Heather Brown Art

I’ve been loving the art work of Hawaii-based artist, Heather Brown.  She has a unique style, concentrating on oceans and beaches as her main subject matter.  Her work’s become widely-internationally known over the past few years. I even had the privelege of meeting her in person at the Wyland art gallery in Waikiki.  She was nice, personable, and really down-to-earth.  I also got to see her work on some paintings! Really unique and amazing stuff.

http://www.heatherbrownart.com/home.php

South Straddie 18 x 24 Acrylic on canvas

Diamond Head 24x36 Acrylic on canvas

More Shells!: Kelsey Nicole Miller Jewelry Designs

While browsing though facebook, I stumbled upon yet another jewelry designer, Kelsey Nicole Miller Jewerly Designs.  They are handcrafted jewelry designs using primarily seashells, which, as you know am currently totally infatuated with right now.  Not only am I painting them, but I have always loved shell jewelry.  It comes for my love of the ocean, sea creatures, waves, surf, the beach, and just Hawaii in general.  Kelsey Nicole Miller Jewelry Designs is based in Hawaii on the North Shore of Oahu.  She also specializes in custom orders.

It’s a fairly new company, and is still working on getting a website up. Her stuff is on facebook, however, and you can contact her through facebook or email about purchase inquiries, custom orders, etc.

Gold assorted bangles

Turquoise Drupe Teardrop Earrings

Abalone Wave Necklace

Gold Sunrise Hoops w/ Pink Coral and Freshwater Pearls

Rings

She Sells Seashells: pt. 4 – Research & Ideas

Since I’m currently working on seashell paintings, I thought it’d be good to look at some other paintings of seashells done by other artists.

It was interesting to find what I did.  I can see and compare the methods in which these artists render the seashell objects, what kind of composition they use, and how they place it on the canvas.  It gave me some ideas that I’m interested in experimenting with my own work, and how I can push the dynamic elements in my own paintings.

Beth Kirk, Shell II on Beach, 11″ x 14″, Acrylic

I like the use of shadow and the colors in the background make the composition come together nicely. The colors of the shell are gorgeous!

http://www.bethkirk.com/index.html

Shell
4.25″ x 6″
Oil on Cardboard

Oil on cardboard is an intersting use of material.  It works well with this painting, complimenting the earthy, natural feel, as well as color palette.  The rendering of this broken shell is incredible in all it’s realism and organic beauty.

http://paulkeysar.blogspot.com/2009/06/shell-available.html

Sydney Biennale: Wilderness Balnaves Contemporary Painting

To continue more on the exhibition that was up at the Art Gallery of NSW during the Sydney Biennale…

The title of the exhibition was “Wilderness: Balnaves Contemporary Painting.”

14 leading and emerging Australian contemporary artists consider the natural world that exists in our minds, memories and imaginations.
Artists: Del Kathryn Barton, Daniel Boyd, Andrew Browne, Stephen Bush, Tony Clark, Julie Fragar, Louise Hearman, Fiona Lowry, Nigel Milsom, James Morrison, Alex Pittendrigh, Mary Scott, Megan Walch and Michael Zavros.
The subject of the exhibition was so interesting.  The more I think about it, though, the more I realize that that’s what makes interesting art – creative juices and what’s in the subconscious, in our memory, in our dreams…

Once, again, some amazing works of art! I was so inspired.

Del Kathryn Barton, Louise Hearman, Tony Clark were among my favorites of that exhibition.

Images by Del Kathryn Barton We too have been there, though we shall land no more 2009 (detail); Louise Hearman Untitled #1304 2009

Sydney Biennale

This past week, our painting class had the opportunity to go to the 17th Biennale of Sydney to see some amazing art!

We visited a bunch of different galleries such as the MCA, Art Gallery of NSW, Artspace, and even got to go to Cockatoo Island, which had some really cool installations all over the island. The highlight for me was Wilderness Exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW.  The paintings were incredible, and it was really interesting to observe the different types of materials and methods that these artists used.  Seeing all the works of art were really inspirational and made me just want to start work on my own paintings!!!!

If you have a chance, go check out the Biennale! I highly recommend it!

Trang chủ

Cockatoo Island:

This was a huge room video installation on displayed 3 different parts at one time.  The viewer sits in the middle, while the 3 different films play all around the room.  BUT, they weren’t actual films.  This work was created using 750,000 different photograph still shots, composed to create the effect of a film. Crazy cool!

Another cool art piece. I adore the colors!

Cars suspended from the ceiling with flashing light rods going in and out of them.  This was my second time seeing this work. The first time I saw it was at the Seattle Art Museum.

She Sells Seashells: pt.3

Speaking of seashells, I’ve recently been loving this new jewelry line, Reverie Oahu, jewelry made primarily out of shells. Reverie Oahu is owned and designed by Alyssa Wooten.  You can purchase her stuff through inquiry on her facebook page, Reverie Oahu.

Check it out!

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000243892279&ref=ts

beautiful, cute, simple, LOVE ♥

Georgia O’Keeffe

This semester, I’ve been looking at the art work of Georgia O’Keeffe as a source of inspiration. Since I usually paint flowers as my subject matter, my painting advisor suggested that I look at Georgia O’Keeffe.

I’ve heard about O’Keeffe before, but have never really really had the chance to observe and study her work.  I checked out a few books from the library and was able to view and study O’Keeffe’s works of art. I was amazed and really impressed at what I saw. I really admire her art.  I like that she paints a lot of flowers, which is the subject matter that I work with also – flowers, plants, nature.. What’s unique about her is that O’Keeffe paints these flowers from a different perspective. She zooms in on the flower, so that it totally occupies the whole space.  At first, a viewer may not perceive the painting to be a flower, but instead, the eye focuses on the beautiful abstract shapes and curves.

The way she renders her flowers is really interesting. She’s able to blend the colors to create a soft, soothing feel.  O’Keeffe works with a colorful palette, making colors vibrant and pop.  O’Keeffe does large-scale paintings of natural forms at close range, as if seen through a magnifying lens.  That was an approach that I haven’t really thought of incorporating in my own work, but after studying O’Keeffe’s paintings, I think I’d really like to try and experiment with scale.

I was also looking at some of the paintings O’Keeffe does of seashells.  They are amazing! Since then, I’ve been working on paintings of seashells myself.  I actually collected a bunch of shells during my travels to Turros Heads and the Gold Coast.  I’ve been painting some of my shells from life.  It’s been a great subject matter for me to dive into and experiment with.  Painting from life is something I don’t normally do, but I think it’s a good break from painting from photographs, and is a good observational exercise that really forces me to learn skills on modeling, form, and color.

So, yes, I’m totally infatuated with Georgia O’Keeffe right now! I really would like to see her paintings in person some day.  She’s such a fantastic inspiration for me as a painter, and I’m excited to continue learning from her!

Take a look at some of her amazing work:

Georgia O’Keeffe Biography

http://www.georgia-okeeffe.com/index.html

Some seashells:

Some of her flowers:

"Jack in the Pulpit no. IV"

"Lillies"

"Oriental Poppies"

Travels & Inspirations pt. 3: More Beach Art

While on the Gold Coast at Surfer’s Paradise, I saw some pretty awesome sand sculptures on the beach.  Seeing these took me back to my little girl days of building sand castles or sand pools.  Except these were a bit more complex.

Seeing these made me think of how accessible the beach / sand is as a medium and material in itself.  Just by the simple elements of sand grains and water, pretty much anyone, not just artists – whether it be children, casual beachgoers, tourists, can be creative and artistic.

This adobe-looking house sand sculpture caught my eye. I liked the very structured edges and stair details

This awesome sand sculpture was right at the entrance of Surfer's Paradise. The artist that designs and creates these makes a living off of donations doing this. The fire was lit in the mouth at sunset. Really cool!

Travels & Inspirations pt. 1

During our two week Easter holiday, I had the amazing opportunity to travel around Australia! It was EPIC, to say the least. I traveled to Sydney, the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Cairns, and Melbourne! I am so blessed to have experienced these exciting new places, cities, towns, people, sights, sounds, nature, beauty..

Along the way, I discovered arts and inspiration for my own art..

It was Easter Sunday while I was in Sydney, and I had the chance to visit the Hillsong Church Easter Celebration! It was crazy, because I absolutely love Hillsong’s worship songs! They are simply amazing! I never would have ever thought I’d have the opportunity to actually witness it in person!  Anyway, the Easter celebration included galleries with art and film exhibitions.  Some of the art was absolutely stunning! I was really impressed with some of the work on display.  And what was more awesome was that all of the art pieces related back to Christ in some sort of way.  I thought it was so great that people were using their art talents as a testimony, and to share God’s love with others.  Because isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?  To use our talents for God’s glory?

Looking at these works of art gave me inspiration and new ideas to experiment with different surfaces and mediums.

Take a look at some of the beautiful work that was on display:

"Piercing the Darkness" by Carla Hananiah

artist: Clare Yee

artist: Clare Yee

"Awaken" by Leanne Thomas

Interactive works of art by Kate Hendrick. Images applied on curtain blinds, bolts, and blocks. Audience must rotate to change image. I thought these were very clever and impressive ideas in my opinion