love it

June 19, 2013 by Tara 2 Comments

Tiel Seivl-Keevers is an artist I’ve admired for a long time.

She lives in Brisbane in Australia and has a background in design, illustration and printmaking.

She uses delicious colour combinations I wouldn’t naturally gravitate towards {but wish I did}, and beautiful organic shapes in an abstract way.

She often uses bottle or pod shapes and white to encase and show off beautiful patterns and colour combinations.

Here’s what Tiel says about her work:

My recent works have explored themes based on nature, but more specifically the changes that occur within nature. Seasonal changes, structural changes. I try to encapsulate the patterns of change, movement, stillness, growth, and death. It’s a mapping process. My work is slightly graphical and illustrative due to my background in these fields. I incorporate many media and techniques in my work, including sewing and I use a variety of surfaces including, paper, wood and hand stretched canvases.

Her use of white makes the colours bloom and the details stand out; I absolutely love her style and use of shape and colour.

You can find her on Etsy, Pinterest, Flickr, Instagram and Facebook. Have a look at her website for links and to see much much more of her gorgeous work.

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: tiel seivl-keevers

May 28, 2013 by Tara 4 Comments

I’ve been privately gorging on Christine Peloquin’s work for some weeks now. My ongoing interest in the face and body as parts of a painting is reflected clearly in her beautiful work. Also the way she uses fabric and collage as the base of each painting mirrors my own love of this kind of mixed media.

This video is a fascinating look at her process and style. I was mesmerised and deeply inspired.

In her words {my emphasis}:

“My intention is to weave an autobiographical tapestry invoking and addressing universal issues such as philosophy, spirituality, sexuality, motherhood and self-awareness. Most of the titles come from appropriate words found in the collage. I believe that art and life is always about becoming more conscious, more aware, and more of yourself. For me, this includes life as an artist, a woman and a mother.”

I love the painting above, in particular since I learned its title: ‘Be What You Already Are’. Incredible capturing of the facial expressions too; the mask looks sad and wistful, but the real face looks serene, content and beautiful.

I was interested to note in the video that Christine talks about a recent move in her work away from the brighter, primary colours to a softer, lighter palette, something that I have noticed in my own work recently and heard others mention too.

Another element I love is the size of some of her paintings. She works from very small right up to enormous, and it’s the huge paintings, often segmented into squares, that really spark my inspiration.

Christine creates abstract paintings as well as figurative and portrait, which really allow the patterns and textures of the textiles and collage she uses to come through.

Christine has an Etsy shop and a Facebook page, and can also be found on Pinterest.

She has made what looks like a beautiful book of her paintings too.

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: christine peloquin

May 11, 2013 by Tara 1 Comment

Beverley Hawksley is a Canadian artist introduced to me by Pauline, who sent me the video below {which I have now watched about five times. Also I can’t centre it for some reason.}:

I’m not sure what I find so compelling about this little film; something about Beverley perhaps, the gentle and considered way she talks, her expressions, the sense that she is a deep thinking, soulful artist while still very grounded and straightforward. Some of the things she says make total sense to me beyond the words she uses.

I often find that hearing an artist speak about their work, or watching them in action, stirs the part of me that is the part of all of us, the creative spirit. It’s a recognition, that’s the best way I can describe it. {I feel I’m not quite using my words clearly today!}

Beverley talks about the dialogues she has with her paintings, the feeling of the work, and my favourite part of all, her observation that everything we create is a self portrait. Think about that for a minute! We are creating ourselves in every moment, with everything we do. It makes me think about the kind of self portrait I’m painting {each day and in general}, and I love these analogies that apply to art and life. I talk about that in my book; actually it’s one of the basic premises of it.

In her own words:

Stories are important to me… the ones we are immediately aware of and the ones that come through excavation.

Primarily a figurative painter, I like to work large scale and would describe my figures as being in a “state” rather than a “location”.

I think perhaps it’s this idea, the painting of a state of being, that I love. There’s a feeling in that that I would love to capture in my own work.

Beverley describes herself as a ‘maker of things’; she makes 3D art as well as paintings. The paintings are my favourite element of her work so I chose some of my favourites for this post; you can see a greater range of her work on her website.

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: beverley hawksley

April 24, 2013 by Tara 3 Comments

Francoise de Felice, I have learned from her website ~ despite my tenuous grasp on the French language ~ is half French, half Italian, and lives in Paris. Her impossibly romantic name and heritage are reflected in her ethereal paintings.

I don’t often feature portrait work in my Love It posts, but I recently signed up to Misty Mawn’s Face to Face class, wanting to learn how to incorporate faces into my work in a not too ‘in your face’ way, so to speak, and Francoise’s beautiful soft images really reflect that for me.

I love the way her paintings fade out at the edges, the soft colours and dreamy atmosphere, and the feel of days gone by.

To make such expressions with seemingly so few marks and colours is fascinating to me. I love the combination of detail and looseness, always something I am drawn to in paintings.

The soft palette also reflects my newly born desire for softness and lightness of touch in my own work. I am soaking up these beautiful paintings while I consider how I want to show such feelings in my own.

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: francoise de felice

April 15, 2013 by Tara Leave a Comment

Angela Petsis is a mixed media artist who works with encaustic and photography as well as acrylics, pencils, pastels and so on. As a mixed media artist myself of course I am drawn to her layered and eclectic pieces.

Her paintings are full of symbolism and imagery that reminds me sometimes of Mati Rose’s work. I am having a secret love affair with elephants lately, seeing them suddenly everywhere in other artists’ work, and Angela includes them often I’ve noticed.

Frequent references are made to the circus, and also to nature, growth, and industry, often with repeated images and shapes.

Her work in encaustics is softer and more neutral in tone; you can see a beautiful selection in her Etsy shop.

I didn’t find any information about her as an artist in terms of her inspiration and motivation, but I think much of her work speaks for itself.

I love the layers where suggestions of details and words show through, and the delicate soft colours and meaningful images.

Many of her paintings remind me of dreams; a collection of disparate images that sometimes seem to have no obvious connection and yet make perfect sense.

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Filed Under: artists, love it, mixed media art Tagged With: angela petsis, encaustic art, mixed media art

March 22, 2013 by Tara 3 Comments

Eli {short for Elizabeth} Halpin’s work is awesome. Bold, bright, often shiny and shimmery, and most commonly featuring some element of nature, usually animals or plants, although sometimes people and cupcakes too. A walrus with unexpectedly stripy tusks. A bunny burping {prettiest burp I’VE ever seen}. Cute pairs of animals and majestic solo beasts.

I don’t use the word awesome lightly. Well, sometimes I do, but not today. Eli’s work inspires me to break rules, particularly the kind that say a walrus’s tusks could never be stripy, or that the howls of wolves can’t look like love hearts.

In her own words:

My name is Eli, short for Elizabeth. I grew up in Alaska and now live in Austin Texas.

These paintings are about food, sharing, living together, working together and the cycle of life.

They are made on recycled wood doors with thick oil paint and sometimes acrylic, spray paint, metals, mica, glass, fabric, sand, gemstones, pearls, and found objects.

My favorite subjects to paint are paws, cheeks, whiskers, horns, tusks and claws.

Unsurprisingly, Eli’s work is widely available in galleries and stores, and she is clearly prolific. You can find her on her website, blog, and also various other places online, to which you will find links on her website.

If your day could do with an injection of colour and humour, I highly recommend a visit.

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: artists, eli halpin, love it

March 3, 2013 by Tara 2 Comments

Time for some print love. Fiona Watson is a Scotland based artist, whose background in Biology clearly informs her beautiful prints, both etchings and digital.

Fiona’s website is quite minimal on the word front {unlike some of us!}, so I will let her paintings do the talking. I do like how they came out ~ I thought I’d just saved the images but I got the whole page each time! Which means you get sizes and titles too. These images from her Blue Angels series are my favourites…

To see more of her work ~ she does a range of gorgeous portraits too ~ visit her website.

You will also find her on Flickr , Saatchi Online, and she has work in exhibitions all over the place. Not surprisingly; I find her work delicate and subtle while still being often bright, bold and vibrant.

Circles! Always a winner over here.

As is anything beach related, of course. I love this seashell print.

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: fiona watson

February 4, 2013 by Tara 3 Comments

I think I first found Wendy McWilliams‘ work on Pinterest, as is often the case. {Once in, it becomes almost impossible to stop scrolling. I know I am not alone in this. } Her work always catches my eye, with its bright colours and dynamic abstract compositions.

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I’m quite heavily into creating this kind of painting myself lately {with some added symbolism}, so it is particularly compelling to me.

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Wendy says:

Uninhibited and free is how I approach my canvas..always trying new styles and discovery of self, and different ways to apply paint and other mediums to make a beautiful piece of art. Every piece of art I create has my heart and a piece of my soul inside and radiating outward from the canvas, it is my fondest wish that you receive as much pleasure viewing my artwork as I did creating it.

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I haven’t found much {any} extra info or background on Wendy, so I’ll just let her paintings speak for themselves.

To see more, get thee to her website. Or to Pinterest.

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Edit: sorries, the images all seem to have got stretched! Apparently it’s either that or have them annoyingly tiny. Oh technology, why do you hate me so?

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: abstract art, love it, wendy mcwilliams

January 22, 2013 by Tara 5 Comments

When I first saw Jeanne Bessette‘s work I was SO EXCITED. Her work lights up something inside me. The vibrant colours and the figures, the shapes and just the feel of each painting give me so much pleasure.

Then I started following her on Facebook and realised I love her attitude and approach to art and life.

As she says on her website:

Painting for me is not an occupation it’s a pre-occupation, I guess you could say I self medicate with paint.

Jeanne was a successful photographer for some time before returning to her original love, painting, and says her photography experience has taught her about light and composition. She also makes use of layering and plenty of vibrant colour, which is part of what initially drew me in to her paintings.

About her process, she says:

I’m mostly interested in the essence of life rather than replicating what I’m seeing, which is why I paint in an abstract way and I consider my approach more intuitive than methodical as I am often responding to the last thing I put on the canvas. At some point something magical begins to emerge and I start to see where I need go. I layer and glaze and scratch and draw. I often scribble and scrape my way through to the layers underneath then glaze over and continue on when it is dry. My glazing techniques create a luminosity and depth in my paintings that make you feel like you could step into them. I love the way paint feels so I often paint with my fingers, sponges and rags. Finding paint under my fingernails at a dinner party is not uncommon for me. My friends don’t seem to mind.

Her work reminds me a little of Robert Burridge‘s, and maybe, dare I say it, my own! {Although I have quite some way to go before reaching that level of finesse. }

I like also what she says about her style; it reminds me that I don’t have to struggle so much with my own diversity in what I produce:

I love lots and lots of pungent color and contrast but have learned through the years that sometimes the most subtle changes can be the most powerful. So I paint both contrasty, in your face paintings and quiet emotional pieces. They are both a part of me.

Apologies for the piddlingly small images and the continuing issue with post titles. Technology and I are NOT friends at the moment. To see Jeanne’s work in full glorious colour, I recommend a good poke around her luscious website.

Edit: I just found this fantastic video on YouTube of Jeanne in action. Feast your eyes.

Filed Under: artists, love it, Uncategorized Tagged With: jeanne bessette, love it

November 22, 2012 by Tara 5 Comments

I’m in heaven! Would you just look at these paintings!

Richly textured, layered with colours, papers, fabrics, shapes, abstractedly figurative…

…and brilliantly named. The one above? Our Lady Of Relentless Urban Development.

Look at the drips, the recurring patterns reminiscent of Klimt, collage elements, beautiful line drawings.

I can find almost nothing about Angie Brown herself, but I am happy to just absorb the visual feasts that are her paintings.

And these peeks into her sketchbooks. I have total sketchbook envy.

Oh wait, I just discovered her Pinterest page, where she says this:

i am a visual communications professional, specializing in digital media by day & mixed media collage by night. i made my own internets, and it lives at www.galacticbloom.com.

I am so inspired by this work. Clever and beautiful, my favourite combination.

Filed Under: artists, love it Tagged With: angie brown artist, love it, mixed media paintings