This week’s featured artist is James Neil Hollingsworth, an oil painter whose work is beautifully dramatic and realistic.
Here is one of his paintings, titled Pool Platter II.
Hollingsworth has several different themes that he likes to revisit, and his paintings of pool balls are consistently my favorite. The color and vibrancy of each ball is absolutely gorgeous, and by using red, blue, and yellow (all primary colors) he’s deliberately enhanced this painting to have that bold visual impact.
Hollingsworth is a good example of a thinking artist. You can see from his paintings that each one is thought out, drawn out, and planned to perfection. Not every artists wants to do that much preparation, but sometimes that’s what it takes to be successful.
I think it’s paying off for Hollingsworth—every one of his painting is darn near perfect.
I also can’t help but to point out the parallels between Hollingsworth and Willem Kalf, the 17th century still life painter who I wrote about just yesterday on EmptyEasel.
Like Kalf, in New Kettle II and many of his other “reflective” paintings he’s used brilliant lighting, dark contrasty backgrounds, and flowing drapery to accentuate and dramatize a scene.
Hollingsworth is also a master at creating flow and balance in his paintings. That wood floor, for example, injects just enough warmth into the entire painting to keep those brilliant white highlight from feeling cold and harsh.
I’d love to see this piece up close and study the reflection in the tea kettle, too. Just from looking at his other work I know it would be exquisitely done.
And of course, I coudn’t pass up showing Hollingsworth’s painting of a 1955 Chevrolet Belair, which he very simply titled 1955.
Now that is art. : ) I’m a big car enthusiast myself so when I saw this great painting and the other cars he’s done, it made my day.
You can find each of these individual paintings plus a lot more over at James Neil Hollingsworth’s website. I highly suggest you take a look; I know I spent far too long there myself.
And if you’d like to keep up on some of his projects, he often posts smaller paintings on his blog—so check that out too.