Get To Know – Andrew Bird

As an artist myself I often experiment with combining “tube colors” (straight from the tube, unmixed) with colors that I mix myself.  In general the more I mix colors together, the less intense they become.  This leads to some interesting variety of value, can create depth, etc (well, when done by a skilled painter it can work that way…  when I do it, I meet with mixed results).

Andrew Bird’s paintings are the kind of thing I’m aspiring to.  He has tremendous variety of color value, spacing, depth, perspective, and when I look at his work I can’t help but think of what colors of paint he started with.  Add to this the effects he gets by layering colors and then sometimes removing top layers to expose color underneath.  Great stuff.

Andrew Bird – http://www.ABirdArt.co.uk

More images here

Derbyshire, UK

*all images taken from abirdart.co.uk

Get To Know – Neil Canning

Scouring Twitter and Pinterest for art has led me to a whole host of UK artists who feature varying levels of abstraction and whose work often draws inspiration from coastal landscapes.  Many live and work in Cornwall, which led me to learn a bit about the St. Ives school of art – a group of artists exploring the abstract and then avant-garde over the past almost 100 years.  Neil Canning is another Cornwall artist carrying on this tradition.  I love the use of hyper-bright colors and bold non-figurative shapes that still conjure up images of the seaside.

        

Neil Canning – www.neilcanning.com

Lots of write-ups of this artist along with more commentary on the St. Ives school on his website.

Cornwall, UK

*all images from http://www.neilcanning.com

Get To Know – Kerry Harding

I find Kerry Harding’s work hard to describe (though easy to enjoy).  She frequently uses a blurring technique that forces us to see her subjects more as shapes and colors instead of “things”.  But there’s so much more than that…  There’s a mysterious quality to many of her pieces, and I often get the sense that I’m viewing the same subject at multiple points in time.  Her color palette reminds me of photographs that have been left out in the sun – or maybe Polaroids where the chemicals have leaked/run a bit – and this in turn gives me a sense of nostalgia.  Really interesting stuff and enjoyable to look at time and time again.

   

Kerry Harding – www.kerryharding.co.uk

You can see more of her work here and here and she’s on Twitter as well.

Cornwall, UK

* all images from http://www.kerryharding.co.uk

Get To Know – David Slonim

Love the bold colors and sharp angles of his work – nothing timid here!  The sense of depth that the panels of slightly different colors create is really cool.

David Slonim – DavidMichaelSlonim.com

His twitter feed is a good one – almost entirely his own art.

Also check out this write-up on artfoodhome.com

Indiana

• all images from DavidMichaelSlonim.com

Get To Know – Pauline Hughes

 

Pauline Hughes – PaulineHughesCeramics.com

And check out her Twitter feed – one of my absolute favorites – where she shares her creative process as well as her Pinterest page for tons more images and inspiration.

Liverpool, UK

*all images from paulinehughesceramics.com

Get To Know – Ricky Swallow

           

Another of his works – “Killing Time” – can be seen here.

An interview with the Australian-born Swallow can be read here, where he also mentions his line of luggage/backpacks Altadena Works (artists creating home goods – a man after my own heart!).

Ricky Swallow – www.rickyswallow.com

Los Angeles, CA

Get To Know – Mark Wilson

I love these works from UK painter Mark Wilson.  The colors are so fantastic and bold yet I get a gritty sense of realism from many of his works.  Tons of affordable originals starting at about 150 GBP.
     

Mark Wilson – www.MarkHWilson.co.uk

Artist interview here, and check out his twitter feed (@markhwilson15) for a cool look at his works in progress.

Sheffield, UK