My Journey Home - Michael Ethridge

There is something special about Michael Ethridge’s abstract expressionist paintings. Perhaps it is the way that bright and soothing colors combine on his canvas so enchantingly, so organically. Perhaps it is the implied landscapes that these colors hint at, elegant forms that rise within the canvas. Perhaps it is the way that looking at one of Michael Ethridge’s paintings feels exactly like conjuring up a happy memory from the past. A sense of peace falls over the viewer as he observes Ethridge’s work.

A native of Arkansas, Ethridge will be visiting Santa Fe for the entire month of July. From July 10th through the 16th, Ethridge will be painting on the sidewalk outside of Waxlander Gallery. The week will culminate in an Artist’s Reception held on Friday, July 13th, from 5 to 7 PM. Ethridge hopes to meet and converse with as many passers-by as possible. “The interaction with the people on Canyon Road is huge to me,” Ethridge says, “I’m not reclusive at all. Many artists are introverts; I’m just the opposite.”

During his years as an entertainer on cruise ships, Ethridge drew inspiration from the energy of those around him and from the many conversations that he had with travelers at the piano bar. Now, as a painter, he finds inspiration in connecting with other artists and chatting with those who stop to view his art. “It creates new energy,” he says.

The chance to converse with the good-natured and renowned artist is a treat for viewers, as well. Ethridge’s representational abstract landscapes are shown in galleries across the country. His work was even selected to be in the movie Nothing But the Truth, starring Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, and Alan Alda. The bold, uplifting colors that Ethridge utilizes—as we all the sense of movement that he creates in all of his paintings—combine to fulfill his mission as an artist: to “bring good feeling to the people who collect [his] work.”

Ethridge is excited to immerse himself once again in Santa Fe’s lively art community. “The nature of the surroundings and the energy that I feel when I come [to Santa Fe] is quite impressive to me,” he says. We have reason to believe that Santa Fe feels the same way about him.

Michael Ethridge will be painting outside of Waxlander Gallery from July 10th-16th. The week will culminate in an Artist’s Reception held at Waxlander on Friday, July 13th, from 5-7 PM.

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Turning Red - Marshall Noice

Landscape painter Marshall Noice’s new paintings are now up on the walls at Waxlander Gallery for the opening of his one-man show, “New Horizons,” with an artist reception this Friday at 5 p.m. The exhibit will feature a selection of Noice’s oil paintings depicting the vibrant, non-literal landscapes of New Mexico, Colorado, and Montana.

As an artist who draws inspiration from the land, Noice enjoys painting on location and having close contact with his subject matter. His oil paintings most often start as pastel sketches resting on easels out in the sun. In fact, many of the original sketches will be shown with their finished products in “New Horizons,” documenting the evolution of the pieces.

Painting outdoors is an important part of creating work that conveys an impression or a sense of place, Noice says. Though he works with landscapes that are very real, Noice’s work is “unrepentantly non-literal.” A couple decades ago, he made the transition from black-and-white photography to painting, which for him felt like a homecoming. He had previously done a lot of dioramic photography, but soon found his calling with brushes and paints.

When he transitioned from black-and-white photography to painting, Noice discovered color. “The ease with which I can take color over the top is intoxicating,” he says. After working in black-and-white for so long, he feels he can “push” the hues of his landscapes into new realms, experimenting with color combinations. The colors don’t have much basis in reality, but cause viewers to see from new angles.

Noice has been creating art ever since “he could hold something that made a mark.” It has been such a long-standing part of his existence, he couldn’t imagine life otherwise. He has since been “obsessive about mark-making.” When a journalist recently asked him what he would do if he had six months to live, he said, “I would continue doing what I’m doing.” Painting is beyond happiness for Noice; it is something that he needs to do every day in pursuit of unique perspectives.

“New Horizons” will open June 26 and run through July 12. We hope you can join us for the artist reception this Friday, June 29, from 5-7 p.m.

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Three Crosses

The three artists featured in Waxlander’s recently opened group show–Phyllis Randall, Marshall Noice, and Sangita Phadke–have much in common. They all admire nature and possess an innate talent for capturing and communicating its beauty. They all lend an aspect of “whimsy” to their paintings, ranging from Noice’s playful use of color to the personalities that Phadke creates for the vegetables and flowers she paints. They all work with the same medium–pastel. And yet, when admiring the paintings of these three artists side by side, one cannot help but appreciate how unique their visions are.

Phyllis Randall, the acclaimed artist known for her exploration of the architecture, light, and vibrant colors of the Southwest, takes viewers on a special journey in her latest body of work. Entitled “Pastel, Pigment and Passion,” her portion of the group exhibition is a study of nature. Untamed wildflowers, carefully potted plants, and overgrown weeds sprout within her paintings, adding a “new floral element and texture” to her usual work.

In her twenty years as a painter, Randall has delved into the familiar elements of the Southwest: its architecture, its vibrancy, and its intense light. When peering into one of her paintings, the viewer can almost feel the brightness of the desert sun, the rough texture of the adobe, the expansiveness of the purple sky. A once-upon-a-time graphic designer, Randall’s artwork is characterized by her geometrical prowess and her command of light and shadow. But there is one other element, equally as important as the others, that makes Randall’s paintings so enchanting: the artist is in love with the Southwest.

High Expectations

Since her first visit to Santa Fe in 1993, Phyllis Randall has been “enthralled by the beauty and wonder of Santa Fe and the surrounding area.” Her devotion to the Southwest has altered her artistic path since the day that she first laid eyes on it. Originally trained in oil portraiture and realism, Randall made the transition to pastel because she realized that was better suited for capturing the “rich, pure colors” of the Southwest and for “reflect[ing] the play of light and shadow, giving the painting visual excitement and depth.”

In all of her work, this visual excitement and depth is present. One cannot look at one of Randall’s paintings without feeling a sense of wonder. The beauty of the Southwest has been widely celebrated, but it is too easy, in the bustle of life, to stop paying attention to beauty. Phyllis Randall’s artwork calls us back: to the gorgeous slant of the shadows cast by the midday sun, to the bright contrast of a blue window against an adobe wall, to the shifting magic of the sky, to the nimble stalks and unfurled petals of the flowers that rise to meet it.

“Not Your Mother’s Pastels” opened at Waxlander Gallery on June 5th and runs through June 18th. It features the artwork of Phyllis Randall, Sangita Phadke, and Marshall Noice.

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A Sunflower For Fukushima

In their recently opened group show, “Not Your Mother’s Pastels,” acclaimed artists Phyllis Randall, Marshall Noice, and Sangita Phadke take viewers on a journey. We are given the chance to explore the natural elements of the Southwest, rendered with Randall’s command of light and color; to marvel at the many landscapes of the U.S. National Parks, portrayed whimsically and truthfully by Noice; and, with the help of Sangita Phadke, to take a trip to the farmer’s market, like none other we’ve taken before.

Indeed, Sangita’s paintings of fresh produce, blooming flowers, and raw, unbroken eggs are anything but ordinary. Inspired in part by her passion for locally grown foods, Sangita’s paintings are more realistic than most photographs and also more meaningful. “My series of paintings pay tribute,” she says, “to the land, the people who harvest our food, and of course the delicious and beautiful products of their care and hard work.”

Her subject matter is at once commonplace and spectacular, human and beautiful. It is Sangita’s incredible talent and overwhelming faithfulness to the vegetables, fruits, and flowers she paints that inspires the viewer to stop and, of course, pay attention to their beauty, too.

The Citrus Family

Sangita’s gift to this viewer is “an experience in taste, flavor, fragrance, color, and a sense of place.” No detail is spared in her paintings. The familiar texture of a lemon is conveyed meticulously. The moistness of its skin, the slight discoloration near its stem, the scratch that mars its left side—these details are captured with care, as if they alone distinguish this lemon from all the rest, as if they are essential to its makeup.

In Sangita’s paintings, the details are essential. Using the peculiarities of each fruit or vegetable or flower or egg, she decides on a personality and an accompanying story line. A pear becomes the star of a Broadway play. Six lemons and a lime form a citrus family. A flawless and shimmering pink tulip becomes a debutante.

This aspect of whimsy, combined with the realism of her paintings, creates a one-of-a-kind experience that has earned Sangita much acclaim. In her five years of painting, the self-taught artist has been awarded the distinction of “Master Pastelist” by the Pastel Society of America and has been inducted into the Master Circle of the International Association of Pastel Societies. Her paintings have been featured widely in magazines and in prestigious venues around the world.

The Blue Lotus Bowl

Now her marvelous pastels will grace the walls of Waxlander Gallery, where they will inspire an appreciation for an integral part of the human experience. “’Food,’” Sangita points out, “is an ‘experience’ shared by every culture. Whether it is a spicy chile or a sweet apricot, it evokes a sense of respect for the land and its people.” And while Sangita’s paintings encompass many senses—taste, touch, sight, and smell—it is this sense, a sense of respect, that viewers will carry with them when they walk out the gallery door.

“Not Your Mother’s Pastels” opened at Waxlander on June 5th and runs through June 18th, with an Artists’ Reception on Friday, June 8th, from 5 to 7 PM.

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Creston Pond

This summer, Waxlander Gallery is coming alive with new growth in the form of our first ever group pastel show! “Not Your Mother’s Pastels” will feature the latest works by acclaimed artists Phyllis Randall, Marshall Noice, and Sangita Phadke. Using the same medium, these three artists have succeeded in creating vastly different worlds for the viewer.

Montana artist Marshall Noice is known for his ability to capture the essence of a landscape. Rather than focusing his attention on creating a literal rendition of a scene, he allows his own reaction to the landscape—his own sense of it—to become his guide for realizing its spirit and portraying it on his canvas.

The resulting paintings hum with color, energy, and emotion. Lively trees emerge from red, orange, and purple hues; landscapes are given depth by a patchwork of textures; magnificent views are conveyed through the emergence and recession of color.

For Noice, whose overriding goal is to capture moments in the natural world, inspiration is endless and beckons with an almost magnetic attraction. He took a trip last spring to paint in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “Our nearby parks—Glacier, Yellowstone and Grand Teton—have always been sources of inspiration for me,” Noice says. “I’m looking forward to seeing more of our country’s National Parks.”

His new work gives viewers the impression of standing in these great and endless nature reserves, observing with wonder the view from the top of a mountain ridge or the blue surface of a lake as glimpsed through a grove of trees. Like Noice, viewers can sense the inherent beauty of these scenes. There is astonishment, also, in recognizing that Noice has captured something fleeting—a particular moment of color, light, and feeling that will never come again.

Artists of all skill levels will have the opportunity to experience this sensation in person during plein air painting sessions in the mountains. Noice, who is visiting Santa Fe for the month of June, will lead the sessions. The first session will be June 12th and 13th up on Hyde Park Road, the second session will be June 19th and 20th with a location to be determined. Interested painters can meet in front of the gallery at 10 am on any of those days. For more information, please contact Waxlander at (505) 984-2202 and ask to speak with Bonnie.

“Not Your Mother’s Pastels” opens at Waxlander on June 5th and runs through June 18th, with an Artists’ Reception on Friday, June 8th, from 5 to 7 PM.

If purchasing a piece off the blog, mention that you found the piece on the blog and get a special discount!