Artist Dennis William Stuart

Mr. Stuart is a nationally recognized artist from Litchfield County, Ct. "With my paintings, I attempt to capture a moment in time revealing a comtemplative interpretation of nature." Farm, field, forest and brook are landscapte subjects Stuart is drawn toward. "My painting interest is emphasis on pattern and color harmony using suggestive texture, color and shape in translating subject to canvas or paper." His painting career spans forty years. Group exhibits with awards include: National Park Academy of the Arts, Punta Gorda National Art Exhibition, Visual Arts Center, Connecticut Academy of Fine Art, Hudson Valley Art Association, Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Hammond Museum, American Watercolor Society, National Society of Casein and Acrylic Paining, Adirondack National Watercolor Society, North East Watercolor Society and Connecticut Watercolor Society. His college education include the Ringling School of Art, School of Visual Arts and Paier School of Art. In Connecticut his art is represented by PS Gallery in Litchfield. dwstuart10@gmail.com

Artist Lorraine Ryan

New Milford Public Library, located at 24 Main Street, will host an exhibit of paintings by New Milford artist Lorraine Ryan, from April 17 through June 24, 2017. Ryan is a graduate of the Parsons School of Design and studied fine arts as well at the Art Students League of New York. She has had one woman shows in New York and Connecticut and received awards in juried exhibitions. Her paintings have been collected in the U.S. and the U.K. and reproduced as posters and greeting cards worldwide. Her current focus is Connecticut farms and barns, in the hopes of raising awareness to their unfortunate and rapid disappearance

Michael Centrella

February 5, 2017 through April 16, 2017 http://backnthereagain.blogspot.com/

Brief Bio: Michael Centrella is a self-taught painter who works primarily in oil colors. Formerly on the faculties of the University of Connecticut and Yale Medical Schools, he began to paint about six years ago in preparation for retirement. And now retired, he considers creating art the best “job” he ever had. During this period his work has been shown at several commercial galleries in Connecticut, at the New Britain Museum of American Art, at the Lyme Art Association, and at the New Haven Paint and Clay Club where this year his painting was given the Carl J. Blenner Prize. He is mainly inspired by early to mid 20th century realists, including Fairfield Porter, Edward Hopper, Lucian Freud, Joachin Sorolla, and John Singer Sargent, although his work does not emulate those masters. He paints the full gamut of landscape, cityscape, seascape, still life, and figural images, with a greater focus on the challenge of figures in the last few years. His paintings are now in private collections throughout the USA. I don’t expect that people will necessarily find many of my paintings commonplace or pretty. Rather, I want the images to present a context that can develop a visual story for the viewer. I am surprised that, in retirement, I don’t have as much time as I would like to paint. Because of this I often try to produce an image in a single session, or at least with minimal adjustment soon after. Even so, I am seldom completely satisfied with a painting right after it is created. But I have finally learned that more is not always better, and to stop when the story appears to be told. The following comments from George Bellows, I think, well describe some of my thoughts on painting: As he wrote: "I am always very amused with people who talk about lack of subjects for painting. The great difficulty is that you cannot stop to sort them out enough. Wherever you go they are waiting for you". “There is a strange disease in people's minds which makes them imagine themselves as arbiters of beauty, and creates a constant and foolish demand that pictures be all 'pretty'. As if Shakespeare had always gone around writing love sonnets." Finally, as a rule, I try to paint until I can produce something that I would admire if I knew that someone else painted it. That may seem odd, but it’s true.