This new commissioned painting was just delivered and installed in a gorgeous new home in Lake Tahoe, CA.
Thank you Karen & Greg!
“I love it” they both said. Music to my ears 🙂
In “Top Fifty Questions”, I’ll answer the top things I’m asked as an artist. (These questions are usually raised at cocktail parties and other fun social events.)
Silicon Valley, in northern California, is a hotbed of technology innovation. It is a place where anything is possible, and failures are just stepping stones to the next success.
I love this part of the culture, which played out in my life every day for 20 years as a Silicon Valley-based high tech exec, and now in my art. My whole ‘Possibilities’ series is rooted in the unrelenting optimism of Silicon Valley.
You can read more about my Silicon Valley experience here on LinkedIn.
Not everyone loves Silicon Valley as much as I do. Have you lived or worked here? What’s your take?
Morning Light
40″ x 30″ oil painting on canvas by Holly Van Hart (sold)
A few times a year my family spends the weekend at or near Lake Tahoe, CA. It’s a gorgeous place, with expansive views of the Sierras just about everywhere you look. And what makes it even more special is enjoying it with friends!
One Saturday morning, before everyone else was awake, I took a walk along the lake and snapped lots of photos. Back in my studio, I painted ‘Morning Light’. Morning is my favorite time of the day, and my aim was to convey a feeling of quiet and serenity.
Gallery Wrap side view of “Morning Light”
Hi there! Here’s one of my latest forest paintings (and the first one completed in a square format) . . .
Circling of the Seasons
48 x 48″ mixed media painting by Holly Van Hart (sold)
For available forest paintings, click here
Want to see how this painting was made? Here are some pics . . .
And, in video . . .
For more info, check these out –
* Try before you buy program
* Come for a studio visit
* Info on purchasing
To purchase, email holly.vanhart@gmail.com.
Want to see more in-progress paintings? Check out these videos http://hollyvanhart.com/youtube-videos
Thanks for being here!
Hello, my fearless friend.
What things in life fascinate you? What do you really love?
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High school starts this week for our sons, so we did some family outings to San Francisco and Santa Cruz. This is us as we walked over the Golden Gate bridge, through a thick fog bank. I really love spending time with these 3 men! (That’s Erik on the left, and Ike on the right. Skyler snapped the photo.) |
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| Other landscape paintings are still available. Would you like to see them? Click here – |
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| OK, my most amazing friend . . . three cheers to you for following your fascinations! |
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| P.S. Into forests or flowers instead? |
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| btw, if this email was forwarded to you, and you’d like to get on my VIP list to receive future emails (one every 3 weeks), click here. |
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Hi there. Meet ‘Possibilities on High’.
In the upper right of this painting, you can see a big and colorful bird’s nest. It’s sitting up high on the branches of huge magnolia tree, on a warm summer day.
The nest looks peacefully and securely settled in the tree. At the same time, it is quite exposed.
If I were an egg, I’d love to live in this nest in a magnolia tree (despite the risks of exposure). Would you?
(If you’re wondering “What’s up with all the nests?”, click here.)
Originally published in 2013, and just updated and republished
Autumn Cruise
30″ x 40″ oil painting on canvas by Holly Van Hart (sold)
‘Autumn Cruise’ is about the majesty of the mountains and the allure of the alpine lakes. This painting includes two cruise boats ready to take us on a tour of the lake, up closer to the mountains.
The unusual textures in ‘Autumn Cruise’ (for example, in the sky in the upper right, and skirting the mountains in the upper left) are there to remind us of nature’s unseen forces – potential rainstorms, winds, avalanches, floods, and hungry bears. Nature is beautiful and alluring, and also commands the utmost of respect.
Ready to cruise up the lake? Sure, it’s a crisp, clear autumn day and looks like a safe bet. (If there were dark clouds overhead, then it would be a different story.
btw, if you’d be interested in some art freebies (free art books and more), click here.
Paint solvents, thinners, and thickeners are often toxic. I don’t use any of these, except for turpentine to deep-clean my brushes (which I do outside).
Oil painting mediums (such as thickeners and thinners) tend to be an artist’s best friends. I had some favorite mediums that were toxic, but after some intense experimenting around, I found and fell in love with two that aren’t – walnut oil to thin the paints, and Gamblin Solvent-Free Gel as a thickener.
And I try my best not to eat the paints 🙂
Click here to see the rest of the Top 50 Questions
Want to know what’s going on in my studio? Friend me on Facebook and see something new every day!
Nest at Night
36″ x 18″ oil painting by Holly Van Hart
Sold
Commission a nest painting
I’d like to introduce you to ‘Nest at Night’, the latest member of my Possibilities series.
‘Nest at Night’ is a more abstracted painting than most of the others in this series. I was inspired by –
* the idea (the virtually limitless possibilities we have in our lives if we choose to embrace them),
* the mood (mysterious), and
* the color (a very deep red).
As I was painting, I got absorbed (and even lost) in the reds. It took many layers of oil paint (and believe it or not, many different colors) to achieve the desired hue and depth. The dark reds and the sliver of a moon contribute to the mysterious feel of this work.
Do you like mystery in artwork? I’d love to know; please comment below.
(In case you’re wondering, click here to read “What’s up with all the nests?“)
In “Top Fifty Questions”, I’ll answer the top questions I’m asked as an artist. (These questions are usually asked at cocktail parties and other fun social events.)
I’ve been painting my whole life, with one hiatus while in college.
As a girl I made many types of art . . . I painted, made ceramics and did crocheting and calligraphy. My Mom was an artist; she gave us lessons and let us use her top-quality art supplies. (Thanks Mom!)
In college, studying engineering was all consuming and my art was put on hold.
After graduating, I worked in high tech and pursued painting passionately as a hobby – taking dozens classes, reading thousands of books and articles, forming an art critique group, and painting every spare minute.
Now, as a professional artist, I paint every day, all day (every weekday + some weekends). And every day I learn something new.
My art education will never be done. That’s a huge part of the fun 🙂
btw, the above painting is Amid the Scent of Roses. Interested in seeing how it was made? Here’s a short video for you . . .
