Stuff I Love: Art

I wish I had more room to put art on the walls and the money to put it there, and perfect frames to put it all in.  Here are a few of the things I'd get, given the chance.

Pearl by AmberAlexander

Anyone who's seen one of my sketchbooks knows I love drawing Rococo era ladies in their tall wigs and gorgeous gowns, so of course this lovely Marie Antoinette-style woman with her friendly rodent companion, by Amber Alexander, hits me right where I art.

Steam and Sails by EllyMackay

Okay, anyone who has ever read my blog has probably seen Mackay's work before.  I love her stuff and actually already own two of her prints. Recently, though, she came out with a new series featuring steamboats which I love just as much as her other stuff and which somehow seems just as magical even though its a simple city and water scene.

May by ErinTyner

Erin Tyner's work has shown up here before as well, in the SIL about miniature.  I find her photography of train model figures in little landscapes slightly surrealist, breathtaking and beautiful (and yes, photography is art).

Winter Rains by Kecky

This print from Kristin Kemper was one of the first things I favorited once I got into Etsy, and even now I still love it. It evokes everything it is supposed to.  I look at it and think of winter and coldness and rain and stillness.  It moves me in a way there aren't quite words for.  As a matter of fact, every piece I've selected today, evokes emotion in me, invokes a part of me.  After all, isn't that what good art should do?

Love At First Sight

There is such a thing.

It had to have been the very late 90's or early 2000's, because I was in NoDa (our arts district) back when it was better (more on that in another post), on a Gallery Crawl Friday.  I used to go to Noda nearly every weekend, stopping in all the galleries from Green Rice to Beet, and ending up at Fat City to watch firedancers outside, eat a grilled cheese, and undoubtedly lust after some boy whose band was playing.

But before I got around to all that, I walked into the (now-defunct) Center of the Earth gallery and immediately fell in love with an artist.

The painting was called "Invitation to Optimism" and it showed a woman with wings, head bowed, holding a dark frame.  Behind her, on the horizon, was a line of dead trees, but inside the shape of the painting they all bloomed brilliantly.   It was everything I ever wanted to see in a painting, everything I wanted to be in an artist. It was soft, ethereal, surreal. It had a bit of fantasy, darkness and just enough light.

The artist's name is Duy Huynh (pronounced Yee Wun), a Vietnamese-born artist who moved to the United States as a child  in the 80's and found refuge in art in a new and foreign place.  Obviously, he grew up, got great and makes breathtaking works.

His paintings were often shown at Center of the Earth, and whenever I went down to a gallery crawl, I would go look, see if there were new ones, look at the old ones.  Eventually, I stopped chasing the boy in the band and stopped going to Noda quite so much.  Whenever I would go down there, however rare, I would still look, and dream of the day (which hasn't happened yet) on which I'd own one of his painting or, better still, the day when my art would compare.

Center of the Earth is closed, and Huynh opened his own gallery a few years back, Lark and Key, first one in Noda, then one in South Charlotte.  The one in Noda closed and I haven't seen a painting of his in person since.  Still, like an old girlfriend checking on the flame she never quite fell out of love with, I still often look up his work online, visit his website, and that of his gallery, and dream little dreams that are not quite as beautiful as his paintings.

The Afternoon Walk

A fellow artist friend of mine said he liked how I used to "small window" to look at things.  I've never been one for covering a large canvas or space with my art.  My images are simple and don't need a lot of room to get their view across.  I don't think I've ever made anything larger then 12 x 18 and the majority of my work averages 4 x 6 inches.  Today I made another "small window" onto a another world, where the skyis green on summer afternoons and most of the plant life is bigger than the people.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/73835409/the-afternoon-walk-ooak-original

I like my little windows.  They give me a good view.

Monday Spotlight on: Jaime of ArtInspiredLife

Jaime is another April's Army member and a woman who has achieved the kind of realism in art that most of the rest of us wish we were capable of.  At the same time, she manages to balance it with equally surreal works that are just as beautiful. 


Tell us three things about yourself.
1) I am a stay at home mom with 2 kids ages 4 and 18 months.
2) I am an oil painter, portrait artist, and surrealist.
3) I have lived in many cities in 9 different states all over the US. I am truly a nomad and will always be searching for that green grass.

What's your medium and how did you get into it? My main medium is oil, though I can work with many artist mediums. I got into oil, because I can work with the drying time much better than anything else I've tried. I love the look of the final product, and I can achieve the desired results better with oil than any other medium.

What's your favorite thing you've made? All of my paintings are my babies, but this one is my absolute favorite 

Tangled in Purgatory 

From where do you take inspiration? As a small child, I thought that art was something you learned, no different than reading, writing, walking, etc. Two of my aunts are fine artists, my dad can draw, my uncle draws comic book characters, my mom does crafts, my grandfather painted, and an aunt on my mom's side owns an art gallery. So i grew up thinking artistic talent was quite normal. It wasn't until I got to school that I found out it wasn't. My favorite artist is Salvador Dali, he inspires me because he was famous during his life, so that gives me hope. He also died of old age and painted all the way up to his last days. I can look at his work over and over and always see something new.


Name one piece of art you wish you'd created and why? When I lived in Florida, there were huge fires all over the state. One day I went for a walk during the fires. I came to a lake, with a pier that went to the middle, I sat at the end of the pier and saw the most amazing sight. The lake was surrounded by trees, on my left side there was an enormous smoke cloud. It was brown, black, white and thick smoke that engulfed that side of the sky.  When I looked straight ahead there was beautiful clear blue sky. On my right there was an equally enormous storm cloud with sun beams bursting through it and lightning bolts. The storm cloud was very dark, angry and ominous, but it was nature on it's way to help put out the fire. It was the most magical and frightening thing I have ever seen. The image is still in my head and I will paint it one day, I just haven't found the right canvas.

What are you doing when you're not crafting?When I am not painting, I am a mother. I take care of my kids and the house. I'm in charge of finances, making appointments with doctors, dentists, etc. Cooking, laundry, all the mom stuff, there's not a lot of time for much else.

If you had to give up your medium and pursue another, what would it be and why? I have always been curious about welding, I am also a sculptor, I just don't have the workspace. I think that teaching art would be the only other replacement for what I do.

Tell us about a time you were making something that came out better than expected and how it happened. 

http://www.etsy.com/transaction/42936406

This one turned out way better than I could have imagined. The only way my work comes out this good is when I turn off my mind, and go into a kind of meditative state. At that point I paint more with my heart and feelings and I get lost in the work. Usually I will overthink technique and the piece doesn't come out as good. The heart isn't there. My work is always better when I'm on autopilot.

Who is one person living or dead, famous or not, who you wish owned one of your creations and why? I love when anyone takes an interest in my work, but I'm sure if someone like Oprah owned one of my pieces, I could say I have truly made it.

How would you explain how to do what you do to an eight year old? I would first let them know that there is no such thing as perfect art. I would teach them techniques, but never focus on right or wrong. I would encourage them to experiment and paint with their heart, and not get hung up on whether it looked just like the subject. Children can become discouraged easily by being told they are doing something wrong.

What's your favorite part of the process? The smell of the paint, and getting my hands dirty. I also love the meditation that comes with shutting off all logical thoughts. Getting lost in my work, gives me similar feelings as falling in love.

One random thing you think people should know. When you purchase a painting from an artist, no matter what you've paid for that piece, it is always difficult for the artist to let that piece go. We are very attached to our pieces. I love when my art sells, but it is hard to say goodbye.

Amsterdam Blond Bottle

What did you want to be when you were ten? An artist, I have wanted to be an artist for as long as I can remember.

If you want to see more of Jaime's work in her Etsy store, you can check it out  here.
You can visit and fan her Facebook page here  or follow her Twitter  right here.  
Last but not least, read more about her at her blog, over here.