In the world of contemporary art, two movements have emerged as key players in the shifting landscape of artistic expression: post-modernism and neo-expressionism. Both movements represent significant departures from the modernist paradigm that dominated the art world for much of the 20th century, and yet they approach this departure from very different angles. In this … Continue reading An ‘Ism’ Overview – Post-Modernism vs. Neo-Expressionism
Considering the wabi-sabi-ness of David Park’s Art
David Park was an American artist known for his contributions to the Bay Area Figurative Movement. His style was characterized by his loose, gestural brushstrokes and his focus on the human figure. While his work often included elements of abstraction, it also possessed a certain rawness and imperfection that is indicative of wabi-sabi. In this … Continue reading Considering the wabi-sabi-ness of David Park’s Art
Where we find Wabi-Sabi in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Art
Jean-Michel Basquiat's art is full of wabisabiness, a concept that derives from Japanese aesthetics that embraces the beauty of imperfection, transience, and the natural cycle of growth, decay, and death. Basquiat's art captures the essence of wabi-sabi through his unique style that blends graffiti, neo-expressionism, and primitivism. His works are a celebration of the imperfect, … Continue reading Where we find Wabi-Sabi in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Art
Taken Aback – Music-book Doodles 2022
I've drawn this one before differently... I feel I have a slew of portraits/faces I would like to redo in different styles... I don't recall getting as successful an expression in the first attempt. She appears intensely shocked at something. The messy blending technique I'm loving these days really works on the facial tones... it … Continue reading Taken Aback – Music-book Doodles 2022
Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Seven: A Deconstructed Italian Flag?
See T'Hed Fifty-Six for more... Ok, so maybe I'm reaching with my title question... a red stripe... a white stripe... where's the green stripe? Perhaps the yellow and blue floaters have the answer... if they combine... Yes, I'm reaching! The rough and raw feel (ie: messy) that I love works on this one and gives … Continue reading Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Seven: A Deconstructed Italian Flag?
Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Six: The pros and cons of small faces
See T'Hed Fifty-Five for more... It works... I think it works, right? The crayons spread the China marker and muddy the colours I choose for the skins... it shows less on larger faces, but adds some volume to these smaller ones. The subtle background colour choices really helped with allowing the gouache to make more … Continue reading Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Six: The pros and cons of small faces
Working out an Inspiration – T’hed Fifty-Five: Using Mistakes
See more at T'Hed Fifty-Five... I think the use of more subtle colours over the surface is allowing the black outlines to jump forward. As I went through a couple of inches of China marker making them, regardless of my fruitless attempts at not breaking it. I might have to retry charcoal with other materials... … Continue reading Working out an Inspiration – T’hed Fifty-Five: Using Mistakes
Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Four: Trusting the material a little more…
See more at T'Hed Fifty-Three... I feel this might be the best of the five I did this same day. Maybe it's the bigger face that allows the contracting colours to sine individually, or it's that I was using the materials a little better to cover the surface, or my colour choices just worked better... … Continue reading Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Four: Trusting the material a little more…
Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Two: Working with mistakes
See T'Hed Fifty-One because you really want to and you know it! Still sticking with the yellow-ish printer paper as my substrate (and I've prepared several others with it...); I glued on some wallpaper and old (cotton paper) music sheet pieces. I let it dry before painting on some gouache, and let dry again. This … Continue reading Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-Two: Working with mistakes
Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-One: Mixing it up!
See T'Hed Fifty... just because! Sticking with the odd (11" x 17', yellow-ish printer paper) as a base, I glued on a scrap piece of wallpaper, and tried to paint on some (black) gouache. Then I let it dry (to see if the pastels would work better on the dry paper, because they tore it … Continue reading Working out an Inspiration – T’Hed Fifty-One: Mixing it up!
The New Renaissance Mindset 