with real leaves feels like collaborating with the forest itself… I’m enamored by the idea of taking what would otherwise decay and make it timeless – taking stories, memories, and precious places and immortalizing them on a canvas grown from the very soil of that moment,” she wrote on her official website.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

After deciding to quit her job to pursue art full-time, Brooks poured her soul into the 100 Painted Leaves Collection, painting a new leaf each day. She’s always looking for leaves with a broad, smooth surface that will let her paintings shine. Each of her tiny paintings requires a lot of time and patience because she chose to work with an incredibly delicate and fragile canvas, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Katie | The Leaf Painter (@katiebrooksart)

The post Landscape Painter Katie Brooks Uses Dried Leaves as Her Canvas appeared first on MobiSpirit.

“The natural world compels me to explore it, delve deeper into it, and use the tools at my disposal to paint some frisson of my visceral connection to it,” relayed Hutchings Edlund in a piece she wrote for Artsy Shark. She invites the viewer to create his own narrative within the context of her art and to experience it in a positive and satisfying way. “All of my work is a communication between me and you,” she stressed.

With her work highly esteemed and collected in Canada, England, Germany, France, Italy, and the United States, there are plenty of people with whom she can communicate through her paintings. Her work has also won awards, and in October 2018, Hutchings Edlund was a recipient of the Dutchess County Executive Arts Award for Individual Artist that recognizes an individual residing in Dutchess County [NY], whose achievements in her discipline are widely recognized and who has demonstrated a compelling or unique artistic vision.

But though centered around the natural world, Hutchings Edlund admits to finding inspiration in other settings as well. “I find creative stimulation in unlikely places, such as a city street bathed in glistening, late-day light following a rain shower,” she reflects. “Such stimuli are the seeds from which ideas grow.”

The post This Painter is Compelled By the Natural World appeared first on MobiSpirit.

A creative through and through, Hanson began painting when she was just a child, and has been commissioned by the age of ten (!). When she was twelve-years-old she was officially employed by a mural studio, learning the techniques of acrylics on the grand scale of forty-foot canvases.

But her technique was also formed by observing her natural surroundings. After a lifetime of experimenting in different styles and mediums, it wasn’t until Hanson began rock climbing at Red Rock Canyon that her painting style was consolidated by a single inspiration and force of nature. In these beautiful surroundings, she also decided to take on a life-long challenge: dedicating herself to creating one painting every week for the rest of her life.

“I think the modern or contemporary art world shies away from landscapes or natural beauty,” she told Art Aesthetics Magazine. “I don’t really understand why since it is one of the most pleasing art forms to the eye and certainly one of the most popular.”

Scrolling through her Instagram page, her position is made evidently clear.

The post Erin Hanson Captures the Essence of Nature With Impasto Paint Strokes appeared first on MobiSpirit.

This creative spirit would go on to inspire Merriam’s career choice. At only 15, he entered the Bridgton Art Show and won first place in the student category. This was also where he was introduced to the painter Alan Magee. “I was amazed by his technique — such great realism, done so simply,” he writes. “Alan spent a great deal of time talking with me and set a standard of excellence not only in his work but in his person. I have never been able to match his skills, but I have instead cultivated merits of my own.”

“Through my art, I have learned the importance of following my heart,” writes Merriam, adding that though there were times when he felt like giving up, he eventually turned things around by perfecting his artistic talent. “If it had not been for my weaknesses, I never would have discovered my strengths,” he explains. “As my body of work grew, so did my place in the art community.” Sound advice.

The post Between Realism and Fantasy: Daniel Merriam’s Paintings appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Based between Melbourne and the US, Shaw travels the globe to find inspiration. “Most of the time I really need to experience a place before I make work about it,” she told Lost At E Minor. “Recently, I did a residency at SIM in Iceland that allowed me to travel to some amazing places there. The lava flows and melting glaciers create incredible sculptural forms, which inspires how I translate this into the paintings. I am very visceral.”

According to Shaw, her passion for landscape painting was also a byproduct of her travels, while visiting Central Australia. “A visit to Central Australia in 2004 really helped me coalesce ideas about the materiality of paint and how this could connect with the material world through landscape,” she explained. “The sedimentary layers of rocks literally looked like the paint I was playing around with in my studio, and it started from there.”

Exhibited in cities around the world, her paintings serve as reinterpretations of what actually constitutes landscape painting, both within an art history context and a contemporary social context.

Take a look.

The post Enter Kate Shaw’s Surreal Landscapes appeared first on MobiSpirit.

With well more than 200k fans on Instagram, her works have caught the attention of both the online and offline community, appearing in publications like The New York Times, National Geographic, The Wall Street Journal, and the Smithsonian Magazine.

Based in Brooklyn, Forman’s art takes her around the world, and she has flown with NASA on several Operation IceBridge missions over Antarctica, Greenland, and Arctic Canada. “In all my travels I have never experienced a landscape as epic and pristine as Antarctica,” she shared with ArtStar. “I still haven’t found the words to properly convey the majesty and ethereal wonder of that icy continent!”

“I hope my drawings can facilitate a deeper understanding of the climate crisis, helping us find meaning and optimism in shifting landscapes,” she adds. “I hope they can serve as records of landscapes in flux, documenting the transition, and inspiring our global community to take action for the future.”

Take a look at some of her work in the gallery below.

The post These Icy Landscape Paintings Document the Effects of Climate Change appeared first on MobiSpirit.

Justin Gaffrey is an American artist who creates paintings with a lot of depth. All his paintings are unique and quite expressive. This talented artist is a painter who creates an illusion of horizon and depth in all his landscape paintings. These features make them surreal and realistic while maintaining their beauty and color.

Gaffrey taught himself all the painting styles he uses. He did so by exploring different techniques such as the ones used by Monet and Van Gogh. Shortly, he combined these methods to form his own style. This immersion in creative thought, as well as depth of imagination, gave him an opportunity to create amazing art that focuses on the environment.

See some of his work in the gallery below.

The post Artist Uses Impasto Painting Style to Bring Landscapes to Life appeared first on MobiSpirit.