Gordon Hopkins I

Booom! 
Needed some colour today and what better colour to share than Gordon Hopkins.  
“ In my work as an artist it is very important for me to explore the use of bold colours with many layers, repetition and larger then life format. I like to accentuate or exaggerate a sometimes ordinary object or image. The composition often breaks down into an imaginary world of outlines and colourful backgrounds creating depth and movement.” Gordon Hopkins
Thank you

Linda Stojak

Linda Stojak manages to present so much emotion and intensity in her paintings, her figures are reduced down, almost to just the outline, a gesture that encloses and describes the figure and human condition perfectly.

Umerato Azechi I

Umerato Azechi 畦地 梅太 郎 (1902- 1999) was a Japanese artist who specialised in woodblock printmaking. Umerato's subjects were often mountain people and birds, Umerato mirrored the similarities between the two, the loneliness and also the pattern of beards and feathers. 
His primitive style and subject matter reminds me of Inuit work.

Spencer Herr I

Spencer Herr is an American self taught artist who's work has a haunting and threatened innocence. Spencer's figures are often based on his wife and daughters are depicted as wild animals highly detailed faces masked with deer antlers, ears or bodies, they look hunted.

'Herr’s wife, Kara, was the focus of virtually all of Herr’s earlier work, most often in the form of maternal animals. Their two young daughters are the paramount influences in his current work. Rather than capturing his girls with staid portraiture, Herr focuses on their fantastical essence, their innocence, not stamping them in a particular time and place.' Kelly Gold

Corinna Wagner II

I think Corinna Wagner's work is going from strength to strength, she is a self taught artist who is based in Frankfurt. I featured Corinna's work here last summer but she has been very busy and prolific since then.

Johanna Harmon

"Faces fascinate me.  I am especially drawn to the qualities that make an individual unique--the kind of beauty that you cannot invent." Johanna Harmon
What I think makes these paintings of Johanna's magical is her portrayal of textiles, lovely gauzy layers, satin sheens and beautiful colours. They are almost classical in that rendering of glamorous fabrics and yet they are  also so modern.

Hope Gangloff

Hope Gangloff  produces very contemporary portraits and compositions with figures particularly in her portrayal of men. 
Hope mainly uses her friends as models I love the clash and bang of her fabrics and patterns, that cacophony of pattern that surrounds her pale models.

Stephane Dauthuille III

I also admire Stephane Dauthuille's simplification of the figure and the quality of the line.

Stephane Dauthuille II

I love the colours textures and patterns of Stephane Dauthuille's work but also his headless compositions. 
I have produced figure paintings in the past that lacked their heads and I find them less challenging as a viewer than the affront of a painted face who often looks at you as though you shouldn't be looking.

Jamies Wang

Incredible line and watercolour studies of figures, capturing movement and the passage of time by Jamies Wang.

Daniel Krakauer

Heavenly wire creations and kinetics from artist, printmaker and illustrator Daniel Krakauer.

Freya

 . . . and when I am painting Freya is always at my side.

Twit Twoooooo and other such words of owly wisdom

I have a commission to paint an owl, so this weekend I have been having fun painting owls. I wanted to play with the sounds that they make and also play with my new ink, masking fluid and pens.

 It has been a very long time since I used masking fluid, it is fun, but it smells really bad.

Laura Gee

Laura Gee's wonderful naive style 'New friends' poster and details. Laura is a London based illustrator with a cheeky primitive style.

Rikka Laakso

Berlin based illustrator Rikka Laakso's big cats.

Nancy Picard

It is Nancy Pickard's stripes that I love the most, that zebra is fantastic! Nancy Pickard is an artist who is based in Cornwall she has a bold almost graphic style which is combined with a use of thick impasto paint. Nancy also works in ceramics and jewellery.

Valentines Day

Valentines day flowers and spring is on its way.

Ariya Sitthibud

Happy Valentines Day.
Today I am sharing the ceramics of Ariya Sittibud  who makes these wonderful vessels in the shape of people with articulated arms and with crochet hair or clothes. You can also find Ariya here.