Massachusetts artist Leo Mancini-Hresko studied at the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, and then in Italy at the Florence Academy of Art, where he stayed on after graduation as an instructor and later director of the drawing program for sculptors.

Having returned to the U.S., where he established a studio in Waltham, MA, he continues to teach classes and workshops in painting and traditional materials.

The home page of his website is arranged as a blog, with a variety works posted, and you can find individual galleries of work in landscape, portrait and still life from the Paintings drop-down menu at the top.

Mancini-Hresko paints with a loose, gestural style, with quickly noted brushstrokes particularly evident in his plein air landscapes, and a somewhat more reserved approach in his still life and portrait canvasses. I enjoy the range of value contrasts between his bright landscapes, with their evocative suggestions of weather and time of day, and his darkly classical still life arrangements, in which he revels in the textural qualities of his subjects, down to the dusty surfaces of old bottles.

Evert Dijkstra was a Dutch painter active in the late 20th century and the early part of this one, up until his death in 2008. He was originally a graphic designer, woodcarver and sculptor, and took up still life in the 1980s.

Apart from that, I know frustratingly little. I haven’t been able to find much mention of him, or any extensive galleries of his work beyond this article on Artodyssey that features a number of his colorful and richly textural still life paintings.

Unfortunately, Artodyssey isn’t forthcoming with their source for the images, and some of them are distorted and others appear over-saturated. I’ve taken the liberty of toning some of them down here (though they’re still quite intense).