new artists that I discovered on my travels to California...beautiful, vibrant, and interesting works!

It has, yes, been a few weeks since I've gotten back from California, but I remembered only today that I had feverishly scribbled names of artists by whom I was inspired from the three galleries I had a feeling to go into. Did you know that Dr. Seuss is an artist? He is very popular in Northern California Galleries. So, you get "Sam I am'" right next to Renoir sketches :)

Anything that you see in purple is a link to websites or particular works that I've chosen from the repertoires of the artists that I've noticed. I also included some comments of why I appreciate the artists or some interesting facts about the artist's life. Enjoy!

Rolinda Stotts - Dennis Rae Fine Arts, San Francisco CA. I love her work. I would have her paint for my future home. She breaks canvas and paints on it, leaving a cracked and textured surface. It is a 12 step process. Her nature works are beautiful. Look and enjoy every one. They are amazing to see in real life as they are sizable and will take up a good part of wall space. "Companions" and "Together" are my favorites. She is a family-oriented woman with some Italian heritage and paints out on her farm.

Giuliano Giuggioli - Dennis Rae Fine Arts, San Francisco CA. Alice in Wonderland meets Rene Magritte. There is a larger-than-life storybook quality to his work that piques my curiosity."Armadio 4 Stagione" "L'isola del Tisoro"

Alexander Volkov - Dennis Rae Fine Arts. San Francisco CA. New England-esque wintery scenes, autumn scenes, nature. Look at the realism in the still lifes with the window and vase. So good, it looks like photography.

Steven Pan - Dennis Rae Fine Arts, San Francisco CA. look at the lighting and dream-like delicate quality of the ballet scenes. Modern Degas? (If mainly for the subject matter of choice.)

Montesinos-found her work at Fingerhut Galleies in Sausalito, CA. She paints large flowers, mostly whites, with a dream-like hazy quality that is her characteristic trademark.

Sergey Smirnov - found his work at Fingerhut Galleries in Sausalito, CA. This artist is Russian and died in 2006 at the age of only 53. He is a portraitist and his subjects range from the personal to famous, such as Peter the Great and Tchaikovsky or literary, such as Scheherazade. His larger works such as "Tapestry of the Hunt" can totally take you by surprise at the intensity of bold colors mingled together to form a stage on which the subject of the portrait expands to fill the canvas with a great deal of personality. The subjects appear indifferent, as portraits often depicted in history and are not, for instance, smiling or exhibiting emotion. I'd say Smirnov painted the "common saints." For those of you who have studied early European Art history, you'll recognize the correlation between the subjects' posture and expressions and those of Mary Magdalene and Mary, mother of Jesus as depicted in early Spanish and 14th century Italian religious works. My favorites: "Sasha"-part of the Persona Suite and "Lara."

Maher Naguib Morcos- found his work featured in Fingerhut Gallery in Sausalito, CA. He is an Egyptian who loved art as a young boy in Egypt but was cordoned into pursuing a "career" so he chose architecture. But, he never gave up his love for painting. He spent time in France, Italy, and the US as well. His work has been featured in the White House and he paints western-style genres. "Remembrance" and "Paris by night" The work that was featured in the gallery is not available on the website, unfortunately.

Tim Cantor - found his gallery in Sausalito, CA. His work is filled with gradients of intense colors. His subjects are oftentimes combinations of nature, people, mythical-sci fi-looking creatures; however, that description is just too bland to describe the effect the pieces have. They can literally take your breath away. It is a modern surrealist type of style, with realistic elements put together in artful ways. There are some scary-looking pieces, but there are also truly beautiful ones. Oh, and the best part of his works? They come with a poem. This artist writes poems to go with his work, or vice versa. My own painting style is kind of the cafe-concept version of his. A man after my own heart.