Jill is a self-taught painter with a love for the architecture and style of New England. Though now a studio painter, she has also worked extensively with photography. The viewer can see that influence as she captures light and character in intimate portraits of rural and coastal New England. Jill is deliberately working with contrast and color to create pieces which engage the viewer and invite quiet nostalgia. Her work preserves moments of captured time, and the time she spends on her paintings is a meditation on each moment.

Trained as a draftsman, John Previti is an artist in pursuit of the process as much as the product.  His water fowl carvings combine the elegant simplicity of the New England folk tradition with the authentic detail of a true student of nature and grace homes from Georgia to Vermont. John is able to combine his life long respect for and love of woodworking with the Old World principles of observation and design.  He has spent years collecting and studying regional folk carvings and is now capturing their spirit in his own reproduction.

Harry graduated from the renowned Ringling School of Art and went on to tour the country as an architectural renderer and creative designer. Despite his success in the commercial realm, Harry was increasingly drawn to the freedom and energy of creating art for real people. In his working studio Harry now engages with his patrons as deeply as he engages with each canvas. He is able to infuse each painting with the same color and energy he sees in the world. For this reason, Harry’s work brightens homes, exhibits, and collections across the country and provides us with windows into vibrant coastal details and landscapes.  

Laura is a self taught painter residing in Kennebunkport, Maine. She originally studied ceramics at the University of Denver and University of Southern Maine. A concentration in porcelain translucency allowed her time to explore how light interacts with the natural world, and this study of light and texture is evident throughout her paintings.

Laura creates ocean inspired abstract art primarily using liquid mediums like alcohol ink, epoxy resin, and fluid acrylic pouring. Her aim is to capture the mercurial nature of the elements using the spontaneity of free-flowing materials.

Ann is an award winning artist living in upstate New York's Adirondack Mountains.  Born in Louisivlle, KY, Ann began traveling and living throughout the United States at the age of 18.   After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Central Oklahoma, she and her family moved to Denver, CO where Ann began to focus on her painting and fell in love with the western landscape.   Even though she lives in a beautiful part of the country, where plein air painting is a challenge almost any time of year, Ann also spends time painting on the coast of Maine and throughout the Southwest.   

Ann's approach to the landscape is to simplify as much as possible in order to create the strongest paintings.  "I want my viewers to know how I felt about a place when I painted it.  I'm not trying to copy what I see nor am I interested in lots of detail.  I want to suggest a subject with the buildup of paint and exciting brushstrokes."

Museum Exhibitions

Rockwell Museum, Perspectives of the American Experience, American Women Artists, Corning, NY 2018

Artists for the New Century, Invitational, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, VT 2017

Tucson Desert Art Museum, Tucson, AZ 2017 American Women Artists, Under A Vast Sky

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, OKC, OK 2014, Small Works Great Wonders

Booth Museum of Western Art, Cartersville, GA 2014 American Women Artists, Prevailing Winds

Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ 2013  American Women Artists, Visions of the West

Frederick Remington Museum, Ogdensburg, NY 2013

Events and Awards (selected)

Oil Painters of America, 27th Annual National Exhibition, Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, CO

Oil Painters of America, 26th Annual National Exhibition, Eisele Gallery, Cincinnati, Oh 2017

American Impressionist Society, 17th Annual National Exhibition, Howard/Mandville Gallery, Kirkland, WA 2016

Oil Painters of America, 25th Annual National Exhibition, Southwest Gallery, Dallas 2016

Outstanding Landscape, American Women Artists National Members & Juried Show, Bennington, VT 2016

Award of Excellence, Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional, Eisele Gallery, Cincinnati, OH 2016

Award of Merit, OPS Southwest Salon, Southwest Gallery, Dallas given by Marc Hanson, Juror, 2016

Silver Medal, Master Signature, American Women Artists National Exhibition, Bonner-David Galleries, Scottsdale, AZ 2015

Award of Excellence given by Quang Ho, Paso Robles Signature Invitational 2014

Award of Merit, OPS Southwest Salon, Southwest Gallery, Dallas given by Marc Hanson 2016

Award of Merit, OPS Southwest Salon, Southwest Gallery, Dallas given by Phil Starke, 2015

Award of Merit, OPS Southwest Salon, Southwest Gallery, Dallas given by Jill Carver, 2014

Award, Randy Higbee 6" Squared, Costa Mesa, CA 2013

Honorable Mention, Light on the Land, Davis & Blevins Gallery, Saint Jo, TX 2013

Honorable Mention, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters, Teton National Park 2013

First Place, Masters Division, Central Adirondack Art Show, Old Forge, NY

First Place, Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Adirondack Juried Show

Second Place, Finger Lakes Plein Air Festival, Canandaigua, NY 2013 

Honorable Mention, Oil Painters of America Spring & Summer Online Showcase, 2013

Second Place, Outdoor Painters Society Online Show

Oil Painters of America Salon Show, Petosky, MI 2013

Oil Painters of America Eastern Regional, Annapolis, MD 2016, 2013

Randy Higbee 6x6 Gallery Show, Costa Mesa, CA 2013, 2012

American Women Artists, K. Newby Gallery, Tubec, AZ 2012

American Women Artists, R S Hanna Gallery, Fredericksburg, TX 2013

Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters National Paint Out and Show, Wild Spirit Gallery,  Pagosa Springs CO 2011

Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters National Paint Out and Show, Grand Teton National Park 2016,2015,2014,2013, 2012

American Impressionist Society, 12th, 13th & 14th National Exhibits 2016, 2015,2013, 2012, 2011

Outdoor Painters Society, Dallas, TX 2016,2015,2014,2013, 2012

Sedona Plein Air Festival, Sedona, AZ 2011, 2010

Grand Canyon Plein Air on the Rim, Grand Canyon, AZ 2010

Affiliations 

Master Signature Member, American Women Artists and Past President

Signature Member, Oil Painters of America

Signature Member, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters

Signature Member, American Impressionist Society

Signature Member, Outdoor Painters Society

American Society of Marine Artists

***Contact gallery for available pieces

Suzanne M. Payne is an award winning artist residing in Kennebunkport, Maine. She attended Boston University's School for the Arts (SFA) where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Painting. She belongs to the Pastel Society of Maine (PSOM), (Signature Membership status) and The Pastel Society of America (PSA), (Associate Member status). She also participates in several prestigious art shows throughout the year which are juried and judged by well known artists.

Suzanne is highly inspired by nature and loves painting the local Maine landscape with both oils and pastels. She creates her original paintings either plein air or in the comfort of her home studio.

TJR is a painter currently residing in Yarmouth, Maine. She was educated at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Much of her work is inspired by the natural world around her and capturing the small, detailed moments in nature that might be easily overlooked. Alongside her plovers, shells, and feathers, TJR’s forever love is abstraction and feels that painting is integral to how she accesses, processes and communicates thoughts and emotions. With her use of color, marks, forms and details, TJR brings life to what moves through us whether it be through realism or abstraction.

Photographer Jim Westphalen has an affinity for America. The vanishing structures of the rural landscape have long been his muse, as have been our country’s majestic coastlines, open prairies, and all things that speak to the character of our beautiful nation. A professional photographer for over 30 years, his work is inspired by such painters as Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper, and A. Hale Johnson, as is clearly seen in the painterly light, composition, subtlety of tone, and remarkable detail of his photographs. Jim creates his dynamic images, often in large scale, using a vintage 4x5 view camera that has been adapted for digital capture. Largely self taught, Westphalen’s photographs have been exhibited in galleries and museums across the country. Born and raised on Long Island, New York, in 1996 he moved to Vermont to be closer to the rural landscape that he loves. He lives in Shelburne with his wife Kendra, where he also runs his studio.

About the prints - Jim offers each of his images in various sizes, all of which come in small limited editions. He typically presents his work much like a painting. His archival pigment prints are made on 100% acid free rag papers and then coated with an optically clear varnish, doing away with the need for glass. The print is then mounted and framed in a canvas float frame. Westphalen also offers his prints unframed if the collector should prefer a different framing style.

The Vanish Film: Written, Directed and Produced by Jim Westphalen four years in the making, Vanish - Disappearing Icons of a Rural America is a feature length documentary film that pays tribute to America’s heritage and the rapidly vanishing structures and culture of our nation’s rural landscape.

A remarkable story of past and present, the film chronicles the “visual preservation” adventures of Westphalen as he travels across the country seeking out and creating stunning imagery of America’s disappearing rural structures. Equal parts art, history, and seat of the pants storm chasing, road-trip with Westphalen as he races against time and the unrelenting elements to capture the extraordinary beauty of aging barns, one room schoolhouses, grain elevators, prairie churches, and all the classic structures that our country’s rural heritage was built upon. Though many of these evocative relics will eventually surrender to the elements, Vanish captures firsthand the passionate people who strive and struggle to save these gems, revealing stories of dreams, loss, and hope.

For more about the film and to view the trailer, click here: https://jimwestphalenfineart.com/Vanish_film/1

Born in 1957, Antonia grew up in a creative household and was encouraged by her mother, a painter, and her father, a photographer, to pursue painting; she started taking lessons from local artists in her home state of Connecticut at the age of ten. She continued her studies after high school at Eastern Connecticut State University and Silvermine Guild Art Center in New Canaan, Connecticut.

To quote Antonia:

“Water is a never ending source of inspiration for me. Each day, one painting after another, I seek an ever deepening understanding of its essence. The more I observe, the more it seems there is to discover. The surface designs, deep waters and shore breaks offer an infinite array of beautiful complexity. Ever changing and omnipresent, the ocean is such a universal part of our existence. There is a certain feeling of connectedness when sitting by its shores. The endless rhythm, power and mystery of the sea course through our very veins. Choosing to explore water and its visual language through my paintings has been an enlightening  and uplifting gift that I enjoy sharing. Thank you for taking the journey with me.

Charles Gatewood is an American visual artist who was born in 1942. Charles has had several gallery and museum exhibitions, including at the Mitchell Algus Gallery. Several works by the artist have been sold at auction including "New York" sold at InnAuction 'Modern Contemporary Art & Photography' in 2016. There have been many articles about Charles Gatewood, including 'Rainin Foundation presenting Symposium on Public Art' written by Charles Desmarais for San Francisco Chronicle in 2016.

Kristin Blanck is a realist painter working in traditional techniques to capture the beauty of the ordinary and elevate it to the inspired.  As with many artists, her journey to becoming an artist was anything but linear.  While always connected to art and the creative process, be it while in college studying art history, during a 25 year career as an award-winning fashion designer, or operating her own gallery, she knew her true passion was in painting.  Ultimately, the desire to create art was too strong and it became obvious it was time to embark on a new path as a full time artist.

Largely self-taught, she paints in a highly detailed style that is influenced by historic and contemporary Dutch artists.  Working primarily in oil, Blanck finds voice in minimal compositions and familiar subjects coupled with a strong sense of light and shadow to establish a counterpoint between the classical and contemporary.

After years of living in California and Maine, she returned home to Pennsylvania.  The rich artistic legacy and pastoral beauty of the region provide a constant source of inspiration.  She resides in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

"I strive to create paintings that draw the viewer near.  When one is close to a work and can see the brush strokes, edges, and delicate nuances, I believe it forges a personal connection with the painting as well as the artist.  For me, there is no greater compliment than to create a painting that elicits an emotional response in the viewer.  Quite simply, art should stir the senses."

Dan Graziano is an award winning, nationally exhibited artist whose paintings capture the hidden beauty found in the ordinary and unexpected fleeting moments of everyday life.  Incorporating dramatic light, shadow, color and perspective, his compositions feature a diversity of subjects - from a simple still life to rugged coastlines, active urban life, lively cafes and bars, small rural towns and forgotten roadside relics.  His work has been featured in numerous publications and is in the collections of private and corporate collectors throughout the world.  He also keeps an active schedule teaching workshops at galleries and art organizations throughout the nation.

His artistic vision began taking shape in the 60's, during America's explosive political, cultural and artistic awakening.  His first formal training focused on advertising and illustration, but a career opportunity in architecture and urban planning altered his original direction. 

When he returned to painting, he was drawn to the rich complexity of the urban landscape inspired by Edward Hopper and other urbanist painters. As an accomplished blues guitarist (his other great passion), he found the city streets, time worn buildings and multiple layers of decay and repair a visual parallel to the spirit and culture of the music.  He has received formal training in the traditional techniques and principles of classical realism painting from The Florence Academy of Art.

“In my paintings, I try to capture the hidden beauty found in the unexpected places and fleeting moments of everyday life.  I continue to be intrigued by the urban landscapes of inner cities - their active streets, time worn buildings and multiple layers of decay, renewal and adaptation - that proudly display the effects of age and use, which I see as testaments to strength, character and authenticity in contrast with modern society’s demand for newness, imitation, disposability and easy duplication.  My work is influenced by realists such as Caravaggio, Sargent, Hopper and the three generations of Wyeths along with California painters Wayne Thiebaud and Richard Diebenkorn.”

Richell says “As an artist I want to show more than two typical dimensions on a flat canvas. The Impressionist style of my cityscapes paintings allows me to represent an overall perspective of the atmosphere without distraction.”

Shannon Gilson is a free spirited coastal artist whose paintings of Beachy Summer Girls and vibrant florals are sure to fill you with happiness and nostalgia.  From a young age, Shannon has had a passion for painting and considers herself lucky to be able to pursue it as a career.  After completing her Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art at the New England School of Art and Design at Suffolk University, she has continued to experiment with various techniques and mediums in her work.

Shannon draws inspiration from her travels and the beautiful turquoise water of the Florida Keys.  She also finds inspiration in the colorful peonies and wildflowers that bloom in her own garden.  Through her use of energetic strokes and vivid colors, Shannon hopes to evoke fond memories and joyful emotions in those who view her art.

Currently splitting her time between the Florida Keys and Grantham, a charming town nestled among the lakes and mountains of northern New Hampshire, Shannon stays busy with her family, including her husband, young daughter, step-son, and four loving pups.  Her passion for painting and creating remains a constant in her life, and she continues to create beautiful pieces that inspire and uplift those around her.

Shannon’s artwork has gained recognition in prestigious publications such as Vanity Fair and House and Garden Magazine. 

American artist born 1979 and native of Atlanta, GA, Brooke Major has been living and working as a professional artist and sharing her time between the USA (Georgia) and France for the past 20 years. As a child, Brooke has always been top of her class in drawing and painting, as well as an avid equestrian, which led her to move to Normandy to breed and raise them for the sport of showjumping.

She moved initially to Paris to study political science at an American university, but felt herself drawn more towards the arts and followed auditing classes at the Beaux Arts school in Paris. Her political science studies led her to work for over a year and a half as an intern at the US Embassy in Paris.

Following her two childhood passions, art and horses, Brooke moved to Normandy and started her dream of breeding showjumpers and set up her art studio in a grain loft in a 18th century farmhouse on the beach where she creates her work and raises her horses. 

Brooke sculpts oil paint, using pallet knives challenging both techniques of painting and sculpting and exemplifying light and shadow. She chooses all of her subjects from her childhood experiences: traveling, horses and architecture. Brooke also depicts her everyday life in her recent subject of her landscapes of the typical Normand countryside.

In reference to her work, Brooke says “I paint because I need to. I paint what my hand wants to paint.”

Jim Groleau is a New Hampshire native who spent his life exploring the state, including capturing the White Mountains' 4,000-footers. He also dedicated significant time to exploring the Maine seacoast from York to Lubec, though he always held a special passion for Cape Porpoise and Kennebunkport. After traveling extensively and using photography as a therapeutic hobby, Jim retired in September 2022, when he and his wife transitioned their Kennebunkport vacation home into their permanent residence.

Since his retirement, Jim has moved from a long career in corporate sales management to become an acclaimed landscape and nature photographer in Kennebunkport, Maine. He has established a deep presence in the local community, which includes displays at the Thompson & Company, several magazine features, and a collaborative photo book titled Cape Porpoise: Portrait of a Maine Fishing Village. Furthermore, Jim has been honored as one of the area’s best photographers by the Kennebunk-Kennebunkport-Arundel Chamber of Commerce’s "Drive to Be the Best" awards for three consecutive years, from 2024 to 2026.