Gerald Brommer Forming the landscape
Gerald Brommer grew up in Northern California, studied at Concordia University, Nebraska; University of Nebraska, Lincoln (MA) ; Choulnard Art Institute, Otis Art Institute, UCLA and USC. At the beginning of his career he taught geography and painted whenever possible. Gradually, he phased out the geography classes to allow more time to paint and teach art.
Since the 1950’s, he has produced watercolors on a regular basis. Many of his early works were very carefully planned and executed watercolors. On occasion, he added paper collage to give added textures. He paints on location (Plein Aire) and works more spontaneously, responding directly to the subject he is viewing. The subjects he has chosen to paint vary widely from California coast views, to desert landscapes and European city scenes.
Brommer has also become a recognized teacher of watercolor painter and is the author of over 20 art instruction books and numerous articles in art magazines. He served as president of both the California Watercolor Society and West Coast Watercolor Society. He is in over 4300 private collections in forty states and nine countries overseas.
Through the years he has actively exhibited watercolors, holding 160 one-man shows from Alaska to Florida and including Hong Kong and Bermuda. His work is displayed in over 200 group exhibitions, both competitive and invitational. Since the 1960’s, he has been in demand as a instructor of watercolor workshops and has traveled all over the world conducting classes.
A truly amazing track record and stunning artist as well ! Keep up the great work Gerald.
Fishink takes to the streets for a colourful week
I had a feeling it was going to be a colourful week. It started quietly with a visit from a beautiful Peacock Butterfly at breakfast.
In Manchester, because the Ashes were on at Old Trafford’s Cricket ground, there were many groups of rather ‘alternatively costumed’ folk. People dressed as the Flintstones cartoon characters or super heroes, head to toe in spandex for a day in the hot, sticky, sunshine, how lovely… lol each to their own !
Staying with the colourful theme, but on a more musical note, I also made it to the Big Drum Day in Chorley. A great energetic crowd had gathered and there was singing …
and dancing. With more colourful characters, heck even the umbrellas were colourfully holding back the occasional downpour.
We heard the wonderful sounds from Holly’s band juba do leao before the heavens opened for the rest of the afternoon, what a shame. Great sounds and big thanks to one and all for the lively entertainment too.
Then a quiet drink in a friendly bar called Common in Manchester, and another interior redecoration, quite something eh ?
Finally I got back home to discover that a plant I had had for about 15 years had produced the tiniest flower. I didn’t even know until then that it could !
I knew it was going to be a colourful week lol
Pascal Campion Observing and illustrating life
Pascal Campion is what I would call a keen observational illustrator. He manages to not only capture an emotion so completely, but he also silently narrates the story behind the image to our subconscious at the same time. Thus allowing us to bond with his images immediately and feel at one with what his characters are feeling. I contacted Pascal and asked a few searching questions, you can find his thoughtful and honest replies below.
What has been the worst thing you’ve been asked to illustrate and what has brought the most pleasure ?
The most pleasure are the pieces I don’t think I can do and manage to pull off. That’s when I’m feeling .. wow.. yeah.. I did that!! The worse things are when I just can’t pull it off..or worse.. when I don’t understand what I am being asked. I had this job not that long ago when I was asked to redesign the ad for a pharmaceutical product. The original ad was very graphic, with no illustration part to it. When I pointed that out to the client, they said they wanted me to give it my “touch” but I just couldn’t figure out what they actually wanted. Even if I was asking them, they couldn’t give me a clear answer.. so I did some sketches, and got pretty much fired after the first round because I was so far off. It was very frustrating.
The funny thing is that I’ve had jobs like this before when the clients finds my work, likes it and wants me to do something for them..only to realize that I don’t fit what they are looking for at all. I always tell myself that I won’t do these jobs anymore, but it’s not always easy to tell BEFORE you start the job if it’s going to be one of these or not. Inversely.. I had this one big job for which I thought I was not a good fit at all…and it turned out to be one of the best, if not the best job I ever worked on..and when they came to me, they were asking for some very painterly work, which I wasn’t doing all that much at the time. They just thought I could do it, and they were right!
Do you ever work with live models or photographs of buildings, nature etc or do the illustrations usually just derive from your imagination ?
I usually work out of my imagination..or memory.. I practice my memory a lot.. I will be walking down the street and see something I like, and I will describe that thing, that color, event , whatever it is with words, so I can remember it and recreate something like it when I get back to the studio.
That said.. more and more, the projects I have become specialized and I need reference for specific things, time periods, different parts of the world, cultural things, etc etc. I don’t use reference when I do my daily sketches though.
You talk about your illustrations being like stories, do you have longer stories to tell which may well become films or books one day ?
Yes and no. I am always creating little stories, and, before I started doing illustrations the way I do these days, I would do animations. I did tons of shorts and loved doing that.. I love telling stories. I would like to eventually tell longer stories, but I don’t want it to take over my personal life( life with my kids and my wife). Maybe when the kids are a little older. Right now, I am pretty happy with what I do.
How much do the seasons and weather affect your mood ?
A lot. As a matter of fact.. a lot of things affect my mood.. it always has. With time and age though, I’ve been able to control how much it affects me. I do use the different feelings I have in my images though.
You are a great observational illustrator. Do you see things in your daily travels and think ‘I wish I had my camera with me’ or can you retain the feelings, emotions and colours that go with that scene and somehow ‘reply’ them when you get back to your cad ?
Everyday! Literally..everyday..even If I just go out to get a coffee. As I am writing this, my son Colin is playing next to me with his little school bus toy and the way he is sitting will definitely pop up in some image at some point.
Is there anywhere else you would like your work to be included that it isn’t already ? Plans or ambitions for the future ?
Ha.. you know.. this is a great question. A few years ago, I would probably been able to name every place I would have loved to see my work in, at.. people or companies I would have liked to work with.. but in the past two years, I’ve discovered so that I had such a limited vision of the artworld, the industry that I feel a little foolish. I work with clients now that I never knew existed before, and I am loving this. I am working with different countries, and every one of them does things a little differently and it’s amazing. Sometimes easy, sometimes not, but always rewarding. It just makes me realize that there is so much more out there that I don’t know about and can’t wait to discover more.
How exhilarating (or frightening) was it working for Dreamworks and Disney ?
I am always surprised when I work with them.. mainly because they keep coming back. I never feel like I do a good job with them and I think that comes from the fact that I get intimidated by all the phenomenal artists they have in all these companies. I remember the first time I was at Dreamworks, walking through the corridors, I would read the names of people on the doors I was passing and seriously asked myself…what am I doing here? It was just so impressive. Then when I see the work they do on the same projects I am working on, I just scratch my head and wonder..how on earth did they do this?
Now.. I try not to think too much about it and just do what I can, what I think is the best I can offer them. It’s very humbling to work with people like this.
There’s also a whole lot of child centered illustrations that bubble out from time to time.
Again I can really feel for this little duckling, caught in the downpour. A lot of Pascal’s Illustration works best on a BIG scale, it’s worth a trip over to his site to see it larger than I’ve been able to show it here. There’s also more illustration popping up almost daily on his blog.
We could do worse than listen to the message from his 2008 video for the alternative rock duo know as They Might Be Giants. Kids Go !
If you’re still hungry for more information, there are also a few question and answer sessions on Pascal’s site here and on Hulu blog.
And to delve into Pascal’s world a little more watch this.
Beautiful emotive illustration Pascal. Many thanks again, for taking the time to so honestly answer the myriad of questions for the Fishink Blog readers and for showing us the light … well specifically your light ! Much appreciated : )
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the work of Tadahiro Uesugi.
William Wondriska was born in 1931 in Oak Park, Illinois.
A renowned graphic designer, William Wondriska is among the protagonists of American graphic design in the second half of 20th century. He studied at Yale University and School of the Art Institute in Chicago and has been professor at several universities in the US. He wrote eleven books for children that have been awarded many prizes by the American Insitute of Graphic Arts. ‘All by myself’ has been originally published in 1963: the author appears inside the book as a bus driver, but the protagonist is actually William’s daughter Alison.
‘The sound of Things’ was born in the spring of 1955, when a young William Wondriska just before he was drafted into the Armed Services conceived, designed, and printed it in the Department of Design of Yale University, as partial fulfillment of degree requirements.
In addition to his work in promotional design and advertising, Wondriska has written eleven books for children, including A Long Piece of String (1963).
In 1961 Wondriska founded Wondriska Associates, a design firm which became known for its branding work with such clients as the Walt Disney Company, Children’s Television Workshop, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Art, and the Boston Symphony. He was also famous for an enchanting book about a small steam engine called ‘Puff”
More of William’s creative work here.
‘A Cat Can’t Count’.
‘The Tomato Patch’.
And a couple of more obscure books.
William studied at Yale University and the Art Institute of Chicago. He is a Past President of Hartford Art School, which now offers a William Wondriska Graphic Design Award to graphic design students of merit and to support visiting designers. In 1995 William Wondrinksi was among five university regents and former regents who filed a lawsuit seeking to block Hartford University from absorbing money historically controlled by the Art School Board. William is currently lives in Concord Massachusetts.
I feel his work is beautiful, creative and inspiring. I particularly love the ‘Puff’ book with it’s clever combination of text, imagery and strong visual storyline. Showing once again that a strong simple message often speaks volumes.
Jim Flora . The devil is in, (or behind) the detail
Jim Flora had a rather devilish sense of humour and a knack for intermixing playfulness with the absurd. Here’s a few early sketches and woodblocks that he created.
Born in 1914 his work was noticed initially by musical audiences, dancing on his wild Jazz and classical album covers for Columbia Records in the 1940’s and RCA Victor in the 1950’s. His website says that ” Flora’s album covers pulsed with angular hepcats bearing funnel-tapered noses and shark-fin chins who fingered cockeyed pianos and honked lollipop-hued horns. Yet this childlike exuberance was subverted by a tinge of the diabolic. Flora wreaked havoc with the laws of physics, conjuring flying musicians, levitating instruments, and wobbly dimensional perspectives. Taking liberties with human anatomy, he drew bonded bodies and misshapen heads, while inking ghoulish skin tints and grafting mutant appendages. He was not averse to pigmenting jazz legends Benny Goodman and Gene Krupa like bedspread patterns. On some Flora figures, three legs and five arms were standard equipment, with spare eyeballs optional.” And they were telling the truth !
A few Magazine articles.
Countryside meets cityscape.
Jim Also created illustrations for over 17 Children’s books, a couple are featured below, more here.
This great A to Z of ‘not so obvious’ words from Jim’s era.
After living in Mexico in the 1950’s Jim’s work reflected elements of mexican folk lore and later on a love of the sea and sea craft too.
His family have created a great set of greeting cards based on his work which are available in the ‘little shop of Flora’s on their site.
I also discovered a fabulously, funky range of wallpapers printed by Design Your Wall. Lovely colour schemes and selections of Jim’s most popular illustrations. What a great idea, I’ll take three rolls of the yellow skyscrapers please !
For more links to Jim’s weird and wonderful work have a look here on his families website.
Fishink in Tarporley
I spent a lovely day catching up with my friends over in Tarporley. They have such a beautifully proportioned garden that you can, and we did, play croquet on the lawn.
They are also great foodies and wonderful cooks. Look at this ‘green pancake’ stuffed with chives and spinach with a drizzle of lime, mmm scrumptious! The local open countryside is beautiful too.
Clare baked us a beautiful cake, with apricots and lavender. They are so inspirational with their recipes.
With all this amazing weather, the garden looks glorious in the sunshine. Such colour and texture everywhere.
Such a hard life and then before you know it, it was time for tea…sigh.. I could get used to this.
I got home to find these little critters in my driveway… at least they were eating the weeds and not my garden plants !
And someone else has moved in indoors too.. whatever next ! Lol
This new visitor is watching the colours of the stained glass panel I made which sits at the other end of the hall.
I’m loving the light that comes from it.
Angela Smyth An Inspirational Artist
Angela Smyth works in an old mill building in Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax. She has a beautifully Illustrative, quirky and amusing style.
You can find some of her badges and books in her Etsy Shop, whist her larger paintings and painted objects she sells through a variety of galleries like The Hawthorn Gallery which is situated on the site of the old Hare & Hounds pub in Stalybridge, Cheshire. Not a million miles from where L.S.Lowry used to live.
She portrays women as almost Beryl Cook-ish sexy and yet strong, dependable characters, who are often giving birds or animals a helpful shoulder to lean on or some good advice.
Whilst the birds have their own advice to give.
Angela says ”
I have been asked many times about the stories behind my paintings, it occurred to me that a lot of them are taken from events in my childhood. This was a revelation as I’d never really thought about it before, I was just grateful that I had ideas at all. The story begins with a little girl who didn’t have many friends and who spent most of her time drawing or playing with the neighbour’s dog (Sandy). My dad used to take the time to teach me how to draw, but he could only draw shire horses, (and cubes), as they were his favourite animals. This kept me quiet and out of trouble and still does to this day. When I was looking through the pictures I realised that when I had a serious point to put across, I always painted animals. The dogs, cats and birds usually have hidden stories or meaning to them.
For example, birds in cages always have the door wide open (as they always are), but if the bird decides to stay it’s because he doesn’t feel trapped, he’s happy. I wouldn’t know where to start if I were to paint people in this situation, it would look far too serious. In much of my work you will notice certain elements appear time and time again. Ladders, cages, flying animals etc. and the fact that the eyes of my people never look down [unless they are looking at some gorgeous cake]. This all has to do with positivity. The cages are open, the ladders all lead to the sky and the eyes look towards something better.
The little tags with hearts on symbolise love notes & secret admirers. I paint mouths in the shape of hearts because I believe if you can’t say anything good – say nothing (also I can’t paint mouths very well!). Flying animals – well, let’s just say that’s the artist’s prerogative! Ideas come from my home town and the people who live there. It’s full of characters and I can’t imagine ever running out of inspiration as long as I’m living here. They are often based on people I know well (many have them have spotted that!) and are all true to the place I live. ”
I love the joining together of painted and ink characters, for me the combination works so well. Look at this fox giving a lift to a small bird, such lovely marks and colouration.
She can paint a mean Map too.
Her new collection of places and buildings are amazing, such detail and vibrancy. ” My studio”, says Angela, ” is in a beautiful old mill, and doing what I love most in the world, life doesn’t get much better that this. My work is constantly evolving, and new directions come from all over the place. The big South Pennines Map helped to steer me into more drawings of townscapes and buildings, and now I’m adding more human element to these. I still love painting crazy animals though! ”
I’m in awe of the range and variation in her work and in love with the little characters and the strong honest messages and humour that Angela manages to include. Great positivity and talent.
Fishink in Pembrokeshire Part 2
It’s been so hot lately that we’ve been relieved to have some coastal breezes to help with the heatwave. After a stunning day on Skomer Island with the Puffins we visited a few of the more local Pembrokeshire beaches. This is Nolten Haven.
Not too far away is the pretty town of St Davids. I have featured the amazing Cathedral there previously.
Look at the amazing colours of the stone here.
Whilst I was sitting on the beach a diver emerged out of the waves in full wetsuit, flippers and harpoon gun, aka James Bond ! Apparently it took him just two hours to capture this wonderful catch. It wasn’t just people having fun on the beach, these two West Highland Terriers were running themselves ragged : )
Coming back from the beach I popped into the Oriel y Parc Gallery and Giftshop. A lovely site with sculptures in the grounds, a wonderful exhibition featuring artwork by Graham Sutherland, Paul Nash and John Piper. I was also lucky to meet the present artist in residence Grahame Hurd-Wood who’s bright and vibrant paintings sing of the landscape of the area. Grahame is a friend of one of the party I was visiting with so we got to catch up with him in the comfort of his lovely home too. A charming gent.
This huge tree had been sculpted into a woodland haven for many carved animals.
Later that evening we went over to my favourite local place to eat, drink and watch the sun go down… The Druidstone in Broad Haven. A beautiful calm and relaxing place filled with art, sunny corners and a feeling of sixties hippiedom.
Cheers ! On the way homeward we stopped off at Sugar Loaf Hill above Crickhowell.
As a tea time food stop we pulled into The Red Lion Inn in Llanafan Fawr. Opposite St Afans’ Church, with claims to be the oldest pub in Powys. Superb Food and friendly landlord, makes it another recommended stop off.
This barn looked like it was laughing, or is it just me … one too many beers perhaps!
We also quickly stopped in the pretty Llandrindod Wells an spotted these adverts and store fronts along their main shopping street.
Then it was homeward bound and a goodbye to Pembrokeshire and Wales for another while. Stunning scenery
Ella McIntosh Metalworking in Pewter
Ella McIntosh is as bubbly and chirpy as her photograph suggests. She graduated in 2007 with a first grade honours degree in Designed Metalwork and Jewellery from Buckinghamshire Chilterns University. She then moved to Manchester and last year opened her own studio shop in the Manchester Craft and Design Centre (MCDC) called ‘ This Is Pewter ‘. I discovered today that on saturday Ella will be celebrating one year of working from her shop so thought I’d bring some of her delightful work to your ‘virtual’ door.
Pewter is a metal which is steeped in British history and tradition. It was used as everyday tableware before china ceramics came into our households and was a regular feature on our tables. Pewter was used by the lower classes to copy the silver designs they often envied but couldn’t afford.
Pewter is a malleable metal alloy, traditionally 85–99% tin, with the remainder consisting of copper, antimony, bismuth and sometimes, less commonly today, lead. Silver is also sometimes used. Copper and antimony act as hardeners while lead is common in the lower grades of pewter, which have a bluish tint. It has a low melting point, around 170–230 °C (338–446 °F), depending on the exact mixture of metals. The word pewter is likely a variation of the word spelter, a term for zinc alloys (originally a colloquial name for zinc).
Since the lead has been removed from Pewter it has undergone a soar in popularity and with more people looking for alternatives to precious metals such as Silver and Gold, Pewter has come into its own. Now there is a thriving, close-knit, British Pewter Industry which encompasses the Pewter factories as well as the independent handcraft makers. The British Pewter industry strives to keep the traditional metalworking skills alive whilst makers, such as Ella, try to push the metal to fresh boundaries by combining these age-old skills with modern, stylish design.
Pewter is a low-maintenance metal which doesn’t tarnish like silver. This means its easy to look after and doesn’t require regular polishing. In comparison to other metals, Pewter has a low melting temperature, making it a very versatile metal. Its also claimed to be one of the most ‘eco-friendly’ metals due to the small resources needed to work it and any scrap can easily be melted down and re-used on site, reducing transportation and therefore carbon emissions. These lovely cufflinks and bookmarks were a commission from Clitheroe Castle, in the town where Ella grew up. She’s as passionate about Pewter as she is proud about her roots.
Pewter is very malleable and easy to work with, below is a thin sheet of Pewter that has been through a press with a piece of lace and has taken on an impression of the structure of the fibres. Here Ella is forming the base of a tall vase, she uses her blow torch and various precision tools to measure, cut, hammer, pattern, and mould the pewter into practically any form that she chooses. What a beautiful artform. Why not commission her to make something personal for your home.
Recently Ella had a sell out, one day workshop at the MCDC where Ella guided her pupils through designing and making their own Pewter mini planter. Allowing them the unique experience of learning a whole range of traditional metalwork skills and techniques first-hand from the designer herself. It was such a success that Ella plans to run more of these in the future. Contact her on the email below for more information on courses or commissions. Happy Birthday to ‘ This is Pewter ‘ !!
Don’t forget that you can find me in the shop next door at the Manchester Craft and Design Centre thursday til saturday for a week or two. Here’s what the work looks like in the shop, hope to see you in there soon. More about the talented folk in the Craft and Design centre here and here. Happy Reading !
It has become almost a tradition that sometime in July, we pack up our summery things and head over to Pembrokeshire to stay with friends in their summer chalet for a long weekend. This year was no exception.
During our stays there we have always tried to make the journey over to Skomer Island to visit one of the largest Puffin colonies in southern Britain. This year was the first year that the sea wasn’t too rough, the wind wasn’t blowing too much and we actually managed to get up early enough to get over to Martin’s Haven for the early boat ! Well actually this year the boats are running later and even though we were there in plenty of time to catch the 10am ferry, it was already full so we bought tickets for the 11am trip and explored the area during our wait. Taking care to avoid the nesting swallows swooping in and out of the low doorway to the toilet block !
I noticed this grey seal bobbing in the water off the coast and the wonderful drama of the cliff faces and the wealth of colourful flora around.
The boat comes, and because us brits ‘seemingly’ love to queue, a cliff-edge line of people forms. We file onto the boat (which takes about 50) and off we go. Noticing the gorgeous blues of the sea and sky as we go.
It’s only a short ride of about 20 mins to the Island, the sign onboard the boat (below) made me smile and once there, the Guillemots and Puffins were lined up to greet us, embedded on the cliff edges.
There is a good variety of things to spot on the island. It becomes a little like an adult game of i-spy !
In the middle of the island lies a 19th century farmstead, a modern day gathering place for the tourists to sit and use the facilities. You need to bring your own food, and drink if you plan to stay a while, but can jump on any returning ferry so you’re not tied to having to be back at a specific time.
We sat down to have lunch near to the Garland Stone, an impressive pyramidal stack just off the northern tip of the island.
Surrounded again by beautiful views and beady eyed seagulls who no doubt had one (or both) eyes glued to our sandwiches.
Below, on the shores of the Garland Stone, grey seals swam and basked in the sunshine.
I noticed this Rock or Meadow Pipit, happy sitting on a rock looking out over the brown and green fields.
There is a problem on the island with the over population of Rabbits, originally introduced to the island in the 13th century and farmed for their food and fur. There are now approx. 10,000 rabbits on the island and about the same number of Puffins. Sadly they destroy the natural vegetation, promoting the dominance of species like Bracken at the expense of of more palatable grasses and herbs. They also cause soil erosion caused by intense grazing and burrowing. In their favour they provide food for predatory birds which would turn to seabirds in their absence.
It’s been suggested that Shearwaters and Puffins require Rabbits to dig holes in which to nest but they are actually capable of digging their own holes. Puffins do, however, like nesting in areas free from tall vegitation. If Rabbits were removed, there would be a danger that the coastal slopes currently inhabited by Puffins would become overgrown and they would disappear.
The puffins were definitely the highlight of the day and on parts of the pathway, they were only a few yards from your feet, scurrying comically out of their burrows. They are a lot smaller than I had imagined (about 25 cms high) and have a permanently angst expression on their faces.
This year it also happens to be the 60th anniversary of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. They’ve commissioned London company ‘ Hatched ‘ to design a poster campaign to promote the park’s natural beauty, coastline and abundant wildlife. I feel they have done this very well. You can find out more about purchasing the postcards and posters here.
Thought this maybe a good place to post some puffins I drew a while ago, after visiting Seven Stories in Newcastle.
Part two of this post about Pembrokeshire to follow soon.
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