Your Favorite Artists, Past and present

Hi Roisin! good to hear from you. My work is done either in colored pencil or oils, but mostly colored pencil. I really love the medium. It takes a long time to finish a piece, but there is just something about that medium that really thrills me. I guess it is because I love to draw so much. I like that better than painting with a brush. Thanks for looking at my work, btw. Anxious to see yours!

I hope your dream comes true for you to work full-time as an artist. It is a real blessing to be able to do so, but then a lot of work in trying to market it too. Kind of takes the enjoyment out of it. But I wish you much success!

I had the pleasure of growing up not far from the home of Lou Kennel. He was the art director of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He also designed the floats for the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in the 1930's and 40's.

We couldn't afford his paintings back then but I have since acquired 17 of his paintings at auctions and antique shops.

It was a lot of fun standing next to him in his barn workshop for hours watching him create his paintings. Sometimes he would ask what we wanted added in the painting and would gladly oblige.

The C.R. Bard Corporation built a new headquarters in Summit, New Jersey and purchased one of his opera backdrops for $330,000 and built the new lobby around the painting.

I also like paintings from George Wheatley. His paintings are all nautical by nature but his detail is what really stands out. Wheatley painted in the 1920's.

Another of my favorites is Hans Junga. He lived in The Thousand Islands of New York State and painted some incredible scenes of The Thousand Islands. Some of the sunsets are so real. I got to meet him a few years ago and unfortunately, he passed away last year.

There was a good Picasso exhibit at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta several years ago and I learned a lot about him there - there was such a wide variety of his art from different periods in his life. I never knew he started out doing such traditional-looking work, and I could see he was just trying to find his own way to express himself shen he began turning to the more abstract style he became so famous for.
There were some pieces that showed such a great sense of humor - I'll always remember this sculpture of a goat, made from bottles and baskets: it was so funny!

I always felt uncomfortable with Picasso's work somehow - have you seen some of his portraits of women?? I think he hated women sometimes; his art seems to show a love/hate obsession. Some of the portraits I saw of Dora Mar expressed such hostility it was disturbing.

But then again, I admire someone who can put that much emotion in a painting. That's a talent we artists can only hope to master sometimes...

Call me weird, but Picasso is one artist I never cared for!

I think Picasso was amazing. Most people don't realize that he did "normal" art as well and it is stunning.

My all-time favorite artist is VanGogh. His works have left the most profound impact on my own work. I even did a copy of Starry Night when I was in early elementary school. I think that one may have won some awards. Anyway, Starry Night is still one of my favorite paintings. I'll see if I can find a link to it.


Starry Night

RW! The Van Gogh, Starry Night, is an amazing painting. I love his work too! Another underestimated artist of his time.

Do you paint yourself? I can't remember..........my brain! I know we have talked about our favorite artists, but I forget if you said you did artwork too.

Like the kilt painted on your avatar idea though!

I do paint some. I have just been blocked for ages.

I am kind of going through a block period myself. I have drawn and painted all my life and for the past year and a half I have just had a really hard time with anything I have tried to do . It has been rather discouraging. I am going through some kind of mental block or something. I don't know what it is.

I've just been reading about Vincent, I got a great book that contains many of his letters to Theo and other people... its fascinating to read his accounts of where and when he did certain paintings, and also about his emotions during the creation of some of the drawings & paintings we're so familiar with now.

I saw some of his paintings first during the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta GA when they were part of the 'Rings' exhibit at the High; the strength of his colors alone was enough to stop me in my tracks. But the most amazing encounter was in 1998 at the Art Institute of Chicago; I entered one of the rooms and there was a self portrait that took my breath. I walked right up to it slowly and just stood there a minute... I swear there was such loneliness in those eyes, such a sense of the isolation an artist feels when they're working from the heart only to have people respond with indifference.
It felt like a conversation, and I think I actually murmured 'I wish I could give you a hug, Vinnie, everything is going to be okay.'

EXACTLY! He was able to convey raw emotion in one swipe if a paintbrush. It is amazing.

There is a point where technique becomes your own voice, isn't there, and you are able to take what's inside you and express it through your pencil or brush... sometimes I think my most important goal is to become eloquent!

Oops, the writer in me is peeking out there...

I have a wide range of favourites... Where to start... Well of course I love all the brilliant artists like Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Munch, Picasso, Monet, and Michelangelo. Lately I have come across newer artists that I adore. Laurie Lipton is somewhat dark but her paintings are emotional.
http://www.laurielipton.com/index.html

I really like this site- check it out
http://www.artofimagination.org/

- Em

My all time favorite is M.C. Esher, but my favorite contemporary Is David Jones, a close and personal friend. He works mainly in acrilic, but has also worked in oils. The one I include here is one of my favorites.

Attached Image. (Click thumbnail to expand)

My favorite modern artist is faairly unknown unless you play card games like Vampire, werewolf or Magic the gathering.
His name is Richard Kane Ferguson and I can barely describe his work so I wll throw a link to a fan site with some of them

Kane's fan site

The other favorite is a long lost relative..tom lovell

Here are some links to his stuff

appomattox

.jpg]UNion fleet passing vicksburg

magazine covers

Moroni



I'll stop now..but he was such a talented artist I could go on