Busacca Gallery

By artist James Swanson: "Winters Creek," 16" x 20" Oil on Linen panel. This piece is part of The Artist and the Traveler painting project. On a cold morning in Winzendorf, artist and traveler Helmut Hudler, accompanied by his walking partner Daisy, embarks on their morning trek. As always, Helmut carries his camera, capturing moments along the way. Over the years, Helmut has shared numerous photos with me, serving as a wellspring of inspiration; he remains one of my favorite travelers. This painting has successfully made its way into juried art exhibitions across the US, earning several awards in the process. It bears my signature on the front and back, accompanied by a handwritten note detailing the traveler and the location. I am James Swanson, an award-winning oil painter currently based in Chicago. Originally hailing from Wisconsin, I initially pursued a career as a Forest Ranger in college. However, my passion for painting led me to choose trees as subjects rather than sitting among them. I earned my BFA in Illustration from The Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio.

Contemporary landscapes in art have evolved significantly over the years, reflecting shifting perspectives and influences. Emerging in the late 20th century, contemporary landscape artists moved beyond traditional representational styles, embracing abstraction, conceptualism, and new media. This departure allowed for a diverse range of interpretations, from the vibrant and surreal to the minimalist and introspective. Artists such as Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, and David Hockney have played pivotal roles in reshaping the genre, challenging conventions and introducing innovative techniques. Today's contemporary landscape art encompasses a fusion of styles, technologies, and global influences, capturing the complex relationship between humanity and the environment in the 21st century.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_painting

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil. Commonly used drying oils include linseed oil, poppyseed oil, walnut oil, and safflower oil. The oil may be boiled with a resin, such as pine resin or frankincense to create a varnish; often prized for its body and gloss. Different oils confer various properties to the oil paint, such as less yellowing or different drying times. Certain differences are also visible in the sheen of the paints depending on the oil. An artist might use several different oils in the same painting depending on specific pigments and effects desired. The paints themselves also develop a particular consistency depending on the medium.

Although oil paint was first used for the Buddhist Paintings by Indian and Chinese painters in western Afghanistan sometime between the fifth and tenth centuries, it did not gain popularity until the 15th century. Its practice may have migrated westward during the Middle Ages. Oil paint eventually became the principal medium used for creating artworks as its advantages became widely known. The transition began with Early Netherlandish painting in northern Europe, and by the height of the Renaissance oil painting techniques had almost completely replaced tempera paints in the majority of Europe.



In recent years, water miscible oil paint has come to prominence, to some extent replacing the usage of traditional oils. Water soluble paints contain an emulsifier which allows them to be thinned with water (rather than with paint thinner), and allows very fast drying times (1–3 days) when compared with traditional oils (1–3 weeks).