About the artist:

Linnea Pergola's creativity inspires and guides the artist to create in her paintings a meld of drama and na've charm. Her work consists of a collection of captivating and enchanting portrayals of life and fantasy, from a pure and unaffected response to her subject. The artist's subject matter is as diverse and eclectic as her background and travels. She studied Art History, Cultural Geography, Chinese languages and History at Cal State University at Northridge and has traveled to the less often seen countries of Russia, Scandinavia and Poland, as well as the Philippines with the Peace Corps. It is her love for the many different places and cultures that she has seen and studied and the history she has absorbed that have given her a bountiful reservoir into which she dips her pen and brush. Although many subjects inspire Linnea, cityscapes are most often seen throughout her work. She embraces their distinctive atmosphere and lifestyles, architecture, lighting and the high energy of the cities that ignite her imagination. The viewer enthralled, is transported to different cities'foreign lands'and times. Born in Los Angles in 1953, Linnea now resides in New Jersey. Since March of 1989 to the present Linnea Pergola's work has shown at many galleries including Martin Lawrence, Roberts Gallery of Scottsdale and The Ambassador Gallery of New York. Linnea Pergola's desire to express her unique creativity is the driving force which inspires and guides her to meld the diverse elements of drama and naive charm is her multi-media paintings and serigraphs. Pergola's body of work is a collection of captivating and enchanting portrayals of life infused with fantasy to reveal the artist's pure and unaffected response to her subject. Pergola admires the colors and moods of Georgia O'Keefe, the strong illustrations of N.C. Wyeth and the gentle scenes of Swedish life by Carl Larson, but credits only one person as an artistic influence. A long ago instructor encouraged Pergola to experiment with new mediums and techniques and introduced her to the intricacy and contrasts that can be achieved through the mastery of pen and ink. Finding this exacting and difficult medium rewarding. Pergola utilized its distinctive characteristics to compose the singular style of her art. Once a subject inspires Pergola, it is transformed by the artist into a new reality. Often the image is changed before the very first line is\ placed upon the canvas or paper, while other times the image gradually changes as the artist interacts with the image. To begin, Pergola creates a detailed drawing with pen and black India Ink. The artist then gives a stronger sense of depth to the scene by adding gray shadows with a brush and diluted black India ink. All the while, Pergola must anticipate the visual effect of every pen and brush stroke-India ink is a very unforgiving medium. Oil paint is used to give additional detail and visual excitement by coloring some or all of the empty areas of canvas or paper. When using color in selected areas only, Pergola focuses the viewer's attention on the individual elements she feels are most significant within the overall image.