The drawings in the gallery were done by her college professor in Rhode Island.
low price range: 10 by 20 inch work $6,000.
high price range: for 15 by 60 inch work around $13,000.
on line and land galleries: Gallery 1261 in Denver, Colorado. http://www.gallery1261.com
Clagget/Rey Gallery in Vail, Colorado. http://www.claggettrey.com/artistDetail.aspx?enc=3suCzWGTXz5d6EBlADI3QV6S6A/oPUigTbTUjdKyw2I=
mediums used: oils
surfaces used: canvas
The artist is well known for painting glass containers, spoons, bottles, paper bags, and fish. The fish are great for their contrasting colors and light. I first became aware of the artist at a museum show and her paintings of paper bags. She looked at the paper bag as only an object with color. The background paint was just as thick as the thin paper bag. The artist uses as much artistic license as any realist in her quest for a great painting.
This artist had the most impressive painting I saw this month at Gallery 1261 in downtown Denver. What attracted me most was the orange in contrast to the fish. The fish were placed so the painting seemed much larger than 10 by 10 inches. Thick and bold juicy paint that reminded me of a Sorolla painting. Please check out the reflections of light on the fish’s scales. I had never been so intrigued by a fish painting! Its great to look back and see how someone painted fish nearly 400 years ago and what a current artist is producing. Her style is so expressive when compared to say a fish painted by Abraham Mignon.
The artist was born in 1958 in Freeport, Texas. She was born into a family of musicians. Although her mom used to encourage her artistic talents, she decided to study music and planned to earn a living as a musician. Switzer didn’t believe you could earn a living as a visual artist. Back in 1993 she played the violin with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. In the early 1990s she moved to Colorado to follow her new vision of earning a living as a professional visual artist. Attended the Rhode Island School of Design and Virginia Commonwealth University after starting studying music at North Carolina School for the Arts. The artist earned a both a bachelors and masters degree for visual arts.
She credits her drawing teacher at the college in Rhode Island with the structure of her style. He once made his students draw a crumpled piece of paper for 20 hours. I have enclosed three drawings in the gallery of work done her professor, Akira Arita. He studied at the Royal Academy in Japan. His drawings remind me of the graphite master Stephen Graber.
Today’s art challenge: Go to the fridge and pull out of stick of butter or margarine and paint. Make a palette using complimentary colors and don’t worry about blending edges, stick with strong shapes and bold color. Use simple geometric shapes.
Happy painting!
D
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