carmen's gallery additional collections
All of the artists listed below have had shows here at carmen's gallery and we have represented most of these artists for many years. We are able to obtain their work easily, so if you see something you like, give us a call!
Kevin Beck
oil
Kevin Beck's preferred habitat is the out-of-doors. So it's only natural that he should be a plein aire painter. While painting outside he encounters plants, animals, insects, weather and humans – all in their elemental states – unencumbered, unaffected and at peace. His stillness and immersion in the landscape causes him to merge with the environment – thus remaining unobserved. His keen eye captures the commonly un-noticed – thus allowing the viewer of his work to expand his vision of the world. Kevin captures the true essence of what he sees – not just the known or the visual. Observe his landscapes, tree portraits, cloudscapes and watery reflections. In them the viewer sees more than bark and leaves, water and shore, land and sky. Stillness is essential to the plein air experience. As a man he exudes gentleness.
His art advocates a reverence for all life. Kevin Beck has painted all his life - and began as a full time artist in 1995. He paints in oils and pastels. He is collected broadly in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australasia and is included in numerous corporate collections.
Brenda Belfield
acrylic
Brenda Belfield is an abstract painter and designer of architectural stained glass whose major commissions include 60 windows for the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Her walls of glass are seen across the U.S. and in places as varied as the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the NATO base in Sicily, Italy. Belfield's paintings have been exhibited in New York City, Los Angeles, and the Washington, D.C. area and now are again at carmen's gallery on Solomons Island, Maryland. Belfield's artworks evoke the illusion of light in a structure that explores order and spontaneity.
Belfield's education is extensive and varied. She received her undergraduate degree from GW University with undergraduate and graduate study at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC. Since then, she has continued her painting studies throughout the country. She is a well respected instructor who taught in the public schools, the Art League School at the Torpedo Factory in VA, and at her art school in Reston, VA.
Bethanne Kinsella Cople
oil
Bethanne Kinsella Cople received a classical Fine Art Education at The George Washington University. Her emphasis was on drawing and composition. It was here, while copying various works from the National Gallery, that she discovered her love for the impressionist style. Inspired from working with nationally known artists, Bethanne has established her personal style. Her paintings are bold and painterly. She takes advantage of the full potential of oils, often employing a thick impasto that gives her paintings character.
Whether painting around her home in historic Old Town, Alexandria, Virginia, or traveling to such locations as Monhegan Island, Maine, Texas, California, Utah, Arizona, and across Europe, Bethanne strives to catch the nuances of light and atmosphere in her subject.
Bethanne has enjoyed much acclaim in her years of painting and has received many prestigious awards. carmen's gallery is very excited to represent such a personable, talented female artist.
Stephen Harlan
computer imaging
Stephen James Harlan was born in Minnesota and his childhood memories are filled with thoughts of family, friends and the activities that kept the soul alive during the long winter months. His family relocated to Ft. Myers, Florida when Stephen was still in grade school. His love for the water began at this early age where he spent many days (literally) sailing into the sunset on his catamaran. Investigating the uniqueness of harbors and sunsets became a passion and his nautical focus grows deeper each day. In the late 80's, Harlan relocated just outside Washington, DC, to Prince Frederick, Maryland where outside his studio, the Chesapeake Bay offered a constant source of stimulation for future works. He then landed in N.C., where he has built a home on the water. Harlan's style is distinctive and compelling to the viewer. The first question anyone asks is, "How is it done"?
In Harlan's own words: "The process I use to create my artwork is quite unique when you think in terms of traditional painting. I create all my artwork digitally using a very powerful computer that is customized with special tools and software to create such complicated pieces. There are two different ways that I approach a painting. If I have a specific idea of what I want to depict, I start with a simple pencil sketch. If I don't have an idea of what I want, I simply start with a blank screen. I use a combination of software to achieve the various effects, depending on the mood of the piece."
Neil Harpe
oil
Neil Harpe is a painter and a printmaker. He approaches his work through a variety of media, including watercolor, graphite drawing, mylar lithography and intaglio printmaking. Born in Annapolis, Maryland in 1946, his first foray into art was the release of a series of original lithographs of the Chesapeake Bay. Today, his works cover a wide range of subject matter, including landscapes, marine subjects, figures, portraits, and music subjects. An accomplished blues musician in his own right, Harpe has both a "Blues Singer" series and "Guitar Portraits" series.
Harpe's works are found in a large number of private and corporate collections, including the U.S. Naval Academy and the U.S. State Department. To view more of Neil Harpe's work and visit his website, click here.
Greg Johannesen
pastel
The outdoors and nature have always been part of my art experience. Early on I showed an affinity for nature by drawing wildlife. Later on, that interest manifested in drawings and paintings of beach and waterway scenes. I followed that passion for art and received a degree from Tidewater Community College for Advertising Design with a minor in Drawing before attending Virginia Commonwealth University where I earned a BFA in Illustration.
I have been working as an illustrator and graphic designer for over 20 years. It was not until I married and moved to Southern Maryland that I opened my own studio where I currently work full-time as a fine artist, illustrator, and graphic designer. I can now freely work on expressing my art using the Chesapeake Bay area as my inspiration.
My process begins by taking my "studio" outdoors, painting en plein air, so that I can experience that which I am humbly trying to recreate on paper. I paint exclusively with pastels which enable me to produce vibrant and expressive pieces with strong color and spontaneity. My most recent work has been inspired by the local landscape — from Annapolis to Solomons Island to Point Lookout there are so many aspects of Southern Maryland landscape and life that a joy to experience and paint.
Malcolm Liepke
original lithograph
Malcolm Liepke was raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Studying at the Art Center College in Los Angeles, he encountered significant obstacles in the pursuit of his artistic vision. He hungered for 'classical' training rather than the conceptual ideas being taught. In a bold move, he left college and went to work in New York. When I moved to New York," recalls Liepke, "I started going to museums and learning from all the great artists...Velasquez, Whistler, Chase, Vuillard, Sorolla and others. I learned color, composition and technique. I realized that their work was my kind of work. They were my heroes, so I became their student".
Liepke's first one man show was held in the mid1980's, followed by twelve more sold out exhibitions from New York to London to Hong Kong. His work is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Museum and the Brooklyn Museum as well as many famous celebrities including Barbra Streisand. He is considered by many to be one of the country's leaders in the resurgence of figurative painting today. Liepke has decided to pursue his painting and will not be producing any more original lithographs. carmen's gallery has available 2 framed original lithos, "In Her Arms" and "Night Out". We will acquire whatever you want. If they are available, we can find them!
Frederick McDuff
original serigraph
Frederick H. McDuff III is a contemporary impressionist in the highest tradition. Nature, therefore, plays an important role in what he expresses. Beach scenes and landscapes, bathed in a delicate light and stilled by an ethereal calmness, are among the artist's favorite subjects. A romanticist, Mr. McDuff takes us to faraway places in time and space. His is a world devoid of harsh realities, a serene place where gentility is the essence of gracious living. With astonishing lucidity McDuff orchestrates charming tableaus which take us on excursions into a realm of remembrance of things past. Carmen's is proud to carry a number of McDuff's original serigraphs, some framed, some unframed.
Kim Muller-Thym
The rolling countryside surrounding her family farm in Harford County, Maryland is what inspires Kim Muller-Thym's impressionistic paintings, along with Deer Creek, the Susquehanna, the Chesapeake, and their surrounding farms and woods. For the past 5 years, Kim and her husband, Marvin, escape to their place in Nova Scotia to spend summers in the cool northern climes. From Connecticut, Kim's original oils are serene and often ethereal and take you to a meditative place where one can escape the daily race for at least a few peaceful moments.
oil
Ron Picou
Ron Picou was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and enjoyed fishing and crabbing in the bayou and marshlands during his youth. You can see Ron's affection for his hometown in his art, which consists mainly of moody bayou scenes and energetic New Orleans street scenes, as well as a few food pieces, which are a lot of fun. Ron studied fine arts with the John McCrady Art School and at Tulane University. Carmen's is very proud to carry many of Ron Picou's serigraphs. Not only is Picou a very talented printmaker, craftsman, and painter, he is also Carmen's new next door neighbor in New Orleans!
Note: Picou is not currently producing art, but we have access to any of his pieces that are not yet sold out.
Bill Schmidt
oil
Bill Schmidt is a landscape painter, favoring the maritime views of the Chesapeake Bay (Annapolis) and the New England harbor towns of Rockport and Gloucester, also the rolling countryside and small towns of Western Maryland. A plein-air oil painter, he calls himself an "American Impressionist," painting with the heightened awareness of color and light found in the tradition of the French and American Impressionists.
Bill's paintings are realistic but with a 'painterly looseness'. "I select certain elements to heighten and others to play down, carefully planning each painting to capture the nuances of light and color that let us see nature through the artist's eyes. I hope that I do convey the immediacy and vibrancy of the outdoors in my paintings. I'm not out to create a specific mood. I'm simply painting the mood that exists." Bill specializes in landscapes from around Solomons and the Chesapeake Bay, but throws a few other selections into the mix to keep it interesting.