Armchair Travelogues: Arizona Artscapes: Featured Artists – Linda Pullinsi & Barbera Clements!

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Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in downtown Phoenix contains the Olney Gallery with exhibits throughout the year.

Happy New Year! I thought that a brief tour of the Olney Gallery @ Trinity Cathedral to see the newest exhibits makes a great first post for 2024. Once again, I’ve discovered new local artists previously unknown to me. The first of these is Linda Pullinsi, who has a wonderful gift for capturing Arizona landscapes. Her use of vibrant colors and the way she has them reflect off water (particularly the greens used in “Reflections”) are very mesmerizing to me, and makes me appreciate how it can be challenge to recreate that scene through a painting. I certainly would not have the ability to capture those wonderful moments before the light changes, altering the intended capture.

“Reflections” by Linda Pullinsi captures a tranquil, refreshing water scene of delightful colors reflecting off the creek. Watercolors such as this one appear both realistic and effortless.

Pullinsi is also adept at creating oil paintings like the one pictured below, “Storm Over The Superstitions” which certainly inspires awe. The range itself is magnificent – yet most people (especially out-of-state tourists) would not see them close up during a dramatic weather event – since they are usually toured on a sunny day. This interpretive painting by Pullinsi makes landscape scenes such as this one all the more fascinating and enjoyable to view.

When viewing “Storm Over The Superstitions” it gives me little chills thinking 🤔 how much the temperature dropped after the rains came!

Barbara Clements is another prominent Arizona artist currently featured at the Olney Gallery. Like Linda Pullinsi, she is highly skilled at creating memorable oil paintings of various Arizona scenes – particularly of stormy conditions. One of these that really got my attention is called “Afternoon Storm At Lynx Lake” although the waterfowl at the lower center of the picture seem unperturbed by the impeding storm it made my skin tingle. In fact, this painting has motivated me to make a trip and see the actual Lynx Lake in Prescott National Forest which inspired Clements to paint it. The lake is something that I’d also like to write about for a near future blog article.

“Afternoon Storm At Lynx Lake” The subtle shades of green and yellow reflections of trees on the water – along with the reflected reeds in the foreground make for an absorbing study in oil.

Another eye-catching work by Clements depicts the Superstition range with sharp contrasts of the pinkish-purple mountains as they loom above the desert landscape with majestic twin Saguaro cactus (pictured below)

“Superstitions & Shadows” almost shimmers with the subtle blue, pink colors that delicately blend into the purple tones of the imposing Superstitions which command the desert below.

I just wanted to provide a brief sampling of the paintings on exhibit this month at Trinity Cathedral’s Olney Gallery. Of course, not everyone is able to visit the gallery whenever they might want to. For me, being a member of the church and living relatively close by – this is a blessing! However, for those that would like to see more works by both of these talented artists, please visit the following official websites:

About Linda Pullinsi:

https://lindapullinsi.com

About Barbara Clements:

http://barbara-clements.pixels.com