Artist's Table in Provence SOLD acr/c   24 x 30" Claudia Hartley enlarge

Walking by Vineyards in Provence SOLD acr/c   24 x 30" Claudia Hartley enlarge

Monteagle Barn o/l   42 x 36" Christel Minotti enlarge

In the Breeze SOLD acr/c   36 x 36" Christel Minotti enlarge

Claudia Hartley's paintings are best described as happy and enthusiastic: reminiscent of Matisse, Van Gogh and Gaugin. (This is a consistent comment from collectors of her landscapes and room interiors.) She concentrates on cool, vivid and warm colors, pattern and composition of positive and negative shapes using bold brush strokes in oil or acrylics. She received a BFA degree from the University of Georgia and later opened her own art school in Atlanta. Drawn by the light and the "wildness" of the Southwest, she moved from Georgia to Arizona where she now resides in the desert. Collected throughout the United States, Hartley's work can be found in private and corporate collections. She has also been included in major publications: Southern Living and Southwest Art.

 

Christel Minotti was born in Helsinki, Finland and came to the United States at age 18 to study art at Furman University and Clemson University. Like her accent, her paintings are infused with charm and mystery. With bright colors and clear shapes, she brings order into her compositions: "My images are simple in order to clarify shapes and render the colors more powerfully." Minotti's focus on still life and landscape have proved to be very successful; her paintings have won numerous awards and have been exhibited nationally.