Artwork by Steve Smith

UK based artist.

Incredible use of light in his acrylic paintings, & I love how fresh, bold & colourful each of his paintings are - they are full of sunlight (unlike this country).

More images can be found on his website but there is little info on this artist, I only discovered him on MySpace when I had an account for my art years ago.

Natasha Lee

Perfect!

Enjoyed two cups of these this morning - I didn't get much of a lie-in as I'd hoped to get today, I'm going to be working right up to Christmas Day and then back again for Boxing Day so I really wanted today to be a lazy-day :-) and I hope to soon get some drawing done.

The mug is by portraitist/illustrator Natasha Law (Jude Law's brother!), titled 'Strip' (I think). One of my best friend's bought me this as an (early!) Christmas present as I loved the look of it straight away. And as really sad as I sound, I'm quite pleased with its shape aswell hahaha, plus it's Fine Bone China ;-)

Some of Tasha Law's works:

Whilst browsing her works, I found some strong resemblances to those of Egon Schiele's... I wonder if he was an inspiration & influence of hers?

 Egon Schiele's 'Stehende Frau in Rot'

are so very similiar to Tasha Law's illustrations below...

And same again with these two below:-

John Paul Thurlow - COVERS

Can't get enough of John Paul Thurlow's blog at the moment, full of his artwork and illustrations for his 'COVERS' exhibition - recreating 100 drawings reinterpreting classic and obscure magazine covers, from ELLE to DAZED.

 

 

 

 image credit: johnpaulthurlow.blogspot.com + vectroave.com

As someone who is passionate about portraiture and has always seen it as the main focus of my own artwork - I am truly inspired by his sketches, and relieved to see it's not all about work generated from a Mac these days! (Though don't get me wrong...I hope to experiment further with the likes of Photoshop & InDesign in the future!) Ever since I can remember, I've spent my money on fashion magazines for their covers and photography - the stacks are beginning to take over my room! Favourites include: NYLON, ELLE, & I.D

 An interview with John Paul Thurlow can be found - here -

LUCYANDBART

:: Exploded View Part Two ::

LucyandBart is a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess described as an instinctual stalking of fashion, architecture, performance and the body. They share a fascination with genetic manipulation and beauty expression. Unconsciously their work touches upon these themes, however it is not their intention to communicate this. They work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.

 

Eric White

Stumbled upon this guy's paintings and I love how confused/taken aback they make me feel

 

Image source: ewhite.com

"Mr.White’s work tries to interpret realities and dimensions that are far beyond our perceptions. His paintings unconsciously express a metaphysical angle that Mr. White personally is very interested in. Mr. White’s work constantly mirrors different focuses and exposures of photographs, which produces complicated environments and impeccable craftsmanship."

The Shock Factor?

I've always been fascinated by - and I can't really find the right word for them - 'grim' paintings, that intrigue, shock and question the viewer.

My favourites stem from the likes of Egon Schiele, -

Arnulf Rainer, -

Francis Bacon (a few of his works are currently on view at the Tate)-

and the Chapman Brothers -

When I visited the Tate Modern on Saturday I came across 'Prunier' by Max Beckman.

"The painting depicts the famous Parisian restaurant Prunier. Beckmann had frequented the restaurant in the early 1930s, but at the time of this work he was living in exile in German-occupied Amsterdam. Wartime conditions were spartan. This may account for Beckmann calling the picture ’Gobblers’ in his diary, and for the brutality with which his figures devour luxurious seafood. Beckmann suffered from heart trouble shortly after beginning the painting so that the contrast between his daily, wartime realities and the sensual pleasure conjured up in the painting may suggest a meditation on mortality."

I personally am a fan of the way the picture looks so morbid just from the use of dark colours and thick brush strokes - it appears quite a sinister scene upon first viewing. Almost zombie-like with the colours of their flesh...I didn't assume they were just eating seafood at first, haha.

The month of change...

It's been a while since I posted anything - been mega busy and so much has changed over the last couple of months... 

The weekend just gone has been spent in London to see my boyfriend. My eldest sister is currently living in Camden so I travelled down on the train with her to Paddington the Friday evening where I'm sure we bored anyone around us with shallow girly nattering haha.

Saturday my boyfriend & I popped down to Oxford St, where I ventured into House of Fraser to get the obligatory Urban Decay 'Naked' eye-shadow palette.

 

I am more than pleased with this purchase...you can see which of the colours I've already dug into here haha. The palette also comes with a brown & black eyeliner (with really good intensity) and an eye-shadow primer. It is definitely worth the £27 as you really wouldn't need to carry around any other colours for a nude look or for building up to a smokey-eye.

Sunday was spent in Camden and by the end of the day we were completely knackered. I wish I'd taken my Canon with me as this weekend would have made for so many good pictures to remember it by. Loads of the punks there reminded me of a biro drawing I did a few years ago for an art proj -

All in all this weekend has been the best in a long while. :-)

Art of England issue

This beautiful image is by the photographer ' Zoobs'

'Girls Out' by Colin Vincent