International Artist August-September 2024/No. 158

Welcome to International Artist magazine’s August/September issue! We are wildly excited about this issue for a number of reasons. First, it is our annual portrait issue for two of our titles—International Artist and American Art Collector. We are proud of our long standing partner The Portrait Society of America, and this is their annual issue for portrait artists, where they recap the most recent Art of the Portrait Conference. We attend their events, support and award the artists and have come to call them great friends in the art world. In addition, our collector title American Art Collector spotlights portrait artists in the August issue with our annual Portrait Artists Directory 2024 plus our Collector’s Focus on portrait art section. We celebrate portrait art! The next thing we want to…

Life can throw a lot our way. We enter into competitions and don’t get accepted, we apply for residencies or programs that don’t get granted, we have a tough time selling our artwork or connecting with collectors, and so on and so forth. This is life, and it can happen to the best of us. And while those disappointments can deepen and fester in your heart, there’s another side to that coin. They can also become beacons of strength and resilience, to continue to pick yourself back up, keep trying, learn what you can, and, most importantly, inherently know your own self worth. As you ponder this letter, dear readers, I hope you all know how important you are. Your uniqueness as artists—in your style, techniques and subjects—as well as…

Matt Ryder Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Rosie, Rosie, Lucy, Rose, oil, 18 x 24” (45 x 60 cm) Grand Prize is a four-page editorial feature in American Art Collector magazine Painterly Petals Artist Matt Ryder is no stranger to being featured in the pages of this magazine, and for good reason. The oil painter is a master of expressive brushstrokes, color and light, creating paintings that truly capture the many intricacies of nature’s blooms in a way that feels free-flowing. “I aim for impressionistic realism, if that’s such a thing! I look to have the paintings read clearly from afar and when you get up close you can see abstract brushwork and flecks of color everywhere,” he says. “I focus on strong composition and simple subjects painted as beautifully as I…

Quebec, Canada, THE SKY IS THE LIMIT, oil, 48 x 60” (121 x 152 cm) My Inspiration Everything around us is a source of inspiration. I don’t wait for inspiration, I like to manifest it myself by creating a situation that will trigger a random composition to work with. THE SKY IS THE LIMIT is a good example. By putting a flower in an aquarium with a piece of fabric floating behind it with bubbles all around, I knew I would have an amazing image. It’s now a matter of trial and error. It sometimes takes a few days and hundreds of photographs before I get the best composition. Very often the result is behind my expectation. When I have selected the final image, I’m now ready to paint. My Design…

Ontario, Canada, Pretty in Pink, oil, 30 x 30” (76 x 76 cm) My Inspiration My inspiration for Pretty in Pink came from my love of peonies; their very distinct fragrance and explosion of color, and petals remind me of childhood and a time of innocence. Growing up our neighbor had them in the front yard, and I associate the scent with warmer weather and the renewal of spring. This particular peony’s beautiful blush pink with its random accents of fuchsia and sunlit petals grabbed my attention and needed to be immortalized onto canvas. My Design Strategy In this painting, I had wanted to capture an up close and intimate detail of the peony, as though looking at it from the perspective of an insect. There are so many petals and…

New Taipei City, Taiwan, Spring Song, watercolor, 14 x 21¼” (36 x 54 cm) FINALISTS Each receives an Award Certificate and a one-year subscription to International Artist magazine PLUS having their work seen worldwide by international galleries looking for new talent. Finalist My Inspiration I enjoy painting floral subjects because the rich colors of flowers always provide me with abundant creative inspiration. In September 2017, I visited the Louvre and took a walk in the nearby Tuileries Garden. The vibrant flowers lining the pathways caught my eye, particularly the blue sage, which stood out beautifully against the bright yellow background walls. My Design Strategy I started by dividing the scene into two major sections: the light yellow background and the green grass. Then, following the principle of “gathering and dispersing,” I…