Fine Art Blog

Category: Artists

Artists

  • Danielle O’Connor Akiyama – Canadian floral artist, simply amazing

    A truly unique floral artist Danielle O’Connor Akiyama, was first published by Demontfort Fine Art publishers in 2007 and has since gone from strength to strength and her portfolio currently stands at 8 published pieces. Her new release is called ‘Heart’s Desire.’

    (Heart’s Desire by Danielle O’Connor Akiyama)

    What I like about the Canadian’s work is the vibrant and bold colours that believe it or not is unique to the limited edition, Floral, art marker. I don’t think I have ever seen such striking colours on floral art before and Danielle’s work stands out from the crowd

    (Moonlight Lovesong by Danielle O’Connor Akiyama)

    All her work so far has been produced on ‘Box Canvas,’ which of course is another reason for its contemporary feel and the popularity of this format of art form has not declined, despite some thinking it had peaked in 2006. (see my post on the art trade’s opinion on Box Canvas’s www.fineartblog.co.uk/?p=22 )

    Look at Danielle’ s ‘Hope Begins Anew’ series (I, II, III) I feel this highlights the uniqueness of her work, the bold colours set against a cold white background, wow!

    (Hope Begins Anew II by Danielle O’Connor Akiyama)

    My message to the artist, please keep doing what you are doing, it works!

    Thank you

    Russell

  • Steven Townsend – UK Collie artist releases ‘Victor’ limited edition

    Released a few months ago, Steven Townsend’s latest release is another triumph for the man who is perhaps, the UK’s greatest collie artist.

    (‘Victor’ by Steven Townsend)

    Steven tells me that ‘Victor is a young dog with a great temperament and a good working dog’ and obviously Steven saw a sparkle in Victor’s eye and decided to put him onto canvas.

    Victor is owned by the same local sheep farmer who raised Bill, you may remember that Bill appeared in two other paintings of Stevens: ‘Bill’ and ‘Bill And Ben’, now very valuable Limited Edition prints.

    (‘Bill & Ben’ by Steven Townsend)

    Although Victor was only 1 years old in January 2008, he already one 12 cards for trailing and is showing huge promise for the future. Steven tells me he had great fun spending time with Victor and the dog was very playful and gentle, with a good nature. I feel Steven has really captured this in the limited edition print.

    Steven refers to him as a ‘Pretty Type’ Collie, as opposed to Bill, who he thought of as a ‘fighter’

    (‘Bill’ by Steven Townsend)

    Let me know what you think of ‘Victor’

    thank you

    Russell

    Useful links:

    What is dog Trailing?:
    http://www.sardawales.org.uk/trailing.htm

    Discussion On border collie Trailing:
    http://www.k9community.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=48697
    http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php?t=86569

  • Caroline Shotton Artist – Special Delivery & Handle With Care, For Charity

    Caroline Shotton is set to release 2 new charity box canvases on July 14th 2008 and £25 from the sale of each item will go to a baby charity called ‘Bliss.’ The charity helps to care for premature babies

    In 2007 Caroline had her second baby, Elliot, who was born prematurely and she heard about Bliss and through them she gained invaluable information about caring for her baby

    ‘Special Delivery’ by Caroline Shotton:

    Both images will retail at £330 each and are sized 22’’ x 22’’ inches, a little smaller than her normal box canvases but are at a much keener price! These are special time limited edition pieces and will only be available from 14 July – 30 September 2008, so hurry!

    ‘Handle With Care’ by Caroline Shotton:

    I really like these images as it brings something different again into her ‘Cow’ genre which undoubtedly she has cornered the market on.

    I never thought it was possible but these cows maybe the cutest images she has ever released.

    If you want to donate directly to Bliss charity, please use the links below.

    thank you

    Russell

    Useful links:

    ‘Bliss’ baby charity – website homepage
    ‘Bliss’ – donation page

  • Artist Beryl Cook’s Original – New record value auction, July 2nd 2008

    As per my post in May the artist Beryl Cook sadly passed away.

    On July 2nd 2008, Bonhams of London held an auction of British artwork and the Beryl Cook Originals for sale broke the previous world record amount for her work!

    ‘Granny with her Pet Mouse’ by Beryl Cook:

    ‘Granny with her Pet Mouse’ has set the new record and sold for a whooping £69,600 Sterling.

    And another original: ‘Dolphin’ reached £66,000. Bare in mind the previous record was £28,800 that is quite unbelievable. It means all her Originals, Limited Edition artwork, including lithographs and silkscreens, will now be even more of an excellent investment for her collectors.

    Many feel Beryl Cook, before she died, was Britain’s most popular artist and the most instantly recognisable in the UK, I suspect this will remain the same for many years to come.

    Some useful links:

    http://www.easier.com/view/Home_and_Garden/Interiors/article-188776.html
    http://auctionpublicity.com
    http://www.bonhams.com
    http://www.governmentauctionsuk.co.uk/news.php?newsid=8923

    thanks

    Russell