The sight of scattered art easels, lemons on a table and the distinct smell of drying paint make Ashland-based painter Gabriel Lipper’s art studio an idyllic space for creativity and the exploration of color, form and texture.

Lipper creates a diverse range of paintings from portraits of the human form to still lifes and abstracts bursting with color at his studio — Enclave Studios — which is shared with four other artists off Siskiyou Boulevard.

The artist strides across an oriental rug in his signature flip flops, reaching into a massive glass jar of paint brushes before pondering the next brushstroke of his latest work.

A central focus for Lipper and his art is expressing himself without conforming his vision to others’ expectations.

“I’m not following any trend; that’s been huge for me and allowed me to explore whatever direction I want to take the work instead of trying to be recognized by a gallery for a specific style,” Lipper said. “I’ve had the freedom to indulge my creative calling.”

Lipper primarily works with oil and acrylic, and he typically works in series of 10 to 12 works to visualize his theme or idea.

Some of Lipper’s recent series include “Departure,” an exploration of the physicality of travel and new experiences; “American Dream,” a series on the craving of status, wealth and what comes after; and “Transfiguration,” bringing viewers into Lipper’s style of blending representational art with the abstract.

Born in Portland and living in the Rogue Valley as a kid, Lipper’s journey into expressing himself through art came early.

“I started right out the gate drawing … it was on leftover typing paper from my mom’s work and she’d bring back reams of used typing paper,” he said. “I spent a good portion of my childhood doing that.”

Growing up and eventually moving back to Portland as a teen, Lipper’s early influences included fine artists such as abstract painter Jackson Pollock.

As for his other inspirations? “‘Miami Vice,’ Mark Rothko and comic books,” he said.

Lipper’s pursuit of art took him across the world, learning from renowned painters such as Shozo Sato in Japan, Canada’s Harley Brown and others while traveling as far as Italy, Mexico and other countries to hone his skills.

“I ended up studying with a classically trained (Azerbaijani artist) named Semyon Bilmes for a couple years, and he had a very dogmatic, formal approach to painting, and that gave me the chops to do pretty refined realism,” Lipper said.

His process centers on a theme or a feeling, painting stories through each canvas rather than focusing on one particular work.

“I like to work in series, so I like to work on several pieces at a time and the inspiration for those is really hard to pin down,” he said. “It’s usually this vague feeling or idea, and a lot of times I respond to my surroundings.”

“My pieces tend to read really well in space; they can hold their own individually on your wall, but are also part of a bigger story,” he added.

Currently, Lipper is wrapping up his final summer workshops for 8Paint Infinite Arts, an online art school where he teaches budding artists from across the world.

As for his personal art, “I chose to move in a much more meditative direction this year … I’ve been really exploring how far I can push paint and design,” he said.

Whether he’s doodling on paper or shaping an art piece for his next series, painting scratches a particular itch for Lipper that no other art form or hobby has been able to do.

“There’s something that art does for us that we are unable to resolve in any other way, so what keeps me coming back to art is that it’s the thing that solves my problems,” he said. “It’s like this eternal puzzle that I have to keep coming back to … It’s mysterious to me still.”

Lipper and his four artist peers are set to participate in the upcoming Southern Oregon Open Studios event Oct. 19-20, which showcases Rogue Valley artists’ spaces and work to the public.

To learn more about Lipper and his art, visit artofgabriel.com.

For more information on 8Paint Infinite Arts and to learn from Lipper, visit 8paint.art.