Stephen Futral – Landscapes – Artist Portfolio Magazine

• Artist Portfolio Magazine – Landscapes Art Exhibition
• Stephen Futral – Crestone, CO

I recently found some paintings I did when I was in Israel at age 17. It was sobering to me to see a very early version of a similar style that has developed over so many years.

I have been working in acrylics of late with the utilization of ‘frisket’ a type of ‘resist’ which has enabled me to work with negative space having as much importance as positive space. I’m also working with encaustics, painting with bees wax and pigment.

I bring various elements to my work / fauvist coloration…abstract expressionism…figurative impressionism and hopefully a sense of humor.

I have worked from postcard size to very large canvases and have been having fun painting already bisqued clay…I am also a self taught jeweler and created one of a kind pieces using married metals, mixed media as in 14kt gold and transluscent plastics along with nitric acid etching.

My schooling includes: Betzalel School of Art & Design, Jerusalem, Israel / Art Student’s League, NYC, NY / Hunter College, NYC, NY / New School, NYC, NY / Cooper Union, NYC, NY.

Interestingly, though I’ve been creating in some form or other all these years, certain circumstances have pushed me into self-expression as a full time way of existence…enabling me to feel as if I’m in the midst of a fantastic renaissance of creative energy and expression.

Concurrently I have been an impresario of sorts bringing together art, poetry, music and song in various venues and continue to mentor high school students at the Crestone Charter School.