Dave Piurek is a modest 38-year-old who's been quietly advancing his career by painting at home each day after he's done working as a conservation technician at the Ringling Museum of Art. It's a good fit, since Piurek's work combines a contemporary artist's sensitivity with some of the methods and manners of the old masters, such as the art of gold and silver leaf he's incorporating into both his still-life paintings and a series of paintings about the Tower of Babel.

Piurek moved here with girlfriend Dana Luci in 1995 to attend the Ringling School (among his influential instructors there: Leslie Lerner, Robert Farber and Moe Mitchell), deciding that art school was for him after seeing Rene Magritte's work at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. He landed his job at the Ringling Museum the day he graduated.

Since Piurek grew up in Amsterdam, N.Y., a small town without an art scene, he says that in Sarasota, he's "lucky to have friends and creative people in my life, and to work at a great art museum and meet scholars." He loves working at home at night with Dana and their two cats close by, occasionally taking a break to strum one of the guitars he collects.

Piurek's work is not presently carried by galleries, but that may soon change, as he's been visited recently by some dealers in town. In the meantime, he's emerged in shows like last year's Pure/Impure event at Ovo Café, where he sold half a dozen paintings in the first hour.

At 25, painter Tim Jaeger has an easy charm and a casual elegance. He also has serious ambitions, not only for making art but for sharing it. "The most important thing is to paint, and to have people fall a little bit more in love with art is part of my goal," he says.

This native of Paducah, Ky., started making art when, as one of five small children, his mom gave him a pen and paper and said, "Draw something." Soon he was drawing at church while his father, a pastor, was preaching. Eventually he came to Ringling School, where he studied with Leslie Lerner.

Jaeger's bold, colorful paintings, which often include a figure, display his uncanny ability to react to the emotions of his subjects, capturing their real essence. And things are happening for him: He had two solo shows (selling most of the work) and three group shows last year, at Metamorphosis and ETC. This summer he'll have another solo show in Paducah, where he's represented by the Mark Palmer Gallery; he's now with mack b gallery here in Sarasota.

Recently married to Laura Baruch (they met pouring "coffee and smoking cigarettes" at Sarasota News & Books), Jaeger says his motto is, "What goes around comes around, and you only get out what you put into it." To live by this creed, Jaeger is painting as much as he can these days in his Gulf Gate studio.