paintings Archives - Adventures of Yoo

January 4 2017

Beautifully Ethereal Oil Paintings by Stanka Kordic

While watching my first CreativeLive video, Finding, Defining, and Marketing Your Photographic Style, I learned that we can find our own photographic style by emulating our favorite artists. We don’t copy them outright, rather, we analyze their work and think about what elements of theirs we can add to our photography. Teacher and fellow photographer Julia Kelleher challenged her class to find three sources of inspiration. These people can be painters, designers, digital artists or even other photographers. I racked my brain to come up with my top three. They would be Max Wanger (love his use of negative space), the late and great Rodney Smith (his compositions were impeccable) and Audrey Kawasaki (her oil paintings on wood panel take my breath away).

One of the artists that Kelleher is inspired by is Stanka Kordic. During all my time at My Modern Met, I had never heard of this painter before. As I looked through her body of work, I fell in love with her style. In particular, I love how she paints flower petals, they look like they’re swirling in the air. It’s almost as if you can see the wind. Her mother/daughter paintings are especially evocative. They remind me of the pure love a mother has for her child.

Here’s what Artist A Day On-line Magazine wrote about her work:
“Stanka Kordic’s collectors would say her work affects them on many levels. To see her entire body of work, the art critic may have trouble putting her into a specific category. Both would agree she is one our best modern painters. Neither traditional impressionism nor expressionism, nor figurative realism can be used to label Stanka Kordic. Her paintings speak for themselves, never nostalgic replications of by-gone days, but truly contemporary and magnificent examples of Modern Art rendered with the skill and passion of the Master’s traditions. Her paintings provide lasting pleasure as one is always delighted to find a previously undiscovered passage with each new glance.”

How do you feel about Stanka Kordic’s work?

Art & Design

October 26 2016

Beautiful Watercolor Paintings of Whales by Rachel Byler

If you love watercolor and you can’t get enough of whales, you’ll want to check out these fine art prints by Rachel Byler. The Pennsylvania-based artists creates lovely paintings of whales playing just under the surface of the water.

Byler states why she loves to work with watercolor on her website, “Although I love all types of art, I am particularly drawn to watercolor because of the versatility that it allows as far as being able to pick up and paint wherever. I love having to work with the flow of the water. The most beautiful washes and blooms come about when you give more control to the movement of the water.”

Love the unfinished look of the dripping paint.

The Colorful Cat Studio website

Art & Design

August 17 2016

Gorgeous Paintings of Women Merged With Nature by Miho Hirano

Today I came across the oil paintings of Miho Hirano and immediately fell in love. The way the Japanese artist merges women with nature is breathtakingly beautiful. She is represented by Gallery Sumire which had this to say about her:

“Miho Hirano is attempting to express the fragility of life as well as its maturity and continuously changing circumstance. The flowing lines of curves and the subtle colors are signature elements in her works. She successfully composes in one frame human and natural motifs such as flowers, birds, fish or water. Her delicate oil paintings invite viewers to her world in which decorative beauty and fragility perfectly co-exist.”

Hirano will be a part of Los Angeles’ Corey Heldford Gallery’s 10th Anniversary exhibition which starts August 27 and runs through September 24. She joins a whole host of other artists including some of my favorites like Camilla D’Errico, Haroshi (his skateboard pieces are insane), Kukula, Luke Cheuh, and Paul Frank. This is the ultimate exhibition for art enthusiasts, students of art, art collectors and anyone else interested in a large and awe-inspiring overview of what is currently happening in the New Contemporary art scene.(My favorite genre of art.) Mark your calendars. This is going to be one heck of a show.

Corey Helford Gallery website

Art & Design

April 15 2016

New Sweetly Surreal Paintings by Camilla D’Errico

The online preview of Camilla D’Errico’s new series Dances With Dreams was just released and it includes so many sweet and surreal paintings. The upcoming show begins on April 23 and runs through May 21 at the Corey Helford Gallery in Los Angeles. The Canadian painter is completely self taught! (How inspiring, right?) She is among a group of female artists, which include Audrey Kawasaki, Amy Sol and Stella Im Hultberg, who paint beautiful young girls in the Pop Surrealism category.

Camilla d’Errico’s website

Art & Design

April 4 2016

Monet and Van Gogh Paintings Recreated with Newborn Babies

Some of my all-time favorite paintings have been recreated with newborn babies! Dallas, Texas-based photographer Lindsay Walden has been focusing on newborn photography since 2010. After a recent trip to Kimbell Museum in Fort Worth, Texas, Walden was struck with an idea. She would combine two of her loves, for great art and for newborn photography, into one series.

The Newborn Masterpiece Collection was born. After the initial idea, she spent the next 24 hours creating an online folder of all of favorite classic works of art. Impressively, Walden handmakes every backdrop using material like wool roving and deconstructed yarn. She places all of these “paintings” on a sheet of bubble wrap.

So far, Walden has created six pieces. She plans on creating six more, bringing the whole collection to twelve. I especially love the Monet and Van Gogh pieces.

“I think because we are all at least somewhat familiar with the classic art pieces, that there is something very personal about viewing my images. Something that feels akin to coming home,” she explained to Mashable. “Van Gogh and Monet are part of our lives, part of our families. We all have experienced the original paintings and been touched by them in some way. To see them anew with a fresh perspective and a darling newborn mixed in creates a reaction that is nothing short of visceral.”

Lindsay Walden’s website
via Mashsable

Art & Design

January 5 2016

Breathtaking Black and White Watercolor Paintings of Children with Animals by Elicia Edijanto

Using only black and white watercolors, Jakarta-based artist and graphic designer Elicia Edijanto creates breathtaking paintings that show the unique connection between children and animals. In her dream-like scenes, small, young children stand alongside wild animals like bears, elephants and buffalo. The juxtaposition makes each painting feel surreal in a tranquil, contemplative way. “There’s an innate relationship between children and the animal kingdom,” she states. “Our children sing songs about animals, they have toy animals, they have books about animals and they dream about animals.”

I got the rare chance to interview Edijanto on her background and technique, which you can read about below.

How did you learn how to watercolor? Are you self-taught?
I learned it all by myself. I practice a lot, and I try and explore different things. I sometimes like to watch YouTube or other artists’ paintings to know more about their techniques.

How many years have you been painting?
I’ve been painting since childhood. As I grew up, I painted occasionally. I majored in design at my university so that kept me close to art and the creative world. It allowed me to have more time and a chance to work on paintings. Slowly but surely, it got more and more serious, and now I thank God that I’m able to do what I love while supporting my life as well.

How has your watercoloring changed over the past year?
Actually it hasn’t changed a lot. The concept and message, even the style are still the same. There are still a lot of things that I can explore, and I don’t want to rush to move into another different ground. However, for the past year, I’ve tried to picture different kinds of atmosphere in my paintings. From silence to chaos, from mild to wild. I’ve also learned more about many animals, their characteristics, and what they represent.

What are some of the special techniques you use?
I’m depending a lot on watercolor’s fluidness. In fact, I don’t do much, I just wet the paper with water, put on some amount of watercolor, and then just let it flow and make its own shapes. Just like in real life, we can’t control everything. Sometimes we have to let things go their way. Let it be. Sometimes I like using a sprayer and other tools to achieve particular effects.

Why do you only paint in black and white?
Colors can have both its advantages and drawbacks. I believe that the effect of colors on people is subjective. It can enhance the beauty and message of an artwork, but sometimes, it can also mislead you. In my case, I want people to focus on the essentials in my paintings, the emotions, the atmosphere. I want to focus on those things and leave out the colors. But this doesn’t mean I won’t use colors on my paintings in the future. I love colors. It’s just how you carry it out with the message you want to send.