Cups and Bowls.
The simplest form can sometimes be the most beautiful.
Many Japanese artists can wonderfully combine smooth flowing lines
with minimum distraction to the eye.
Analogue Life based in Nagoya, Japan, prove time and again
that the creation of simple objects works best when shape and function
are in harmony with one another.
They have many more hand crafted products on their website here.
Another company who have a flair for the clean line is UK based James and Tilla Waters.
The partners have been working from their own studio in Carmarthenshire, Wales since 2002
and their collaboration has evolved so that James does all of the throwing,
whilst Tilla concentrates on the decoration. Beautiful work.
Meg Hunt. Illustrator.
I recently came across the work of Meg Hunt and love the way that she creates her illustrations.
An artist in her early twenties who trained in Connecticut, now living in Arizona,
with a sophisticated use of colour that has a calm balance, and with animals
that have a friendly manner and happily manage to get up to all sorts of fun things.
She already has an impressive client list under her belt including Oxford University Press,
Fantagraphics Books, Seattle Metropolitan, Las Vegas Weekly and Time Out New York/TONY Kids
to name but a few.
She understands her craft and has given a fair few online interviews about it here and here.
Great work Meg, keep up the visual feast.
Inspiration … what works for you ?
This beautiful piece of Quilling is by Yulia Brodskaya.
I am always interested in the process of inspiration when it comes to creative areas.
Everyone can have differing views on what an artists’ intent or meaning may be
behind an illustration or piece of art and equally each artist, based on their life
experiences and influences, could approach the same starting subject for a painting,
from many different angles which would then alter the outcome of the piece.
What do you do when you get ‘stuck’ and feel uninspired ? What inspires people
to work in different ways ? and more importantly, where do people go
to find their initial inspiration ?
Here are some helpful sites and people who have contributed their thoughts already.
Bruce Mau wrote this in 1998 about how to let your mind grow, keep open and
allow it to think differently.
Chapter 19 is a fun site that fires random words at you to use as possible starting points.
Some word choices even suggest their own possible inspirational methods !
Colour Stripes site gives us another way to look at gathering colours that work together.
Jan over at PoppyTalk has created a Flickr site to inspire people with nature.
Nate Williams talks about trying to find work as a freelance illustrator , he even interviews
fellow illustrator Calef Brown in an article here to ask what inspires him.
Usually when I reach a stage when I feel ‘stuck’ I often look back at old sketchbooks
at pieces of work I may have abandoned or doodles i’d done and then forgotten and often
I will think again about them in a fresh way. Other times I need to get away from looking
at the artwork directly in order to allow my mind to open up to other possible ideas
and hopefully it will then …
Comments welcome.
Electricity brought to you in person
Imagine that not every pylon needs to look alike, that’s the vision of architectural
design company Choi and Shine, Jin Choi and Thomas Shine based in Massachusetts.
They’ve designed pylons that resemble people, who’s form and structure can alter
to suit the landscape. They explain…
‘ The pylon-figures can be configured to respond to their environment
with appropriate gestures. As the carried electrical lines ascend a hill,
the pylon-figures change posture, imitating a climbing person.
Over long spans, the pylon-figure stretches to gain increased height,
crouches for increased strength or strains under the weight of the wires.
Lets hope the Icelandic landscape they were designed for makes some
clothing to keep them warm. Brrrr !
Calling all artists / illustrators.
The Brooklyn Art Library is in it’s fifth year of an amazing scheme.
They say ‘ it’s like a concert tour but with sketchbooks’ and I think it’s one of the best ways
that a library can drum up new business in this present climate.
They are inviting artists, illustrators, designers etc to participate in a arts project
where you sign up and pay $28 (£18 inc postage) to buy a moleskin sketchbook from them.
You need to do this before Oct 31st . Then you simply choose from one of their theme topics,
listed on their site and fill the book with your drawings, returning it by January 15th 2011.
They will attach a bar code to it and your book will take part in a tour around different states
of America and people will be able to take it out to look at ( like a regular book)
and you can also keep a track on where in the country it is at any one time…. pure genius !
Here are the tour dates and places your book will visit.
I’ve signed up already, get your entries in quickly here.
Origami Modern style !
We all used to play around with Origami as children. Simple folds from a single square
that turned into amazing animals, water bombs or those games where the movement of
a beak-shaped folded piece of paper with hidden writing could determine your fate.
Here are a few modern variations on this theme that caught my eye.
These featured on The Design Files from Japanese duo Cochae.
These are great fun and the creators at Mibo allow you to buy and
download the file and print them yourself.
This is a vintage pop up book from the site of Bird and Banner.
And for those of you who like folding on a greater scale, check out these lily pads
by Steve Messam as part of a commission by Tatton Park from May til September.
Also these beautiful tessellations, more here.
Colour, Colour … We love Colour
Gone are the days of having to take swatches of colour into the paint shop to match up.
Crown have developed an iphone app that will do the job for you.
Simply take a picture of the object of colour you like and zoom into the area of colour you
wish to replicate in paint, the app will not only match up it’s nearest shade but also
suggest a complimentary bolder colour too. Couldn’t be simpler.
Download the app here. or search on the Crown Paint site.
Another great diversion for us Colour lovers is this site called Multicolr Search Lab.
It’s linked to Flickr and allows you to select one or two or three or more colours in an
image and have the results come up instantly before your very eyes.
Great for doing mood boards etc, have a go now.
Wigtown Book Festival 2010
Since the mid 1990’s it was suggested that a ‘book town’ on the model
of Hay-on-wye would be a good way to regenerate a community in
Scotland. From six small towns Wigtown was selected. In 1999 the new
Scottish Parliment acknowledged Wigtown as Scotlands’ National Book
Town and in the same year the first book festival took place.
Now, eleven years on and still growing in strength, Wigtown boasts
numerous book shops and related businesses.
This years’ festival includes books by Emma Thompson’s Actress mother
Phyllida Law, BBC Reporter Martin Bell, Artist Martin Creed and Singer
Barbara Dickson, to name but a few.
It runs from September 24th til October 3rd and if you’re in the area,
check it out.
This beautiful illustration used for the cover of this years’ festival
guide caught my attention.
For directions and more info check the official website here.
Fishink Notebook Wanderings
Someone who recently purchased some Fishink Notebooks kindly sent some images
of them on their travels. Great colours don’t you think ! She takes some great photographs
more of which can be seen here.
Thanks again Nelly b.
You can purchase notebooks here.
Antony Gormley new ‘ Six Times ‘ sculptures in Edinburgh
Most of us would best know Antony Gormley for his Angel Of The North sculpture which towers
above the A1 and A167 motorways near Gateshead. But since it’s installation in 1994, Antony has
been busy doing numerous castings of himself for art commissions all over the world.
One of the latest is ‘ Six Times’ which incorporates six figures (or partial figures) placed along
the waters of Leith in Edinburgh. The first figure appears buried in the ground up to it’s chest
at the gates of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art as seen here.
The Gallery itself has a welcoming neon sign by Martin Creed, and an equally amazing view onto it’s garden.
As you wander down the water of leith, you encounter, at various stages, another four figures,
in Stockbridge, Powderhall and Bonnington.
There are other pieces of art carefully placed along the route to keep all eager art lovers happy.
Rubbings for the kids to do.
And poems to read and smile at.
Until you reach Leith itself,
where the final figure stares out to sea from an abandoned Pier.
I couldn’t actually find this last one but I enjoyed a drink in one of the many bars with the view
of the evening drawing in. A great few hours spent mixing art, city and relaxation.
Antony Gormley has another recent sculptural project in Austria, see this Guardian article for more info.
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