HOLMES BEACH – Each month, Island Gallery West showcases the work of featured artists prominently in the gallery’s front window. In October, a striking acrylic painting by Charlotte Sorsen will be on display.
A Massachusetts native who immigrated to Florida 10 years ago, Thorsen uses bright colors to bring the Gulf Coast to life with eye-catching artwork of local flora, fauna and nature. Her display entitled “Walking on Clouds” is Anna’s visual step into the beauty of her Maria Island and the Gulf Coast she loves so dearly.
“These birds are a continuation of thought,” says Solsen of how the birds in some of her paintings on display appear to fly off the canvas. “They are birds, but they can be anything you want. If you take a picture of a bird, you see parts of the bird, but they continue beyond the frame. That’s what I wanted to draw.” It can be the flight of your life, the flight of adventure, it can be whatever you want .
Thorsen studied at Boston’s Museum School of Fine Arts and New England School of Art and Design, and in his early years as an artist he preferred to work with oils, but later switched to acrylics for very practical reasons. rice field.
“I started with oils when I was quite young and then had a baby.” Sosen said. “Acrylic paint was just starting to get a little popular, but I didn’t really like it. I was afraid I would pull my oily palate away from the machine, which was dangerous, so acrylic paint came along and it made sense.”
Like many regional artists, Sosen draws inspiration from his surroundings. She loved painting nature, birds, and other Gulf landscapes in bright oranges, blues, pinks, and other colors that didn’t exist in her native Massachusetts, she says. She has always loved her hometown where she was born and raised, but she doesn’t want to return to the north. She says she has a lot more gray than bright colors in Florida.
The Island West Gallery is located at 5368 Gulf Drive, Trolley Stop 15. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Sunday, 10 AM-5 PM.
