Joseph Holston: On the Water Boxed Notecards

American artist Joseph Holston (b. 1944) began his journey as a young man toward becoming a fine artist. He completed his studies and began a career as a commercial artist while continuing independently to develop his talents as a masterful painter and printmaker. In the three decades since his emergence into the Washington, DC, area art world, Holston’s creatively colorful vision has been displayed at galleries and museums throughout the country. He has received high-profile commissions and has lectured and served as artist in residence at numerous educational institutions. His artwork is included in public and private collections around the world.

Holston’s painting style has gradually shifted from realism in favor of more abstract and Cubist elements. Often employing a palette knife as well as a technique called “scumbling” (painting thin layers of light color over darker colors to achieve a somewhat broken effect), the artist combines color and line to portray motion and emotion, movement in the moment. The four paintings reproduced in this notecard collection focus on boats and water, two themes especially suited to Holston’s penchant for painting en plein air.