Sleuthing Scraps

Lisa Kowalski is an abstract expressionist painter known for her vibrant, sometimes almost violent applications of thick impasto paints. Some of her pieces are purely abstract, others reference the movement of cities and figures, notably this one, "Pretty Little Lies 2", that I just sold to a private equity firm in Boulder:

Where does she get her inspiration? Like many expressionists, some of the brushstrokes come from the muse within within, but as I saw when I visited her RINO studio, she pulls color palettes and compositions from many printed sources. Lisa has a collection of messy, paint splattered, nearly falling apart but lovely artist notebooks with torn, shredded and collaged images. As I sit with her she pages through them swiftly, and I imagine she does the same when she is there on her own, priming to paint, waiting for the right glimpse to guide her next piece.

Milwaukee Metal

On my recent trip to Wisconsin, post successful marathon, I was kindly invited into the studio of the sculptor Richard Taylor. He had told me on the phone that he had a lot of works in progress, and he wasn't kidding. The industrial building just north of downtown was chock-a-block full of his metal pieces, wall and free-standing, indoor and outdoor, natural rusted steel to painterly distressed to shocking bright. Here are some of the highlights:

Freestanding totem pieces. I think I can move these!

From a series of public sculptures he executed. This one was built on spec and is primed, ready to be painted a color of choice and placed somewhere magnificent!

A guardian figure watching over the studio and lending some creative juju from time to time

Richard discusses his art and process

Good motto!

Sleuthing Milwaukee

After a nice September rest, I am back to work. Yesterday's definition of that work was pounding 26.2 miles on my Newton sneakers along the lakefront of Milwaukee. Marathon #4 is down! As much as it hurt 24 hours ago, why am I already contemplating which one to do next year? I attribute this craziness to my mother, who kindly watched and cheered me during the race.

Anyway, now that my training is finished, and now that I feel rested and rejuvenated again, I am back to sleuthing. I am changing up the formula a bit, a little less rigid in the 'one artist a month' and secretive concepts. I am just going to share my studio adventures and hope you all enjoy.

On that note, today I want to share a bit of my visit with Milwaukee painter Zim Zwadlo. He is the master of the aerial observation, and I absolutely love the pedestrian piece that my firm placed in our first round at 1600 Glenarm Place, so it was nice to meet the man behind the brush.

Jim's house is in an eclectic part of Milwaukee, not far from the domes that house the city's botanical gardens. First glance - yes, an artist lives here:

Inside the Victorian I was delighted to meet Jim, sporting a tweed sportcoat, as well as his wife Sue, also sporting a tweed sportcoat. They were quite the cute couple. Here is a shot of Jim in front of some of his works:

And, bonus, it turns out that Sue is a painter as well. Here is one of her floral still life paintings: