A place for inspirations
I was lucky enough to see the Abstract Expressionism Exhibition that was on at The Royal Academy of Arts last year where I got to see master paintings by some of my favourite artists from The New York school such as Franz Kline and Mark Rothko. It was incredible seeing a collection of Franz Kline’s work in person and then being able to see a wall of Clyfford Still paintings in the next room – the exhibition was immense having such a huge amount of significant work all in one gallery.
Future posts here we go! I am usually not this organised when it comes to blog posts but I’ll try for a month and see how it goes. I have a huge stack of artists that I want to ‘collect’ and share with you on my blog, hopefully to inspire and give you something interesting to look at that you haven’t seen before. Below are some snippet images to give you an idea about the artists I will post about next so stay tuned.
If this is the first time you have come across my little blog I like to talk about all sorts of artists and not just sticking to one discipline or style.
With over 10 years experience in the art and design industry, Parisian illustrator Babeth Lafon has made a name for herself in fashion, beauty and life style magazines. Her work has appeared in Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, Glamour and Marie Claire. Her clients include L’Oreal, L’Occitane, Bare Escentuals, Stella Artois and ELLE.
Aside from her ‘hip’ name, Babeth’s drawings are commercial and complimentary to the label’s look she works with. I can see why her pastel colour palette and light washes work well for beauty in particular, they are fresh illustrations that are easy on the eyes . What I mean by this is as the ‘magazine consumer’ we tend to glance very quickly and turn to the next page, as with anything we need to be pulled in! Babeth’s illustrations do just that, making the products or content far more interesting. Check out her work below (I really like her perfume bottle illustrations).
Odilon Redon is one of the lesser known french artists who contributed to the nascent years of modernism. Part of the 19th century avant-garde circle – although he never considered himself as part of this modernist group, Redon is an artist with diverse sources of inspiration. From Poetry, to music and the natural world to fantasy, Redon’s work is beautiful and strange, bordering on the bizarre. Monsters inspired by folklore creep into enchanting scenes with angelic figures, showing the discontinuity between light and dark.
Redon’s dark charcoal drawings and lithographs evolved into vibrant pastel and oil paintings in the early 20th century. You may have already noticed from his golden colour hues and flat uses of colour, Redon was an admirer of Gustave Klimt and was also influenced by Japanese print.
I went to see the Turning Earth ceramic art sale for the first time last weekend. Turning Earth studio located in Hoxton, London opens it’s doors to the public every quarter. The sale is an opportunity for professional artists and amateurs who use the studio to sell their own work. The ceramic art sale is based in the Turning Earth studio so you get a real feel about the environment these artists work in. There was a good turn out of artists and visitors, with a live Jazz band and food stalls that made for a great atmosphere on the day.
The ceramics on sale were completely up my street, free form and organic. There were a couple of artists who’s work I adored, Andrea Roman, check out her website for more of her stuff. I bought one of her marble clay pieces (see below). Ben Sutton, who works in hand-thrown porcelain, producing aesthetic pieces inspired by Scandinavian and Japanese simplicity. If you are lover of small art fairs then I would highly recommend paying a visit to Turning Earth’s.
Had a lot of fun doing this piece. I wanted to change the header on my blog for a while and came up with the idea of doing a simple stationary illustration since I love stationary! Perfect for this little art blog.
Starting out with spontaneous mark and colour forms, with little expectation of the end result, her paintings reveal themselves through the process of painting; Betsy Walton creates as she paints. Walton’s work is as expressionistic as it is surreal, from the titles she gives each piece to the half drawn figures and cut out geometric pieces of gold leaf overlapping washes of paint. Her work attempts to reach the sublime, delving into the relationship between objects and people and the sense of mystery behind our everyday encounters. Needless to say her colour palettes are beautifully dream-like, evoking feelings of transcendence to the viewer.
‘We can experience the sublime in the same room where we fold the laundry, and perhaps at the same time.’ – Betsy Walton.
