The charm of cityscapes in watercolors by American artist John Salminen

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

If you are a fan of watercolor painting, then the gallery of works American artist John Salminenpresented in our publication will bring you many pleasant impressions and surprises. The creativity of the unsurpassed master of the urban landscape will literally plunge you into the fragile charm, lightness and weightlessness, the swiftness and fleetingness of the moment, make you feel the harmony of the universe and feel how painting, intertwined with lyricism, can sound like a symphony.

And I think that for many acquaintance with the work of the American artist will be a real discovery. Therefore, once you see his delightful paintings, built on a subtle sense of harmony in the minimalism of the palette of colors, as well as an amazing technical style, called the author's handwriting, you will never forget them.

John Salminen, who has achieved great heights in the art of watercolor and gained worldwide popularity, is a recognized American watercolor artist and educator, as well as a member of numerous art societies, including the American Society of Watercolorists - Dolphin Fellowship.

In addition, he is an honorary member of the Jiangsu Watercolor Research Institute in China. John is also the first American ever to be awarded a membership of the Australian Watercolor Institute. During his creative career, he has participated in more than 40 international watercolor exhibitions in China, Taiwan, Thailand, Russia, Singapore, Mexico, Pakistan, Canada, Italy, Turkey, Belgium and Australia, and has won numerous awards and prizes. In total, the artist has more than 250 such awards, including the Gold Medal of the American Watercolor Society in 2006 and 2010. He was also repeatedly involved in international judging in the field of watercolor art competitions.

The skill of the watercolor artist is today appreciated: his paintings are included in the collections of the National Watercolor Society in the United States, and the works of John Salminen are included in the permanent collections of the Asian Museum of Watercolor Art, the Guanhua Gallery and Museum of Watercolor Art in China and the Armenian Art Museum, as well as are the adornment of numerous private and corporate collections around the world.

Watercolors by John Salminen

There is a special flavor in the watercolor technique of John Salminen that allows you to feel the taste of extraordinary charm and a dynamic, rapidly changing world before our eyes. But what is most impressive about the artist's watercolors is the ability to convey the mood with amazing accuracy. The mood of the natural environment, atmosphere, characters and the city streets themselves. Its irresistible city landscapes, painted in transparent watercolors, I want to consider in the smallest detail.

In the works of the master, realism and a certain musical poetry are very closely interconnected, which permeate all the artist's watercolors. And he achieves such a special effect thanks to artistic techniques. Glare, brightly reflecting light, reflexes and shadows playing on the facades of houses, on sidewalks wet from rain and on asphalt roads. It is they who create an irresistible impression from what they see and give the viewer the opportunity to hear the music of the rain, the rustle of bare branches in the trees, the sounds of a crowded city, as well as the noise from cars rushing along the roads.

The artist's works are moments of everyday life in any city. The bustle of city life, captured on paper, is a special world that is very close and familiar to the townspeople. And in order to more accurately recreate the smallest details of this life, John, unable to stand in the middle of the street with an easel, uses a camera. First, he or his wife Katie captures what he saw with the help of a camera, and after that the artist recreates the picture in paints.

John's watercolors are also interesting for the dynamics of the compositions. The feeling of movement and whirlwind does not leave the viewer from the first glance at his work to the last.

Isn't it true - every painting of the master literally attracts attention and as if plunges into a colorful dimension that conveys the atmosphere of different cities, their unique color range. Irresistible street scenes, masterful use of the play of light and shadow, painstakingly and almost intuitively recreated the slightest shades of colors and subtle detailing - this is the beauty of the artist's paintings in love with watercolors.

About the artist

John Salminen (born 1945) was born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota. In his early years, although John was in college at the music department, he was incredibly fascinated by the art studio. And after graduation, he already received a bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Minnesota in the department of fine arts. Today he lives and works in a wooden log cabin surrounded by 40 acres of pine forest in Duluth, Minnesota.

For many years, in parallel with teaching high school students, he himself painted pictures, forming as an artist. Now John regularly conducts master classes, presentations and actively participates in numerous exhibitions around the world. When traveling, he collects material for future work - photographs city landscapes. In his work, he is assisted by his wife Katie, a professional photographer and teacher, who brings him pictures of different cities, which later become the basis of his works.

Summing up what we have seen, it is not without reason that we can say that John Salminen has many works of the same type, as if stamped in places. And it may seem at first glance that the artist, having found his favorite subject, honed some technical techniques. Nevertheless, looking closely, we will see the variety in the plots, in the compositions, and in the mood.

However, art stands on the fact that each master, having found his own unique style, hones it to perfection. The same extraordinary artist in modern painting can be called another American painter by the name - David Chaifits, whose magic of light and color in his mysterious still lifes is simply mesmerizing.