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Chris Stafford

@hollowellstudios

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Artist. Author. Journalist. Photographer. Podcaster: Women Unscripted Podcast Network.
https://hollowellstudios.com
Substack: @chrisstaffordofficial

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Terra Ricca

These sun-kissed ochre fields sweep across the northern Italian landscape of Piedmont, punctuated by deep green woodland, winding roads, and the distant terracotta buildings of a hilltop village silouetted by its church and nearby watch tower. I tend to gravitate to strokes of thick color to give the rolling land a sculptural texture beneath a typically expansive Cerulean Blue sky. Contrasting foliage depicts the verdant landscape of this area with its abundant vineyards, its olive groves across undulating hillside, and hazelnut copses tucked neatly in the valleys. The soil was dry and thirsty. The air as still as it could be. Not a breath of wind crossed the valley. Sounds from a tractor working the fields would resonate like the distant bell from the neighboring church. Otherwise there is a magical peace in this fecund land.

Oil on panel
Palette knife painting
14x11"
35x28cm taken in Piedmont by @hollowellstudios

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18 hours ago

Tra Ombre e Luce

For me this scene is evocative of the enticing streets and hallways that abound throughout Italian towns where historical architecture and the simple charm of daily life meet. So many passages entice me to photograph not just a snapshot of the moment but to linger and capture its colors in the best light. I’ve spent many slow hours walking in all weather turning left and right the second something catches my eye. It may be a wide shot or the simple detail of color and shadow. Those moments are captured on film and stored on a memory card in my brain to be recreated as an oil painting. Tra Ombre e Luce represents one of those moments.

Oil on panel
Palette knife painting
16x12 / 50x40cm
$175.

#oilpainting #italy #paletteknifepainting #womenartists by @hollowellstudios

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8 days ago

Handcrafted Resin Tray

A new design for this handcrafted 16 × 10-inch serving tray with pasta set in clear epoxy resin. I’ve made several uniquely designed epoxy resin trays now and no two trays are ever exactly alike. They are truly one-of-a-kind designed to be both functional and decorative. The perfect conversation starter and a memorable gift for pasta lovers, cooks, or anyone who appreciates imaginative artisan design.

Made to order. DM for pricing.

Keywords: handcrafted tray, pasta art, epoxy resin art, resin serving tray, artisan home décor, kitchen décor, Italian-inspired gift, unique gift idea, functional art, handmade décor, pasta lover gift, one-of-a-kind design

#HandcraftedTray #PastaArt #ResinArt #EpoxyResin #ServingTray FunctionalArt ArtisanMade HandmadeHomeDecor KitchenDecor ItalianInspired PastaLover UniqueGiftIdeas OneOfAKind StatementPiece CreativeHomeDecor by @hollowellstudios

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a month ago

Sculpted by Nature

I love working with apple wood and watching it develop from a log to firewood to a beautiful warm piece of sculpted wood. By splitting the log naturally with an axe I follow ithe grain rather than forcing it, and allowing the character of the tree to help determine the final form.

This hand-carved piece emerged as a simple, organic shape: strong and grounded at its base, then rising into a smooth, gently curving form. I’ve deliberately retained some of the natural marks, grain and imperfections of the wood, allowing its history to remain visible.

The warm tones of the apple wood change beautifully with the light, revealing subtle variations in color and texture as you move around the piece. For me, it's abstract enough to allow you to decide what you see.

Hand-carved apple wood. One of a kind.

12x9"

#WoodSculpture #AppleWood #ContemporarySculpture #AbstractSculpture #WoodArt HandCarved OrganicForm ContemporaryArt SculptureArt OriginalArt ArtFromNature by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

'Tofana'

Hand-carved from seasoned apple wood that I bought four years ago, Tofana is an abstract sculpture inspired by the soaring peaks and sweeping contours of the Dolomites—particularly my favorite mountain range, the Tofane.

Its rising forms, curved ridge lines and deep central passage evoke a landscape shaped by time and the elements. From every angle, the sculpture reveals a different silhouette: at once a mountain summit, a sheltered valley and a weathered rock formation. The apple wood’s warm tones, flowing grain and natural fissures remain visible, becoming part of the work’s character and echoing the strata and scars of the mountains themselves.

Both strong and sensuous, Tofana celebrates the meeting of material, memory and place—a piece of the natural world transformed by hand, yet still faithful to the life and history held within the wood.

11x11"
28x28cm

#wood #sculpture #applewood #art #women
sculpting by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

Reeds & Reflections — Four Studies

A collection of four small studies exploring the shifting relationship between reeds, water, light and reflection.

Each piece began with the same landscape vocabulary, but developed its own rhythm — from the sweep of reeds bending toward the water, to the broken lines of their reflections and those brief flashes of yellow and gold when sunlight catches the surface.

Created in acrylic and pen on wood panel, these four 8 × 8 inch works were conceived as a series and, together, become a larger meditation on stillness, movement and the abstract patterns found at the water’s edge.

Reeds & Reflections — Four Studies
Acrylic & pen on wood panel
Four works, each 8 × 8 inches
$1,200 for the complete series

Available as a set. Please DM for enquiries.

#ReedsAndReflections #ContemporaryArt #OriginalArt #ArtForSale #AcrylicPainting MixedMediaArt LandscapeAbstraction AbstractLandscape WaterReflections NatureInspiredArt SmallWorks ArtCollectors by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

Reeds at Day’s End

There’s something about the last light of the day — the way it catches the water, fragments into gold, and turns the simplest grasses into elegant silhouettes.

Reeds at Day’s End is the fourth and final piece in my series of four small studies exploring reeds and reflections. In this one, I wanted the marks to feel almost weightless: fine lines bending across the water while their reflections loosen and ripple beneath them.

The warm yellow and orange breaking through the pale surface gives this final study a slightly different energy — a moment when the landscape seems to glow before the light disappears.

Four studies. Four interpretations of the same quiet relationship between water, light and line.

Reeds at Day’s End
Acrylic & pen on wood panel
8 × 8 inches
Study IV of IV

Available individually or as part of the complete Reeds & Reflections series.

#ContemporaryArt #OriginalArt #LandscapeArt #AbstractLandscape #ReedsAndReflections WaterReflections AcrylicPainting ArtOnWood SmallWorks NatureInspiredArt ArtistStudio OriginalPainting by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

Where the Light Falls

A quiet study of water, reeds and reflected light.

I’m interested in those fleeting moments when a landscape becomes less about what you’re looking at and more about what you feel — a line, a reflection, a sudden break of light on the water.

Acrylic and pen on wood panel
8 × 8 inches
Original work
Part of a series of four studies.

Part of a new series of four studies exploring line, water and light.

#ContemporaryArt #OriginalArt #AbstractLandscape #LandscapeArt #MixedMediaArt AcrylicPainting ArtOnWood SmallWorks ContemporaryLandscape ArtistStudio by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

No. 2 in A Study of Grey — Reeds: Reflections
Abstract Landscape

Acrylic and pen.

I’m drawn to the geometry created by reeds and their reflections in water—always shifting, unpredictable and never quite symmetrical. In low light, as here, familiar forms become spare lines and unexpected shapes, suspended somewhere between landscape and abstraction.

#AStudyOfGrey #ReedsAndReflections #AcrylicAndPen #ContemporaryArt #AbstractLandscape NatureInspiredArt ReflectionsInWater by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

Geometry of Stillness

Another in my series of grey studies (inspired by James Howell who worked exclusively in gray) — an exploration of reeds, their natural geometry, and the reflections that shift and soften their lines across the water.

Using acrylic and pen, this piece reflects both stillness and movement, structure and distortion. I’m drawn to the way the reeds become accidentally abstract: a rogue arrangement of lines and angles creating their own artwork.

#GreyStudies #AcrylicAndPen #ContemporaryArt #AbstractLandscape #Reeds Reflections GeometryInNature MixedMediaArt ArtistStudy by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

'Beyond the Reeds'

Oil and graphite on wood panel
Palette knife painting.
$175

There’s a point in every painting when I stop trying to describe a landscape and start responding to it.

This latest abstract landscape became a conversation between line, reflection and distance — the fragile verticals cutting through the stillness, the dark horizon holding everything together, and that unexpected burst of orange demanding its place.

I’m increasingly interested in what happens when a landscape is reduced to traces: light on water, grasses and branches, a distant shoreline, something half remembered rather than precisely observed.

And sometimes knowing when to stop is as important as knowing where to begin.

#AbstractLandscape #AbstractArt #ContemporaryPainting LandscapePainting ArtistStudio WorkInProgress OriginalArt ContemporaryArtist by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago

There’s always a moment when the chase becomes real.

This pencil drawing captures the raw tension between predator and prey — the power and precision of a bald eagle closing in, and the speed and vulnerability of a rabbit making its escape.

I wanted to keep the composition simple, allowing the graphite, movement and contrast in scale to tell the story. The unfinished space almost becomes part of the action — that split second when you’re left wondering what happens next.

Bunny wins because there's a rabbit hole right in front of him 😊

Pencil on paper.

#PencilDrawing #GraphiteArt #WildlifeArt #BaldEagle #Rabbit BirdOfPrey AnimalArt PencilArt WildlifeDrawing GraphiteDrawing ArtistOnInstagram DrawingOfTheDay by @hollowellstudios

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2 months ago