Featuring Member: Rhonda Lorkowski

"Edna" 16"x 20", Oil

Name: Rhonda Lorkowski
City: Euless, Texas 
LinkedIn: Rhonda Lorkowski
Email: rhonda4home@earthlink.net


Rhonda holds a master of education from the University of North Texas was was a school counselor for fifteen years. Art is a part of Rhonda's family's tradition which includes generations of painters, sculptors and musicians.

 Her first love is portraiture. The appeal of capturing a person’s essence - both physical and spiritual - which produces a likeness of a person “from the inside out” is the connection it evokes from the viewer of the portrait. More than landscape, still life, seascape, cityscape or abstract, portraiture can create mood and elicit feeling from the viewer.  “I want to make evident the subject’s personality using color, expression, the setting, posture, and even the clothes he or she wears.”

  The artist works in oils on 20 x 24 inch, or larger, linen canvas using primarily a realistic style.  Rhonda enjoys painting cityscapes and landscapes and draws upon her excursions to France, Belgium, England, Scotland, and Italy for architectural detail in her paintings.   The visual impact of viewing great art in person is impossible to duplicate.  Rhonda recharges her “artistic batteries” at museums and cathedrals in Europe and the United States.  

Artist's Statement

“I believe drawing the subject freehand imprints that person’s features in my mind and heart, so that when I begin the actual painting, I can use my artist’s eye in depicting that individual’s features and characteristics from memory.  I follow a method used by Rembrandt and the other “Old Masters”.  That tradition is important to me as an artist.  It is not the fastest way to complete a portrait. But if this process was good enough for Rembrandt, it is good enough for me!”  

Featuring Member: Partha Chinnasamy

"The Judge"

Name: Partha Chinnasamy

Facebook: Art of Partha Chinnasamy

Artist Statement:

Nature, colors, music, dance, poetry, past and living great minds in art inspire my work. The art journey of mine started with a dream in a small town in south India. Art & engineering have been my passion since childhood. Creativity derived from art shaped my engineering career. Currently, I live and work in Houston area. Took my first formal class with Brenda Hash,an accomplished artist in pastel, after which I developed a passion for figurative-Art.I try to paint and learn as much as possible raising a young family. It has been a pleasure being associated with PSA.

Featuring Member: JD Cole

"Oldtime Traditions",   49"H x 39"W, Oil on canvas

Name: JD Cole
Current location: Nacogdoches, TX and Palmer, AK
Website: jdcoleartweebly.com
Artist statement: 

JD Cole is a native of Oklahoma, a frequent resident of Texas, and a 25-year Alaskan transplant. After 26 years in public education, he is finally achieving his dream of storytelling through painting.

JD is inspired by times, traditions, and crafts of the past: items that risk being lost in the modern-day world. He seeks out unique individualsand subject matter that follow a person's journey into their material identity. He explores the costuming efforts and experimentation of the young, into middle age where focus is often grounded in an occupation, and on through the deep-rooted traditions and passions of a lifetime.

JD works primarily in oils in the style of classical realism and currently splits his time between Alaska and Texas.

Featuring Member: Gini Morelock Bosco

"Sun Freckles", "16 X 12",   Oil on Linen

Name : Gini Morelock Bosco

City: Granbury, Texas

Website: www.gmorelockbosco.com

Artist Statement: To me the most depth and beauty is found in the ordinary everyday happenings of life. I love a good story. Every person,place or object has a story to tell. This is what I try to capture in my work.

Classes/Workshops: I teach a small monthly class (usually a Thursday) Limited to 5 people. Price is $105.00 for the day. I can be reached at 817- 279-1514.I also teach occasional workshops.

Featuring Member: Jeannene Stricklin

"Sam",  20"x24", Oil on Canvas

Name: Jeannene Stricklin 

Current City: Tyler

Artist Statement:

I have loved to draw and paint on and with anything that would make a mark all my life.

I've attended UTA as an art major but left because I was faced with the then current trend of abstract expressionism

It was in workshops that I finally found the technical knowledge that I needed 

I've been fortunate enough to have been to Charles Reid's ,Daniel Greens and many more 

Although I have done commission life has blessed me in such a way that I can paint whatever I want and the pressure of doing them l find to stressful 

My goal in my work is to produce a good painting that I like and now at 84 they ,my paintings,are scattered all over the country .
We who been blessed with the "need" to do this I consider so lucky.

Life can be not going our way, but give us a pencil or a paintbrush and we go to another place and for that moment,like is good again.

Featuring Member: Rita Kirkman

Audrey with Flowers, Pastel

Name: Rita Kirkman, PSA, IAPS/MC

City: New Braunfels TX

Website: ritakirkman.com

Artist Bio:

A pastel artist since childhood, Kirkman's work is defined by light, color and composition, and since 2003 has consistently won major awards in national and international competitions. Her work has been featured in the Pastel Journal and the Pratique des Arts Spécial Pastel, and published in many others. She is a Signature member of the Pastel Society of America and a recipient of the Master Circle Award from the International Association of Pastel Societies.

"I’m blessed to be able to find beauty in almost everything I see. My work has evolved into an observation of sunlight and shadow, and recently I’ve been playing with more adventurous ways to portray light with color, value, and temperature. Portraiture, animals, and occasionally landscapes are among my many series of subjects. I enjoy painting almost everything, and as Claude Monet said, ‘The subject matter, my dear good fellow, is the light.’”

Her work is in public and private collections all over the world, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Europe, Japan, Africa and Australia.

Featuring Member: Bert Saldana

Pensive Elder

Name: Bert Saldana

Current City: El Paso, TexasWebsite/Blog: www.bertsaldana.com

Artist Bio:

Bert was born and raised in El Paso, Texas. He earned his Bachelor of Art in Fine Art from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Bert retired in January 2015 after being employed for 38 years – 3 years with the City of El Paso Museums mainly the El Paso Museum of Art and 35 years with the U.S. Army Museums. While employed with the City of El Paso Museum system, he designed and installed dioramas, painted murals and installed temporary exhibitions. The Wilderness Park Museum still houses the dioramas he built. For the Army Museums, he produced and installed educational exhibits along with graphics to include museum panels, murals, and brochures. During his tenure as the Exhibits Branch Chief for Fort Bliss Museums, he completed a Museum Exhibits Design course at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Bert was consulted on exhibit design for many museums in the Military Museums system including some National Park Service sites. Currently, his art work hangs in the Texas Congressional Building in Austin, Texas as well as the El Paso County Courthouse Building in El Paso, Texas.

In 2015, Bert was selected by District 75 State Representative, Mary Gonzalez, to paint an ornament to hang on the Capital Christmas Tree. Bert selected to depict the San Elizario Chapel and the Socorro Mission as well as the Star on the Franklin Mountain on the ornament as a representation of the landmarks that make District 75 special. Representative Gonzalez issued House of Representatives Resolution 2357 honoring Bert. The Resolution was adopted by the House of Representatives on May 21, 2015.

Bert works primarily in oils and canvas and attempts to capture the beauty of indigenous people in the Southwest. He has shown his work in solo exhibits as well as juried exhibits in El Paso.