Members Gallery

March 2-30, 2011
Oil Paintings by
Lena Sirota and Robin Wessman

About Lena Sirota:

As a child in St. Petersburg, my grandmother took me to The Hermitage and Russian Museum. I fell in love with the magic of the Dutch interiors and still life, Goya's nightmare paintings, and Rerich's Tibet- influenced mystical paintings.

By the age of nine I was enrolled in the children's art school at The Hermitage. After high school
I went to Muhina State Art Academy, were I
studied visual design and textile design for five years, with hopes of a solid career. Life and circumstances brought me to the United States.
At Boston's Museum of Fine Arts,  I enrolled for drawing and painting classes in the adult program to rekindle my love of fine art and painting. Classes at the Danforth Museum with painting teacher
Teri Malo confirmed my decision to seriously pursue painting.

Light and color are the source of my inspiration. I look for interesting compositions in my daily life - indoors, in my garden, or in the changing seasons and the forest nearby. I start my paintings by focusing on composition and gesture - blocking in tones and masses, looking for strong lines in my subject. Once these are  blocked, details are developed. I try to work quickly, using brushes, palette knife,  rags - adding and removing paint to create an interesting surface. I want a balance of abstraction  and realistic details. My goal is to be a great painter, and to earn a living with my paintings. My works were accepted at The Dunforth Museum , Francesca Anderson Fine Art,Concord Art Association and Cambridge Art Association exhibitions.  I have experienced the excitement of seeing my paintings sold.

About Robin Wessman:

Robin Wessman was born in Boston, Massachusetts and lived most of his life in New England.  He is primarily a landscape artist who works in oils and
is drawn mostly to scenes near the coast where he developed a strong affection for the beauty and diversity of life along the ocean’s edge. 
Robin earned a Master in Fine Arts from Ohio University and a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts, North Dartmouth. 
He also earned a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Rhode Island. In addition to his formal education, Robin has continued to study with many accomplished artists, such as, Joseph McGurl, Bill Davis, Don Demers, Kris Donovan, Tom Deinenger, Yves Parent and Mikel Wintermantel.
He is a member of many associations including: Concord Art Association, Lyme Art Association, Franklin Art Association, Attleboro Museum of Art, Cape Cod Art Association, Blackstone Valley Painters Association, and the Newport Art Museum. 
Although his paintings have a classic representational approach, they are less about the accurate depiction of a particular landscape than they are about capturing the visual and emotional experience that inspired him to paint the scene. He is particularly interested in how composition, color and light create the illusion of space that draws the viewer in and around the painting. Direct observation of nature through plein air studies is essential to his understanding of how light affects color, texture, and form. His paintings originate outdoors where he can work quickly to capture the spirit of the landscape as it inspired him and record as much as possible of the experience on canvas.  Many of the paintings are started using acrylics and later finished in oils.  He often works on several paintings at a time using layers of paint to create certain effects. Robin continues to work on his paintings in the studio where he combines observation, experience and his own internal vision to finish each piece.