Laguna Plein Air Painters Association

Featured Signature Artist: Carl Bretzke

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LPAPA Signature Artist Carl BretzkeCarl Bretzke of Minneapolis, Minnesota
LPAPA’s August 2019 featured Signature Artist Member of the Month.

Click these links for: LPAPA Plein Talk QAs with Carl Bretzke & Artwork Showcase, plus more at CarlBretzke.com.

Carl Bretzke is a representational oil painter who specializes in urban scenes and plein air landscapes.

Carl’s work has been described in the Washington Post as “simultaneously intimate and detached… The artist’s unadorned style recalls Edward Hopper and The Ashcan school.”

Carl holds an MD degree from the University of Minnesota Medical School. His undergraduate degree is from the University of Colorado, where he also received a minor in Fine Art. 

Click here to visit Carl’s website and learn more.

LPAPA Signature Artist Carl Bretzke

Click here for LPAPA’s Library of Archived Plein Talks

Featured Artist: Bob Upton

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LPAPA Artist Bob UptonBob Upton of St. Paul, Minnesota
LPAPA’s August 2019 Artist Member of the Month

Click the links for: LPAPA Plein Talk Q&As with Bob Upton & Artwork Showcase, plus more at BobUptonStudio.com.

Bob Upton, is a plein air painter from St. Paul, Minnesota. He paints in oils and in gouache directly from life. He has travelled around the world painting on location in Italy, France, Poland and all across the United States.

His work has been awarded in LPAPA’s Best of Plein Air, 2015, 3rd place, 2018, 3rd place, and, 2019, Honorable Mention, Plein Air Salon, Best Nocturne 2018, Bold Brush Painting Competition 2015, Best in Show, South Street Gallery Plein Air Invitational, 1st Place.

Upton has been recognized at plein air competitions across the country, 1st place in Plein Air Grand Marais in 2014 and 2015, Best Architectural Award at Plein Air Easton 2015, and juried into Plein Air Door County 2015, 2019.

Upton was the cover artist for the November 2014 Issue of Plein Air Magazine, featuring his luminous paintings of Venice and Florence, Italy.  Bob’s is a feature artist in Stephen Doherty’s published book “The Art of Plein Air Painting.”

Upton is a member of OPM Outdoor Painters of Minnesota and LPAPA/Laguna Plein Air Painters Association.

Click here to visit Bob’s website to learn more.

Featured LPAPA Artist Bob UptonClick here for LPAPA’s Library of Archived Plein Talks

Plein Talk with Jim Lamb

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LPAPA Plein Air Painter Jim LambJim Lamb of Sammamish, Washington
LPAPA’s July 2019 featured Signature Artist Member of the Month.

Click these links for: Plein Talk Q&As with Jim Lamb & Artwork Showcase, plus more at JimLambStudio.com.

“A large percentage of my paintings are created on location, “en plein air.” Painting outdoors is invigorating to me. I enjoy the solitude; the sights and sounds of the outdoors. I’m driven by the challenge of capturing directly on canvas the essence of what inspires me. My preferred medium is oil paint on fine linen canvas. I love the texture of the canvas surface and the flexibility of oils. I can push the paint around, paint thinly or very thick, create a variety of textures, or wipe it all off to start over if I don’t like how it’s going. It’s a very forgiving medium, yet rich when used successfully. The small paintings I create on location (color studies) I use, along with photographs, for reference to create larger studio works.

I approach each painting with a vision of what I want that painting to be, but sometimes a painting ends up surprisingly different.  Once in a while “happy accidents” occur in a painting making it better than I had planned. I try to preserve those passages of paint. They are definitely gifts. Dean Cornwell, the famous American illustrator once said that when “happy accidents” emerge in a painting you should “get down on your knees and thank God for it.”

The more time I spend outdoors studying and painting nature, the more I’m impressed with the infinite creativity of the Master Artist. His handiwork is evident everywhere I look. I want my paintings to draw the viewer’s attention to these qualities.  I have a lot to learn by studying His masterpieces and not much time to learn it.” — Jim Lamb

Click here to visit Jim’s website and learn more.

LPAPA Signature Artist Jim Lamb

Click here for LPAPA’s Library of Archived Plein Talks

Plein Talk with Zufar Bikbov

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LPAPA Artist Member Zufar BikbovZufar Bikbov of Oakville, Connecticut
LPAPA’s July 2019 Artist Member of the Month

Click the links for: LPAPA Plein Talk Q&As with Zufar Bikbov & Artwork Showcase, plus more at Zufar.com.

Zufar started taking drawing and painting classes at age nine. He was eleven when he painted his first few plein air works; depicting nearby village cottages and a horse resting next to a carriage delivering pies to the local market. He found this kind of painting was so different from painting a still-life or a model in the art school studio. He fell in love with landscape painting and started exploring the language of direct expression of what just in front of him.

When the time came to choose a college and profession, his soul calling for need to help people led Zufar to a medical career. During his study in medical school, residency, and finally a move to the United States, art never was left behind and continued to be an essential part of his self-actualization. Zufar was honored to participate in the exhibit “Doctors Paint” in the State Museum of Fine Arts in Kazan and at Yale Medical School.

Zufar’s town and landscapes style lean towards Russian and Soviet era impressionism. For him art is a continuous experimentation and growth. Through over a decade, traveling and painting in the US changed his painting palette to a higher key.

Click here to visit Zufar’s website to learn more.

LPAPA Plein Air Painter Zufar Bikbov

Click here for LPAPA’s Library of Archived Plein Talks

Plein Talk with Ebrahim Amin

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Featured Signature Artist Ebrahim AminEbrahim Amin of Laguna Beach, California
LPAPA’s June 2019 featured Signature Artist Member of the Month.

Click these links for: LPAPA Plein Talk Q&As with Ebrahim Amin & Artwork Showcase, plus more at AminArt.com.

“Over 40 years of experience and a constant struggle to find real artistic excellence have helped me break many technical boundaries. My portfolio features realistic still life, impressionistic landscapes, and dream-like modern paintings. Each piece impatiently waits to tell a different story. In my newest projects I want to let my viewers to experience a unique and innovative painting style. In fact, I’m working on a seamless blend of the fading traditions of the ancient masters with progressive modern plein air practices. It’s beginning to produce very exciting results.

How to create a good work of art? Gratefully borrow an idea from nature, patiently nurture it with skill and experience, and finally touch it with my soul… a way other than this, I do not know.” — Ebrahim Amin

Click here to visit Ebrahim’s website and learn more.

LPAPA Signature Artist Ebrahim Amin

Click here for LPAPA’s Library of Archived Plein Talks