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Matthew Cook
UK illustrator Matthew Cook often works in an area of illustration known as reportage, essentially called on to observe and report on scenes in which news or events of interest to the publication for which he is working are happening. This is something of a throwback to the days prior to the widespread use of [...]
Eye Candy for Today: Van Walscapelle still life
Still Life with Fruit and Oysters, Jacob van Walscapelle Show-off. From Museo Lázaro Galdiano on Google Art Project. Click in lower right of image for zoom controls.
Drawn 2005-2013
I was sorry to learn today that Drawn, one of the bright go-to points on the web for regular shots of cartooning and illustration inspiration, has ended its run after 8 years. Started in early 2005 by cartoonist and illustrator John Martz, and eventually drawing on a collaborative rooster of artists, Drawn was always finding [...]
Anecdotal Portrait
Many of Anders Zorn's early portraits are painted in watercolor. He was just 25 years old when he painted this one of Clarence Barker in 1885.
In a letter, Zorn explains the idea behind the portrait: Barker "reclines comfortably on the...Show More Summary
Eye Candy for Today: Paul Weber pencil drawing
Forest Scene, Paul Weber Roughly 6×5? (15x12cm). In the Walters Art Museum. Click “Explore Object” in upper left of image for zoomable version.
Samuel Gurney Cresswell
Samuel Gurney Cresswell (1827-1867) was the official ship's artist and Second Lieutenant aboard the HMS Investigator, during an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage.
The Investigator was on a mission to find two other lost ships,...Show More Summary
Kenne Gregoire
Kenne Gregoire is a Dutch painter who is showing his work in the U.S. for the first time in an exhibition that opens today at the Arcadia Gallery in New York. (Note that the link given will change to the next current exhibition after 6/1/13. After that you may still be able to access the [...]
Fialetti's figure drawing books
For many centuries young artists have trained by drawing together from sculptures. This etching by Odoardo Fialetti (1573-1638) shows apprentices copying casts in a painter's workshop.
In 1608 Fialetti produced a very early figure drawing manual called Tutte le parti del corpo hvmano diuiso in piu pezzi. Show More Summary
Jim Wodark
Though I was familiar with the online portfolio of Colorado plein air painter Jim Wodark (pronounced “wood-ark”), and already had him on my list for a post, I had the opportunity recently to meet the artist and attend a demo he gave at the recent Wayne Plein Air Festival here in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Wodark was [...]
Eye Candy for Today: Georg Flegel still life
Still Life, Georg Flegel This wonderful little painting is only a little over 10×13 inches (27x34cm). The original is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. High-res image here (2.8mb).
Donkeys
This time of year the donkeys want to get rid of their winter coats, so they like like a lot of scratching, especially Jezebel, the oldest donkey.
It kind of makes it hard to concentrate when she leans her head on my shoulder. "I must...Show More Summary
The House of Savoy
Superb illuminated paintings distinguish this visual regional history as an album of outstanding quality, to my eye. Please do yourself a favour by clicking through directly to the very large versions of these parchment page images so you can better inspect the manuscript illustrator's exquisite and detailed work. Show More Summary
Stone Age Cinema
Observers have noticed before that paleolithic cave paintings often show animals in multiple poses, superimposed to suggest movement.
(Video link) Marc Azéma from the University of Toulouse Le Mirail in France has made animations by isolating and alternating the poses.
Thanks, Rob
Eye Candy for Today: Arthur Rackham Rhinegold illustration
Rhinegold and the Valkyries, page 28, by Arthur Rackham Image from Wikimedia Commons For more on Rackham, and additional links to images and resources, see my most recent post on Authur Rackham.
Art Museum Day 2013
Not to be confused with the more general Museum Day in September, which is sponsored by Smithsonian magazine (my post here), Art Museum Day is a relatively new event, started last year, that is sponsored by the Association of Art Museum Directors. This Saturday, May 18, 2013, participating art museums in the U.S. Canada and [...]
Wayne Plein Air Festival 2013
The Wayne Plein Air Festival, held here in Southeastern Pennsylvania each May, is now in its seventh year and has grown into an important regional plein air event. The participating artists paint for three days at locations within 15 miles of the town, one day in nearby Philadelphia and one day in the town of [...]
Manikin in the Snow
In the winter of 1892, two artistic comrades, John Singer Sargent and Edwin Austin Abbey, set up an artist's lay figure in the snow. They set about to paint it, each with a different mental approach. According to art critic Royal Cortissoz,...Show More Summary
A Good Bookstore is...
Here's my definition of a good independent bookseller.
One example is Back Pages Books in Waltham, Massachusetts.
Which is your favorite locally owned bookstore?
Donkey and horse mini-paintings
Yesterday on my morning walk I did these tiny sketches of a donkey and a white horse with an old sable watercolor round brush and casein paint. Casein is an opaque water-based paint.
Instead of starting with a pencil, I jumped straight...Show More Summary
My Tor.com post on the Fleischer Superman cartoons
I’ve written before on Lines and Colors about the beautiful and groundbreaking series of Superman cartoons created by Fleischer Studios that ran before feature films in the early 1940?s. I’ve written a more extensive article for Tor.com that delves into their place in the onscreen history of the character. It was posted this morning and [...]
