Time to pay tribute, John Bellany II

Some examples of  John Bellany's colourful work.

Time to pay tribute, John Bellany I

John Bellany (June 18, 1942- August 28th 2013) John Bellany's work and crazy life inspired me from the start of my art training. I loved the self portraits from when he had major surgery and bizarrely ended up going to the same art college and living just a few towns along the coast from his birth place Port Seton. His work can be  difficult, gritty viewing but it also has a storytelling wonder, magic and colour.

"Every painting isn't a masterpiece you have to slog, slog, slog away and then you get one, one that makes everything worth while" John Bellany

Time to pay tribute, Seamus Heaney

Two people who I really admired have died this week and so it is time to pay tribute and mark the passing of great souls one is the Irish wordsmith, poet Seamus Heaney (13 April, 1939- 30th August 2013) .

Postscript

And some time make the time to drive out west
Into County Clare, along the Flaggy Shore,
In September or October, when the wind
And the light are working off each other
So that the ocean on one side is wild
With foam and glitter, and inland among stones
The surface of a slate-grey lake is lit
By the earthed lightening of flock of swans,
Their feathers roughed and ruffling, white on white,
Their fully-grown headstrong-looking heads
Tucked or cresting or busy underwater.
Useless to think you'll park or capture it
More thoroughly. You are neither here nor there,
A hurry through which known and strange things pass
As big soft buffetings come at the car sideways
And catch the heart off guard and blow it open

Seamus Heaney

吉川秀昭さん Hideaki Yoshikawa

Wonderful intricate pen work from Japanese artist  H Yoshikawa 

"eyes, eyes, nose, mouth" expressing his own identity on mainly paper but sometimes with clay Hideaki Yoshikawa produces these complex works in pen "I keep regular intervals, in the order of eye, eye, nose, and mouth, the point of countless symbols, on lined writing carefully and from top to bottom." 

Thank you

Minjung-Kim

Minjung-Kim's works naturally follow the delicate composition of Misato Suzuki. Korean artist Minjung-Kim says that when she works her mind empties. Her works are almost created like a visual meditation and the results can be intricate, delicate and light. 
Thank you

Misato Suzuki I

Wonderful confetti like paintings by Japanese artist Misato Suzuki soft colours and a poetry of shapes and composition.

Blanca Helga I

I cannot believe that Blanca Helga is not represented on this blog, so it is time to rectify this. 
I saw these works by Blanca on facebook a few weeks ago and instantly loved their light nature and the happy feeling they gave me. They were completed during a Marc Boutavant Workshop
Looking at them closely now, there are dragons, but though they cause damage, they do not look like their actions are done in malice. 
Because these drawings show forest fires and are full of space they remind me of Australia and Aboriginal story telling art and the title 'nonsense travel's' fits into the concept of going walk about quite well.

Jason Sho Green II

Two colour pen sketches by Jason Sho Green.

Jason Sho Green

I am really drawn to good drawing and realism at the moment.  Jason Sho Green's sketchbooks are such a pleasure to look through, with their wonderful lines capturing expression, perspective and everyday views of people in their environments.
 Jason graduated from The New York Academy of Art in 2011 after years of  practising as an artist, following studying electrical engineering and then deciding against this as a career choice. 

Summer time II . . .

I love the iridescence of this hover flies wings as it grabs the anthers of a Japanese Anemone. 

Summer time I . . .

Summer time is ebbing into autumn and the bees and hover flies are all in a rush, they don't really notice me as they busy themselves around the buddleia and the rocket flowers.
Though they don't notice me, I seem to have spent my whole weekend watching and photographing them and a joy it has been.

Tetsuhiro Wakabayashi IV

Sunday mornings, soon to be my only none working morning of the week, a precious time for tea, coffee and breakfast while enjoying the wonderful work of Tetsuhiro Wakabayashi.
The collaged breakfast (top image)  is so rich with texture and imagery even the coffee seems to be talking to you, a feast for the eyes.

Patricia March

Patricia March's works are concerned with movement and time. He exquisite drawings capture fleeting seconds of expression and minute action. 

"I have always had a huge interest in cinema and photography, I believe this interest comes from the little moments on the big screen, together with my interest in the perception of ‘time.’ That is what has motivated me to investigate the sequence and progression of time through paper. I think sometimes, only by observing flashes of time from a distance can you see the real person. Their expressions or gestures, their way of walking, their look, or simply by seeing them stand quietly, are the often the real insights into somebody’s life. I grab flashes of people’s lives, then invest my time into turning this flash of time into the representation of a life." Patricia March

Artum Tolstukhin

Artum Tolstukhin is my third Ukrainian artist this week, again he works with a thick impasto and in an almost impressionistic style. He only graduated from the Kharkov State Academy of Art and Design in 2011 and yet his work has a quality that makes it look as though he has been painting for a lifetime.

Bea van Twillert

In case you hadn't noticed I am definitely in a painting mood at the moment and tonight I found the delicate work of Dutch painter Bea van Twillert . These works reminded me of this time of year, when it is the end of summer and you want to prolong the day and the summer by bringing the flowers in as company, colour, light and fragrance. 
Bea has been living and working in the famous Ameland since 2000 her work has that cool palette and space of northern European artists.

Denis Sarazhin

 Denis Sarazhin also attended the Kharkov Art and Design Academy, graduating in 2008. His paintings are stunningly beautiful, with lovely texture and pattern detailing and great use of impasto. Denis also has a photography portfolio and his long exposure work is very enigmatic.

Viktoria Kalaichi

With elements that remind me of Gustave Klimt and Friendensreich Hunderwasser, Viktoria Kalaichi is a young artist who trained under Victor Chaus at the Khakov State Academy of Arts. Her work has a great mixture of textured and flat areas of paint and is very stylised and stunningly beautiful.

Aldo Bahamonde

Aldo Bahamonde  is a Chilean artist living in Spain who draws and paints meticulous still lives and portraits. I do love these domestic areal views.

Bee days are over . . .

Finished drawing. A2 each bee is about 6cm long.

Days are all a buzz II

I have found a large dead bumble bee and have spent the weekend drawing lots of detailed studies of it, such a beautiful thing. This summer I did spend sometime coaxing worn out bees to drink honey and it does have miraculous effects great to take a staggering unresponsive insect and soon see it buzzing of through the air.

The days are all a buzz I

It is very changeable weather here but when the sunshine appears everything is abuzz and yesterday I really enjoyed watching all of the busy insects on my neighbours clematis.

Freda Derrick (1892-1969)

I bought this book in Edinburgh on Thursday at one of my favourite charity book shops. It is a 1921 Children's book called The Ark by Freda Derrick (1892-1969) who trained at Cheltenham School of Art in illustration. 

It is really interesting to see such detailed animal illustrations and the style of this very old children's book with it's limited palette and spacious complex drawings.