My Favorite Artist of the Month: Jane Hambleton

A couple of months ago I went to the art opening of Jane Hambleton at the Michael Rosenthal Gallery in San Francisco. Her new work, titled "Above, Below, and What Falls Between" was on display and I immediately fell in love with her paintings.

"Testing the Water", 2009, 40"x 54.5"

Jane, a Berkeley artist, uses images that are "drawn from collage studies, old photographs, and photo illustrations found in vintage Red-Cross water safety manuals." These images are drawn on large sheets of paper in graphite and then covered in acrylic medium and oil paints. I found her paintings to be soothing in their starkness and subtle colors, making me want to jump into the water with her figures. I find that I often look at her website (http://www.janehambleton.com/) and dream about owning one of her paintings. I literally am in love with her work and am completely inspired.

"Canoe", 2009, 60.5" x 50.5"

"The Dive", 2009, 86" x 46"

"Looking In", 2009, 80" x 30"