Toni Grote is a successful artist from Iowa, who has used Ebay as her global “storefront” since 2001. She hopped on the blogging bandwagon in 2006, and over the last 4 years has posted over 1,000 paintings, selling most of them.
Toni uses acrylic paint to create exquisite landscapes, farm animals, and still lifes. She paints on canvas, textured masonite, and interestingly, even old ceiling tins.
I was particularly drawn to her powerful nighttime images, and how she captures the dynamic strength of Iowa’s weather. Toni uses the natural veins in the masonite to emphasize striking clouds and commanding prairie. All that texture paired with the focal point of lightening creates a fabulous visual energy.
In the painting below, Toni depicts a serene green pasture that is about to be overtaken by a raging, dark tornado. The serenity and smoothness of the grass is reflected from the wood on which it is painted.
In this last painting Toni shows us an engaging, peaceful, moonlit scene. Simplicity is at its core. A bright moon in a dark sky acts as the focal point, while textured horizontal water anchors the painting. This scene is powerful, but in a peaceful way.
If you liked the images above, I encourage you to visit Toni’s website to experience the rest of her exquisite paintings on unique materials. You won’t regret it.
Please
stumble it so others will find it or check out the related posts below.
Finally, my "big project" is finished! It’s been a crazy day with a lot going on, but foliotwist.com is finally live and online! Since I’ve kept it a complete secret up until launch, here’s a quick (mostly visual) overview of what it does. . .
read moreAs you'll soon see, John Diehl is a landscape painter whose style is completely his own. His paintings (which he markets as either “Blurscapes" or “Knifescapes") offer an intriguing twist to a rather traditional subject matter—not to mention that his focus on developing such a unique. . .
read moreDoes every painting need a focal point? Not always, say some professionals, but others consider them an absolute requirement. In fact, many artists take focal points for granted, including them in a composition without thought for whether or not a successful painting might need it. So what is . . .
read moreToday's paintings are by Barbara Geri, a Seattle artist who paints primarily in a plein air or Impressionist style. I chose to feature Barbara's paintings for two reasons: one, because each painting has a tremendous amount of energy and movement even on a very small scale—most are 6"X6"—and tw. . .
read moreToday's featured artist, Cynthia Blair, excels in a number of different mediums including charcoal, oil and pastel. She is a BFA graduate in illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design, and in addition to being a fine artist, Cynthia is also a talented web designer. After agonizing ove. . .
read more
Subscribe to EmptyEasel's free weekly newsletter for artists.
Sign up today!
