PaintBlog

It’s been a while, but I had to come back to congratulate Shaun Downey (previously posted about here), his painting “Blue Coca” has been included in the BP Portrait Award Competition exhibition, and on top of that is being used as the main advertising image for the competition!  I can easily see why, this is a stunning portrait that seems to reveal a great deal about the subject while simultaneously suggesting an inner life that remains mysterious.  Great work!

Image taken from the the star article about Shaun’s work, August 1, 2010.

There is a fantastic, dream-like quality to Chloe Early’s canvases.  Urban super-structures give way to polar ice caps while bathing suit clad tourists lounge in the soft glow of unreal skies. This isn’t just another day at the office my friends, this is something much much better.

Thanks to The Jealous Curator for bringing Early to my attention!

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I tend to use texture in an incredibly minimal way when I paint, but I love finding artists like Jean Moiras who use texture in a such a bold way.  It’s a good thing I’m only looking at these paintings online, if I were standing in front of Moiras’ work in a gallery I’m not sure I would be able to resist the urge to reach out and touch them.

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Filled with comments on and references to art history, mass consumerism, environmental issues, social stereotyping and much more, Lisa Birke’s paintings verge on sensory overload. Spend a little time within the dense visuals though and you will be well rewarded for your efforts.

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Being the fan that I am of cityscapes it probably won’t come as much of a surprise when I say that I am loving these urban landscapes by Jeff Bellerose, and I have All the Art Out There to thank for making the introduction.

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There is a softness and warmth to Anthony Velasquez’s finely detailed still life paintings that has won me over in a big way. I would complain about the limited number of works available for viewing on his site, but this is clearly a case of quality over quantity, and I can’t complain about that.

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Some paintings strike me because of their technical brilliance, others I love for their powerful use of colour, and many I fall for simply on the basis of subject matter.  Of course, in the case of Chelsea James’ work, I can say there is a bit of all those elements, but more than that there is a pure gut feeling that simply tells me I’ve come across something incredible today.

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