Thursday, July 3, 2014

GALLERY PAGE OF OUR ART FROM THE HEART






By way of introduction to our gallery of art we present this print of a work which embodies the talent of both artists.

Below you may view our work on separate pages, as our styles and subjects vary somewhat.

We hope you enjoy your visit with us...

     --Sue and Doug.

IN THE FLOWERS
print 5" x 7" 1
by Susan Hartline/Douglas L. Simmons
found a home 06-21-2014
(click on picture for larger images)

Sue painted the exquisite detail of the Humming Bird in the flowers some time ago.

She says, "It's just a bird."

But, it is so much more. It is what she saw in the flowers and it is the beauty which, once I let it reach out and touch me, compelled me to become more than I had been. Which, by proximity, entered my thoughts, my feelings and my spirit. Which commanded me to act in kind...

...and brought me back to my own art.

She allowed me to paint the backdrop around her original work. Another vision of what is in the flowers.

It is so much more than "just a bird"...

...it is inspiration.

* * *

IN THE FLOWERS

Sue paints a vision of what is in the flowers, captures a glimpse of life in bloom, sees the depth of two souls meeting eye to eye, the comfort of being safe and warm in a world that is cold and hostile.

She finds the heart of innocence in her subjects and the power of that same simplicity to attract the love of, and command protection by, the strong.

She knows that others rule the night and we are safe only as long as the fire burns.

What it means to belong, to find that strength and purpose you would never know alone.

She understands the considered stare in the solitary gaze of one who watches from afar, contemplating society, which he will never comprehend. 

She sees the depths of sadness in the eyes on one whose world is out of time, and the presence in the steady gaze of one who is undaunted by the past, the future or the prospect of facing the day...

...she imparts all of these visions to the canvas of her work, but has never painted a self portrait, so that all might see what makes these flowers grow...


UNKNOWING

Others may sit
In the garden.
Laugh with the flowers
And the trees.

Unknowing who tends
The garden;
Ignorant as the birds
And the bees.

Without you there would be
No garden.
Without you no laughter
In me.

Doug L.
10-06-10 3:25 A.M.
Whiting Indiana. 




* * *

How a painting is mounted and the type of frame it is mounted in may, at times, have as much impact and import to the connoisseur of the work as might the work itself.

Therefore we are also showing prints set in different framing as well as the original paintings to illustrate how one work of art might find itself at home in various settings and locales...

...after viewing each original work you may click on the link to also see these other variations.

Note: In addition, you may click on any picture to be taken to a gallery of larger images for each page.  

--Doug and Sue.


* * *

POST SCRIPT


 Proper framing technique is vital for protection of the work as well as display.



BELONGING
(Wolves in new clothing)

They claim that the clothes don't make the man, quite true, but they can determine where he hangs out...
...in their old shabby frame Sues Wolves didn't belong, they were "Stay at home Canines".

Once dressed in their flashy new frame they were spotted by a well to do suitor and went on an all expenses paid trip to hang on his wall...





While the discerning viewer might be attracted to your work upon close inspection, a distinctive and appealing display is vital to sparking their interest from afar.

Not sitting on a shelf or laying about on a table but hung on well constructed stands which present the work as it would be seen when mounted and the displays arranged in such a fashion as to present a view of all the works to the onlooker as they pass by.

There is much to do and see at public shows and your presentation must stand out to avoid being overlooked.




The artist, as well as the work, should be presentable. If you present yourself as "Too Loose The Wreak"your show might well end in a crash.

One should be knowledgeable about, not only their own work but, the various styles of painting and the different mediums involved and, in addition, familiar with framing techniques, pointing out the quality of your mountings.

While shows should be primarily focused on presenting our work to the world rather than seeking profit, unless we wish to foot the bill ourselves and give our art away, the quality of our work and presentation go far toward ensuring that it will be desirable enough to induce others to buy and hang it on their walls.



A work in progress



The Artist at work


The other artist (not working)
For updates on live shows email:
douglr62@netzero.net

You might also enjoy visiting...

OCEAN GIRL






OCEAN GIRL
5" x 7" 1
Pencil and Ink
found a home 06-21-2014






OCEAN GIRL
5" x 7" 2
Pencil and Ink








OCEAN GIRL
8" x 10" 1
Pencil and Ink





OCEAN GIRL
10" x 14" 1
Pencil and Ink




Wednesday, May 7, 2014

PENCILED INK





These works are a series of paintings titled, "Penciled Ink".

It is a collaboration of talents, the pencil sketch being rendered by Susan and the painting then completed, using ink as the medium, by Doug.

We hope you enjoy this combination of our varied styles.






CHAR WOMAN
8"x 10" 1
pencil and ink
06-05-2015





COUSINS BY LOVE
8"x 10" pencil sketch

The original pencil sketch of "Cousins By Love",
which inspired our series of ink prints titled, "Penciled Ink".



COUSINS BY LOVE
5" x 7" 2
Pencil and Ink

Being a rather special subject for Sue this is a portrait of her Daughter and her Niece who are, indeed “Cousins by Love”, as love precedes all things and binds us with a power far greater that even that of birth.

This is my second attempt with this work , I eventually realized that the first painting was completely inept and had passed beyond redemption so I set it aside and began afresh with a new scan of Sues sketch.

I feel that this work comes as close as my talents allow in capturing the marvelous color Sue embedded within the lines of her pencil drawing, which the unsuspecting eye might see if the gaze lingers a bit too long.

I hope she feels the same.

        --Doug L.




EXPRESSING THEIR LOVE
5" x 7" 1
Pencil and Ink



OCEAN GIRL
5" x 7" 3
Pencil and Ink

Immediately upon viewing Sue's sketch of Ocean Girl, I felt the allure and heard the siren call of her seeming innocence which, upon closer inspection, proved to be an all but true attraction.

She is not in any manner, after first glance, at all innocent rather, she is well versed in the seduction of one who falls under the sway of her emerald gaze and becomes drawn into the depths of her charm.

She left us at her first public showing and went home with the second suitor who dared to pause a moment too long, gazing into her eyes and listening to her call.

--Doug L.

OTHER PRINTS OF OCEAN GIRL







"The Sultan of Swoon."
11" x 11"
Pencil Sketch
by
Susan Hartline

Between 1943 and 1946, Sinatra's solo career blossomed as the singer charted 17 different Top 10 singles. The mobs of bobby-soxer fans Sinatra attracted with his dreamy baritone earned him such nicknames as "The Voice" and "The Sultan of Swoon."

"It was the war years, and there was a great loneliness," recalled Sinatra...

In later life he bacame known as "Ol Blue Eyes".

With a show business career that spanned more than 50 years, Sinatra's continued mass appeal can best be explained in the man's own words: "When I sing, I believe. I'm honest."



"The Sultan of Swoon."
7" x 7" print # 1
Pencil and Ink
by
Susan Hartline / Douglas L. Simmons
(found a home 02-22-2015)







"The Sultan of Swoon."
8" x 10" print # 1
Pencil and Ink
by
Susan Hartline / Douglas L. Simmons





SOMEDAY
5" x 7" 1
Pencil / Ink





THE CHAMP
6" x 8" 1
Pencil and Ink



TOUCH OF LOVE
5" x 7" 1
Pencil and Ink
(found a home 3-22-2015)







WISDOM
8" x 10" 1
06-27-2014
Pencil and Ink


Septima Poinsette Clark was born on May 3, 1898, in Charleston, South Carolina.

Little has been written about Septima Clark’s life, and many Americans have never heard of her; yet those who knew and worked with Clark remember her as one of the most influential women in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s.

Known as the “Grandmother of the American Civil Rights Movement,” Septima Poinsette Clark was an educator and civil rights activist who played a major role in the voting rights of African-Americans.

In 1979, President Jimmy Carter awarded her a Living Legacy Award.



Sunday, May 4, 2014

FOLDED - FRAMED PRINTS - by Douglas L. Simmons



FOLDED
by Douglas L. Simmons
Print 8" x 10" 1


FOLDED
by Douglas L. Simmons
Print 5" x 7" 1
(click on picture for larger images)



FOLDED
by Douglas L. Simmons
Print 5" x 7" 2
(click on picture for larger images)





FOLDED
by Douglas L. Simmons
Print 4" x 5" 1
(click on picture for larger images)

Friday, May 2, 2014

THE ART OF DOUGLAS L. SIMMONS

A LIBERAL WHIFF OF OPINION
AT THE REPUBLI-CRATIC TEA PARTY

8" x 11" Tempera Painting/Kansan Paper
by Douglas L. Simmons
(click on picture for larger images)

“If you can’t spot the constituents from across the room, it is quite likely you are at the wrong party."

Of course, that is the “go to” claim of the surrealist, should one deign to speak critically of their art...or of their politics. (Then again, you may actually be the skunk in the works.)

(However, the noun does appear to apply in both instances).

sur·re·al·ism: noun 

a style of...stressing the subconscious or nonrational significance of imagery arrived at by automatism or the exploitation of chance effects, unexpected juxtapositions, etc. 







BEAUTY SLEEPS
8" x 10" Digital Ink
by Douglas L. Simmons
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL





DADS DAY
by Douglas L. Simmons
Ink Rendering
7" x 9" 1
(click on picture for larger images)

Ink rendering from a photo of my friend Peter Katic and his Father Vaso Katic.







DESIRE
by Douglas L. Simmons
print 8" x 10" 1
Pencil/Digital Graphics (One work on two canvases)
(click on picture for larger images)

This work was painted from an original pencil drawing circa the 1970’s.

I drew “Letting in the Darkness” and then turned the canvas over and drew “Longing for the Light” on the back side of the canvas (to show the subject looking through the portal and gazing into the opposite drawing). How I expected to frame the thing I don’t have a clue...

I put the original aside and it sat untouched these many years. 

Inspired by Sue to take up my art again I pulled it out and decided to complete it.

In the early months of 2014 the work as seen was completed using Windows Paint, Microsoft Digital Image and Ifranview.

--Doug L.






DISTRACTED
Ink on Paper
 by
Douglas L. Simmons
print 8" x 10" 1
(click on picture for larger images)







EPHEMERAL
print 16" x 20" 2
by Douglas L. Simmons
(click on picture for larger images)

In an old black and white photograph I found a vision of time which the photographer had, knowingly or not, captured in his lens.

Inspired by this frozen flow I began a six month long attempt to say with pen and ink what I perceived with mind and heart: a passing moment that speaks of all eternity.

I can only hope for some small success.

The girl on the river walk, the water flowing past, the river and all about it, the buildings the mountains and the trees, the Earth even the Universe itself, whisper the word...

...ephemeral

Only time abides.

--Doug L.



FALLEN
by Douglas L. Simmons
print 8" x 10" 1
(click on picture for larger images)
Fallen...

...In 1972, while observing from the deck of a tour boat plying the Rhine river in Germany, sailing past the remnants of other ages I gazed upward to see two large stone towers and a smaller turret still standing next to them, all that remained of a once massive fortress.

As I drew with pencil on my sketch pad, I pondered in my mind how the mighty structure must have loomed above the river before it had fallen.

Judging by the cliff face and the hill which rose behind the remains of the stonework I sketched in what might have once stood above me but, in reality, had been confined to the rust of history, oxidized away by time, fallen in all but my imagination...

--Doug L.
VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL





FAWN IN THE SLOUGH
by Douglas L. Simmons
Print 7" x 9" 1
(click on picture for larger images)

This work was drawn from a pencil sketch made in Willow Slough, Indiana while sitting in the cold pretending to hunt rabbits.





FOLDED
by Douglas L. Simmons
Print 12" x 16" 1
(found a home 06-06-2015)

Humans did not recently become self absorbed
 after discovering them-"selfie" in the "me phone".

The characteristic is folded into the very bedrock of our genetic structure.

(click on picture for larger images)




GROOVIN'
by Douglas L. Simmons
Print 7" x 9" 1
04-21-2015
(click on picture for larger images)





LAKE MICHIGAN SAIL BOATS
by Douglas L. Simmons
original pencil sketch and water color painting 9" x 11"
framed side by side
Given as a gift in 2010 to my good friend Peter Katic,
who, by example, inspires me to become more than I am.
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL


MONA WITH A SMILE
Print 8" x 10" 1
by Douglas L. Simmons
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW OTHER FRAMED PRINTS






MOONLIGHT
Print 8" x 10" 1
by Douglas L. Simmons
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL





 MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON
print 5" x 7" 1
by Douglas L. Simmons
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL






NIGHT OF THE COMET
by Douglas L. Simmons
print 8" x 10" 2
06-30-2014
(click on picture for larger images)

This is my second rendering of " Night of the Comet". The first painting was done sometime during the decade of the 1970’s using tempera paint on paper. It was completely destroyed in a flood ten years later.

All that remained of that work was a single Polaroid photograph.

Using the photo for reference I rendered a new sketch and completed this second work as an ink painting.

Such is life.

--Doug L.

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL







NIGHT SAIL
by Douglas L. Simmons
print 8" x 10" 4
(click on picture for larger images)

As a youth I sat on the dock in Indiana Harbor and sketched the sailboats making their way home in the twilight. I did not realize that over 40 years would elapse before I brought the painting in to shore...

    --Doug L.
    March 2014
VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL
You might also enjoy visiting...

THE ART OF SUSAN HARTLINE



BELONGING
by Susan Hartline
original painting 12" x 15"
(found a home 2014)
(click on picture for larger images)

Belonging...to be a member of a group, to be proper or due; be properly or appropriately placed...to be bound by ties of affection, dependence, allegiance...

CHIEF JOSEPH
by Susan Hartline
Original Painting 11" x 17"
(found a home 2009)
(click on picture for larger images)

Chief Joseph,  Nez Perce (Nimiputimt)

"I am tired of fighting...from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more.
-Chief Joseph

Chief Joseph, known by his people as In-mut-too-yah-lat-lat (Thunder coming up over the land from the water), was best known for his resistance to the U.S. Government's attempts to force his tribe onto reservations.

...his tactics were so brilliant they are taught to this day at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point...







EYE TO EYE
by Susan Hartline
8" x 12"
04-03-2014
Prisma Color Painting
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL
by Susan Hartline
Print 8" x 10" 1
(original painting 7" x 9")
(click on picture for larger images)






IN BLOOM
by Susan Hartline
original painting 10" x 12" 02-28-2014
(click on picture for larger images)

You can smell the moist rich air of the greenhouse and feel the fresh new joy around you as you stand in the presence of life in bloom. The flowers, the mother, the room, the very earth itself, all breathed in for the first time by the center of the bloom...
...the young girl.

Who herself is flushed with the bloom of youth and life yet lived.

--Doug L.







IN THE FLOWERS
by Susan Hartline
original painting
8" X 10"
(found a home 2012)
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL






INNOCENCE PROTECTED
by Susan Hartline
original painting 11" x 16"
(click on picture for larger images)







INNOCENCE UNDISTURBED
by Susan Hartline
original painting 6" x 8"
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL





MOSA
by Susan Hartline
original painting 8" x 10"
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL





A NEZ PERCE
by Susan Hartline
original painting 8" x 10"
(found a home 2013)
(click on picture for larger images)

Painted from a photo
taken in 1910
by Edward S. Curtis.




POLAR DREAMS
by Susan Hartline
original painting 4" x 8"
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL







RULERS OF THE NIGHT
by Susan Hartline
original painting 11"x 12"
(found a home 2008)
(click on picture for larger images)

 Rulers of the night...

...spotting a glimpse of movement in the darkness beneath the trees, one might be motivated to add a log or two and stir the dying embers...

...knowing that, but for the fire, others rule the night.

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL






SAFE AND WARM
by Susan Hartline
original painting 9" x 14" 03-07-2014
(click on picture for larger images)








SOLITARY
by Susan Hartline
original painting new frame 12" x 14"
(click on picture for larger images)

VIEW FRAMED PRINTS OF ORIGINAL





TREPIDATION
by
Susan Hartline

Prisma Pencil on Cansun Paper

Framed 12" x 16'

Forgotten in the moment by the adults who face their own perturbations in the final tumultuous hustle of the ceremonies about them, caught up in this day which culminates weeks or months of planning,...

...the flower girl waits alone in quivering anticipation.

(click on picture for larger images)








UNDAUNTED
by Susan Hartline
 original painting 11" x 14" 02-21-2014
(click on picture for larger images)
Found a home May 31, 2014

Many portraits of Native Americans, printed in the dun Sepia used in early black and white photography to mimic color, succeeded rather more at profiling the image of a defeated and bitter warrior who, left with no outlet for the emotions which roiled within simply stood, back to the wall, in stoic resistance of the daunting forces washing across the lives and lands they had known and knew no more.

Proud and unafraid to die with the land they fearlessly lived with.

With "Undaunted" Sue has brought forth the image of one who has yet to see the terrible plague of progress sweep across a world out of time...

This Lakota Souix stands, proud and undefeated. Sure and certain of his stance and his place in this life, the Granite cliff at his back, not a trap, simply a backdrop in the scene which exhibits the solidity of the mountains and complements the strength of the warrior.

...and he bears no shame at the feminine softness of his features which he allows to show in the directness of his gaze. Within lives the spirit of the man, the husband, the father, the brother and the son. Without is the face of one who knows love.

Still, not painted into the portrait one can see, there is a darkness also about this man. He wears the insignia of the warrior but, needing none to demonstrate to others the power he commands, holds no weapon in visible threat...but, without the image on the canvas, at his right side lies the darkness, a part of him not flaunted in the light for the artist to capture, but demonstrated by it's absence and made more certain by a second gaze into the eyes...

...there is a darkness within as well...

--Doug L.