Monday, January 04, 2010

new inspiration



I love Mark Ryden. Dark and disturbing, his paintings resonate with brilliant color and Renaissance echoes. The Tree Show is a particularly good book, the plates are vibrant and the photos of the ornate frames being carved are amazing. I feel like carving frames again.




I'd never heard of Scott Musgrove and bought this book on the recomendation of Amazon. I like it. Its weird. His creatures are odd and characture- esque, with their stretched mouths and forlorn expressions. I like the good quality of the book, how the paper feels, not to mention how fun the paintings are! His pallette is right up my alley, lots of pink and green!


The illustrations by Nicoletta Ceccoli are dreamy and bright, like sweet confections. Azalea loved the pictures (she promptly asked me to make nearly every toy she spotted). I loved the style, sort of diffused and airy, yet the details tightly rendered.


I've been an admirer of Femke Hiemstra's paintings for awhile. I love how she tucks her jewel-like pictures into old tins and on beaten books. They are so small, so intricately detailed, so strange...I love them. So, I made out like a bandit, with my new stack of books. I feel my creative batteries getting charged every time I open one of them. I look at color a lot, but am drawn to the imagery, whimsical and surreal. Now I'm torn, should I paint or wire wrap? Well, both those will have to wait, I have to keep carving! The new pewter designs are slowly emerging, I have a new heart link with a dainty skull surrounded by swirls, a faceted bead that will (hopefully) look like silver pyrite and some tiny nugget charms that look like wax seals.

9 comments:

Sharon said...

Whoa, that last Femke Hiemstra painting reminds me a bit of Hieronymus Bosch! Lovely books, all. I will have to check them out at Amazon, thanks for sharing!

Andrew Thornton said...

What a treasure trove indeed! Lots of inspiration to draw from for sure. Once you're finished carving the new designs and prepping for the BIG show, just imagine how much fun you'll have!

Can't wait to see the new pieces. I am working on a bracelet that could use one of those faceted pyrite chunks right about now!

Anonymous said...

Ooooh! What fun books to look at. I especially like the last one that is in the little box with everyone smoking. Azalea is right, all the characters are so cute, I wish I had a toy of each, too. Have a great time painting!

Anonymous said...

cant wait to see the new designs!!!

Suzanne said...

I had to drop you a note I received Enchanted Adornments as a Christmas gift (it was on my wish list) and wanted to tell you just how much I love it. Your book is brilliant, enchanting, beautiful and truly inspiring. I really can't say enough good things about it - Thank you so much for putting this treasure together!!!

Pretty Things said...

I love art like that, and I agree with Sharon about it reminding one of Bosch!

Fibuline said...

I discover your blog and your art I like very much!!

Unknown said...

You might like illustrator Yoko Tanassa, he just did the latest book for Kate DiCamillo, (author of The Tales of Desperaux). My oldest (8) loves this book and all her stuff.

http://www.themagicianselephant.com/

Cheers!

Anna Rubio
Deux Fleurettes
www.deuxfleurettes.com
twitter.com/deuxfleurettes

Unknown said...

opps, Yoko Tanassa is a she, I forgot!