Today’s featured artist is Kerri Settle, a fantastic oil painter who creates serene, beautiful paintings on (primarily) small canvases.
Living in North Carolina, it’s natural that Kerri would be inspired by the Blue Ridge Mountains and coastal regions of her state. She fills her canvases almost daily with landscapes, and posts them regularly on her art blog.
As I looked through her website I quickly felt a sense of calmness, and even meditation, in her work. Her paintings are captivating, but in a very simple way. Take this first painting, for example:
Kerri uses few paint strokes and unpretentious subjects—just two shrubs against the backdrop of the setting sun. The way they lean to the left gives us a hint of an evening breeze. . . it’s barely anything, but I can still imagine a soft, warm, wind before sunset.
And, although she stated once that “trees are a constant challenge and can potentially drive an artist to insanity,” she certainly seems to manage just fine. In this next painting, her large brush strokes capture the tree’s form perfectly, from its solid trunk to its spreading bunches of leaves.
Compositionally, the final piece below demonstrates Kerri’s ability to create a landscape with depth and interest, where perhaps there was none before.
She shows detail in the foreground, then lets the scene blur away towards the back. The combination of visual depth and contrasting colors makes for an engaging painting, while repetition gives the scene a rhythm all its own.
I encourage you all to take a few minutes and visit Kerri’s blog or website. Just relax, and enjoy the rest of her serene landscapes. You won’t be disappointed.
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