Explorative and Experimental: Art by Linnie Aikens
Ring Cycle (Opera by Wagner), oil on canvas
Linnie Aikens is an artist and teacher whose work is in many media and ranges from pure abstraction to detailed figural images. Linnie’s mother is also an artist, so Linnie was exposed to creativity at a young age and has been honing her explorative and experimental skills since childhood.
I really enjoy the style that Linnie adopts in her figurative works. While the artist pays special attention to small detail, her paintings never seem overworked – there’s plenty of blending and a sense of movement to each image. In landscapes, one gets the sense of a breeze running through trees and grass. Human figures seem as though they could be dancing.
The front page of Linnie's portfolio website
Speaking of landscapes, I’m quite taken by works of Linnie’s where deep, vibrant colors lend an almost dreamlike feeling. Several of Linnie’s oil paintings focus on skies that are rendered in painterly planes of purple, blue, and pink. I also enjoy works where geometric, abstracted elements intersect with human figures, showcasing the artist’s figurative skill along with an eye for something beyond reality.