I started out thinking that I would do a winter theme this month - but felt so cold by the end of the second image that I had to change my mind and

I’ve balanced our starting images with some warmer summer landscapes. So the theme this month is actually ‘impressionistic’ landscapes. Looking

around I find that there are many outstanding Xara artists working in this genre so I promise to return to the landscape theme in future issues. Here

for now is my pick from TalkGraphics and the Xara Gallery at graphics.com of three inspiring Xara artists, Tim Seward, Nancy Griffin and Tao Jones.

What they have in common (apart from the use of Xara Xtreme of course!) is the ability to conjure up the atmosphere of a place, and a great

understanding of color.

Tim Seward (TimS on TalkGraphics)

Tim is a master of creating the ‘feel’ as well as the look. Here are two of his images from TalkGraphics, firstly Treeline and the second one Long cold

days of winter, where he wanted to recreate “cold, isolation and quiet” and succeeded perfectly in our view. You can see more of his work on

graphics.com. 

Nancy Griffin (Burpee on TalkGraphics)

Enough of the cold! ‘Quiet Time’ a perfect evocation of peace and calm, and ‘Hillside, a reminder of summer for those of us in the north, both posted

in TalkGraphics earlier this year, you can follow the thread here.  Nancy’s work was featured on the Xara Xone a couple of month’s ago. 

Roger Cotgreave (Tao Jones on TalkGraphics)

(clue - Tao lives in Australia, we don’t think he has to worry much about the cold). It’s difficult to choose from so many wonderful landscapes, but this

first one, Wilson’s Creek, comes from his graphics.com gallery where you can browse through a collection of his art. 

And some more images from Tao that were presented for discussion in TalkGraphics  - the first one of cornfields and a stormy sunset or “something like

that”. And the second one back in the Fall of 2001 “a bit of a beach scene for all you going into winter”.  Grrr.