Favorite Artists: Tinam Valk

Tinam Valk is a Washington, DC-based artist whom I have known for nearly 25 years. She and I first met in 1985 while both working at the Maryland College of Art and Design (now known as the School of Art + Design at Montgomery College). Of German and Indonesian descent, she is originally from the Netherlands but has lived in the United States since the mid 1970s.

The painting above, "Stairway I," was an immediate favorite of mine when Tinam completed it a few years ago. A large work in oils, measuring 48 x 24 inches in dimension, I purchased it from Tinam in 2006 and it now hangs in my living room. While Tinam utilizes a variety of subject matter, working primarily in an atmospheric figurative vein, her architectural subjects are especially appealing to me. She has recently completed a series of small paintings depicting doorways, and is currently working on canvases that draw inspiration from wrought-iron works and door locks. Her portfolio also includes several large canvases based on landscape imagery sketched during her annual visits to Hunting Island, South Carolina.

Tinam has a wonderful web site at http://www.tinamvalk.com that is well worth a visit.