Grzegorz Wrobel

I read a lot of art blogs. If I like an artist I'll write down their name and go back eventually to look at the rest of their work. Today I read Parka Blogs (one of the best resources on art books) who did a profile on Polish artist Grzegorz Wrobel. Wrobel is an architect so his paintings are often of buildings and cityscapes. The moment I saw his work, I not only wrote down his name but I went out looking for more of his work. I think I'm in love.

Watercolor is one of the hardest mediums to work in. It's unforgiving of mistakes and there is a certain loss of control you have to accept with it. Colors bleed into each other. That just makes Wrobel's work all the more amazing. These are watercolors. And they are so detailed and precise that I'm left shaking my head as to how lovely they are.

Now normally modern cityscape paintings leave me cold. But these are magical. There is an unearthly quality to them. The soft colors and focus makes everything stand all the more for me. It makes me look a little harder at what would have been an ordinary street scene. His palettes are perfect for the scene he is working on. And the details make the images seem all the more real and unreal at the same time. I was blown away by his work.

As with any artist I write about, I recommend you go out and take a closer look at the rest of the artist's work. I only choose a couple of images that strike me. All of this man's work is magical.

Wrobel's website. Sadly my Polish is not so good.
His Deviant Art site.

Why I Have Cats on my Wall

Above is the picture that hangs above my fireplace in the living room. I normally wouldn't put cats up on my wall but this painting is special. It's an original oil painting done by Jeff's grandfather. Jeff's father's father to be exact. I've seen a number of his paintings and they are all good. I never got a chance to meet the man, he died before Jeff's parents were even married. But I've spent time in his workshop and I was stunned by his talent. This man was not only a painter (a rather good one in my opinion) but he was a wood carver, a zither player, and a carpenter. His workshop was in the basement of a house in downtown St. Louis. A house that Jeff's grandfather helped build. I'm amazed by his energy, by his various interests. I wish I'd had a chance to meet him. I bet I would have liked him.

P.S. I'll see if I can find a picture of him. Ignore the silly stockings on the wall.

New Favorite

I went out for a three hour dinner tonight which included two beautiful glasses of merlot, a mushroom lasagna that made me drool, a tasty tiramisu, and some absolutely incredible dinner conversation. My friend and I met at 6 and were still talking as we walked out the door at nine. The only reason we called dinner over was that she had somewhere to be at 9:15. Otherwise we'd still be there. Thanks Christina, for an amazing dinner!

So I have no real time for an actual post. That doesn't really matter though because I've been wanting to share this image from Joey Remmers that I found last week. I want a print of this. This might have to be my birthday present this year. He's selling them as part of a show he's doing at the Corey Helford Gallery. This print is called A Sheep Amongst Wolves. I really like the rest of Joey's work but it was this image that made me instantly take notice. I just love the colors and the lines. It's just gorgeous. Joey has a rather nice website filled with his painting and the tattoos he's inked. I love both. His ink work is a bit out of my price range but I bet you it is worth it. Perhaps when I finally have the money to get my ink done, I'll fly out to him. But until then, I think this print will tide me over.

Spoils of DragonCon

I didn't go to DragonCon although I would have loved to. Instead my dad and my brother made the trek to Atlanta to partake in the wonderful geeky goodness. For four days they were surrounded by stormtroopers and klingons and steampunk outfits and enough costumes (and exposed flesh) to fill Hollywood for a good decade or so. I wish I could have gone but I'm happy enough to see their pictures and hear their stories.

But my dad went farther than that. I had mentioned two artists whose work I love, both of which were going to be at DragonCon. I've loved Brian Despain's work for a long time. If you've forgotten I wrote about him here. I mentioned to my Dad that Brian would be there and to keep an eye out for his work. The other artist was Bobby Chiu. I've been meaning to write about Bobby for a while now and hadn't had the chance. Dad wrote down their names and I figured that was the last of it.

My father came home on Monday and we had dinner that night. Dad was telling us all about the trip and he mentioned that he'd picked up Bobby Chiu's book Chiutensity. Half of the book includes Chiu's artwork and sketches, the other half has Chiu's partner at Imaginism Studios, Kei Acedera's artwork. Acedera's work is just as incredible as Chiu's and I'm still debating which half of the book I like better. My dad got both of the artists to sign it. I also got a number of cards from Imaginism along with a DVD of Chiu's lecture on digital painting.

Then Dad got very sad. He informed me that Brian Despain sadly didn't have a book for him to buy. He had looked at the artwork but didn't see a book and Brian mentioned that he hadn't produced one yet. So instead he had simply bought me a print! More to the point he bought the print below. You could have bowled me over I was so excited. I don't often go all fangirl but a print was well beyond my wildest dreams. I love it. My padre picked so well. I still have to frame it but I'm all ready to hang it up in my studio. I didn't get to go to DragonCon but the spoils of the convention were well beyond my expectation. Two of my favorite artist's work under my roof. Thanks Dad!!!

Alexa Meade

Okay I just found the coolest new artist and I had to share. I got the idea from the fantastic blog lines and colors and am now completely fascinated by this woman's work. I know you're shocked. Me fascinated by an artist. But this one is spectacular.

Alexa Meade is a young artist with a fascination for trompe l'oeil painting. For those who don't know trompe l'oeil is about creating illusions with art. I had highlighted a mural artist a while ago named John Pugh (ironically another lines and colors inspiration) who created three dimensional illusions from a two dimensional surfaces. Alexa's illusions go the other way. She creates two dimensional images from three dimensional forms. More specifically people.

She paints people with broad brushstrokes to make them look like paintings. They are then posed among other painted objects and painted backgrounds to create what looks like a fully painted image. The people are then photographed to complete the illusion. I have included some examples above of the paintings. Here is Alexa with her earlier subject Jaimie.

And here is the gallery showing of Natura Morta. It is tough to believe that the paintings above are not just that...paintings. A beautiful and innovative type of illusion. I look forward to seeing more of Alexa's work.

Eugene Galien-Laloue

I've been reading Hans Bacher's fabulous blog, One1More2Time3, for at least a year now. His mix of animation art and unusual artists makes it one of my favorite blogs to visit mostly because I always find something to inspire me. I've been introduced to tons of great new artists and find daily inspiration in some of the most beautiful backgrounds to ever grace an animated cartoon. I'm constantly amazed at how much work went into the early cartoons and how much that tends to be missing from the more current ones.

Recently Hans showed some images from one of his favorite artists and the man has quickly become one of my favorite artists as well. Eugene Galien-Laloue (1854-1941) was not a name I'd heard before but his work has been sought by collectors for years. He was an impressionist painter living during the turn of the century in Paris, a time known as Belle Epoque. His work focuses mostly on typical Parisian street scenes and are beautiful in their use of color and detail. Galien-Laloue was a mostly gouache painter, which I find even more fascinating. Not a lot of artists use gouache regularly since it tends to be less enduring. But I find that is offers much richer colors than most of the watercolors or oils even. It is Galien-Laloue's use of color and focus on architecture that drew me to his work.

Most of the work I've seen of his focuses on the winter and fall seasons. But he was not a plein-air (outdoor) painter. It is believed that he took photographs or used postcards as inspiration for much of his work while his painting was done in the studio. I am fascinated with his use of lighting to create such warm and welcoming environments. I find myself wanting to be drawn into the paintings and walk the streets of Paris at that time. The focus on architecture is not unique for that time but I find it intriguing. Parisian architecture, particularly turn of the century, has always been some of my favorite styles of architecture. And Galien-Laloue renders the buildings with so much detail. The people in the foreground may be blurred but the buildings in the backgrounds are as crisp as if I were standing on the street. This gives a great impression of movement and bustle. Add in the colors and I'm completely in love. I know that I currently could not afford any of his work but that's something to look out for in the future. I would love to find a piece of my own. So beautiful.

Brian Despain

I don't remember when I learned about Brian Despain's fun and poignant artwork but I have loved his paintings for quite a while. I've been meaning to share them but things kept getting in the way. But during this past month, both Drawn.ca and Lines and Colors have done profiles on Brian so I figured it was about time I did my own.

Brian's artwork is filled with fish and robots and gears and robots and birds and robots. And did I mention robots. Best known for his series of images portraying robots interacting with both the natural and the man-made world, his artwork has a wonderful mix of technology and emotion. These are not just mechanical creatures that respond to commands. Many of his robots are contemplating, reacting, and exploring. They are emotional and curious. And they are all incredibly rendered.

Using a muted palette of greys and browns, Brian creates a world that is recognizable but a bit surreal. Fish flow from robots' chests. Robots talk with pears and hummingbirds. One odd imaged offered a robot striding through town with a giant octopus for a hat. Each creature in Brian's paintings are detailed, down to the bolts on the robots and the scales on the fish. The images are sharp even if the backgrounds are a bit muted. But the real power of Brian's work for me is the emotion. His robots are surprised or amused or curious. It seems clear though both facial expressions and body language. Or perhaps that is me anthropomorphizing.

Each robot or creature is unique. His creations are each numbered to show their place in the series. These are not sequential though. One of the first images chronologically is robot number 29, seen below, in an image called Mr. Bubble's Birthday. This is a perfect example of the detail and emotion I was talking about. This has to be one of my favorites.


Brian's work has become incredibly popular recently and there are even cell phone skins with his images on them. I'm seriously thinking about picking up one of his laptop covers for my old laptop. And of course I need to pick up a print of his work one of these days. The hardest part will be choosing which incredible image to purchase. There are just too many I want. Fun, sad, poignant, and beautiful robots. What more could any girl want?

Cleansing Post

The previous post was a bit sad and a bit disgusting. So here is a painting attempt I made this afternoon to cleanse your mind. Maybe. It's not a great painting but I'm having fun. It's my Balloon Boy. I love the blue of the sky but otherwise I'm not in love with the image. But it is much happier than my poor sick bird.

Disney Weekend

I spent this weekend on the couch. Other than breakfast on Saturday and dinner that night with my parents I never left the house and hardly left the couch. I was feeling fine, I just wasn't particularly ambitious. It was a thoroughly relaxing weekend although this morning I could have done with a couple more hours of sleep.

Friday's weather left quite a bit to be desired so I decided that we would stay in and order pizza. A nice thick pan pizza sounded wonderful on a day when it had been drizzling all day and the temperature had barely topped fifty. I was cold and ready to relax. So we ordered pizza and I decided that I needed to watch a movie. I've had Wall-E sitting on my shelf for months now. I'd borrowed the movie from my mom and although I'd really wanted to see it, I just hadn't made the time. I giggled and ahhhed through the entire film. It was just so funny and cute and poignent. Jeff thought it was okay but I think it might be my favorite Pixar so far. I tend to like books and movies with a bit of a message this one had it in spades. I was impressed by Pixar's guts in putting out a film that challenges our consumer lifestyle. That is a bold move and one that I haven't seen from a film company in a while. Not that Disney didn't do its standard merchandising mania when the movie first came out. But the story was wonderful, the characters were cute, and I loved the humor. A great movie with a big heart. Pixar films beat modern Disney films anyday.

Jeff and I went to breakfast the next morning and then did a bit of shopping. When I got back home I was in a painting mood. I broke out some new colors and worked on my picture for class. I'm almost done but I don't think I'll be posting my first attempt. A little too rough still. But I love the gouache. I love the bright colors and the thickness and how easy it feels to work with. Time flies when I'm painting and I look up at the clock after what feels like 20 minutes to find that an hour has past. It will be a hobby I continue to play with.

We had dinner with my parents on Saturday night at the restaurant my sister works at. It was nice to get a chance to see her. We had been talking about going to the zoo on Sunday but she had an 18 hour work day the day before and understandably begged off. Which actually worked out okay for me. A couple weeks ago, my little sister asked me for a biography of Walt Disney. Now I'm a die-hard Disney fanatic. I've been to the parks a ton of times and still would love to go back. I'd go yearly if I could. I adore most of the Disney films and have had a huge interest in Disney himself for as long as I could remember. I had brought her a couple biographies and realized that one of the ones I had, I'd never read. It's a massive book. Well over 900 pages and with dense type. I've been reading it whenever I get the chance over this past week and am completely hooked. I actually plan my lunches alone recently so that I can read. So Sunday I grabbed breakfast and my book and read ALL day. I started reading at 8:30 in the morning and stopped at 10:30 at night.

If I bad mouth the Disney Studios occassionally it is because I know where they came from. Walt Disney himself had very little interest in making money. Money for him was a means to an end. The more money a film brought in the better his next movie could be. He pumped all his profits back into the company. For many years he didn't even collect a salary so that there would be mroe for film-making. He was an idealist in some ways. I have been fascinated with his early career, when he was still making the Alice pictures (before Mickey). He would beg and borrow to make his pictures. They hardly ever made him any money but he just kept working.

And he was incredibly anti-sequel. After his Silly Symphony, The Three Little Pigs, came out, people were clamoring for him to make more pig films. They wanted a pig sequel. Disney famously said, "You can't top pigs with pigs" and went on to make other movies. He was always interested in pushing the envelope to make his films better or more innovative. He was not a man to rest on his laurels. Which is why I have become somewhat ashamed at the Disney Company in the last 20 years or so. As they pump out Cinderella 2 and Peter Pan 3, all to make a fast buck, I realize what the company is in business for. And I think back to where the company started and just shake my head. Walt would never have stood for it.

I Get to Play With Paint!!!!

I have been telling myself for years that I wanted to take an art class. I really want to be able to illustrate my own work and I'm terrible at drawing. So when my mother asked if I would go to an art class with her (a shock in itself) I jumped at the chance. It was an Exploring Painting and Drawing class and we could pick one medium to work in. I figured that charcoal would be easy and decided to start with that. My goal was to eventually learn acrylics or gouache.

So we had our first class last night and the instructor suggested two medium as some of the easier ones to work with. The first was pastel chalks which I have only a bit of interest in. I'd be more than happy to learn it but I'm not in love with the medium. The second, I was excited to hear was gouache.

For those of you who don't know, gouache is an opaque watercolor. It is also a heavily used favorite for animation and illustration. It has some of the most vibrant colors and even when the paint dries, those colors stay. You can paint over it. You can retouch work. A good deal of early Disney animation was done in gouache. And I could not be more excited. Imagine thinking that you would have to work up to learning your ideal medium with years of work. Instead they just say go ahead.

So I will be running out to the art store this week to pick up all my necessary supplies. Amazingly someone out there thinks that I'm old enough, heck mature enough, to play with paint. Poor misguided fools. I sat in class all last night thinking, wow you actually believe that I'm somewhat of an adult and can be trusted with paint. Not only that but that I have enough talent to use said paint. I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun and learn as we go. But mostly the five year old inside me just keeps thinking, Yay!!!! I get to play with paint.

The Art of Illusion

Trompe L'oeil is the art of making something appear real. It is taking a two dimensional surface and making it appear three dimensional. I have seen incredibly successful Trompe L'oeil paintings but my favorite type is traditionally architecturally based. These are buildings that draw the eye because they appear to have something that shouldn't exist. And many of them can look very very real.

Yesterday I was checking out a new art blog Lines and Color and stumbled across the incredible public murals of John Pugh, Trompe L'oeil artist. Pugh is a California artist whose incredibly life-like murals are displayed across the country on various buildings and businesses. The first one that caught my eye was this incredibly wave image on a building in Honolulu. It was hard for me to imagine that the building was flat, that this is just a wall.

Pugh has had several incidents involving his work. I was reading on his website (linked above) that a Hawaiian Fire Department, shortly after this was painted, stopped traffic and attempted to save the children up on the ledge. They quickly got close and realized the children weren't real. I was shocked to find out that the woman looking "into" this building below was also painting. Pugh incorporates so many parts of the original wall and this simply looks so real that many of his buildings have caused traffic accidents as driver attempt to understand what they are seeing.

My favorite story from Pugh's site is the one about the cafe below. The owner of the cafe, which is in San Jose, received a complaint from one of the patrons. I guess the patron had approached the woman in the picture and attempted to introduce himself. He was strangely given the silent treatment. By the way, nothing in this picture is real. The woman, the sculpture, the plant, and of course the doorway is not real. All a trick of paint and depth.

There is a magic and a wonder to this type of painting. I have no clue how he achieves such illusions of depth but I am in awe of it. I've seen my share of good and bad Trompe L'oeil but this man has to be considered a master. And a new favorite muralist for me.

Myke Amend

I don't often pay attention to the ads on websites. I've learned to look past the margins even when they flash and dance. So when I went to Wapsi Square a couple days again, I'm shocked that I noticed a small (non-flashing) ad on the right side. The ad was for art prints but the picture was what caught my eye. It's one of the first times that I can say that I found a new artist from an advertisement.


Myke Amend's work has been described as everything from gothic to fantasy to steampunk. I would simply describe it as freaking incredible. He's a painter, an etcher, a mixed-media artist and all of it is really beautiful work. His images tend to be very detailed particularly his paintings. Perhaps his most famous image (The Rescue) is an incredibly calm and sparse painting that somehow looks detailed. It is all whites, grays, and browns. The airship is incredibly detailed and the submarine is somehow vague as if brought up from the depths and still not sure of what it is above the land. I love the tenticles on the left hand side. This for me was a strangely calming image. I contrast that with Deady, a darkly colored image of a teddy bear that seems to have been murdered. There is a look of surprise on the teddy's face that is vaguely unsettling. I'm impressed that Myke has been able to calm me and disturb me in seconds.



Check out both of those images here. But neither of these are the images that caught my eye in the ad. That was Behold the Machine, and I might have to look into buying a print of it. I have also seen an image of it on a journal so I will definately purchase one of those. Great art and journals are my weakness. I'm not sure why this particular image strikes me as much as it does. I love the mix of the ice and the airships. It speaks to me of old time adventures and exploration. It has something of a Jules Verne feel to the painting. I love the markings on the larger ship and the incredible detail that goes into it. The first time I looked at it I didn't even notice the tiny polar bears that have made their home on the cliff side. I find new details every time I look at it.





I hope Myke won't mind that I posted it here since I found it on a very nice steampunk wallpaper site. And since he offers it as a free e-card. Over the past three years I've realized how much I'm drawn to the steampunk movement. Myke's images (particularly his airships) are a perfect example of how to do steampunk well. Check him out if you get a chance.