Two prostitutes: a touch of Toulouse-Lautrec

This piece, "Two Prostitutes", by Hong Kong's artist cellar-fcp, reminded me of Toulouse-Lautrec the second I saw it.
Cella-fcp, Deviant Art's codename, favourite style of art: Manet, Monet, klimt, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Schiele, Hiroaki Samura, Nihei Tsutomu, Yukito Kishir.
I could write about it analysing in detail characteristics of the painting, similarities and differences of this and that, and, many other aspects.
Lately, I rather "watch and feel" so this is the most important comment left at cellar-fcp page:
"I dunno why I like this."

Irony explained with a drawing

Van Gogh's realistic studies of hands

These are studies Van Gogh did in 1885.
For those who think that impressionists cannot draw here is the answer.
They did it not as an end in itself but as an exercise to achieve what they wanted to paint. There are other studies and I'll publish them this week.

Great critters by Princefala at DeviantArt

You have to visit Princefala's gallery at Deviart! As there are numerous great pieces it is
hard to choose so I did it by theme: smoking.
This is how he described the right work:

"I don't care what anyone says, Tabitha is ace. She's doing her thing and never saying sorry for it. She probably doesn't even smoke, but if you've got a cigarette, you know she's going to want it. Why? Because it's yours. And anything Kurt's got is at the top of her list, naturellement. Flippin' tarty klepto. Most people hate her. I think she's damn hilarious ^_^

I also love her and Kurt as a pairing that easily could have been but wasn't. He obviously had it bad for her. I wonder how Todd feels about that . . . :P

By the by, if you can not read it and are curious, Todd's paper says "girlie swot." And he doesn't mean Tabitha. ::sigh:: And here all poor Kurt wanted to do was get together for some studying. Ha.

Meh, not my usual lush colouring job, but I thought a slightly simpler approach worked better here. I might use this as a header if I ever get a website up and running."

photoshop, ballpoint pen

Not today...

by Gemma Correll

The fascinating art of Artmagenta

Due to the difficulty of choosing among so many great croquis I decided for the theme "girls dressed with hats" that is a category, a criteria like any other. Why not?

When I first did a tour at Artmagenta's blog I was enchanted by his croquis, sketches, caricatures, drawings and birds.

Ulf Andersson, is a Sweden illustrator who not only has the gift of mastering the techniques but created a style of his own in all the different works he does.
His croquis are not only exercises like for most artists and he creates amazing creatures that are unique and have their own lives. Each piece is a moment of their existence.

The witty captions he adds at each of his creations helps telling their story or help building the scene.

Take a look at his blog an make a tour around his universe.

Why do you draw nude models?

"Croquis is sketching or figure drawing from a live nude model. Also called life drawing. The purpose is exercise in how to draw the human body. Each pose lasts from 1 to 5 minutes. You are trying to get the correct proportions and balance of the human body. My total exercise will last for about 2-3 hours and most of the sketches are not worth saving/showing - but a small percent comes out as rather good drawings. These are some of those better drawings..."
Artmagenta

The artistic brotherhood universe

When I looked at this photography at Joe's blog I had the feeling that I have already been to this room and  sat on a chair where I could watch the drawing according to this perspective.

Everything is familiar to me and it seems that I know the artist who lives in this house that also has friends that I know.

The brushes waiting to be used, the frame of the drawing... I look around the room and, yes, I came here many times and we talked for hours.

Joe lives in Hungary and even thou I'm in Brazil it doesn't matter. We have already been talking many times because those who are passionate by art are part of a group that doesn't know borders.
From the corner of a room we can see the universe.

Akirakirai's emotions and universe

I have published some works "exposed" at DeviantArt and this time I was browsing and found Akirakirai's profile. 

Having others sources to find those who are creative but are not on the market is one of the benefits of internet that also grant us with the possibility of finding a piece of a master that is not on books, the only source we had.

I did chose these two works by Akirakirai, whose mangas have a style of her own created in a universe quite unique, but only browsing her profile we can fully capture her art.
Left: A Fallen Angel
Right: Creation 

Art: by  akirakirai

©2011-2012 =akirakirai

"The Baby Songbook" by Tom Seidmann Freud

Thought about Sigmund Freud, yes, it is his niece. The name is Martha but changed to Tom due to some of her views and beliefs.

The illustrations above are from the child's book "The Baby Songbook" that has many beautiful images.

At her site there are information about her and copies of her great illustrations:

"As an adult, she was noted for her eccentricities as well as her artistic talent, in particular, her decisions to adopt a man's first name and to wear men's clothing. A long history of emotional instability preceded a major breakdown after the failure of her husband's publishing venture and his suicide in 1929; she took her own life the following year. Seidmann-Freud has been characterized as a member of the Jugendstil (German Art Nouveau) movement. Her artwork often featured people and objects simply but precisely rendered in ink, their outlines carefully filled in with watercolors using the pochoir (stencil and layering) technique.

It is sad that she took her life but the silence, the taboo that surrounds the topic suicide must be broken because it is part of human condition and every ten minutes someone commits suicide.

But today is Christmas... exactly. Christmas is not a happy occasion for many and suicide is high during this period of the year.

I'll be doing some posts about suicide in 2012. Don't worry. Death is part of life and before dying people do a lot of amazing things just like Martha, or, Tom Freud did.

Another woman that dressed like man is George Sand, the French novelist, born Aurore that changed to George when she became a writer. She had a relatioship with the composer Chopin and was friend of Frederic Liszt, Delacroix and other artists.

Merry Christmas, and if you are not happy I can assure you that the club has many members.

Erin McGuire's adventures in blue

Last May I did a post about Erin Mcguire's work at the moment I found her blog and was spelled by her art. I went back and was enchanted again and as it's always hard to chose two in a good collection I decided for these because I love blue. At least there is a criterion not very orthodox but a criterion. But notice that the "action" is not in blue. The cat and the boy with a book in his hand as a shadow and the light that comes from inside is amazing.

Vicki Shuck's world in motion

I did a post with a painting by Vicki Shuck and today I went back to her blog. I didn't noticed before all the movements she gives to her creatures. Everybody seems to have something to do after what is being depicted but it doesn't take the pleasure of that moment.

It was difficult to choose and did choose the "Walk" because I love graphite drawings and "Beaudreau" because he is: "a little dog that occasionally visits the local dog park. He is such a kick--just runs and runs, getting the other dogs to chase him. His favorite thing, though, is chasing balls--he lives for it!" as Vick describes him.

Vick's blog is a good place to go on a Sunday. I hope you like these two.

Dad, why they kill people to solve quibblings?

I went to Ken Foster blog and found this post from the time he was in London.

He was sketching sat at this bench but didn't noticed what it was - sometimes artists are so concentrated in forms, colors and lines that there is no room to pay attention to anything else. He found the sketch today and discovered

"It is a memorial dedicated to the 202 people killed in Kuta, Bali in 2002, 28 of whom were Britons. There are 202 peace doves carved into this 5' round marble globe representing every person that died in that bombing."

At this post he starts making all of those questions sometimes we do to ourselves about killing people to solve conflicts. It's like going back to adolescence again and experiencing that strange feeling of total incomprehension and perplexity in face of some events. Just remembering that soldiers are sent to other countries to kill; terrorists action are the sole way to fight; bombing an entire city... I feel so ashamed of humankind and just like a five years old girl nothing makes sense for me. I feel like asking an adult: "what is it all about?" It last some minutes or hours depending on the day. Now I'm not in this state of mind but thinking with my reason: "Why on earth we still kill civilians to solve quibblings?" We still kill people because of land, to set boarders. This is shameful to say the least.

The technological advance we've been experiencing makes us believe that we are evolving but taking a good look at the world, all the wars, conflicts, lost of civil liberties, lost of human rights already conquered and all that is causing pain to human beings assure that we lost track of the way of a world where justice prevails.

Another evidence to the fact that things are changing another way is the lack of incentive for the study and research in humanities.

Can you imagine ancient Greek without philosophy?

Photography: Some rights reserved by Feggy Art. Flickr

Children's illustration mesmerization

It's been a long time I'm following Phillip's blog Children's/ Fantasy Illustration and browse it's page enchanted by the numerous illustrations he collects each artist with a very different style.

Today this grandma by Linda Benton mesmerized me.

Click the image to see it clearly, especially the left one.

DeviantArt site: a great site to visit on a Sunday

I just found out Deviantart and I'm amazed with all they have to offer there. I collected these and much more.

Take a look at their site and have a great Sunday!

................

Sketching life of Ken Foster 2: The Half-a-House

I have published two sketches by Ken Foster here. This is a project he is working and he tells the story of the house:

"The Half-a-House

This is an interesting little project I am working on in Rockport, Maine. This house use to be a full cape but about 30 years ago (so the story goes) two brothers inherited the house and decided to split it - literally. One brother took his half of the house across town and the other one lived here. It's less than 1000 SF and either needs to be torn down or completely renovated." (keep reading here)

"This sketch was done in about 2 hours and I hit the undo button a lot! Once I was happy with it, I brought it into Artrage for some final tweaks. I wish the renovation was going to be that easy!" Ken Foster

I like the sketch, the story and keep thinking about the brother caring half of the house across town.

Woman sleeping by Picasso and Rembrandt

Picasso's drawing was done in 1952 and Rembrandt in 1654. Three centuries apart and using different representational methods in the essence they suggest the same feeling.

Pencil vs Camera by Ben Heine

I found Ben Heine blog and I'm amazed. This is a series of combinations with a photography and a drawing. You can see others of these great series here. A must-see.

© 2010 - Ben Heine

Drawings: the realistic appeal

Right: german shepherd by

Left: eye by Episac

Whenever we see drawings that are closest to realist we admire it and have the feeling that the artist is very good because we know what he/she wanted to express: the object or being we know.

It is one of many functions of drawings: the more similar the best.

(as always, click the image to enlarge)

Suzanne Valadon model and artist helps seeing the difference among impressionists

Suzanne Valadon started modeling for impressionists at a very young age following her mother's steps but she did fight not to be stigmatized and treated like a whore like her mother. She became herself a painter and her son Maurice Utrillo is a known artist. She modeled for Degas, Renoir, Puvis de Chavannes, Toulouse-Lautrec and others. I didn't know it was her at this work by Toulouse Lautrec, The hangover, 1888 and another Lautrec's work I like, The Laundress, and published here. By looking at the way the impressionists portrayed her what is striking is that it is possible to see the different approach of impressionists. Too much is said about what impressionists have in common and few about every artist uniqueness. I will just publish the Lautrec today because I really like this work and leave the others for another post.

Dante Gabriel Rosseti illustrations of poetry

Rossetti illustrated poems and this is the frontispiece of her sister's book "Goblin Market and Other Poems" published in 1862. He also did projects for stained glasses but as soon as you look at one of his works as an illustrator, painter or in his drawings for the stained glasses the firts thing that comes to your mind is "Oh! A Rossetti." He was also a poet.