What’s New

Welcome! If you are visiting for the first time, please start here.

Gallery Exhibitions

My work can be seen in ongoing exhibitions at these fine art galleries –  The Studio Shop, Mirada Fine Art, and JCO’s Art Haus.

These paintings (and more) can be viewed at the galleries –

Wishing you a fabulous day!

Abstract nest painting by Holly Van Hart | Nest, eggs | Brown, blue, white | Oil painting

Soft Start
Oil painting by Holly Van Hart (sold)
Buy a print

Wishing that your day will be as full of exciting possibilities . . .

as the eggs being incubated in this cozy feathered nest.

(Do any birds’ nests actually look like this? Well, yes, kind of . . . learn more here.

Holly

P.S. Soft Start was featured in my solo exhibition at the Triton Museum of Art.  Would you like to know more about the show? You’re invited to read my interview in the Huffington Post, or to view the pics and videos from the museum exhibition.

 

 

Vast Worlds Unfolding

Vast worlds tumbled around in my head, unfolded through my arm and paintbrush, mixed with gorgeous blue and gray hues on my palette, and landed as an abstract painting on this large 6 foot x 5 foot canvas. Now known as “Vast World’s Unfolding”, this painting is currently hanging in my home, but it could be hanging in yours 🙂

Purchase details

Studio visit

Try Before You Buy program

 

[Top 50 Questions] What if you’re not inspired to paint?

Yes, that does happen sometimes, unfortunately.

Usually I’m brimming with ideas for paintings, and almost always have a few ideas that are competing for attention on any given day.

But on some days I’m just not feeling it. When that happens, I follow the advice of Chuck Close, an amazing and famous artist, who says “Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work. . . . All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself.”

That’s my experience too.  Once I pick up a pencil or paintbrush, ideas will often reveal themselves.  Then I’m inspired all over again!

 

Click here to see the rest of the Top 50 Questions

Have a question to add to the top 50?  Please send an email to holly.vanhart@gmail.com.

Abstract landscape painting – Sky Song

Sky Song is my latest abstract landscape painting. It’s full of heavily textured oil paints, which have a gorgeous sheen.

The distant mountains are gray and pink and purple and blue, and have an air of mystery.

The sky is alive with light. It’s singing a song. Can you hear it?

Here’s a flyover of ‘Sky Song’, so you can see the buttery texture of the oil paint –

To purchase, please email holly.vanhart@gmail.com. Purchase details

If you live in Silicon Valley, delivery and installation are free. If you don’t, shipping is free!

Would you like to see this painting in person?

Try Before Your Buy program

What gives you the most joy?

Abstract nature painting by Silicon Valley artist Holly Van Hart, containing yellow daffodils and red-orange flowers

Your Highest Potential
30 x 40″ oil painting by Holly Van Hart
$3,200
To purchase, contact Pam Regan at Bluestone Fine Art Gallery
or email holly.vanhart@gmail.com

Joy, delight, happiness, gladness, glee, exhilaration, exuberance, elation, euphoria, bliss, ecstasy, rapture.
We want it all!

How do you like to create joy in your life?

If your world is anything like mine, sometimes the days are so busy that it takes conscious thought to make time for life’s most delightful moments.

For me, in any one week I’m abundantly happy when I’ve enjoyed all of these experiences –

  • time connecting with my 3 men (husband and 2 sons), other family, and friends
  • lots of laughter
  • absorbing nature and getting some exercise with hikes and bike rides
  • contributing to an important cause, usually with a focus on children, women, or art
  • feeling that I’ve advanced in life in some meaningful way (relationships, health, career)
  • painting, of course!
  • remembering to be full of thanks, wonder and awe for all of the above

What makes you happy?

 

If you have any tips for creating more bliss in life, please drop me a line at holly.vanhart@gmail.com, I’m all ears.

 

Top questions I’m asked as an artist –

How do you know when a painting is done?

How much time does it take to complete a painting?

 

 

Tell me about the texture in your paintings

s and eggs) and emphasize their rhythm.

Most of my texture is created using heavy acrylics in an underpainting. That is, my first step is to apply acrylic paints to the stretched canvas (usually red paint, applied thickly), and let that dry before starting the first layer of oil paints. The textured swirls are made using a variety of tools; my favorites being a painting knife and a hair comb. (You can see a video demo of the texture process here.)

The texture sometimes aligns with the subject of the painting, and sometimes goes against the natural lines of what’s represented in the painting. That’s on purpose. It mirrors the complexity of our lives.

Thanks for your interest!

Click here to see the rest of the Top 50 Questions

Have a question to add to the top 50?  Ask away  (in the comments section below or send an email to holly.vanhart@gmail.com).

In love with aspens – Abstracted forest painting by Holly Van Hart (new release)

Do you love aspen trees as much as I do?

These days, I’m happily immersed in autumnal aspen forests. There’s something about these trees that seems to be universally appealing. For one thing, they are so gorgeous.

Aspens and birches look very similar to each other. If you’re curious what the differences are, here are the highlights –

  • Birch are famous for having bark that peels back like paper; aspen bark does not peel.
  • Birch trees grow in the eastern US and Canada, while Aspens are found all over North America, Europe and Russia.
  • And, amazingly . . . each ‘colony’ of aspen trees actually shares a single large root system. The root system can be huge, covering multiple acres, and can be thousands of years old. As old trees die off, the root system sends up new trunks. Incredible!

How about you . . . what are your favorite trees?

Here’s the completed painting, shown from two different angles –

This painting is hanging in my living room, but it could hanging be in yours 🙂

Would you like to see this painting in person?

To purchase, email holly.vanhart@gmail.com.  Free shipping in the US for VIP members.

Purchase details

Try Before You Buy program

 

New eBook!

New Book! Free download >>

Our biggest, boldest dreams

The daisies in ‘Dream Field’ represent our dreams, some dreams bigger than others, some growing and developing, others on the decline, and all of them dancing around through the turbulence and beauty that we call life.

Here’s wishing that our biggest, boldest dreams come true!

Become a VIP member – click here to learn more

Open Studio Event (ongoing)

Hello art lovers!

You’re invited! Please join me at my home gallery and studio in Tiburon, California for an ongoing art exhibition.

Dates:   By appointment  Email holly.vanhart@gmail.com and let’s make a date.
Location:  Tiburon, California (near San Francisco)

More than twenty new abstract nature paintings are on display and for purchase – forests, fields, flowers, nests, landscapes and more.

Plus you’ll see some brand new experimental work that is only available in my studio.

Abstract-Nature-Paintings | Birch Aspen Trees Roses | Autumn Dance | Summer Sparkle | Amid The Scent of Roses-by-HollyVanHart | Installed paintings | Living Room | Oil and acrylic paintings

The Open Studio event includes a tour of my home gallery as well as my home studio.

Seeing art in person is the absolute best way to experience it. Please take this opportunity to visit!

Make an appointment and add it to your calendar today.  See you soon!

 

For news on upcoming open studio and gallery events, sign up for my mailing list. (One email every 2-3 weeks.)

What is success?

A new article published on The Commissioned!

Meet Holly Van Hart, the Energetic and Calm Artist

Artist Holly Van Hart | Photo by Daniel Garcia of Content Magazine

“You perfectly transformed my dream into reality in the form of a stunningly beautiful painting.”
— Dr. S. Hall, Ventura, California (a satisfied collector of Holly’s paintings)

One word that best describes your style: Energetic yet calm

1. What does a typical day in your life look like?

I wake up and can’t wait to get painting! Usually I’m in the studio and painting in the early morning, then enjoy breakfast with my husband and sons, then back to the studio for a full day of painting. Evenings are for taking care of the business part of being an artist…updating my website, responding to emails, etc.

2. What does your studio look like?

I have a home studio in a separate part of the house that comfortably holds me and lots of canvases – big and small! It has lots of windows and even a door that is mostly a window.

3. Tell us one unique thing about you and your art.

Collectors tell me they find my work inspirational. I’m honored by that, because with titles like ‘Possibilities Abound’, ‘Larger than Life’, and ‘Dream Weaver’, that’s exactly what I had in mind when painting them.

4. What do you love most about being an artist?

I love how it connects me to people…giving me new friends and strengthening ties with established friends.

5. What are 3 things you can’t live without in a day?

Painting, chocolate, time with my family and friends.

6. Where do you get inspiration when you need it most?

Internally, and from looking around in nature. Also, other artists are a huge inspiration.

7. What does success look like to you?

Making paintings that I’m proud of, and finding collectors who love to have them.

To create a stunning piece of calm and beauty, visit http://hollyvanhart.com/commission-painting .

To see the rest of Holly’s Top 50 Questions, click here.

How did you make that painting? (video)

How did I make this painting? Watch a video here –

 

This painting is sold.

To  see available flower paintings, click here https://hollyvanhart.com/available-originals

The Year in Review Highlights – 2020

2020 brought us a global pandemic and was a very trying year. There were many hardships but also some bright silver linings. Here are the highlights  . . .

In February, Ike and I celebrated the 30th anniversary of our first date. What a fabulous 3 decades it’s been. Lucky us!!

 

We visited Ike’s Mom in Canada in January. She turned 90 this year! (shown: Erik, Oma, Skyler)

 

 

Did amazing local hikes and met fascinating new friends by joining the San Jose Mid-Week Hikers Group. The group stopped meeting in March due to the pandemic, but a few of us continued to hike together (socially distanced, with masks, in groups of 2 or 3).

 

Spectacular week-long hiking vacation in Death Valley with my friend Adrienne (pre “shelter in place”).

 

Our oldest son Skyler graduated with honors from Saratoga High School. Due to covid, he had a drive-through graduation. Sky then headed off to Ohio to study bioengineering at Case Western Reserve University.

 

With my friend Maria, we did a 2-week road trip and visited 5 gorgeous national parks in Utah.  (shown: Arches National Park)

 

the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution recently gave Holly Van Hart the Women in the Arts Recognition Award, which spotlights women who have made significant achievements in their artistic fields.

Received the prestigious Art Recognition Award from the The National Society | Daughters of the American Revolution.

 

Loved loved loved the bounty from my husband’s garden – figs, tomatoes, persimmons, lemons, cala lilies, begonias and more 🙂

 

Mountain biked in the local Fremont Older Open Space Preserve every week with my friends Ellen and Ying. We usually cancelled when the air was smoky (as in this pic) but sometimes we just needed to get out there!

 

Started mentoring first generation college-bound students. The MVLA Scholars AVID mentoring program is all volunteer and very impressive.

 

At Mirada Fine Art Gallery in Colorado for my solo show. I’m proud to be working with this prestigious gallery. It has been selected for many awards, including American Art Awards “Top 25 US Galleries”.

 

Thanks to great friends, we enjoyed many happy hours and meals outside this year. Socially distanced, sometimes with masks, always super-fun.

 

One last highlight . . . and the most important for 2020 – Our family and extended family remained Covid-free. Knock wood. We have been so very fortunate.

 

All the best to you, my friend, for next year and beyond. Stay healthy. The best is yet to come!

Signature of artist Holly Van Hart

 

 

 

 

[Top 50 Questions] How are you preparing for your museum exhibition?

Originally posted in 2013 and just reposted with updated links to pics and videos of the show

 

My solo exhibit at the Triton Museum of Art will run from late November 2014 – mid February 2015.  If you haven’t been there before, the Triton is a beautiful contemporary art museum in Santa Clara, CA.

This exhibit opportunity came about because my painting ‘Possibilities Abound’ was awarded first place in the Statewide Painting Competition hosted by the Triton.  The prize was a solo exhibit.

The title of the solo exhibit will be ‘Possibilities’, and the theme is the virtually limitless possibilities that are available to us in life.  In the Possibilities series, eggs are used to represent the unborn promise in our lives, and the nests represent the wonderful variety of homes we build for ourselves.

I’ll need about 15-20 paintings for the exhibit.   About 1/2 are done. Some of the paintings are sold but (luckily!) the owners have offered to loan them back.

Preston Metcalf, Chief Curator of the Triton Museum, will decide how the paintings will be hung in the Rotunda gallery.  He asked that I be there to give input, and I’m very much looking forward to the day we work together to hang the show.

The reception is December 12, 2014, 6-8pm.  This will be the biggest art event so far in my career.

 

For photos and videos of my solo show and reception at the Triton Museum of Art, click here.  (You can also download the catalog from the show . . . free!)

 

Springing to Life!

Abstract Nature Painting by Holly Van Hart, nest eggs, blue, red, flowers

Springing
40″ x 30″ oil painting by Holly Van Hart (Sold)

‘Springing’ got its name because (to me) it looks like the whole painting is springing to life.  A nest with 3 eggs, a tree with dozens of red flower buds, and sweeping textures are all combined to give the painting a certain energy and vivaciousness.

This painting now resides in a beautiful home in the UK. To see available paintings, click here.

btw, if you’re wondering ‘What’s up with all the nests?’, click here.

 

Free eBook – Solo Exhibition at the Triton Museum of Art

This 28-page book features the richly colored oil paintings exhibited by Holly Van Hart at the Triton Museum of Art.
Free Instant Download

This book includes essays by DeWitt Cheng and Preston Metcalf –

“Van Hart’s naturalistic yet symbolic paintings present their enigmatic subjects with both beauty and conviction, memorably”
– DeWitt Cheng, Art writer for Art Ltd, Artillery, ARTnews, and Visual Art Source

“powerful in its message of human connectivity”
– Preston Metcalf, Chief Curator of the Triton Museum of Art

Click for FREE Instant Download

(This book is also available on Amazon for $27)

If you like this book, please share it with your friends!

Walk on the Wild Side (botanical painting)

Walk on the Wild Side
30 x 40″ oil painting by Holly Van Hart
$3800

Interested? Please email holly.vanhart@gmail.com, or call 650 646 5590.

Thanks for being here 🙂

Sweet Escape

We all need to escape sometimes!

New Tree Painting – Standing tall

Trees can have a commanding presence, especially when they are tall. Do you love being surrounded by towering forest? I do!

I aimed to capture that feeling here with my new tree painting, Standing Tall –

Here are some in-progress pics for this painting –

Here’s the finished painting –

Want to be the 1st to see pre-release paintings? Click here to become a VIP member.

The Stories They Tell

Did you know that aspen colonies can be thousands of years old? In fact, one of the world’s oldest and most massive living organisms is a grove of quaking aspens. It’s in Utah and it is 80,000 years old.

Is aspens could talk, could you imagine the stories they would tell?!

Studio Visit

Try Before You Buy

Woodscent – New forest painting

 

Do you love being in a forest and inhaling deeply?  Forest air smells so pure, so fresh and so alive!

This sensory experience is what inspired my new painting ‘Woodscent’ (above). For purchase info, email holly.vanhart@gmail.com.

 

Thanks very much for stopping by! If you’d like to see more abstracted forest paintings, click here.

More info here –
Studio visit
Purchase details
Try Before You Buy program

 

Which artists are you most influenced by?

Great question.  I like all artists who push the envelope in some exciting way.

Some of my favorite artistic influences include JMW Turner’s late expressionistic landscapes, Georgia O’Keeffe’s magnified images of nature, Mark Rothko’s color-fields, and Joan Mitchell’s huge abstract expressionist paintings.  I’m also a huge fan of Walt Whitman, an American poet.

How about you? Who are your faves?

Click here to see the rest of the Top 50 Questions

 

In Our Own Dream World

Come along for a walk into my dream world . . .

 

In Our Own Dream World is currently available. Free delivery in the continental US.

Would you like to see more? Please email holly.vanhart@gmail.com.

More info here –
Studio visit
Purchase details
Try Before You Buy program

Abstract floral painting, The Genius in All of Us

Most of us may not feel like geniuses, but everyone has a special quality or skill that is unique to this world. That is the ‘genius in all of us’.

This new floral painting “The Genius in All of Us” features large abstract tulips in red, purple, blue, yellow, and orange. The tulips represent and celebrate the diversity of our individual strengths.

What are your strengths?

My strength is painting. I suppose another strength is being a jack-of-all-trades generalist that includes some of the business skills needed to be a full-time artist and entrepreneur. (Still working on those others!!)

 

btw, the Genius in All of Us was purchased as a surprise birthday gift for my new friend Heike by her husband.

flower botanical painting | tulips red violet orange yellow | American painter Holly Van Hart

The Genius in All of Us
Hanging in their beautiful home in Silicon Valley, California
Heike is thrilled with her new painting, so I’m thrilled too 🙂

 

 

Interested in seeing other available floral and tree paintings?  Or learning about commissions (custom paintings)?

Or learn more on these pages – About, Press (Huffington Post, Professional Artist, ABC News, and more), Testimonials.

Abstract forest painting – Wandering in Wonder

Does ‘Wandering in Wonder’ make you want to wander through this forest? And take in the wonder of nature and life? Hope so!

Here’s how this painting looks in a living room –

Wandering in Wonder is sold, but you can see available forest, flower, landscape, and nest paintings here.

More info here –
Studio visit
Purchase details
Try Before You Buy program

Questions?  Email holly.vanhart@gmail.com.

 

Thanks for your interest!

 

New! Slipping Between the Notes

With this new tree painting Slipping Between the Notes, the “notes” are the leaves on the trees. My intention was to paint a sunny, happy forest that tempted you to come in and play.

Will you please join me here, running around and slipping between the notes?

Here are some in-progress pics for this painting –

Here’s the finished painting –

And here’s how it would look against a blue wall –

Want to see all available paintings? Click here to request a digital catalog.

Consumer’s Guide to Original Art

Whether you own 100 pieces of art or are looking for your first one, this book gives you the info you need to shop confidently (and have loads of fun!). Includes 5 things you must do when collecting original art, and 3 things to avoid.

Free instant download. No signup required.

Download Your FREE eBook

 
If you like this book, please share it with your friends!

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