Dot Bunn is a painter based in the Bucks County area of southeastern Pennsylvania — a region noted for the influence of both the Pennsylvania Impressionists and the more academic traditionalism of Thomas Eakins and his followers.

Bunn carries some characteristics of both schools in her landscape, still life and figurative work. Her vibrant, painterly technique is applied over a foundation of strong academic composition and draftsmanship.

Her fascination with both color and value contrasts are evident in her landscape compositions, which often incorporate alternating areas of light and shadow, contrasted at times with others in which the value range is more subdued.

She also incorporates landscape, and carefully controlled value arrangements, into her figurative work.

Her figure compositions have a Gilded Age sensibility, and frequently have a narrative undercurrent, with her models posed in costume.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Bunn at the launch event for a mural project she is beginning, in association with Philadelphia artist Patrick Connors, at Historic Strawberry Mansion in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park.

She is fascinating to talk with, and is someone who gives a great deal of thought to color and different ways of approaching color theory.

Bunn shares her expertise with students in local classes and regional workshops.

Paul Schulenburg is a painter originally from New York State who now lives and works in Cape Cod.

In the galleries on his website you’ll find a variety of figurative subjects, with people working on the fishing docks and in casual situations, as well as studio figure work.

You will also find still life subjects along with townscapes and room interiors. In the latter subjects, Schulenburg often creates a Hopper-like feeling of contemplative stillness.

I particularly enjoy his room interiors, in which he deals with subtle effects of light and shadow while maintaining a vigorous painterly surface.