Painting Insights

This week we are joined by the wonderful Heather Jeanne Chontos. Heather’s dynamic and idiosyncratic style is immediately recognisable. She joins us to discuss her work and share insights from her creative journey.“As a painter, I work impulsively, harnessing the power of gestures to create instinctive compositions that combine bold colours, dynamic marks and organic forms. Rather than using brushes or other traditional tools, I apply paint with scraps of plastic, such as hotel-room key cards, or draw and scratch at the surface using the paint tube itself. The fine edges of my chosen instruments allow me to draw long, penetrating lines and create large, highly saturated fields of colour.”Heather Jeanne Chontos

This week we are joined by Pete Monaghan. Living and working in North Wales, Pete’s idiosyncratic approach to mark making and composition result in fascinating paintings that are concerned with both landscape and architecture. Pete says of his work “Most of my work is concerned with vernacular architecture, especially of the “celtic fringes” of Wales, Ireland and Scotland but also the higher slopes of the Alps”.Learn more about Pete here

This week we are joined by Zoey Frank, a representational oil painter whose work includes perceptual painting, narrative, and formal investigations. Zoey shares insights from her creative journey along with thoughts on painting, passion for representing the figure and working on a large scale.Find out more about Zoey Frank here

This week we are joined by Gavin Glakas. Gavin is a painter and teacher whose draftsmanship and technical skills result in brilliant paintings, capturing the life and soul of the scene. From plein air landscapes to portraiture, Gavin shares insights into his creative journey and development as a painter.Learn more about Gavin here

This week we are joined by painter and teacher, Bhavani KrishnanBorn in Switzerland and raised in India, Bhavani Krishnan currently lives and paints in beautiful Oregon, USA. After pursuing a career in engineering, she picked up the brush again in 2012 and rediscovered her passion for art. She has always found tremendous inspiration in nature, expressed by her love for art, hiking, and travel.Bhavani strives for painterly realism in the various subjects that she paints in oils. Her paintings are built upon abstract shapes of colors, yet they are representational. Painting from life is the ultimate thrill for her. She is inspired by patterns of light and shadow, evocative passages of color and exciting variety of shapes. Her vision as an artist is to convey this spark in her painting in hopes of transcending her visual experience to the viewer. Learn more about Bhavani here

This week we are joined by Ken Goshen, who shares his insight into his painting journey, teaching and art education.Ken Goshen (חן גושן, b. 1988, Jerusalem) is an artist and educator based in NYC. His paintings bring together classical techniques and contemporary outlooks, striving to bridge the gap between tradition and progress. Goshen’s recent paintings are currently exhibited at the Jerusalem Biennale, at the Museum of Jewish Art at Hechal Shlomo.Goshen teaches painting and drawing at his school, Goshen Art Academy, located in midtown Manhattan, and he also provides online art lessons to hundreds of students worldwide. He is passionate about equipping contemporary art enthusiasts with classical skills, and believes that art–like language–can be learned by anyone. Goshen regards both his artistic creations and his teaching as integral components of an overarching mission: to contribute as much meaningful art to the world as possible, with a lesser emphasis on whether it originates from his own hand or that of his studentsLearn more about Ken here

This week we are joined by John Wentz. John Wentz is a contemporary artist whose work is an exploration of process and technique. Working within the classical idiom of the human figure, his goal is to reduce and simplify the image to its core fundamentals: composition, color, and mark-making. Paint application and brush strokes are broad and simplified as a means to connect and convey these ideas to the viewer with an abstract sensibility.John joins us to talk about his artistic journey, techniques and the ideas behind his work.Learn more about John here

This week we are joined by Sharon Schock. An Oil and Gouache painter from California, her paintings sing with the natural light of the area. Sharon shares with us her creative journey, her process and navigating being a painter and mother. Sharon’s works are beautifully captured moments in time and we are delighted that she shared her insights with us.Learn more about Sharon here

David Baird (b. 1986, USA) is an oil painter and draftsman focused primarily on figurative work. While inspired by subject matter familiar to art history, his work is equally motivated by the translation of perception into painting, a process by which the sensuality of experience is in constant tension with the materiality of paint.Benefitting from extensive exposure to some of Europe's greatest works of art, the artist has traveled broadly. He has attended classes throughout the US and Europe, including Ryder Studio School (NM, USA), the Art Students League (NYC, USA), Studio Escalier (FR), and the Jerusalem Studio School (Jerusalem, IL). In 2019, the artist was awarded the Avigdor Arikha Masterclass Scholarship to continue his studies in Italy.He has participated in numerous exhibitions, including the inaugural exhibition Memento Vivere in 2021, celebrating the reopening of the historic Lyme Academy in Lyme, CT. In 2022, he won first prize in the New York Figurative Show at the prestigious Salmagundi Club in New York, NY, and was subsequently invited to exhibit in the first ever Hartley Invitational at the same institution. Most recently his work was featured alongside some of the most prominent figurative artists working today in the show Beyond Description, a dual-gallery exhibition taking place simultaneously in Seattle, WA and New York, NY.The artist is represented by Tregony Gallery in London, UK, and Mary Woerner Fine Arts in West Palm Beach, FL. He currently lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama.

This week Simon is joined by painter, Emanuel De Sousa. Known for his loose but highly skilled figurative paintings in Acrylic. From pop cultural references to portraiture, Emanuel shares insights into his creative process and the inspirations behind his striking work.Learn more about Emanuel here

This week we are joined by Michael Weller. Michael is a still life painter whose rich and colourful work is a testament to a meditative study of colour and form. A member of the NEAC, Michael discusses his process and influences along with his colour palette and the process that goes into creating his work. From abstract to direct observation and the nuances in light and colour.Lean more about Michael here

This week we welcome back Kim Eshelman for part two of her interview. Kim is a soft pastel artist whose beautiful works capture the spirit of light and the landscape in which she lives. In this episode we discuss more about pastels, Kim’s colour palette and more insights into her process and life as an artist.Find out more about Kim here

This week, Simon speaks to Floyd Strickland. Based in Los Angeles, CA, Floyd’s work offers a reflective and critical exploration of American culture, particularly through the perspectives of black and brown children. Inspired by his childhood environment, Strickland employs realistic figures that intertwine with aspects of American cultural imagery, resulting in ethereal and figurative paintings. In this conversation, Floyd shares the story of his creative journey and gives a fascinating insight into his process and inspirations.Learn more about Floyd here

This week we are joined by Julia Kamenskikh. Based in Georgia USA, Julia’s paintings exude a beautiful light that captures the very essence of the landscape. We discuss her painting practice and creative journey along with the particulars of colour and medium. From Plein Air painting to still life and studio, Julia shares some important insights into her process and practice.Find out more about Julia here

In this episode we are joined by painter David Gray. David joins us to talk about his creative journey, influences and his process. We also have a fascinating conversation about abstraction and the differences in approach between realism and abstract painting.Learn more about David and his work here

Amy Dury is a figurative painter from Brighton on the South Coast of the UK. Her paintings evoke memory and time through portraiture. Drawing inspiration from vintage family movies and photographs, Amy’s unique vision captures stories and histories that are open to interpretation and identification. In this episode we explore Amy’s creative journey and she shares with us her techniques and process.Learn more about Amy here

Alex Foltz is a portrait painter who specializes in Alla Prima oil painting using rich colour and expressive brushwork that captures the subtle character of his subjects. Alex joins Simon to talk about his background and journey to becoming a professional artists. From the choice of subject matter to his techniques and approach to painting.Find out more about Alex here

The podcast returns with our excellent guest, Andrew Farmer. Andrew is a British Plein Air and observational painter from the North of England. A member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters, his work is both painterly and considered. From still life to landscapes and figurative work, Andrew’s style and palette is immediately recognisable.In part one of our two part interview, Andrew discusses his path to becoming a professional artist along with style and his routine.Learn more about Andrew Farmer here

To celebrate the end of season one, we share some clips from its episodes and share some news and updates.It has been a great journey so far and we are looking forward to catching up with you all soon!

Mark Stopforth is a British landscape painter. He joins us to talk about his painting process, influences and the ideas behind his work. Greatly inspired by the landscapes of his upbringing, Mark’s paintings embody elements of the sublime and the play between dark and light. Atmospheric and expressive, his process is as important as the subject he captures. Our conversation takes us across a wider field of interest, from Art history to philosophy.Learn more about Mark here