Beach Rocks

Kristen--this IS beautiful!! I am hoping to take another private lesson with you soon.

I quite simply love this, and congratulations on Crowther's critique--so apt: "Olson achieves what makes a landscape painting great: the ability to transcend the static nature of the medium and bring motion out of motionlessness."

In Stone Beach Rocks, Kristen Olson takes a contemplative approach to the beach. She captures the rolling waves, the intensity of their imminent collision with the rocks and shoreline, and the liberating excitement of their constant yet chaotic ebbs and flows in rich impasto that bursts forth from the canvas like the swells crashing on the rocks. This thick application of pigment provides a pleasing three-dimensionality to the canvas and brings the viewer closer to the tactile nature of the beach. Through the layers of paint, we can feel the sand between our toes, the waves lap at our feet, and the feeling of salty aquatic winds against our face. The painterly balance between precision and gesture and what is seen and felt allows a fixed and unmoving image to convey motion and emotion. There is no shortage of landscape paintings, so the buyer must choose wisely. Olson achieves what makes a landscape painting great: the ability to transcend the static nature of the medium and bring motion out of motionlessness.

This is such a beautiful painting, it's been one of my most popular works of art