Gallery Blog

Have you ever felt an unexplainable connection between you and a landscape and its animals? A feeling of a soulful connection? Beneath the Surface, a show currently available to view here at Art Elements, is a contemplation on that unexplainable feeling. Keep ready to take a deep dive into why we have a soulful connection to the land and its animals. 

Art Elements Gallery is excited to announce the opening of our latest show "Chasing the Light" which will feature the oil paintings of Oregon artist Romona Youngquist.

Romona Youngquist "Sunflower Sunset"

The spring and summer leading up to the show brought dramatic light that quickly became inspiration for her newest collection at ART Elements Gallery. Romona worked on capturing an abstract design of this incredible light in nearby coastal inland and of course, Oregon's Willamette Valley, the catalyst for so many of her paintings.

Romona Youngquist was born in 1960 in Yuba City, California, but grew up in Eastern Oklahoma. Romona essentially started out in life as a child of nature, spending her time exploring the woods with her dog and collecting critters. While exploring, she also studied the design and color of nature. Romona recalls many times standing in a field just staring in fascination at the values of the deciduous trees against a dark Oklahoma sky before a storm, and then rushing home to draw what she had seen. Technically self-taught, Romona thinks of nature as her real teacher. In 1994 she was awarded a grant from the Alaska State Council for the Arts to study with Oregon landscape painter Michael Gibbons and in the late 1990’s she studied with Michael Workman, a leading landscape painter from Utah. Romona has taken their valuable lessons and strengthened her own individual style. She also admires the work of Russell Chatham, Emil Carlson, and Wolfe Kahn, especially for their commitment to the beauty of simplicity and atmosphere. Her admiration of these painters has translated to numerous exhibitions and honors, awards and merits throughout the United States. 

"My lifestyle hasn’t changed much since early childhood. I live on a little farm with my family in the middle of Oregon wine country; I still hang out in the woods with the dogs and my own kids; and I still collect a wide range of critters. When I’m not painting outside, I paint in my studio in order to keep an eye on my kids and pets, while listening to my favorite Bach, Handel, and Mozart."

"Chasing the Light" opened this past week and will run through September 30th.

Romona Youngquist "Rosey Summer Glow"