Barbara Fox: Watercolor Magic

"I crave beauty, peace, and order, and paint subjects and settings that reflect this idyllic view of the world."  Barbara Fox

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Barbara Fox, American contemporary artist, loves painting marbles! She is mesmerized by their subtle variety of design, fabulous color, and heavenly reflection of light. In this way she reminds me of the late Massachusetts artist Janet Fish and Canadian Mary Pratt, painters of glass and light. 
  

Here's another example of allusions to Fish and Pratt, at least in my mind:
Barbara Fox delighting in luscious green apples on a lovely glass plate. 

While Barbara Fox's paintings of glass drew me into her art, I discovered that this highly regarded American artist has her own delicious style, methods, and vision that surprise and amaze. 

 

Barbara Fox paints still lifes and floral subjects in watercolor and oil. Her "meticulously crafted" paintings are exhibited and collected internationally, have received numerous awards, and have been selected for publication in fine art books and magazines.

I find it fascinating that she is also an illustrator and designer for the United States Mint. So far, 21 of her designs have been minted as coins and medals, including one commemorating Ellis Island, special to me because it's where my grandparents entered America along with millions of other immigrants. 

Barbara Fox received her BFA in studio art from the University of California, Davis. She is a founding member of the National Watercolor Society and leads watercolor workshops around the country, teaching her method of layering washes and painting details.  She currently resides, paints, teaches and exhibits in Little Valley, New York, in far western NY state, not too far south from Rochester where I grew up. She's on facebook and has a lovely website.  

The captivating details and background images of her still lifes also drew me in. It appeared at first as if they had been tacked on, kind of casually, like we tack a poem or image to our refrigerators. But these decorative additions, it turns out, are not after-thoughts. They are intrinsic to her vision and how she sees the world. Where most other artists avoid such artifact and allusions, Fox embraces them. "Her work explores the nature of artifice itself, a fact to which she alludes by the frequent inclusion of paintings and objet d'art in the background of her work. "The art of Barbara Fox is an art that continually examines itself."  https://rehs.com/eng/default-artist-bio-page/    She explains it this way:

"My working method pays homage to the Dutch masters and the tradition of academic painting. I work from life and photographs. Watercolor and oil paintings begin as detailed drawings to which a number of glazes are applied, building deep values and rich colors. The process of completing these works may take many weeks, so I usually have several paintings in process at once. Creating artwork is both a meditation and an adventure that opens my eyes to our beautiful world."   https://art.state.gov/personnel/barbara_fox/  

"Tulip Dance," with Degas dancers
behind the glass vase. 

I was also drawn to Fox's art because she loves flowers, growing them, photographing them, painting them. Her peonies and roses are among the most beautiful of all. I especially love her hydrangea, the exquisite detail and luscious colors. She paints her flowers in lovely vases, like this round cut-glass vase, or in various still-life poses. In "Tulips Dancing," above, the image of a classic Degas captivates, suggesting, perhaps, "in the now" as in the past.  It is signature Barbara Fox. I love it. 

Her paintings have been featured in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the United States and abroad.  For us Midwesterners, they can be viewed at the Phillips Museum of Art in Lancaster PA and the Neville Museum in Green Bay, WI, as well as at her studio in Little Valley, and for international travelers at the MEAM in Barcelona. Wish I had known that when I was there admiring Gaudi in all his glory. For easier access, her works have been published in three editions of the watercolor publication Splash: The Best of Watercolor Painting, and featured in leading national art magazines like American Artist and Watercolor Magic. I hope I can visit her studio in Little Valley, NY, one day, maybe when I'm visiting my Rochester, NY, cousins. 

Hydrangea, "In the Light of Morning."

Shimmering in layers of paint and light. Love the glass pitcher
reflecting the multi colors of the hydrangea.

Barbara Fox seems like a delightful person, accessible, friendly, and she is a meticulous and prolific artist, an American treasure.  Women artists of the present stand on the shoulders of women artists of the past. No one is more aware of this than Barbara Fox. She is "in the tradition," which she illuminates, augments and honors in her own unique and brilliant style.   

"The Pleasure of Randomness."  
"My newest work features glass, origami, historic documents,
and artwork conveying a sense of calm beauty with captivating detail. "

Some Sources:

https://www.artistsnetwork.com/art-ediums/watercolor/wc-fox-gallery/    Fox loves flowers(www.bfoxfineart.com) "but she’s not content to stick with what she knows and loves. She’s constantly challenging herself to try new techniques in watercolor and...[new subjects]...In this creative endeavor, Fox has tried her hand at trompe l’oeil effects and experimented with still life settings..."  

https://art.state.gov/personnel/barbara_fox/ .

https://www.usmint.gov/learn/artists/aip-barbara-fox.

    on her designs for the US Mint."

https://rehs.com/eng/default-artist-bio-page/? A gallery that promotes and sells her art

https://www.barbarafoxartstudio.com/ My newest work, features glass, origami, historic documents, and artwork conveying a sense of calm beauty with captivating detail. / My work pays homage to the working methods of the Dutch masters and the tradition of academic painting which involves balanced and graceful composition as well as precise execution. These paintings begin as detailed drawings to which a number of glazes are applied, building deep values and rich colors. The process of completing these works may take many weeks, becoming an extended meditation on patience and artistic craft."

https://www.artrenewal.org/14thARCSalon/Home/Artist/14597

Hydrangea in progress, on the easel,
 next to a pallet of paint,
in her studio.  

"Possibilities." 

Glistening clear marbles on a historic Latin manuscript. 

What a wonderful juxtaposition of images. 

A Barbara Fox for my brother Loren