Erik Tiemens is one of the Gallery’s artists who comes out of the Bay Area’s film and animation industry. Schooled at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena, he spent a couple of decades at George Lucas’s Industrial Light and Magic (now part of Disney) working mostly on the concept level establishing the overall look of the films. He was instrumental in such projects as “Forrest Gump” and several “Star Wars” movies (see his imdb page). But Erik’s now focusing more on his own painting, applying his extraordinary skills to fuse his love for his native California with the European renaissance and Hudson River School landscape traditions.
We’ve been greatly privileged to show Erik’s work at the Gallery since 2011—for nearly a decade!—so Beloved California V wouldn’t be complete without him.
“Path to Limestone Canyon,” 18″ x 18″, was one of those happy marriages of a painting made for a frame—in this case a 3-1/’2″ wide quartersawn white oak compound frame Erik spotted in our inventory.
For “Path to Limestone Canyon” Erik used water soluble encaustic paint being made by Ceracolors in Willits, California. Though it’s a new product, Erik says,”Ironically, it is based on the ancient Punic wax of the past used in Greece and Rome; specifically the old plaster wax paintings in Pompeii that are found in the preserved rooms. So I would imagine these materials will last for a long time in the right conditions.” (Sounds like they should even survive volcanic eruptions!)
Erik was good enough to put together this short illlustrated description on painting “Path to Limestone Canyon.” Painters will especially appreciate the technical insights in the PDF, but the process photos will be intriguing to anyone.
And a couple of little gems—
In addition to “Path to Limestone Canyon,” Beloved California V includes two smaller (5″ x 7″) paintings by Erik. For the frames, I decided to play up the rusticity and looseness of these two paintings with a little carving on the sight edge of the profile, the back edge of the frame, as well as the gilt slips. The sight edge and slips are gently rounded to harmonize with the forms in the paintings. Otherwise, the profiles are flat, and both are 1-3/4″ wide, and both quartersawn white oak with Dark Medieval Oak stain. Eric Johnson made them.
From Erik Tiemens’s studio—
Erik recently shared these cool photos that get us up close to his work.
And here’s another recent beauty from this extraordinary talent. “Dutch Village Ruins” is available from the artist. You may be shocked to learn it’s only 5″ x 7″!
And finally, here’s to a finalist!—
Erik’s 18″ x 24″ spectacular oil painting “Oak Lake,” which was in last year’s Beloved California, is a finalist in the Art Renewal Center’s 14th annual International Salon competition. Congratulations Erik!
View Beloved California V online…
See more work by Erik Tiemens on his page on our site…
« Back to Blog