Kimberly Adams plays with color, letting her fingertips dance across canvas, feeling form turn to fantasy, in tribute this time around. JM Brodrick casts electrifying abstract realism into the wild, with a poet’s vision. Robin Weiss blurs the lines of picture-postcard-perfect NW travel-scapes, in art-worthy masterpieces.

These three Pacific Northwest artists, each in their own way, capture life in all its glorious, poetic, electrifying splendor, whether their eagle eye settles on a lone wolf in soul-stirring regard, friends caught enjoying a lovely, rainy day at Pike Place Market, or Alphonse Mucha’s goddesses on brilliant display.

Cole Gallery’s Feb. 4-March 1, 2021 exhibit celebrates the art of oil finger painter Adams, abstract/realist acrylics painter Brodrick, and renowned plein air painter Weiss.

Gallery owner/painter Cole gets excited every time a new exhibit launches. She knows these three artists have something special to offer. They’re a perfect blend of mainstream-accessibility and individual idyllic touch — one, literally.

Seattle-based “oil finger painter Kimberly Adams offers a modern take on the Art Nouveau of Alphonse Mucha. With colorful whimsy, Kimberly's tribute to Mucha's ‘Four Seasons’ gives today's art collectors a fresh, contemporary perspective on the classic paintings created over a century ago,” according to Cole’s latest email list.

Adams infuses multi-cultural diversity in her take of Mucha’s “Four Seasons.” In “Summer,” the olive-skinned woman, a little fuller-figured, wears a red-orange headdress, with the suggestion of a Mexican small farmer at the height of a summer’s generous harvest.

That Adams uses her fingertips to paint is amazing, considering the detail that goes into her life-like depictions. “Like Claude Monet and others of his generation, I apply dozens of daubs of creamy, richly pigmented oil paint to every canvas, allowing the pure, vivid colors to visually blend on the surface and in the viewer’s eye,” according to her artist statement.

“….Finger painting just feels natural to me because I’m not obstructed by tools. This gives me more control over how I apply and move the paint. Sometimes I blend the colors to create dimension and depth, and sometimes I allow the paint to remain untouched, adding rich texture to the image’s surface.”

Animals remain blissfully pristine in their native habitat, in Bend, OR artist JM Brodrick’s “The Wild at Heart” collection. She lends a surreal, almost cinematic contrast to her seven, new pieces, with her electrifying, bold, and burnished abstracts, that just seem meant to be.

“One of the interesting things about JM Brodrick's paintings is that she gets most of her photos of horses from the Bend mustang round-up, where they gather wild horses from the area, give them medical exams, and vaccinate them. I love the way she often combines realism with beautiful, painted abstractions, making her work really stand out," Cole enthuses.

A plein air painter is an artist who prefers to let the outside world do all the inspiring, and Kingston resident, Robin Weiss, is one of the best in and around the PNW. His paintings of famous and familiar landmarks, from Pike Place Market to Pioneer Square, effectively break down that fourth wall between art and viewer. You don’t look at his paintings, you experience them in a fully immersive splash of suffused color and glowing light.

His “Rain Buddies” may have their backs turned, and most of their bodies covered by brightly-colored bumbershoots (umbrellas), but you’re somehow still able to get a feel for their curiosity and interest. Even more astounding, they seem interrupted, as a camera shutter might slow progression in half-blur measures.

“'From City to Country — Seattle & Beyond’ is a fresh take on the beauty of Washington,” Cole enthuses. “He’s been our artist for a number of years. He’s very acclaimed, nationally, for being a plein air artist.”

Cole Gallery has seen plenty of action since expanding to virtual showings last year. Veteran and new art fans (growing by the number) all over the world can access the artists’ latest creations by signing up for monthly e-mails, inquiring online, and yes, dropping by (“We’re still open in-person, seven days a week, which is great”).

If you see an art piece you want to know more about, especially on Instagram, where a ton of activity’s been happening, just ping Cole Gallery’s Instagram man, Scott.

“But the best thing is for sure to get on our emailing list, and to get that once-a-month e-mail — we’re super-careful not to over-e-mail — which shows the artists who are coming up. And if we have new art — like, I picked out a new piece from Janis Graves, I’ll put that in. Hey, what else is new? You know, I’ll put that all in. That’s the best way, but Instagram is great, too.”

Featured photo, "Juggernaut" by JM Brodrick.
Gallery photos, Brodrick's "Brother Wolf," Kimberly Adams' "Mucha Seasons Revisited - Spring, Summer," "Laughter in the Rain" & "The Way Home" by Robin Weiss.
Photography Courtesy Cole Gallery.