Ree Brown

Ree Brown worked for a petroleum company in California, until the late 1960's when he retired. However in the mid 1970's he began a new career as Ree began to draw, and then paint, pictures of "no one in particular", scenes containing birds, cats, and people. Ree paints his delicate paintings onto scraps of paper, cardboard, brown paper bags, and just about anything.

Spring has sprung

 Some images from today spring has sprung here, I hope it stays for a while.

Kasia Jackowska

Kasia Jackowska is an architect and illustrator living in Switzerland. Kasia likes to work on a small scale A6 or A4, and many of her works start as a sketch book drawings.

Karlee Rawkins

Karlee Rawkins has a new exhibition 'The Wild Fox Garden' open at Flinderslane Gallery until April 14th. I love the subtle patterns built into the feathers of these birds plumage.

Birthday

A working and school Birthday day, I always wish you could have Birthdays free of all the usual commitments. Freya was born on an Easter Monday and until her birth I had never registered how much Easter moves around the calender. Anyway we had a good day, it was beautiful weather here and all the blossoms are out, it was lovely. Here are some wonderful egg cups that I got for Freya from Deb's shop, I think they will be used more for animation than egg cups in our house.

Marta Madureira

Marta Madureira's girl with bird nest hair.

Darja Charapova

A magical surprise delivery arrived today from the wonderful Darja Charapova.
I had a poem I thought might suit Darja's style, as her work often involves strong looking women, trees and a yellow palette.

The Last of the Fairies

Elderly, she dresses in foliage of the brightest yellow.
It doesn't look quite right
on her broken, wrinkled bows.
But tis the colour that makes you notice
her at all, and love her.
For she is old and dying, out in that field,
that without manners has been ploughed right over the toes of her roots.

Time has changed, and now she is in the way,
standing alone as she does,
in the middle of that field.
Soon they will come,with chainsaws to chop
and diggers to grub out
the last of her remains. Dictates of order and symmetry
driven by man and machine
finally will
remove the magic of the countryside.

But for now she dresses in yellow.

The tree was an old oak fairy tree in the middle of a field, near our old house where Freya was born. It still stands and has startlingly yellow foliage at this time of year.
Thank you so so much Darja I love your illustration and the special magical story that you have written to explain the transit of this beautiful art . . . I will treasure it.

Marise Maas III

Sunny spring compositions from Marise Maas.

Paint the walls . . .

Freya is seven on Wednesday so we spent Sunday painting the walls, remember last year?

Raul Nieto Guridi

I seem to fall in love every weekend! This is the work of Spanish illustrator Raul Nieto Guridi his blog is a treasure trove of illustration, collage and wonderful imaginings.

Marise Mass II

"Sometimes the horse features heavily in my work. I have a love for horses, this originated in childhood. A horse was also the first thing I ever drew. In several past exhibitions I’ve used horses to depict situations. I just make them stand in for people. They can be mixed into domestic scenes, overheard conversations or small anecdotes." Marise Mass

Marise Maas I

Marise Maas is originally from Utrecht but has spent a lot of time living in Australia, her work has that Australian exuberance of colour and fluid gestural marks combined with a lovely observation of the humour and the quirks of mundane daily life.
"My paintings deal with the ordinary and the everyday. Like many other artists, I’ll paint whatever has come to my attention. But it’s exploring the remarkable mundane that fascinates me most. I like to make the ‘unimportant’ important, because if you look closely at the smaller detail, you find bigger stories." Marise Mass

Femke Agema

Femke Agema Boogieman made a this costume for new music festival in Amsterdam Westerpark. Commissioned by Bas Koopmans for Festina Lente Media. It has the spirit of the project that I am doing with my fashion students today. Femke Agema is a Dutch fashion designer who's work explodes out from fashion into art, sculpture, installation and performance, she has some incredible ideas and works.

Paula Mills

This is Paula Mills 'round', the perfect illustration for today as today is 'Whirling Dervish Friday' and I am exhausted from all the preparations but I think it is going to be a great day!

Agata Dudek IV

Now this was my original post of the day, I didn't realise it was going to be an Agata Dudek day but you never know what a day has waiting for you.

Agata Dudek III

Agata Dudek's Illustrated book of 'The Crows of Pearlblossom' by Aldous Huxley, sumptuously scarlet and wonderful.

Agata Dudek II

I have an image saved by the Polish illustrator Agata Dudek, that I have been waiting to post for a while, but as I sat here this morning to research this illustrator further, I found such a varied treasury of work that I am still not ready to post the image I have, until I have shown some of Agata's other works. Her repertoire goes from the sublimely sweet to dark and dangerous. Her technique from simple blob forms to intricate pen work and collage, there is so much to love . . . where to begin?

Arturs Akopjan III

'Red haired Girl' by Arturs Akopjan, I love the colours and composition.

Arturs Akopjan II

Arturs Akopjan is a Latvian painter who's works sometimes are characterised by the whimsy of an illustrator, and at other times are full of the poetry of abstraction with their amazing fluid lines, geometry and blending and collisions of colour.

Nameless Wonder

I have shown some of Karen Suzuki's work before. Her menagerie is a motley one, unkempt balding scabby beasts, city pigeons, scavenger foxes, rats and other poor creatures are rendered from recycled scraps of fabric and embroidery into genius creations that are so perfect in their depiction of animals surviving on the fringes of human habitation.

Kirsty Elson's peach

Life is strange you ask a question about James and the Giant peach one day, and then the next day the peach is there before you, and what a beauty it is, well done Kirsty.

Irena Dauksaite-Guobiene

''Children’s illustration is a wonderful journey towards oneself, each time experiencing incredible adventures and rediscovering oneself…'' Irena Dauksaite-Guobiene

Irena Dauksaite-Guobiene is an illustrator and printmaker from Lithuania her work has a delicacy whilst also being very strong and has beautiful abstract qualities great for illustration as it allows the viewers imagination to complete the story.