More Art

Here are more artists whose work I find interesting.

Patrica Nix.  I found her work included, along with several other artists, in a wonderful Annual Report publication for the company Capgemini.  I was so impressed with the idea of putting art in a business publication and I'm sure they would be pleased to know that their 2004 report is still giving such pleasure.  Wouldn't it be great if more companies did this.
http://patricianix.com/originals/originals_gallery.html

Hughie O'Donoghue.  I was fortunate to see a most amazing exhibition of his work at the War Museum North in the UK.  The exhibition called "Painting Caserta Red" based on his father's experiences during the was, was fantastic and the scale of some of the work was amazing.  He did a special piece for the space and it must have been about 40 feet high. I have been trying to find a photo of it on the web but can only find a small picture of one that is similar.  Go to the last image on this link. The link images don't do justice to his work and unfortunately there aren't many images of his work on the web.
http://www.culture24.org.uk/places+to+go/north+west/manchester/art17397
Here is a link to another of his works.
http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/news/history-memory-and-myth-in-leeds/

Kimo Minton.  I found his work at Tew Gallery when I was living in Atlanta.  He works on large wood panels.  They are absolutely gorgeous.  One of my friends who was visiting actually bought one and had it shipped back to New Zealand where she lives.  She is in good company as I believe Elton John has one too.
http://www.timothytew.com/mag-15-kimo-minton

Sean Scully. I saw an exhibition of his large abstracts when I was living in the UK but I also saw one in the High Museum in Atlanta.  The size, texture and colour in the work I found very appealing.
http://s3.artknowledgenews.com/files2009a/Scully_at_Atelier.jpg

http://www.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=sean+scully+paintings&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=thBlTNbXOoP7lweUz_WSDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQsAQwAA&biw=1359&bih=692

 What do you think of these?

Art I Like

As I look back on artists links that I have saved on my computer in the past what I notice is that I have a strong preference for paintings of the figure and things with a mysterious or spiritual quality. The artist Lawren Harris from the Canadian "Group of Seven" is one of these and I have posted a picture of his to start things off.

I have also added links to other art that I find interesting. These are fairly conservative but somewhere to start.

Although the work by Lani Irwin, is highly realistic it is made interesting by the unusual subject matter.  There is a gallery in London that carrys a lot of work like this and I loved visiting it when I was living in the UK.  Unfortunately I just can't remember the name of the gallery at the moment.

http://www.feltusfeltus.com/LaniIrwin/html/gall.html

Although I really like more abstract work I also like Bruce Holwerda's figure drawing which I find amazing, skillful and creative.  It's all the small details going on in the hair etc and the tension he gets in his figures.

http://www.bruceholwerda.com/

What I like about Nicholas Simmons work is the way he builds interest into a fairly realistic image by overlaying patterns and shapes. You need to pan down the page to see all his work.   I also like his colours.  Notice 'colour' spelt the British Canadian way.  I always seem to stop and think...who am I writing this for and which way should I spell things today.

http://www.nicholassimmons.com/

The next two are taken from my old list and they are not favourites but both have something more abstract and contemporary that I quite like.  Once again figures feature.

http://natalierichy.com/portfolio/p-06.html

http://www.sopafinearts.com/artists/Gustlin_Jylian/gustlin_gg.htm

For an entirely different type of art I love Andy Goldsworthy site specific work. He has a lovely DVD called Rivers and Tides which is great to watch. Here are some of his images. http://www.ecosalon.com/andy-goldsworthys-amazing-works-of-art/

Two works by Will Maclean an  interesting Scottish artist whose work is very mysterious. These are just his sketches for paintings but I like the way they are drawn.

So far I haven't added any landscape artists...is that telling me something?  I also haven't added any really abstract work even though it's what I really like. That will be in the next post.

I hope you have found some of the work interesting.  Please send me your comments and share links to any artist that you love. 

It's Summer and I can't Focus!

Do you find that it's almost impossible to focus on your work during the summer?  That's what I am finding at the moment.  Getting into the studio is so hard when the garden and lovely weather beckons me outside.  I hate to wish for the cooler days but it does make it easier to stay inside and work.

I have been thinking about my work and where it is going, or not going. I have decided to go through a process to enable my work to continue to grow and develop. The first step I have set myself is to look at a lot of art, find work I really like and then ask myself what it is and why it resonates so strongly with me.  This is a clarification process to enable me to discover what is interesting and has personal meaning for me now and what I want to incorporate into my artwork going forward.

I really believe that each person can create a very distinctive style of art that comes from their life experiences and even right down to how their muscles hold and use painting or drawing tools. Several years back I taught classes on using art for personal development. I found that when people were asked to paint in a very non representational manner, just putting paint on as they felt like it, you could immediately see that each person did it distinctive way.  Within several weeks everyone in the class could usually pick out whose work was which.  Why is it then that so much art looks so similar?  Perhaps we need to really work at enhancing what it is that is different about ourselves and let it shine through.

In the next post I will include photos of some of the work I like and why, and what I have discovered in the first step of my process. I would love to hear your thoughts.  If you would like to take part in the process  too and then post what you discover, that would be great.