My paintings express human emotion and engage themes of climate change and community. I paint figures, nature and animals and frequently vary my stylistic approach.

These paintings are strongly influenced by Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and the Fauve movement in France combined with the colors, passion, and folklore of Latin America assimilated through my travels.

I reveal the mood, feelings and soul of my figurative subjects through their eyes and posture. I incorporate imaginary backgrounds with fabrics, rugs, or windows, to complete the ambience.

By contrast, my surrealist series draws from artists such as Dali and Rousseau. In these paintings my brush and my imagination run free. This freedom of spirit creates unexpected imagery through the sheer use of color.

In nature, I am inspired by the recent floods and storms in Marin County. I paint trees after heavy rains to capture the changing landscape, often with fallen or tangled limbs and their reflections in pooled water. Currently, I primarily explore landscape abstraction.

I am a ceramic sculptor who creates unique handcrafted pieces. My sculpture is unique, at times fun, and always thought-provoking; a way of expressing my views both politically and aesthetically.

My work spans from whimsical anthropomorphic animals, political / media genres, sensual hearts , beastie planter heads , life size bikinis to landscape paintings on sculptural forms.

All my work is all hand built with coils or slabs. I use a lot of sprigging in the English Wedgwood tradition and I make my own texture molds to embellish my work. My pieces are low fired, glazed and multi fired in an electric kiln. I make statements to make people stop and think or laugh and smile.

My family, an upbringing in Asia, science, and the world around me have a profound effect on my choice of subject matter. I like to work in series. I will often be working on different series at the same time.

In the landscape series I am inspired by the Mediterranean and North American landscapes, the sculptural forms that I have developed over a decade have become my canvases for using a watercolor technique where I draw and paint the visions I have into the topographical forms of the sculptures. Because I am concerned about the environment and the impact of humankind throughout the world, I feel compelled to record these snapshot vignettes of our beautiful landscapes before they are ruined or disappear altogether.

As a bee keeper and avid gardener bees and plants often find their way into my work.

I love making functional plates, platters and bowls to enhance the food I love to make for my friends. I make unusual vases for the flowers we grow for the bees.

Hi All, I’m a California landscape painter working in oils. I work primarily in Plein air approach on square formats. I also love conveying mystery and whimsy and often paint birds, rabbits, cats, and dogs at play. I am drawn to the coastal hills and majestic oaks and have spent a lot of time out in Point Reyes over the pandemic. Paths are also a favorite theme.

The more whimsical works draw from inspiring moments of insight found in the relationship between humans and nature. Finding the steepness of a cliff, the curve of a branch, or a community of wintering birds notable.

The acceleration of our changing landscape is a constant confrontation and I hope to express our collective connection in an ever-changing and altering earth.

I am a Bay Area-based artist, working primarily in painting and printmaking. My work has been strongly influenced by the Bay Area Figurative School, with its combination of figurative painting elements and abstract paint handling techniques. I have a gestural, expressionistic style, and am passionate about color. My earlier works focused on figures and narrative content, more recently I have been increasingly drawn to landscape-based abstraction.

Often when I paint I will use reference material, still life, landscape, drawings, or photographs. In these works photographs of nature, often featuring images of gardens and water, serve as inspiration for gestural works evoking my impressions and responses to the scene, and to the marks emerging on the canvas. Working on large canvases is comfortable for me. I enjoy painting with my whole arm, my entire body, rather than just hand or wrist.

Finding points of reference, the ripples in a pond, the roughness of bark, the simple geometry of a bench, I alternate between looking and making specific references to my source material, and a dialogue that emerges within the structure of the painting itself. How one shape, color, or line relates to another. This conversation continues until there seems to be a balance, a point where the painting is saying something. At times I intentionally leave these works very loose, retaining a lot of open areas, areas for the eye and mind to wander.

In addition to my painting practice, I have become a bit obsessed with printmaking! My recent monotype series are often inspired by nature, the flora and fauna which surround us, as well as my love of color. I have employed a variety of techniques to obtain my desired results, often using stencils of animals, flowers, or birds that I draw, then cut with an X-Acto knife or nail scissors, to use as a template. These produce a fascinating effect to be achieved as the ink below the stencil is revealed, and the stencils themselves build up interesting layers of color. I enjoy combining these with other, found materials. Sometimes I use leaves as a type of stencil, intrigued by the minute level of detail of veining that is revealed in the process. Departing somewhat from the natural world, more abstract compositions are formal explorations of the evocative potential of found objects. Printmaking is such an engrossing medium because of the element of surprise, every time I pull a print revealing the image is such an exciting moment, much like opening a present.

As a multifaceted designer and artist, I delve into a myriad of creative avenues, from vibrant gouache paintings and intricate screen prints to the meticulous craftsmanship of intaglio etchings and whimsical miniature sculptures. Infusing each piece with a playful sense of humor, I aim to not only captivate the viewer but also to weave deeper narratives that inspire curiosity and exploration. Drawing inspiration from my love of literature and a penchant for quirky tales, my creations serve as portals to worlds where imagination knows no bounds, inviting audiences to embark on journeys filled with wonder and discovery.

Welcome,

My Name is Brennan Wenck-Reilly and I am a Marin based photographer. Some would say that I have a sleeping problem, but I have grown to accept that my natural sleep pattern is what is called bi-phasic sleeping. While living with my partner in a one-bedroom apartment in SF, It became difficult to simply hang out around the apartment while my partner tried to sleep, thus I was forced to get out and about. Thus I grabbed my camera and started exploring the city at off hours. I really fell in love with this time of the day. It’s easy to fall in love with the solitude, and quietness of the city streets that are normal bustling with people. As I travelled, I expanding this love to being out in nature as well. There’s nothing more exhilarating than stumbling across nocturnal animals doing what they love to do at this time of night. I’ve encountered moose, bears, even porcupines running around in various parts of the world. I use long exposure and lights to emphasize the movement and beauty of the night.

Current projects include lighting up lakes and streams from below using dive lights.

For the past couple of years I have attempted to light up frozen lakes by drilling holes in the ice and dropping flashlights into the water (on a string for retrieval). I have yet to perfect this technique, as timing becomes difficult. There is only a short window when lakes are frozen enough to walk on, yet have no snow on them.

I hope you enjoy my work,

Brennan

While visiting my family and friends in France and Belgium, I was always attracted by the windows and beaten-up shutters of the medieval streets. They represented a confined life, structured, and carefully controlled. I could hear and imagine sounds, murmurs, conversations, and laughs behind the openings of the house.

In opposition to my windows, I then became attracted to wild animals. Generating my dream of an escape, the power of nature invaded my soul with peacefulness and total freedom. Nature slowly became an important part of my work: fruits, vegetables, flowers and mostly expressions of life.

The purpose of my art is to add beauty to the world, and to bring joy into people’s lives.

My work is driven by my need to mold life out of clay. I watch life unfold, and discover moments of beauty in an ordinary day. These moments inspire my work. The process is alchemy, where the ordinary stuff of life is transformed into something new. Clay is a wonderful medium, with no boundaries or limits. Wings can sprout on anyone and trees can have wheels. Clay enables me to transform the mundane into something magical.

My work ranges from realistic to whimsical, from classical to abstract, from serious to playful. One series explores figures emerging from vessels, as though they are breaking out of confining spaces. Another shows figures in bathing suits. These sculptures are lighter in feeling, more colorful and amusing. In some of my work I incorporate mosaic tile, so that the tiles are part of the structure of the sculpture.

I am primarily interested in line and form, the contours of the human body. I explore the figure in all its imperfections. All sizes and shapes of the human figure are beautiful and complete in my eyes. While I use models in my work, I may not portray them in a realistic way. I want to capture their mood, spirit, and the essence of who they are.

I am a native of Mazatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, and began drawing at the age of six. A year later I received my first set of oils and painting lessons from a neighborhood artist who took an interest in my young artistic abilities. At age eleven I won an art school scholarship to the renown Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes (I.N.B.A.) in Mazatlán, from which I graduated in 1978. Since then I have made a living teaching, through commercial art, and working as a fine artist, winning many awards at both the state and national level, including first place in the national competition, Carteles Alucivos a la Contaminación Ambiéntal in 1973.

Artistic Influences

During my youth, Mazatlán was a port town bordered by jungle and often in the path of hurricanes. I grew up on a ranch amid cows, horses, dogs, cats, snakes, scorpions and tarantulas. The sea, the landscape and the surrounding animal life, such important features of my childhood, would later find their way into my artwork.

My family includes many musicians. As a youngster I was a keen observer of the traditional costumes and body paint used by the Matachines, groups of indigenous dancers that included my mother. My artistic sensibilities were also greatly influenced by the music I heard played within my family circle and on the streets of Mazatlán, by the sounds of my environment and by the huge carnival culture of Mazatlán. The art school that I attended was located across the street from the Patronato de Carnaval de Mazatlán, the headquarters whereto carnival festivities were prepared. I was able to watch the construction of carnival floats, attend the auditions of dancers and musicians, and was fascinated by the elaborate costumes that were a late part of the festivities.

My artistic development was also informed by Mexican folk art traditions and my exposure to the work of the Mexican painters Diego Rivera, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo, as well as early 20th century European painters.

Fine Art

In 2008 I met my current wife and moved to her hometown of Corte Madera to be with her. I fell in love with the Marin County landscape and sought to capture through landscape painting the mood of its ever-changing atmosphere.

But as an immigrant I have a piece of my heart in both countries, and the subject of many of my paintings, especially my abstract work, is rooted in my Mexican heritage.

My fine art work includes landscapes, commissioned portraits and abstract works in watercolor, oil, acrylic and pastels, as well as murals such as those in the Capilla La Milagrosa, Plaza Maya Shopping Center in Mazatlán, in the historic St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Stockton, CA. and in other public sites. I participated in creating group murals for the San Rafael Canal Alliance and in 2010 directed a group of school children in the creation of a tile mural for their school building in Aromas, CA. I have also worked with mosaic and sculpture.

I have been drawing since I was a young child exploring lots of subjects, from portraits, landscapes, a single rose, a chair and abstract patterns.

For many years now a grid of half inch squares in light pencil all over the canvas or sheet of paper lays the foundation. I pay attention to each and every square, in a very ritualistic manner.

I liken this process to my daily tai chi practice. The form is set and my task is to simply pay attention and mindfully go through the slow moving dance, learn from and absorb the form, embrace the ƒchiƒ created, and finally, let it go, without attachment.

Increasingly the work have become, “Prayers For Peace”. “Let us take care of the Elders for they have come a long way, let us take care of the Children for they have a long way to go, let us take care of those In Between, for it is they who do the work”, is an African Prayer I’ve frequently incorporated or on occasion the text from the Tao Te Ching emerges…, and/or another Chair.

While painting I imagine how the scene is moving and try to convey that onto the canvas. The primary sources of my inspiration are landscapes and whimsical animals with humor and hope mixed in.

For the past several years, I’ve been painting in oil, exploring different effects I can create with this malleable medium. Recently, I have been using shapes and colors to create mostly abstract paintings. Some of the shapes are abstract and others are elements of reality. My most recent paintings in this realm are inspired by alebrijes (ah-lay-bree-hays), a form of Mexican folk art. Alebrijes are wood-carved animals, people, things, or fantastical creatures. They are intricately painted with bright colors and patterns. The colors I use are bright and saturated, the forms are more abstract, and all are painted with patterns and embellishments. Color is a predominant concern: I use color to imbue my work with visual excitement and beauty, but also with a sense of humor and playfulness.