VL Article on Hall Groat, Culinary Art Immortalized: From table to wall By Francine Butler, freelance writer

 Culinary Art Immortalized:  From table to wall
By Francine Butler, freelance writer
Culinary chefs understand the importance of presentation and how often have they heard that their food is almost a shame to eat.  New York artist Hall Groat II has married his classical oil painting style with his appreciation of culinary art, specializing in desserts, by capturing them on canvas.  He has been specializing in this genre of art for the last eight years and has avid collectors of this from all over the world.
     Most collectors say they hang them in the kitchen and dining rooms where they evoke a warm welcoming feeling – making company feel at ease along with being aesthetically pleasing.  They are often hung in groups.
San Francisco collector, Terasa Ng, states “I love the chocolate Truffles piece that I purchased; I hung the piece in my kitchen grouped with other chocolate desserts from other artists. The family came over for Thanksgiving and they love the pieces and it has inspired my family to display desserts in their kitchens.”
Another collector in Palm Beach states, “I hung two of the pastry paintings in my kitchen, one below the other.  Not only do the colors in the paintings match the tones in my banquet room but I get the added bonus of having a couple of pastries without putting on weight.”
A prominent collector from Dubai, UAE during the summer of 2014 purchased two of Groat’s major dessert paintings, including lemon meringue pie and a banana split.   The collector states, “Some twenty years ago we travelled a lot to Italy and my husband and kids would always eat a banana split while I would have an expresso. It became a joke that I had to watch the family eat goodies while I saved!”

Many collectors have expressed that they like the colors and how the paintings become a lighthearted topic of conversation during dinner parties at their homes.
    Groat has created a couple hundred dessert paintings since 2006, ranging in size from tiny, six inch slices of cheese cake, all the way to gargantuan forty inch tall jelly-filled donuts.  He has painted nearly every dessert one can imagine, from iconic banana splits and chocolate sundaes to popular culture brands, such as Tastykake cupcakes and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cones.  “Painting sweets early in the morning will curb your sugar addiction for the rest of the day” the artist claims. His studio drawers are filled with a variety of desserts that have been collected through the years that he uses as props to paint from.  The sugar preserves them quite well.

The artist insists, “Both creating and looking at paintings is cathartic. When people think creatively and keep their minds busy, they often forget that they are hungry. So for your next dessert try taking a bite out of a mouth-watering oil painting of a raspberry tart, rather than being seduced by that fat filled chocolate pie at your local supermarket.

Artspan Artist Spotlight Interview with VL Rees

 When did you realize you loved art and wanted to be an artist?
Before first grade!  I took art classes throughout elementary and high school, dabbled in college and after graduation, then gave it up for nearly 30 years.
Approaching retirement I thought about what I wanted to do after a left the corporate world and realized where my heart was.
It wasn’t easy to pick up a paint brush after a long break but gradually I began to make paintings that I enjoyed and didn’t make me want to cry.

Who has been your mentor, or greatest influence to date?
My first art teacher: Michiko Boorman.  She came to this country after WWII and raised a family while she studied and practiced art.  She taught me the basics in such a supportive way.

Who is another living artist you admire and why?
I’ve yet to a meet an artist in the Triangle who doesn’t inspire me in some way.  That said, I would pick Dan Nelson, plein aire painter extraordinaire.  His work is beautiful and often done under extreme conditions.  I love plein aire paintings but as a mosquito magnet, I don’t aspire to it.

What is your favorite surface to create work on or to work with? Describe it if you make it yourself.
Stretched canvas with a colored ground.

What are your favorite materials to use?
Oil paints.  I especially love using a palette knife for abstracts.  Using Winsor & Newton’s Liquin Impasto gives a great sheen and helps layers adhere to one another.  It also stretches the paint.

How often do you work on your artwork? How many hours a week?
I would like to say every day and sometimes that happens!  Currently I am planning a studio where, for the first time, I will have natural light, HVAC, and plumbing.  Once I’m no longer in “the dungeon”, I hope to devote 40+ hours a week.

What is the one thing you would like to be remembered for?
Personally, that I was there for my family, friends, and colleagues.  As a painter, that I showed the beauty in ordinary objects.

There are many culprits that can crush creativity, such as distractions, self-doubt and fear of failure. What tends to stand in the way of your creativity?
In every painting there comes that “uh oh” moment.  I call it buyer’s remorse.  It’s when you think, “what was I thinking!” for choosing that subject, that size/shape canvas, that color palette, etc.
 
How do you overcome these obstacles?
Practice, practice, practice.  Over the years I’ve learned when to just keep at it and when to put it aside to ponder where I go next.  It’s also helpful to know that one can paint over the real disasters.

What are your inspirations for your work?
The interplay of light and shadow, and looking at everyday objects from a new perspective.

VL Studio Vist with Marzena Oberc-Habzda

I was borne in Poland, where I lived in historic city of Krakow. My favorite activity as a child were, drawing, painting or creating figures from clay. I always could be found at my desk consumed by my latest art project. I participated in various art competitions, winning various awards.
My grammar school teacher encouraged me to focus on art as a future career. During high school at Liceum Plastyczne , I studied drawing, painting, sculpture and restoration of historic wall frescoes.
Toward the end of high school I have moved with my family to U.S.  After graduation I attended Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, for continuing education.
I also attended Pair Collage of Art in Hamden, Connecticut. There I studied Graphic Design.
I am captivated, inspired and challenged by various subjects in nature.  My main focus is on nature’s delicate yet powerful beauty, remarkable design and perfect color harmony. I am driven by a need to explore and capture a certain sense of light to evoke desired emotion and inner feeling not easily captured and expressed in words.
I am fascinated with perfect unity, relationship of shapes and harmony of color that nature delivers with such ease and perfection. This creates constant excitement, drive and spontaneous approach to the subject. Inspiration for every painting comes from seeing and experiencing something beautiful, something so captivating that it takes my breath away.
I love painting with acrylics! For health reasons, a while ago, I had to switch from oils to acrylics.
Once I discovered Golden Open Acrylics I never looked back. They offer slower drying time, therefore an ability to be manipulated with ease in order to create oil like appearance. My painting technique does not require  blending of colors, therefore transition from oils was rather quick and easy. I paint with small tiles for color gradually banding them to a desired value, warm or
 cool temperature, manipulating edges and texture to create a desired effect with ease. Because of their quick drying time, acrylics offer instant visual gratification and result. I am representational artist, therefore my painting style requires a specific canvas texture in order to maintain certain control and manipulate the paint to accomplish the desired effect. My favorite painting surface is the Cleassens #13, oil primed , fine weave  linen panel by Sourrce Tek.
Love the gliding ability of Golden Open Acrylics on panel surface. Acrylics allow me to paint faster with very satisfying results. Colors are brilliant, pure and easy to mix and manipulate . The felling I am trying to convey is accomplished in a quick and satisfying manner. I tend to favor cool colors; i.e; blues, purples. My very favorite color now is Naples Yellow.  There are many incredible artists that I admire as most of us do. However there are two artists of the past that made a very strong impression on me when I was still a young child. First one is wonderful Russian painter of late  1800 Ivan Shishkin and the other Franz A. Bischoff. There are so many wonderful artists today that I love and greatly admire, like Richard Schmid, David A. Leffel, Morgan Waistling, Huihan Liu,  Dan Gerhartz, Quang Ho, Sherrie Mc Graw, Karthryn Stats, Jeffery Watts and Scott Tallman Powers just to name a few. I am very gatefull to all of them for there willing to share their knowledge and experiences with the rest of us, therefore helping us become better artists and bystep some of the common mistakes and learning arrors.