Tie & Dye

My Aunty has a tourism agency called SJ Tours. She asked me
to take some pictures for her during the Lagos tour. My
favourite part of the day was when the tourists were taught to
make tie and dye scarfs. Most of the tour took place at the Nike Art Gallery.

It was awesome.

How to Suck at Anything

Written by Jonathan from the blog Illuminated Mind

I used to spend a lot of time worrying about being terrible at things. I thought I would make a fool of myself. I thought I would be embarrassed. More than anything, I thought I would fail.

The truth is, all of those things usually happened when I tried to do anything that I wanted to do.

I looked pretty ridiculous, I was embarrassed, and I failed. A lot.

When I first started this blog some of my writing was pretty scary. But that’s what happens when you start anything.

You suck.

And that’s great. Sucking is absolutely necessary. There’s no way around it. In order to get better at anything, at some point or another you’re going to have to suck. That’s just the way it is.

So, here’s the secret to sucking at anything.

Start.

There’s also a secret to never failing and never being criticized.

Don’t do anything. Ever.

The only way to avoid criticism, avoid looking like a fool and failing is to not do anything at all. And if that’s okay with you, fine. But I don’t see any point in living if that’s the case.

When it comes down to it, if you ever want to get good at anything, at some point you’re going to have to suck.

I’d rather be terribly horrible at everything that I do, than do nothing at all. At least that way I know that I tried. I’ll know that I lived and I didn’t just exist.

There’s a secret I’ve learned, though. If you embrace that you suck, it loses its power over you.

So, stop wasting time reading this. Go find something to suck at.

Second Hand

Very Coooool Animation

Second Hand from Isaac King on Vimeo.

A new 7 minute animated film by Isaac King.

"The term "second hand" refers to the ticking hand on a clock; it also describes re-used items. Would you rather save time? Or save stuff? This film examines the imbalance and waste created by these modern obsessions."

©2011 Isaac King
isaacking.net

Music by Jeremy Singer
Audio design/mix by Greg Sextro

Test Shot

My cousin was using me as a test shot for a fashion
photo shoot she was going to do. I didn't know she was actually going to use any of my pictures.

tfkshutterfox

I'd like to share more of what inspires me not just my artwork. I
think you guys might be interested in what goes out in my head apart from what I would like to paint next.

So that brings me to this post.

I'd like to introduce you to my cousin's work.
The photos above is a project she's working on.
Branded

You can check out more of her work over here.

What I love most about her work is that she is really experimental. Like this one and this one.

Hope you guys had a great weekend.

Black Dress

Black Dress. Watercolour. 15"x 12".




I was inspired by Conrad Roset's paintings, so I painted a little looser than normal.

I did some sucky ass paintings before
I finally got this one. It's not been the best month but we all have
one of those moments from time to time.

De Young Museum: Van Gogh, Gauguin Cézanne and Beyond

I go to art galleries once in a while. It was a habit I picked up from secondary school. At that time it was mandatory, which I hated. I got so used to visiting museums and started to enjoy it. Now I go regularly. I went to the Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne and Beyond exhibition at the De Young Museum.

There were a lot of artists displayed but these are my
Top Seven*
*beware, I'm about to get all artsy geeky on you all :)

(7)
Fernand Khnopff

Portrait of Marie Monnom. (1887)

Brief Bio: Born in Belgium to a rich family. He studied Law for a bit but later dropped out and focused on being an artist. He is from the symbolist movement.

Why I like his art: The painting above reminds me of Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter's Mother by James McNeill Whistler. And I like his blurry brush strokes.

(6)
Charles Angrand

Man and Woman on the Street. (1887)

Brief Bio: French painter. He studied at the Académie de Peinture et de Dessin in Rouen. Being a school teacher gave him financial security and allowed him to continue to paint. He normally depicted rural life. He was part of the neo-impressionism movement.

Why I like his art:: I like how he uses pointillism (meaning to paint in dots) to depict everyday ordinary life. His style of pontillism is free moving and not as rigid as the founder of the neo-imprssionism movement Georges Seurat

(5)
Georges Lemmen

Beach at Heist. (1892)

Brief Bio: Belgian neo-impressionist painter. He mainly painted landscapes and portraits.

Why I like his art: I loooove the colours he uses to express the landscape. He really sets a mood that can only be expressed by just looking at the painting.

(4)
Gustave Moreau

Orpheus. (1865)

Brief Bio: French-symbolist painter. His paintings depicted mainly biblical and mythological figures. He made over 8000 paintings, watercolours and drawings. He died at age 72.

Why I like his art: I've always been intrigued by classical art especially ones that depict mythological figures. I like the Pre-Raphaelite movement and researching him brought back these memories. I like the emotion I get in this painting which is sorrow and loss. I like the earthy tones and the composition.

(3)
Toulouse-Lautrec

La Toilette. (1889)

Brief Bio: Born into an aristocratic family. He broke his legs at a young age which caused his legs not grow properly. This made him a short man and he was pretty insecure about that. He delved into art in childhood and that was what he lived for. Due to the mockery of his stature he drank a lot, this later was one of the causes of his death in 1901.

Why I like his art: I love the roughness of his line work, it reminds me of my style. I like his uses of cross-hatching and contrast of colours in order to expose forms.

(2)
Paul Signac

Women at the Well. (1892) Portrait of Felix Feneon. (1890-91)

Brief Bio: At first he he studied architecture before he went into painting. He was incredibly inspired by Georges Seurat and begun painting in the pointillist way. Politically he was an anarchist.

Why I like his art: The people he paints aren't as stiff as the other painters in the pointillist movement. I love the pastel rich colours he uses to express his context.

(1)
Vincent Van Gogh

Portrait of the Artist. (1887)

Starry Night. (1888)

Brief Bio: Sold only one painting in his entire life. With his paintings, Van Gogh started out with dark colours but after being exposed to Japanese art he used vibrant ones. He wrote letters to his brother who financially supported him at times. He suffered depression and other mental illnesses. Apparently, he slowly died from a gunshot wound that he inflicted on himself.

Why I like his art: His brush strokes and use of colours in order to depict forms is so immediate. What I mean is if he wants blue water he will paint it blue, if he wants lights on the water reflecting he paints the water yellow. It sounds so simple but yet it is difficult to execute. He isn't afraid to use variety of colours.

Notice that I didn't have Gauguin or Cezanne. I'm not big fans of their
work. Cezanne being the one if not one the pioneers of modern art I can appreciate what he has done but I wouldn't buy his art. My problem with Gauguin is a personal issue, (lol. Stupid I know)the fact that he abandons his wife and five kids to pursue art. Plus his paintings aren't that great. They are okay, I can appreciate them.

The latter brings me to a question. Is it right to discredit an artist if he or she led a horrible life? If his art was incredible but yet he was a serial killer would you still want him to be celebrated? Share your thoughts!

Surviving the World

This is funny.
[via]

fashion Illustration

I was inspired by this picture on lookbook.

Inspiration: Alphonse Mucha

One of my favourite artists is Alphonse Mucha. He was one of the pioneers of the Art Nouveau period. A lot of young artists love him because of how modern he illustrated his women. People into intricate design find him interesting as well. My version of imitating his work is below. Not has intricate but I tried to incorporate the subtly of his lines. In my work I'm all over the place. :)

Inspiration: Mode2

By Mode 2

I've known this artist for while now (about 2 years). He is a British artist. His art is normally very risque and explicit. I like his boldness and the different ethnicity exposure. I like his girl on the toilet composition. Mine is below.

-click to enlarge -

Title: Girl on Toilet
Medium: Graphite, Watercolour & Ink on paper
Time Spent: About 2 hours
Size: A4

Inspiration: T.S. Abe

There aren't enough artists that draw with graphite professionally. The art above is done by the 20 year old British artist T.S. Abe. I like her work especially because It's realistic but yet you can see the pencil marks. I like when you can see that it is a drawing but still it's realistic. I also enjoy it when Abe tightens her work in the middle then let's go at the edges.

I did a graphite drawing yesterday of my friend. I took only a short amount of time to do mine so it isn't as detailed as Abe.

Title:T

Medium: Graphite on Paper

Time Spent: 2hrs on and off.

Size: A4

To see more of her work (which I strongly recommend to check out) Click here.

Inspiration: Garance Dore

Garance Dore is a French blogger photographer and fashion Illustrator. I really enjoy looking at her work.

more pics of her work . Click here.

I tried to emulate her style, didn't work out well but I enjoyed trying.

Title: Girl in the Purple Jacket
Medium: Watercolor and Ink on paper
Time Spent: About an hour

Size: A4

Inspiration: Newspaper Blackout Poems

I was surfing the net the other day and I found this writer, Austin Kleon. He writes poetry without actually writing it. He gets a newspaper, uses a black marker to cancel out the words he doesn't want to use. It's a redaction method to writing. He posted videos on his website (Click here) An example of his work is below:

This one's called machines and memories. I think this is interesting, it reminds me of the film a beautiful mind (it's a must-see!) where John Nash tried to find hidden codes in Newspapers. In doing this you tend to find your own meaning, what words you think are important.

I was inspired by his work and decided to come up with mine as well.

Title: My Life
This one's called: Classic and Race.


It's interesting what you can come up with. You should try it. My question to you is do you think this is art? People may argue it's not because it's something the writer didn't create. What do you think?