Emma Uber’s Fierce Femme Fatales

Artist Emma Uber, of Australia, paints incredibly colorful portraits. Her series of oils and pastels incorporate beautifully detailed—and mainly feminine—faces that blend into backgrounds filled with thick, vibrant strokes, drips and smears of paint, and bursts of colorful shapes and flowers. Her use of a strong color palette and aggressive strokes, set against the soft features and expressionless faces, sparks an intense curiosity about each of her subjects. Voyeurism to the extreme. The women featured within Emma’s portraits are dripping with the seduction of James Bond’s fierce femme fatales. To see more of Emma’s beautiful paintings and works in progress, check out her website and facebook page.

Leonid Afremov’s Colorful World

Artist Leonid Afremov is a Russian–Israeli modern impressionistic who works mainly with a palette knife and oils. Leonid’s vivid paintings are dripping with Spanish and Romanesque architecture, glowing electric light, romantic themes and a permanent, golden autumnal hue.  Visit his website, here, where his amazing work is up for action at more than reasonable prices.

Christiane Vleugels’ Divas

Christiane Vleugels, uber talented artist in Belgium, paints giant photo-realist portraits with oil. Her surreal use of light mixed with photo-realist details and proportions create her strong stylistic technique. Christiane’s interest in art began at the very young age of twelve, when her parents enrolled her into the Academy of Fine Arts; she was taught under the talented Herman Cornelis. Afterward, Christaine continued her art education at SISA and the Royal Academy of Antwerp.

Her work eventually began to exhibit in Egypt, Liverpool and the Galerie Des Beaux Art in Germany. As many artists have designers have experienced, the success came with much pressure and stress.

“For years I was forced to take on numberless commissions, many of them reproductions. When I look back at those tiresome years, during which I often felt myself under incredible pressure and even, at times, uninspired, I realize they were a necessary part of my artistic journey. After all, it is by taking on all those commissions that I learned to perfect my technique. I really do think I owe my various skills to that endless list of reproductions, strange as it may sound,” – Christiane Vleugels

Christiane no longer represses her urge to paint the ideas that spontaneously sprouted in her heart. As she describes on her website, her art is meant to tempt people to dream. To see more of Christiane’s portraits, visit her gallery on deviantart, here.

Jon Foster’s Thrill-Seekers

Jon Foster is a well-known Rhode Island illustrator, who is responsible for the creation of many science fiction and fantasy book covers, as well as comic book covers and graphic stories. His art has graced the cover and pages of DC and Dark Horse. Jon’s work features the emotions of thrill-seekers, in the moment when good and evil collide and adventure soars.

After completing his studies in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1989, Jon went on to practice his technique of oil paintings on canvas. Before a project is complete, Foster scans his paintings into a computer to add digital effects. Lush and rich, Jon’s paintings of magical and fantastic worlds have established him as a comic artist icon. To enjoy more of his art, visit Jon’s website and Behance page.

“From content, to composition, down to the application of the paint, Jon makes you feel what is going on in his worlds…and his worlds are never one dimensional. The delightful paintings often have a underpinning of sadness, the sad paintings are often subverted with a dash of humor, the horrifying images are somehow beautiful…and the loving paintings often have just a bit of rust — and some dings and scratches — that makes the characters all the more loveable for their flaws.” – Irene Gallo, Creative Director for Tor.com and Tor Books

 

Nancy Fouts’ Paradoxical Juxtapositions

Nancy Fouts is an American-born artist who lives in London for her marketing career. However, it is her fine-art sculptures which has caught everyone’s attention. Her surrealist work poetically marries surprising items; together creating paradox. She has a knack for creating an atmosphere of curiosity and intrigue with her audience. Sometimes her sculptures seem to carry an ambiguous social commentary. Although the artist reassured us, her sculptures are in fact “not [that] deep, but it is entertaining and it makes people smile!” To enjoy more of Nancy’s amazing surreal sculptures, check out her website, here.

Booooooom’s Remake Project

As you may or may not have known, (I have read a great post about this from our friends at The Ludlow Group.) for the past few weeks Booooooom was holding a contest asking for modern interpretations of iconic artwork, called Remake Project. And Holy-Moly!!! The submissions are incredible. I’m blown away at the drama, humor and depth. The finalists have been announced and can be viewed here.  But all of the submissions are a must-see! Which you can check out, here. I’ve posted a few of my personal favorites below. Do you have a favorite? 

“American Gothic” remake by Jesse John Hunniford

“American Gothic” by Grant Wood

“Self Portrait 1889″ remake by Seth Johnson

“Self Portrait 1889″ by Vincent van Gogh

“The Ship” remake by Justin Nunnink

“The Ship” by Salvador Dali

“Pot Pourri” remake by Tania Brassesco and Lazlo Passi Norberto

“Pot Pourri” by Herbert James Draper

“The Incredulity of Saint Thomas” remake by Cope Amezcua

“The Incredulity of Saint Thomas” by Caravaggio

“Untitled Film Still #48″ remake by Louella Martin

“Untitled Film Still #48″ by Cindy Sherman

“Adele Harms” remake by Andrea Di Carlo

“Adele Harms” by Egon Schiele

“Weeping Woman” remake by Frances Adair Mckenzie

“Weeping Woman” by Picasso

“Two Cherubs” remake by Bri Hammond

“Two Cherubs” by Raphael

“Girl with Ice Cream Cone” remake by Stephanie Gonot

“Girl with Ice Cream Cone” by Wayne Thiebaud

“Ohhh…Alright…” remake by Emily Kiel

“Ohhh…Alright…” by Roy Lichtenstein

Elizabeth McGrath Makes Me McHappy

I could not be more happy to showcase the work of Elizabeth McGrath. She is an artist from Los Angeles who brings magical melancholy creatures to life in her dioramas and sculptures. Her creations are finely detailed with surprising intricacies. AND she’s just too cute for words (see video below). Check out her website, here, where you can find more information about upcoming exhibits and join a mailing list. She is also showcased in another video, here.

Heather Bullach is a Star

I am absolutely in love with the art of Heather Bullach. She is truly a master at her craft. She also happens to be from my home town in Canton, Ohio! Heather specializes in realistic portraits. I commissioned Heather to create the breath-taking portrait of Audrey Hepburn (below). Stunning. She used pastel for this piece, but she also works with oil and watercolor.  Check out Heather’s facebook page to see more of her great work and her web portfolio. She is incredible.

Christa Palazzolo’s Talking Heads

Christa Palazzolo is a New York City-based artist focused on using portraiture as a vehicle of mockery, isolation, discomfort, and objectification. Christa created a series that was titled Talking Heads.  It was a series of eight portraits of historical women (Amelia  Earhart, Harriet Tubman, Joan of Arc, and others) all glammed up as if  for a modern-day fashion shoot, the images rendered with a layering  process involving acrylic latex, spray paint, and oil paint. Loooves it!