Bill Donovan

Wow- love his simplicity in his strokes of ink/paint and his color sense. Great forms and sense of composition...

Bill Donovan

Vintage Deco Bridge Tallies

I found these amazing vintage art deco bridge tallies featuring all sorts of cute girsl and flapperes from the 1920s on flickr. I love the super cute designs and colors- such eye candy!  I really dig the art deco designs and the use of bright candy colors with this vaguely pin-up sort of feel.

From the flickr set: "They are diecut--cut along the edges. They have a score area on the opposite side--used for the game of bridge but during 1920s and 1930s - it was all the rage, apparently." 
 
Flickr set- http://www.flickr.com/photos/picture-perfect-designs-jewelry/sets/72157613269398023/
(many thanks to flickr user finsby for uploading all these!!)

The Beautiful illustrations of Virginia Sterrett

Just came across Virginia Sterrett's work, a dazzlingly talented female illustrator, and am just in love with her stuff. A contemporary of Kay Nielsen, she illustrated beautiful illustrations for a variety of picture books in the 1920s, including Tanglewood Tales, Old French Fairy Tales, and Arabian Nights.

She died remarkably young at only 31 of tuberculosis, and I found it so impressive to read her life story (especially being a female artist myself, working in California, like she did)- she was truly a talent- hope you find her as inspiring as I do! I love the way she handles the female form, the colors, the art deco lines, and the content (fairy tales, etc)

Biography
Flickr Set

Audrey Kawasaki

I think I have to officially thank my friend Arvin for turning me on to Audrey's work, although I had seen it before, it was going to get a print at her Thinkspace opening a few months ago that I got to see a full show of her work in person and up close.

As I've been painting more and more recently, and thinking about where I want to take my own art, I've been studying her style a lot more, and admiring her sense of color and the soft erotic nature of her female forms. I also love the way she works in animals into her pieces- it's very intimate and emotional in a very subtle but strong way.


http://www.audrey-kawasaki.com

 

 

 

Camilla d'Errico

I've had a slow burning fascination with Camilla d'Errico's work- when I first saw her work profiled on Boing Boing, then in person at G1988 at the Crazy for Cult show, I liked it, but the more I see of her stuff, and the more I look at it, the more I really start to appreciate it more and more.

I really like her subject matter of juxtaposing girls and animals, her sugary-sweet color palette (strong but sweet and delicate at the same time), and the way the girls eyes pop out of the canvases is so arresting.

These are some of my favorite works of her, and some sampling of some of her beautiful color palettes. Check our her website (which has her blog, online store, and a bunch of links) here-

http://www.camilladerrico.com

 

  

 


 

Japanese watercolors

Found these in a stationary store in Japantown, San Francisco

"Plovers" Shoko Uemura 1976

"Fawn," Shoko Kawasaki 1943

"Green Pond" Seiho Takeuchi, Early period Showa

Tsurutaro Kataoka, 1998

"Snow in Morning" Goun Nishimura 1922-25

Hadley Hutton

I found Hadley Hutton's work via A Print a Day blog , and thought her stuff was really amazing. I love her blend of asian aesthetic (Japanese woodblock, floral motifs), nature (birds, plants) and especially her colors.  Her medium of encaustic, gouache, and colored pencil really make the pieces seem shrouded in wispy cotton candy as well.  The pieces are sweet but strong, and I found her stuff really inspiring.

Go check out her website and her Etsy store where she sells prints!

Unnatural colors

Was looking up some reference, and stumbled across this stunning photograph- I just love the colors, composition and stark composition. Also the contrast of unnatural vs. natural (pollution).  Found at the We Can't Paint blog

Nickel Tailings No. 34, Sudbury, Ontario, 1996 by Ed Burtynsky

Edmund Dulac

I'm a huge fan of fairy tales and especially of the "Golden Age" of illustration, and Edmund Dulac is up there as one of my favorites.

I love the colors, lines, composition (love the simple way of blocking out fields of color) and subject matter (I'm a sucker for fairy tales). I really dig the influences of Pre-Raphealite techniques and Art Nouveau / Arts and Crafts design as well.

Images from Edmund Dulac Art Images (which include prints for sale)

Additional images can be found at Asifa-Hollywood animation archives

Norse Coasters

I got these coasters on a trip to Norway, and I fell in love with the colors and designs. I'm missing one in the set (my favorite, of course, of Freya ; a blond Goddess with cats), but I hope it will turn up one day and I can scan it in and add it to the rest.

The rest portray classic Norse Gods and Goddessess, including Loke, Frigg, Tor, Idun, and Odin.

I wish I knew who to accredit these too; I've long since lost the packaging they came in, and the only initial/ signature I can find on the artwork is "S.G."

Tammis Keefe

My friend Sandra posted about this amazing 1950s textile designer, Tammis Keefe, and I found her stuff to be so beautiful and simple! They evoke such a whimsical sense of style, design and color sense.

Here is a fantastic set of her stuff over on flickr- these are just a small sampling of some of her stuff!