Fine Art Blog

Category: Contemporary Art

Contemporary Art

  • Artist Caroline Shotton has released some new artwork

    Exciting news Caroline Shotton fans! She has released some new art again!

    These pieces available to preorder until the end of March/beginning of April when the art will be officially released but by this time some of the pieces will have already sold out!! That’s how hot Caroline Shotton is right now.


    ‘Hoof Hearted’ by Caroline Shotton
    (Limited edition box canvas)

    There are five new pieces, some following on from previous popular themes and colours; all have humorous titles, like all of Caroline’s previous limited editions.


    ‘On The Mooove’ by Caroline Shotton
    (Limited edition box canvas)

    We expect ‘On the Mooove’ to be very popular as it themed similarly to previous releases “Handle With Care” and “Special Delivery” which sold out very quickly indeed. Also ‘So In Love With Moo’ has the same colour themes (red) as “I Give My Heart To Moo” and her four Autumn 2008 releases including “Moo Too” & “Two & A Calf” we expect it to be just as popular!


    ‘So In Love With Moo’ by Caroline Shotton
    (Limited edition box canvas)

    Caroline’s art has been ridiculed by art critics in the past & yet she continues to show that the opinion of the art buying public & not theirs is paramount. Kind hearted, she has previously released art for charity and today most of her art sells out within weeks of publication.


    ‘Sh*t Happens’ by Caroline Shotton
    (Limited edition box canvas)

    I believe it is the mixture of her signature endearing cows, humorous titles & all her limited editions being hand-embellished (making them as close as possible to the original) that make her art so unique and collectable with the British public. Added to the fact that we Brits have a natural affinity to the countryside and to the idyllic image of the English countryside that the diary cow is part of.


    ‘Girls Night Out’ by Caroline Shotton
    (Limited edition box canvas)

    Thanks

    Vicki

    Links:
    How to paint a cow
    Video about the Super Cow

  • Artist Nicky Belton – shes not all bras & knickers you know!

    Nicky Belton is a popular contemporary artist with a lot of influence from the textile and fashion industries.

    Her preferred mediums are handmade papers and bright inks, which she uses to create her Original paintings. This style may sound unusual but it matches her art perfectly. Her limited editions are then reproduced from these original works.


    ‘Naughty Little Number II’ limited edition print by Nicky Belton

    Nicky Belton is most well known and loved for her pictures of corsets and other lingerie, however she also paints cats, dogs and female accessories such as handbags and shoes. This means that her art tends to appeal to women a little more than it does to men but I have still heard men say how beautiful her art work is!


    ‘Corsets I’ – original artwork by Nicky Belton

    Her designs are beautiful yet a little bit saucy. Her original art with their intricate designs & colours actually matches the colour & feel of the paper well. The slightly creased, materialistic texture of the handmade paper gives an interesting look to the artwork and I don’t believe it would looks as good without it. I especially like her pictures of corsets with pretty designs of flowers embellished with silver paint. The colours in these pieces are more subdued yet opaque.


    Kinky Corsets I, limited edition print by Nicky Belton

    I think it worth paying that little bit extra for an original piece of artwork, after all, how could one not appreciate more the handmade paper and the hand-embellished artwork? Of course all original work is unique – so when a person buys a piece of her art there will never be another exactly the same & that is another reason buyers prefer them. I have heard several viewers say that if only Nicky actually made the lingerie accessories she paints, because they would buy them!

    Links:
    To learn how to make your own paper
    How to buyer Lingerie for your body type

  • Artist Sarah Graham: Chupa Chups, London Buses & Cola Bottles!

    Sarah Graham is a realist artist who paints big canvases featuring toys and sweets. Inevitably, the end product of her work is very bright and colourful, and usually looks good enough to eat!!!


    Lollipop Lollipop, limited edition box canvas by Sarah Graham

    Sarah says that she has always been interested in art since childhood & fell in love with her oil paints bought by her dad when she was 8 years old. For her, art was a natural talent, one of the few subjects she didn’t have to work hard to achieve her grades.

    Did Sarah Graham identify a gap in the market by choosing to paint toys and sweets? (something not seen in this format before) Or was it the nostalgia of remembering childhood experiences? She says that her inspiration is simply ‘colours’ & the use of these in her work and interesting textures she can achieve with oil and other mediums…as well as being a big kid at heart of course!


    Routemaster, limited edition box canvas by Sarah Graham

    Some people, on first seeing her box canvases, believe they are a clever Photoshop creation but they are not, they are limited edition prints from her original paintings! This just shows what a talented artists she is, so good that it looks computer generated and makes a picture of a cola bottle look so real that you think you could pluck it from the canvas and eat it!!!


    Penny Cola, limited edition print by Sarah Graham

    Who would have thought pictures of toy cars and Black Jacks & Chupa Chups would sell? Yet it has sold, very well indeed in fact. It is the nature of her work that has attracted so many fans and collectors, the realism, the vibrancy of colour and the fun subject mater that make Sarah Graham so popular.

    Thank you

    Vicki

    Links:
    Buy Fair Trade Sweets
    The International Sweets & Biscuits Fair

  • Artist George Somerville: A Glaswegian Kiss Anyone?

    George Somerville was born in Glasgow and is a self-taught artist, as his family couldn’t afford to send him to art college despite his obvious talent from a young age. He began his career by painting pictures of community groups and factories of different types, as he felt that they reflected his childhood, growing up in 1950’s Glasgow. However, he soon realised that his work was changing and no longer had the industrial backgrounds of his early work, and the characters were becoming more prominent.

    Have a look a couple of his new pieces…


    An Unexpected Gust (original painting) by George Somerville

    Brrr! looks chilly! just like British weather-especially Scottish weather!


    Street Party (limited edition print) by George Somerville

    Something that rarely happens these days, a street party!!

    Somerville has also released some sculptures of his work, and here is an example of how it looks:


    Blown Away (sculpture) by George Somerville

    George Somerville’s work reminds me a lot of Alexander Millar’s work, in that they both have a similar style, painting older working-class gentlemen: ‘Gadgies,’ often sideways or with their backs to the viewer. As well as this, they both have a style where the background is hazy or blurry with no detail. They also both often feature a dog in the pictures with their main characters.

    I would love to hear from you if you agree or disagree, which artist you prefer or any comments and opinions you would like to post about George Somerville!!

    Thanks for reading,

    Tanya

    Useful Links:

    Glasgow
    Northern Art Prize (Competition)
    Northern Art prize 2009 finalists announced