Saturday, March 28, 2009

Whimsical And Quirky

This is a digital drawing entitled "Escape From The Merry Go Round". Looks much better if you enlarge it.
While I was in London last week I visited the London Graphic Centre at Covent Garden and stocked up on some new pens. There are some Edding pens now which I haven't come across before. They are ultra fine (0.1mm) nibs and are in green, blue and red ink. I already have a very fine brown ink pen which I rather like. I also purchased a couple of extremely fine pencils in a pen casing which have replaceable graphite cores which you can change as and when. They are also lovely to work with.

These are the two whimsical drawings I produced using my new pens. It is very nice to work with ultra fine coloured pens instead of black all the time.

Green and Purple Bird - I like this colour combination and have used it quite a lot in my artwork.
Magenta Sundress (and an unusual hat)
Romeo and Juliette by Alex Malik
Flora Girl by Andrey Aranyshev
You may remember that I mentioned a quilt book called 2003 Masterpieces by Husqvarna Viking which I found in a charity shop a while back. It has some gorgeous quilts in it and I decided to post these three because of their beautiful colours and complex designs.

Walks In The Woods - Frieda Anderson
The Hard Core - Tally Ronly-Riklis
Feast of Fools 11 - Scott A Murkin
Some of you may remember that I featured the wonderful paintings and ceramics of artist Este MacLeod back on 8 November last year. She contacted me recently to say that she now has her own blog. You can find it here. It is a very interesting combination of her latest works and peeks behind the scenes into her world of art and is well worth a browse. Also if you click on the web links at the top of her blog it takes you to her other site with oodles of lovely paintings and ceramics. Este will also be exhibiting here in April/May 2009. This image below is one of her works.
The ceramics below are the work of Irish sculptor Christy Keeney. He sculpts mainly figurative pieces and heads. I would love to own one of these beauties. Christy has a website here but if you search on Google you will find lots of his work in galleries.




About nine years ago or so I visited Priors, a wonderful contemporary art and craft gallery in Barnard's Castle in County Durham. Visiting these sorts of establishments is one of my hobbies and is something I don't get to do often enough. I think I could create a career out of it given the opportunity. Anyway, Priors was (it is sadly no more) a tiny place but crammed full of gorgeous things. I bought three lovely handmade cards there by David England who is a printmaker. The cards are actually original linocuts on handmade paper in a wonderful contemporary graphic style. They were obviously made to be sent to someone but these are definitely remaining with me. I don't think he even does these anymore. I don't think they cost very much at the time either.






Frans Wesselman is the creator of fascinating art. He grew up in Holland and in 1979 came to England and worked as a painter/printmaker. On seeing the beautiful "Prisoners of Conscience" window in Salisbury Cathedral he decided to try his hand at creating stained glass. His style of art and subject matter is one I really enjoy. His work whether in painting, printmaking or stained glass is very narrative and imaginative. He is a great storyteller in images. He exhibits his work widely and is extremely popular and well recognised.

You can find out more about Frans Wesselman here. This is his own website here and you see masses of wonderful images at this website here.

All the images below are the work of Frans Wesselman.

Birds
Trixie
Fishing
Bird In Hand
Fishing (Coloured)
Islanders 11
Mermaid
Watering Pig
Rider
Shepherd And His Love White Deer



I have been quite poorly this week, due I think, to someone sneezing in my vicinity at the Byzantium Exhibition. Did you know that a sneeze can travel up to 12 feet. If anyone sneezes near me normally I hold my breath until I am out of their area but that was impossible this time. We were all in a smallish hall and it was so crowded there was nowhere to go. I now have a very nasty cold virus and a horrible cough and constant headache. I am blaming that person anyway although I might have caught the virus anywhere at any time. I haven't really felt like drawing either which is quite unlike me, but I have produced a few pieces and of course it is never difficult to find something amazing on the web.

25 comments:

ArtPropelled said...

Frans Wesselman's work is lovely. Thanks for introducing me to new artists. It's always a pleasure visiting. Love your two whimsical drawings with new pens.

Sandy Mastroni said...

Hi Cathy .... how are you ?
another great post . I enjoy your blog ! I like that watering pig !

Gillian said...

I love your drawing "Escape From The Merry Go Round" - fantastic title! Its always great to find and buy new things for the craft store - your new pens & pencils sound great. Those quilts are amazing - the colours are inspirational! Sorry to hear you've been poorly - hopefully will pass soon!

Cathy said...

Thanks Robyn. I have known about him for ages but never thought to post his work until now.

Cathy said...

I am ok thanks Sandy. Just recovering from an horrendous cold and cough virus but I will live..lol. That watering pig is very quirky.

Cathy said...

It took me a while to think of that one Gillian until I realised they resembled escaping fair ground ride horses. I put those three quilts in especially because of their beautiful colours.

Holly Zemak said...

I'm with you Cathy, I could make a career visiting art and craft galleries,and buy alot,too! Wonderful work by Frans Wesselman. Sorry you are under the weather, but you still put together a great post.

Elizabeth Seaver said...

I love your artwork, and I love the art you love! Thanks for sharing it. Also, thanks for joining my blog!

Old World Primitives said...

Hi Cathy,
I really like your new drawings this week, especially Green and Purple Bird. I love the style of "Romeo and Juliette" by Alex Malik and Christy Keeney's ceramics too.

Stephanie

Cathy said...

Thanks Holly. I have always enjoyed Frans Wesselman's work. I am feeling much better now thanks.

Cathy said...

Thanks Elizabeth. Glad you like the artwork - mine and others.

Cathy said...

Thanks Stephanie. Still plenty of inspiration for new work around thank goodness.

~ Phyllis ~ said...

Hi Cathy,
I love all your new drawings with your new colored pens. I think you are having too much fun,lol.
Escape from the Merry Go Round is a perfect name. The horses look like they are doing just that.
Thanks for the link to Este's blog. Her glass houses are awesome.

Anonymous said...

I really love your "Escape from the Merry Go Round." Love those colors and the style of your horses.

Great blog post. There is always something wonderful to look at here.

Sorry you are not feeling well. Get well soon!

Cathy said...

Thanks Phyllis. Perhaps I am having too much fun...lol. Este's blog is really good. I love her work. Glad you like Merry Go Round. I got the horses from one of my patent free design pattern books.

Cathy said...

Thanks Mellanie. I am feeling a bit better now. I think the virus is wearing itself out thank goodness. Pleased you like the new work.

Pattern and Perspective said...

Hi, Cathy. And now I've tracked your comment to your blog and you have lovely designs as well. So many talented people in the UK!

Pattern and Perspective said...

And yes, I wish I could afford Angie Lewin's limited editions work, but I can on a small scale (ie that book I found on Ebay for 29.99 and although she didn't write it, I think she illustrated the cover and some of the inside stuff - I wish I could look at it first before purchasing. Also, she illustrates some little journals that are lovely, but I tend to doodle and I'd doodle them to ruins.

Cathy said...

Thanks for your visit Joyce. That is the problem with Ebay. It is difficult to get a look inside books before buying. Some nice and helpful vendors provide lots of photos and others don't. I see Angie's illustrations all over the place and they are easily recognisable due to her wonderful style.

BeadBag said...

Hi Cathy - every time I browse your website, and your latest drawings - I want to get my coloured pencils out! Very inspirational.
PS: hope your cough and cold is better.

Caroline said...

Hi Cathy - I left a comment last week but unfotunately don't see it here - we've had a diabolical week with the internet so perhaps it got eaten!! Hope you are well - I love your post as always! C xx

Cathy said...

Thanks Shirley. The cough and cold is really hanging on a bit. I will be glad to see the back of it. Get those coloured pencils out and let us see what you produce...lol.

Cathy said...

Thank you Caroline. Sorry about the comment. I don't remember seeing one and I am ultra careful to click on publish and not reject..lol. I think Blogger may have directed it into cyberspace. Hope your internet problems are sorted out now. That is really frustrating. We rely so much on the computer these days.

Just finalising my post and doing my last drawing. I always try to get everything done early and always end up scrabbling around late on Sunday evening.

MoonEagle said...

Hello,
I was searching for an image of a white deer to purchase and ended up here. Can you tell me if I might be able to purchase a print of the white deer image somewhere?
Thank you,
MoonEagle

Cathy said...

Hello MoonEagle. Sorry but I am unable to sell any prints at the present time.