Art in my Life (part II)

So we have established that I am a linear thinker. What kind of artists inspire a linear thinker? Well, for me, they are the artists that do the total opposite of me. LOL! I can't do what they do so, for me, it is totally inspiring to examine their process and hope that a little of that sinks into the creative side of my brain. Hey, a girl can always hope, right? :)

My favorite artist of all time is probably Monet. I LOVE impressionism. It boggles my very linear mind that you can add all these little dabs of paint and end up with such glorious, romantic works of art where you can actually tell what they are...*without any lines*.
The Luncheon by Monet
He is one of my favorites because so many of his paintings are from one of my favorite places in this world, France. He has also done an entire series on Normandy and I have actually stood in so many of those same places and seen the vignettes that he has painted. That is so cool and makes his work more personal to me.

But I do love most of the impressionists. Renoir also falls into that grouping. His paintings have such a depth of color that is amazing to me. His paintings also tend to feature women which I love and really admire having spent most of my college career trying to draw/paint women's figures.
Two Sisters on a Terrace by Renoir

Along the lines of artists that feature women, another favorite of mine is Waterhouse. I really like the era that he paints from and the quality of the work that he puts into the flows of a woman's dress. You can feel the breeze blowing when you look at his paintings.
Boreas by Waterhouse

I really love most pieces that feature France, romantic subjects, and really anything that falls in the more feminine realm of beauty. One of my favorite series ever is this one by Vettriano. I really need to do some research on him as an artist because I don't know anything about him or any other works that he has painted. I just know that everytime I see one of these prints from this dancing beach series, that I just love them and that is mainly because of the subject matter.
Singing Butler by Vettriano

Those are my favorites from the artists that are no longer with us. Now we move on to the artists that are still alive and creating.

Several years ago, we lived in Oklahoma City and one of our favorite events was the Prix de West art show at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum every year. In 2001, the winner for the event, Morgan Weistling, blew me away with his paintings. This piece is the one that won the event, but he had several pieces entered and every time I saw one hanging on a wall, it would stop me short with the incredible beauty and depth. I LOVE HIS WORK!! Go check out his website because his gallery of work is definitely awe inspiring.
The Dance by Weistling

As you all know, I am a papercrafts artist, and as such, I have to touch on my favorites in this area too. As far as overall artists in the papercrafts field, my absolute favorite has to be Sharon. I had to laugh yesterday when I posted how I am a linear thinker. Sharon was my first commenter (and unbeknownst to her that I was going to be including her in today's post) and her comment was, "... I'm going to have to find out what a linear thinker is. I don't think I understand." LOL! That is exactly why I love her art. She creates incredible layers of paint, tissue, drawings, etc into these gorgeous works of art. And even better, she goes through her creative process on her blog so that those of us that don't think that way, can hope to channel some of her brilliance. I received this piece of mail art from her this week and even DH was blown away by the gorgeous look of it.
Mail Art by Sharon

When it comes to scrapbooking, I have so many favorites, but I am blown away every time I see a piece by CD Muckosky. She was last year's CK Scrapbooker of the Year and she has such a creative way of putting her products together that would never occur to me. I love the distinctive look to her scrapbooking and her super-creative style.

For cardmaking, I am a huge fan of Lilybean (Melissa Phillips). Out of all the artists that I have talked about today, her style is probably the closest to mine. She creates GORGEOUS shabby, romantic cards with piles of layers and depth to them.

And now you know, my favorite artists.

I will be back later today with a post about Rhonna's {21} day challenge because it starts today!!! Yippeee!!!

smiles,
Christi