Southern Fields Art Resource

Peter Pettegrew & Matthew Cutter, Two Man Show July 31st – August 1st At Galeria del Mar at 9 King St. in downtown St. Augustine, Florida. Featuring Fine Wines and Tapas dishes, and a live joint painting demonstration.

Spend a weekend with these two artists whose work remains in great demand. This is a true reward for past and future collectors. Cutter’s and Pettegrew’s paintings are instantly recognizable and they have a following that is as vast as the panoramic vistas they so skillfully capture. This event will give further proof to the power of these artists to show you what they see and how these incredible visions make them feel…

About Matthew J Cutter (1974 -)
Raised in rural New Hampshire, Matthew J Cutter was introduced to art by his parents at an early age. With their encouragement he spent much of his free time drawing to his heart’s desire. Around the age of ten, Matthew’s grandmother, Helen Cutter, expanded his artistic endeavors by teaching him the basics of painting. They spent many hours together nurturing Matthew’s talent, which would prove crucial to his later development as an artist.

In his teen years Cutter left the art world behind to pursue other interests, but that early attraction resurfaced in his mid-twenties when he participated in a painting workshop with listed American artist, Morgan Samuel Price. From there his interest grew deeper and he looked to the works of the Old Masters, such as John Singer Sargent, Joaquin Sorolla, and the California Impressionists to further his knowledge of painting. Present day painters such as Richard Schmid, Scott Christensen, Matt Smith, and Daniel Gerhartz have also influenced Cutter.

Matthew’s emergence to the art world has been a slow process culminating in his first one-man-show in February 2006. The show was a great success with 30 originals selling on opening night. It is worth noting that while Cutter’s pursuit of art is not a full-time opportunity at this point in his life, it is a full-time passion. He has traveled to places such as Taos, NM, the Smoky Mountains and St. Kitts in search of subject matter and he currently resides in St. Augustine, FL.

About Peter Pettegrew
Peter Pettegrew has devoted his life to capturing the timeless beauty of the natural landscape on canvass. As a youth, his world was centered around Monterey Bay, California, and it was here that his compelling encounters with the ocean inspired sketches. As early as four years of age, his aunt, who was a painter, recognized his talent and insisted to his mother that he only be given blank paper; no coloring books. Childhood sketches symbolized the sights and sensations of ocean landscapes, and soon more serious efforts resulted as he turned to painting.

By ten years of age, the artist was already studying with one of the older marine painters in the Bay Area. His formal art education began when he applied and qualified for admission to Harbor Senior High in Santa Cruz, California, a prestigious and progressive school dedicated to advancing the development of artistic skills and creative freedom. After moving to Florida, Pettegrew went on to attend the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, where he studied painting as well as graphic art techniques that he now employs in his work with hand-pulled serigraphs, stone lithographs, and originals. After his formal education, he furthered his schooling in individual mediums through private artist workshops, including oil painting, watercolor techniques and charcoal drawing.

Finding his inspiration through detailed research of the Master Impressionists and plein air painters of the 19th Century, this work revealed the undeniable course for his life, “to honor the face of nature by painting her portrait in so many ways and in so many places.” His captivating impressionistic style, using delicate tones, subtle luminous lighting, and savory blends of color, has resulted in distinctive paintings for his collectors. From childhood, the landscapes have always been the beloved subject for Pettegrew’s passionate creations.

A naturalist, and outdoorsman, he camps, hikes, and explores, to find his timeless compositions. It is this focus, this need to completely lose himself in the wilderness in order to paint, breathing in the air of dawn and dusk, that nurtures the inspiration he pours onto his canvases. He draws inspiration from his diverse travels. In the last few years he has been to France, the Bahamas, Montana, and California to capture his subject. Most often he is painting in the Southeastern United States. His home and studio are in Orlando, Florida, with another family residence on Marco Island, not far from the Big Cypress Swamp in the Everglades.

Mr. Pettegrew states, “Whether I’m painting in the Everglades or in the marshes of South Carolina, these Southern wetlands have a feel and presence like nowhere else I’ve been. This land is where the spirit within lies very close to the surface. Its beauty abounds and one does not have to struggle to locate its magnificent side.” Mr. Pettegrew always receives high praise from museum and gallery directors throughout the United States for his one-man and group exhibitions. Collectors anxiously await each new painting. The huge demand for Pettegrew’s work is gratifying for the artist, by providing him the means to give back to the natural world. He acts on his commitment to Promote, Preserve, and Protect the environment through his art. His gallery and museum events, and the ongoing sales of some of his work are venues to channel his support for environmental causes. “I think we all need a greater sensitivity of our natural surroundings and what I fully experience when on location is what I spiritually need to paint. My hope is that this emotion is fully communicated, not just in the traditional sense, but rather a message of the mystery and joy in how nature really feels. Through painting, I share my love of nature with others and hopefully help to preserve her beauty.”

For additional information, Contact: Galeria del Mar @ (904) 829-2120 • 9 King Street, St. Augustine, FL 32084 • gdm@cutterandcutter.com

Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson

The opening reception for the joint show of central Florida artists Robin Maria Pedrero and Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson will be held at Seminole Community College Fine Arts Gallery, Sanford/ Lake Mary Campus, FL September 2, 5 – 7 pm. The show will run Sept 5 – 25.

Seminole Community College Fine Arts Gallery (located at 100 Weldon Blvd., Sanford, FL 32773-6199) presents  recent works by Robin Maria Pedrero and Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson. This exhibition celebrates the luminous landscapes and captivating portraits of Robin Maria Pedrero and the “Paper Paintings” figurative collage works of Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson, both artists are of Longwood.

Pedrero’s color saturated pastels depict a visual journey using organic forms and geometric design. Pedrero is a signature member of the Pastel Society of America and a Portrait Society of America member, who began fine art studies at the age of thirteen. Jeffrey Spalding, now CEO and President for Glenbow Museum, Canada judged her work Best of Show with a “magical use of color” as Director of the Appleton Museum in Ocala Florida. Collected worldwide, her works are in private and corporate collections. View more of the journey.

St. Hilaire Nelson is a member of the National Collage Society, she has a framed painting from kindergarten in her home today to remind her that her art is a journey that is constantly evolving and changing. When experiencing her collages you might think you are looking at an impressionistic styled painting, but instead you are looking at tiny bits of torn paper. What appears to be small brush strokes of vibrant color at first glance are papers torn and adhered in place for their value, color saturation, shape or all of the above. Clare Zipperly of Fifth Avenue Art Gallery in Melbourne judged her work Best of Show in 2007 and stated: “Elizabeth uses paper much like a mosaic artist might use tiles in assembling a piece or she may use layer upon layer of transparent papers to get the rich effect and colors she wants. Her work is simply a must see (up close).” See more samples of her unusual technique on her website.

Both Pedrero and Nelson use innovative POD publisher LuLu to  document their work, and Pedrero has posted a sneak peak in of the exhibit in video form:

A handy way to see renowned Tampa artist and USF Professor Theo Wujcik’s art is online. Not entirely coated with CSS goodness yet, but on the way there. This is a good thing, because, for an artist of his stature, useful web resources are sparse. Still, there is this video!

Harold Newton

Who hasn’t heard of “The Highwaymen”, that remarkable informal group of 26 African American artists from central Florida ? The fact that their sale prices in the secondary market have skyrocketed in recent years, and the possibility that your aunt might have a couple of these paintings flaking away up in her attic adds to the intrigue.
Well, some of these guys are still around and producing, and you can meet six of them– Al Black, Mary Ann Caroll, James Gibson, Issac Knight, Robert “R.L.” Lewis, and Roy McLendon — Saturday, August 23rd, from noon to 5 p.m. at the Donnelly Park Pavilion, located on the corner of 5th Avenue and Donnelly Street, downtown Mt Dora, Florida.
Interestingly, the paintings of these self-taught, “outsider artists” has become so valuable in recent years that many fraudulent paintings with forged signatures attributing them to members of the “The Highwaymen” group have appeared on eBay and in some galleries and antique stores.

Peter Pettegrew & Sam Newton

Oh, and here’s a photo of Southern Fields’s Florida landscape impressionist painter Peter Pettegrew hanging out with The Highwaymen’s Sam Newton.

And now, a a Highwaymen video:

Image via Wikipedia

In conversations with local artists about painting en plein air, we find that two topics generally come up:

1) It’s too hot.
Sorry, can’t do anything about that. It was your idea to move to Florida, Skippy.

2) I’m nervous about painting in public.
Well, there’s safety and comfort in numbers, and hooking up via the Plein Air Florida website will get you the 411 on local outdoor artists and events. Group painting events are fun, inspirational and educational. And although they can’t do anything about the heat, at least you’ll have sympathetic souls to complain to.

Endangered Species- Field Study By Robert Simone

Central Florida landscape painter Dorothy Starbuck has made two lovely paintings whose subject is wild and endangered Florida. Both paintings are mounted on stretched canvas, and inexpensive high quality framing is available. Call Lila at 727-894-5266 or email us at southernfieldsart@gmail.com.

Artist: Starbuck
Titles: Reaching For The Sky
Medium: Oil
Substrate: Canvas
Size: 24×18

Artist: Starbuck
Titles: Leaning Towards the Sun
Medium: Oil
Substrate: Canvas
Size: 24×18

Image via Wikipedia

Talk about a captive audience.
According to this posting we found on the Skot Foreman Fine Art site, The practice of staging, and I use that word advisedly, art auctions on cruise ship is a tactic that goes back 20 years and has been recently yielding up some unhappy customers.
Our own feeling about this practice is that people who are pampered and catered to in every way in the womb-like atmosphere of a luxury cruise ship may not be on their toes in the same way that they might be in a Manhattan auction room. Hmmm.

Bryan LeBoeuf’s figurative oil paintings explore familiar relationships and memories of his Southern upbringing. LeBoeuf’s subject matter and techniques may be traditional in appearance, but his art is quite contemporary in its psychological and social implications. Many of his paintings suggest open-ended relationships between the figures he depicts—often parents, children, siblings, partners, and other family members—and their interactions with moody environments.

Read the whole story at ArtDaily