Groveland Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of Amaryllis to Zinnia featuring new work by Carl Oltvedt and Jill Michell. Oltvedt, a lifelong Minnesotan has been represented by Groveland Gallery for over 40 years.  This exhibition represents Jill Michell’s first show at the gallery.  Both artists have long used flowers as subjects and inspirations for their work.  Oltvedt paints flowers with the careful eye of a botanist.  He lovingly renders the essential details that comprise each unique flower. Jill Michell, a transplant from the East Coast, now lives in St Paul’s Tangletown neighborhood where she paints her still lifes in her backyard studio. Michell’s flowers are painted with exuberant and lively brushwork and exaggerated color that suggest the essence of her subjects.

Carl Oltvedt’s new work reflects his life-long love of flowers and gardening. He states, “Growing up with parents who loved flowers and gardening, I find myself following in the footsteps of their passion.…I thoroughly relish in the full spectrum of colors, textures, shapes, as well as the delicacy and sensuality of the blooms.”

Jill Michell began working on this series of flower still life paintings after a long period of creating plein air landscape paintings.  She paints her composed still   life paintings much as she did her landscapes.  She responds quickly to the image, capturing the flowers in a specific moment in time.  Michell, has written, ”I try to distill my subjects down to their essence…I want these works to express a bit of the life I see.”