Ivars Jansons, 1939 | Plein Air painter

Ivars Jansons was born in Latvia. After completing his secondary education Ivars took up architectural studies where the opportunity arose to express him self artistically so he would often produce small watercolor studies.

In 1964 Ivars turned professional and in 1967 held his first solo exhibition in Green Glades Gallery Melbourne, one of many successful exhibitions which were sold out within an hour of opening. Painting trips locally and interstate were very much a part of Ivars career. In 1969 he painted extensively in New Zealand and in 1972 traveled overseas to expand his knowledge in art. Leonard Fuller was Ivars teacher at the St Ives School of Painting.

Derek Penix, 1980 | Cityscape /Seascape /Figurative painter

Derek Penix was born on December 29, 1980 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Growing up Penix was surrounded by artists in his family as his mother and grandfather painted. Penix did not pursue painting until after graduating high school. Penix’s mother encouraged him to pursue his talent and took his paintings down to a local gallery where he sold his first piece.

Through the years Penix has been inspired by old masters such as Nicolai Fechin, Sargent and the French Impressionists, but it has been over the last few years that Penix has been the most influenced by artist Quang Ho. Penix had the opportunity to take a workshop under Mr. Ho and later to study briefly with him. Since then, Penix believes his paintings have grown more in the last two years than in his last ten years of painting.

André Lhote | Cubist painter and sculptor

André Lhote (1885-1962), French painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscape and still life; also very influential as a teacher and writer on art. Born in Bordeaux.

Apprenticed in 1897 to an ornamental sculptor, and also studied decorative sculpture from 1898-1904 at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux; began to paint in his spare time. Left the sculpture studio in 1905 to devote himself to painting.

Alexander Ilichev, 1958 | Abstract painter

"When I paint a portrait I create textures, I see to the coloration so that the paint would spread naturally and diversely thus producing an effect of lightness and breadth.

I paint spots of color, lines and dots.

I know not how to paint psychology, depth of an image or a life lived by someone.

And yet in a surprising way this all appears by itself.

A mystery inexplicable for me" - Alexander Ilichev.

Gail Potocki, 1961 | Symbolist painter

Gail Potocki (born in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.) is an award-winning Symbolist artist utilizing the skills and techniques of the Old Masters in the 21st century. Influenced by 19th-century artists like Fernand Khnopff, Jean Delville, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Potocki's first monograph, The Union of Hope and Sadness: The Art of Gail Potocki was released in the Summer of 2006 and features text by Thomas Negovan, Richard Metzger and Jim Rose of the Jim Rose Circus.

Gail was the First Place winner of the First International Online Symbolist Art Exhibition.

Gail currently lives in Chicago.

Ian Ramsay, 1948 | Plein Air /Watercolour painter

Ian Ramsay was born in Farnborough, Kent, England, educated in England, Canada and the United States.
He received a Masters of Architecture at the University of Utah and is a licensed Utah architect. However, in 1979 he left his career in architecture to become a full time artist.
His work is exclusively watercolor and is, for the most part, in a representational style.

Dan Quintana, 1982 | Pop Surrealism /Symbolist painter

A Los Angeles native, Dan Quintana began experimenting with oil painting in high school then shifting his focus to street art, creating numerous murals, many of which can still be seen around Los Angeles. In his early twenties Quintana embarked on commercial commissions for numerous music labels, tee-shirt designs etc.

Quintana's talent has also found a home in the custom car culture in his work as artist for West Coast Customs on the MTV show Pimp my Ride and TLC's Street Customs and he has been featured in publications including LA Weekly, Juxtapoz, Hi Fructose, Car Kulture Deluxe and more.

Jean Metzinger | Seated Woman, 1919

Jean Metzinger (1883-1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote a theoretical work on Cubism.

His earliest works, from 1900-1904, were influenced by the Neo-impressionism of Georges Seurat and Henri-Edmond Cross.

Between 1904-1907 Metzinger worked in the Divisionist and Fauvist styles with a strong Cézannian component, leading to some of the first proto-Cubist works

Daniil Volkov, 1974 | Abstract Plein Air painter

Daniil Volkov is an Ukrainian painter, known for working in the Plein Air style.

Daniil Volkov was born 1974 in Yalta, the son of renowned Ukrainian artists with an ancestral history of painters going back to the court of Imperial Russia.

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For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Volkov see Даниил Волков/ Daniil Volkov, 1974 | Abstract Impressionist painter.

Ivaylo Petrov (Bulgarian, 1965)

Ivaylo Petrov was born in Sofia, Bulgaria.

In 1984 graduated from the School of Fine Arts in Sofia, and from 1990-1995 he studied at the Bulgarian University of Fine Arts.

Since 1996 has taught at the University of Architecture.

The first solo exhibition was held in 1994.

François Cauvin | Symbolism /Abstract painter

"My art takes root in the African heritage of Haitian culture.

The two main themes, which I have been painting during my whole career, are the representation of the Black woman and nature, developed according to haitian religious symbolism, binding these two interrelated subjects.

These themes are addressed in two ways: in the interpretation of the archetype or by the materialization of gods and goddesses embodied in a common mortal.

For many years now, acrylic paint has imposed itself as the main medium of my work. I usually use a smooth paste, luminous on a darkened background where my different characters, divinities from Africa and of Mother Nature reveal themselves, emerging from primordial waters" - François Cauvin.

Adolphe Valette | Urban landscapes of Manchester

Pierre Adolphe Valette (1876-1942) was a French Impressionist painter. His most acclaimed paintings are urban landscapes of Manchester, now in the collection of Manchester Art Gallery.

Today, he is chiefly remembered as L. S. Lowry's tutor.

Born in St Etienne in 1876, he trained at the Ecole Municipale de Beaux-Arts et des Arts Decoratifs in Bordeaux.

Valette arrived in England for unknown reasons in 1904 and studied at the Birkbeck Institute, now part of the University of London. In 1905 he travelled to the North West of England where he designed greetings cards and calendars for a Manchester printing company.

He attended evening classes at Manchester Municipal School of Art and in 1907 he was invited to join the staff as a teacher. His French teaching style, painting by demonstration, was new to the United Kingdom.

Robert Hagan, 1947 | Plein Air painter | Part.2

Robert Hagan is an Australian television personality, author, impressionist artist, and producer. He is best known for hosting the Discovery HD/Discovery television show Splash of Color.

Robert Hagan is known for his western, romantic, decorative, adventure, portraiture and maritime paintings.

Although self-taught, Hagan's style is impressionist using a limited palette of oil to impart a sense of tranquility and play on light to make the painting come alive. His brushwork is loose with final strokes of impasto.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Hagan see:

• Robert Hagan, 1947 | Plein Air painter
• Robert Hagan, 1947 | Western painting.

Federico Infante, 1982 | Surrealist painter /Illustrator

Born in Santiago, Chile, Federico Infante works predominantly in the medium of painting, he received his BFA from Finis Terrae University (Santiago, Chile) in 2002 and graduated in 2013 with his MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York. He was the recipient of the Uanlane Foundation Scholarship (2012), the Conicyt Scholarship (2009), and the Juan Downey Grant (2004).

Nick Gentry, 1980 | Abstract paintings

Nicholas James Gentry is a British artist from London.

Much of his artistic output has been generated with the use of contributed artefacts and materials.

He states that through this process "contributor, artist and viewer come closer together".