Tara Zalewsky-Nease Art

Artist Comments
This painting is part of a series of whimsical foxes. For these pieces, Tara has a collection of small toy foxes that she sets up like a still life for reference. I needed a dark background to offset the desert sand and warm hues of the fox, so I added in a dark sky flecked with little stars, Tara explains of this painting. I think of foxes as mystical creatures, leading the viewer to an otherworldly destination.

About the Artist

Desert Night...

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Artist Tara Zalewsky-Nease depicts a still life of golden-hued pumpkins, apples, and pinecones. A copper pitcher stands on the corner of the table, reflecting t...

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Artist Tara Zalewsky-Nease depicts an impressionist still life of golden-hued pumpkins, apples, and pinecones. The festive display of the season's harvest lies ...

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"Last spring, I picked up a little collection of succulents from the grocery store," says artist Tara Zalewsky-Nease. "I hesitated to buy them at first, as I’...

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Artist Tara Zalewsky-Nease painted this rhododendron forest scene en plein air in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania. Bold and gestural brushwork punctuates...

Artist Comments
"This painting depicts a still life of fresh summer tomatoes, a pitcher, and tumblers," says artist Tara Zalewsky-Nease. She renders this piece with bold painterly strokes creating vibrant jewel-like tones and whimsical energy. The painting’s high gloss surface makes the rich shades appear wet, giving the painting an enamel-like finish.

About the Artist
Tara Zalewsky-Nease draws on the soul of the desert to create her impressionist landscape paintings. While earning her Masters in Fine Art Painting at the University of New Mexico, she experienced the magical energy of the expansive panoramas and the timeless geography of the southwest. She hiked, journaled and captured reference photography during her time there, as well as during her trips to the Pacific Northwest, France and Japan. Two common motifs in her works are hummingbirds, which are totems of good luck, and foxes, which allude to her young son. Tara has had solo exhibitions in Sante Fe, Albuquerque and Taos. She recently built a custom backyard art studio at her home in Pittsburgh, where she paints full time. When she is not creating art, she teaches art classes at several universities and also enjoys playing the piano and spending time with her pets and family.

Words that describe this painting: Expressionism, kitchen, still life, culinary, gestural, glossy, food, tomatoes, pitcher, whimsical, polka dots, bowl, impressionism, still life, oil painting, green, orange

Summer Kitchen...

Artist Comments
Artist Tara Zalewsky-Nease takes delight in being an artist in the kitchen as well as the studio. This brightly painted culinary still life features artichokes, red onions, and hot peppers, painted in thick, gestural brushstrokes. The painting is finished in a high gloss glaze, with the canvas sides painted bright orange.

About the Artist
Tara Zalewsky-Nease draws on the soul of the desert to create her impressionist landscape paintings. While earning her Masters in Fine Art Painting at the University of New Mexico, she experienced the magical energy of the expansive panoramas and the timeless geography of the southwest. She hiked, journaled and captured reference photography during her time there, as well as during her trips to the Pacific Northwest, France and Japan. Two common motifs in her works are hummingbirds, which are totems of good luck, and foxes, which allude to her young son. Tara has had solo exhibitions in Sante Fe, Albuquerque and Taos. She recently built a custom backyard art studio at her home in Pittsburgh, where she paints full time. When she is not creating art, she teaches art classes at several universities and also enjoys playing the piano and spending time with her pets and family.

Words that describe this painting: Impressionism, kitchen, artichoke, onions, still life, culinary, gestural, food, Mediterranean, Cezanne, Matisse, impressionism, still life, oil painting, blue

Mediterranean Kitchen...

Artist Comments
Tara took the reference photo of this sage filled desert landscape while living in New Mexico. To prepare the canvas, she used a warm peach color as her underpainting and layered swatches of a deep blue collage...

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Celebrating the transition of summer into fall, featuring a white fox in a field of golden and rust colored chrysanthemums. This painting is part of a series ...

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In this mixed media painting, Tara combined gestural brushstrokes with marbleized collage paper to convey the drama of waves crashing on the California coast....

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This painting was based on a reference photo Tara took at the Bosque del Apache Wildlife refuge in New Mexico. It was October, and the afternoon light set the...

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In this mixed media painting, Tara combined gestural brushstrokes with patterned collage paper to convey the drama of waves crashing on the California coast. ...

Artist Comments
Tara took the reference photo for this painting while hiking through the Jemez Wilderness in New Mexico. It was late afternoon in September along a canyon tra...

Artist Comments
This imagined landscape captures the drama of crashing waves, or a desert rock face against a cloudy sky. I worked with a seascape ...