Beauty – is in the Eye of the Beholder by Paint Pals
What is “beauty”? What may be attractive for some may not be for others. The definition of beauty is a combination of qualities that please the intellect and moral sense. Artists’ aesthetic senses are conveyed through painting styles, which arouse a reaction in viewers. Do our paintings call to you? Does a painting have to be deemed “beautiful” to be alluring?
In Paint Pals we connect through our passion for painting. We encourage and offer our varied perceptions of how we view each other’s subjects and styles. And we rejoice in the artistry of our shared friendship through painting!
The Paint Pals are Sofia Besondy, Jennifer Polnaszek, Martha Paisley Ruth and Carol Sue Witt.
Please support our exhibiting artists by exploring the virtual content on this page and those on other virtual exhibits! Be sure to also visit their websites and Instagram accounts to discover what else each artist has to offer!
Life is a Fractal
I express life through the uncertain combination of colors, curves, and lines that blend into something unique and mysterious — like life itself.
My acrylic, colored pencil, and alcohol-ink paintings express life as a wondrous fractal of God’s creation. Often using bold colors, I love exploring different subjects such as portraits, city scenes, abstracts, flowers, and birds. Recently, I’ve had commercial success converting my art to personalized, limited edition greeting cards. Scenes from Austin are particularly popular with tourists.
It’s not unusual for me to have half a dozen projects underway at one time. In this way I can move from project to project according to my mood (and I never get bored).
Serendipitously I discovered a love for painting one summer during college. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t touch a paintbrush again for over 40 years. There simply wasn’t time for painting in my life as an architect, kindergarten teacher, and single mom.
In 2015, I retired from teaching and began painting again with the encouragement of my husband. Today I participate in, on average, three exhibits each year. I’m an active member of two painting clubs, 620 Paint Group and Capitol Arts Society, both of which have been helpful and supportive in my journey as an artist.
What is your inspiration?
The story reflected in a person’s face is inspiring me to paint portraits. I am fascinated with capturing on canvas the soulfulness found in my subject’s eyes or the character in the lines on their face. This is different from what initially attracted me to paint when I fell in love with the fractal of life’s shapes and colors.
S. Fabiola
Sofia's website http://www.expressedliving.com/sofia-besondy-art/
My work is informed by the relationship between shadow and substance, shape and form, light and dark, value and hue. My primary focus is the human form, the outward expression of attitude emotion, that magic thread that connects us one to another.
Jennifer Polnaszek came to Texas from rural Wisconsin where she worked in the medical profession as both a physician assistant and a registered nurse.
She studied art at the University of New Mexico and University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire, and has continued her studies at the Southwest School of Art and the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts.
Polnaszek works in oil, watercolor, graphite, and printmaking. Particularly drawn to the human form and in documenting the human experience through her work, she is influenced by both her love of biological science and anthropology.
English Breakfast
Jennifer's website is jenniferpolnaszek@yahoo.com
This exhibit questions "beauty". What does it mean to each of us? I find serene compositions depicting quiet objects arouse a sense of peace in me...a magical captured moment in time with objects from my life that have special meaning for me. Do my paintings speak to you? These paintings are all done in colored pencil. Because of their representational detail, they take hours to complete, each drawing consisting of over 60 different colors of the wax-based pencils. The colors are burnished together as I draw, giving a wonderful blend of color effects which I find beautiful.
Notable commissions are a large watercolor depicting the music venues of Austin in the collection of Horizon Bank on display in the lobby at the corner of Congress Ave/6th Street in downtown Austin, and an acrylic painting about the history of Seguin, Texas adorns the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in that city.
I have been represented by galleries in Tucson and Scottsdale, Arizona, and in Austin, Lakeway, and Bee Cave, Texas and I have been a member of several watercolor and colored pencil organizations.
I began art lessons at a young age, inspired by artist-neighbors and teachers while growing up in suburbs of Kansas City, Chicago, and Buffalo, New York. I have a BFA in Communication Design from Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, graduating with honors. My work experience includes graphic designer and art director for a printer and advertising/PR agencies in Binghamton, New York and Tucson, Arizona; free lancing in graphic design and illustration; painting murals; teaching weekly drawing and painting classes to children and adults as well as workshops, demonstrations, and jurying art exhibits. I now pursue my painting fulltime.
No sugar for My Coffee, colored pencil
Martha's website is www.martharuth.com
I have had the pleasure of painting and studying this incredible art of transparent watercolor for many years since my formal training at U of MD in the late ‘60’s. As a founding member of the St. Louis Watercolor Society, a past member of Southwest Watercolor Society and a signature member of Texas Watercolor Society, I have been in the company of some masterful painters.
In Austin, Texas I have found an active Art community including Waterloo Watercolor Group and the 620 Paint Group offering me many opportunities for new inspiration in this medium, my favorite.
Teaching beginners in watercolor allows me to share this form of expression with new artists and to recapture through their work the magic that happens when yellow, red and blue pigments blend with water on paper. I encourage artists to relax and feel the joy, sign and title each painting and share their Art with friends and family. Entering Shows and marketing my artwork have become favorite activities as I love to share the moments I have created, especially my unique views of life in Texas.
Deer Me
Carol's website is https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/carolsue-witt
Beauty – is in the Eye of the Beholder
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