Fine Art Blog

News and Opinions on published UK Fine Art

  • Artist Simon Claridge – Gives Famous Faces A Whole New Look!

    Simon Claridge knew he wanted to be an artist since he was very young. He claims to be extremely grateful to his college where he developed his artistic skills immeasurably in draftsmanship. When asked what he wanted to do when he grew up he always said he wanted to be an artist! Simon finally left his education with a BA in Fine Art at the University of Reading.


    Blondie by Simon Claridge

    From that time, he still wanted nothing else but to become an artist and painted whenever he had the chance. He says that he could not, and still cannot, imagine a life where he would not be an artist. His art quickly became popular with the public, he gained a large fan base, and was published by Washington Green.


    Kate by Simon Claridge

    Claridge claims to love the human form and his art does reflect this. The inspiration for these six pieces are celebrity women, including Twiggy, Kate Moss and Blondie. Simon uses Acrylic paint to achieve his look, topped off with ‘diamond dust’ (also the name of his new collection), which really makes the art look unique. These images of celebrities are not new, but the way he has captured them is very clever; they show you how the modern meets the classic. Using old retro style white frames, it gives a classic feel to the art overall.


    Monroe by Simon Claridge

    Simon has experimented with different art in the past, always coming up with something new and exciting, but I believe that this new style is going to be his most popular yet. This style could easily be continued with other celebrities, perhaps male celebrities next? and I’ll bet that the celebs are queuing up for the opportunity to be painted in this way. The way he paints his subjects with their classic facial expressions and the innovative use of colour (monotone) makes his pictures completely unique to other current artists. In his new collection, when asked which his favourite piece is, he said that his favourite piece is “Twiggy”.


    Twiggy by Simon Claridge

    You really need to get yourself to a gallery and see for yourself how great these pictures look, a photo online does not do this fantastic art justice at all. The diamond dust is not visible on the pictures, and you just can’t appreciate all the craftsmanship and thought that has gone into this art without looking at it face to face. I still can’t believe it was painted, not computerized!!!

    Links:
    More on Twiggy
    More on Kate Moss
    More On Marilyn Monroe
    More On Blondie

    Thanks

    Vicki

  • Timmy Mallett: not just a TV talent but an Artist as well!

    Firstly please make sure you not sipping tea or using heavy plant machinery, ok here goes…I bet you didn’t know Timmy is now an up & coming UK artist. Surprised? Well read on…

    Timmy Mallett began his media career as a radio presenter, starting at BBC Radio Oxford in the early 1980s and later as a children’s television presenter starting on TV-am. He would become known to millions of viewers of early morning TV for his eccentric dress sense, consisting of brightly coloured shirts & crazy Elton John-esque glasses & his ultra hi-energy presenting.


    Sunflowers In France by Timmy Mallet

    Many will have memories of Timmy’s actual toy Mallet: Pinky Punky or ‘Mallet’s Mallet’ on TV or dancing to Mallett’s Cover of “Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” or more recently in 2008 TV’s ‘I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!’


    Rooftops By The Castle – Original by Timmy Mallet

    Timmy’s love of art runs very deep & a little known fact is that he studied History of Art, as part of his ‘History’ degree, when attending the prestigious Warwick University (U.K). Mallet has always painted but surprising it was only in recent years that he has decided to ‘put his artwork out there’ & the results, as you can see are pretty extraordinary; Showing a depth of artistic talent not normally associated with zany TV characters! Timmy Mallett’s recognition as an artist is growing rapidly.


    Shoreline Sunset by Timmy Mallett

    He is also good friends with fellow artist & TV personality Rolf Harris (now an accomplished published artist of some 7 years) and many say they have similar style. Mallett has painted many famous faces including Sir Clive Woodward, Ulrika Jonsson and Jim Rosenthal during Queen Elisabeth’s Golden Jubilee.


    Tower Bridge by Timmy Mallett

    For 2010, Timmy has released some new pieces which are refreshing and his use of colours intriguing. Don’t be too quick to judge Timmy before studying his artwork carefully. Although his celebrity name might get bums on seats, or bums into galleries!, this is no celebrity cash-in but a serious artist whose talents should be appreciated.

    Thanks for reading

    James

    links:
    Timmy’s first Scottish Exhibition in 2008
    Official Wacaday website
    Surrey Herald Article on Timmy’s artwork

  • Artist Inam: From Forests To Your Front Room!

    Today we are looking at the impressive original & limited edition art from one of the most popular and inspirational artists of the moment, he is known simply as ‘Inam.’


    Towards The Light IV – Original by Inam

    Inam was born in Karachi, Pakistan, where he was taught how to draw and paint by one of his primary school teachers, who spotted his talent and encouraged him to develop it further. From there he travelled to several cities to study art. In 2001 Inam became a professional artist, with his original art proving extremely popular as well as his limited edition prints. Some of his current original art sells for thousands of pounds and he has fans from all walks of life.


    Autumn Splendour by Inam

    Inam paints pictures of forests or woods, and his most popular pictures were painted using the colours white, burnt sienna, orange, yellow and red. The way he has uses the colours gives life to the silver birch tree he paints & also seems to represent the seasons; the white one looks like a wintery scene, the oranges and reds give an autumnal feel to the picture, and the yellow one immediately makes you think of summer.


    White Woods V – Original by Inam

    Inam’s paintings appear to beckon you into them, as he always paints a secret pathway or trail into the forest in his pictures, which is so picturesque and realistic, you feel as though you can easily step into the woods and follow the path into the unknown! Upon closer inspection of his art, you can see that he uses a lot of paint, as the picture is almost three dimensional; with the thick build up of coloured paint to represent the texture of the leaves and branches coming out of the picture.


    Burnished Gold by Inam

    Links:
    How To Paint Landscapes and Trees
    Silver Birch Trees
    List of Pakistani Artists

    Thanks

    Emily

  • Artist Alexander Millar – what inspires him to paint?

    A number of weeks we wrote a blog about newly published artist George Somerville and compared his work to that of Alexander Millar’s, today the blog will focus on Alexander.


    Young at Heart by Alexander Millar

    A professional artist for some 21 years, Alexander Millar was born and raised in a small mining village in 1960 near Glasgow called Springside & in his own words it felt more like growing up in the 1940s than the 1960s! He spent a lot of his youth around the older generation of Scots: men dressed in dark suits, smoking pipes, and burly women in aprons and headscarves.

    His dad worked for British Rail & as a child accompanying him to work, Alexander gained more inspiration for his future paintings as he found the old Railway stations to be very Romantic. Of course the architecture of these stations would have been nostalgic & a throw back to Scotland’s industrial past – this influence is seen throughout Alex’s paintings.


    My Family & Other Animals by Alexander Millar

    Moving to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne after finishing school aged 16, he tried several jobs before becoming a professional artist in 1988. He claims that it was quite a culture shock to move from the sleepy village he grew up in, to the hustle and bustle of the city, as you can imagine! But the city also had its own share of ‘Gadgies’ – (a northern Scottish term for an older generation man) to inspire his paintings.

    Fuelled by his extensive Childhood memories, he had a huge source of inspiration to work from, what is more astonishing is that Alexander is a self taught artist, which is an amazing achievement for any commercial artist.


    Keepy Uppy sculpture by Alexander Millar

    Thanks,

    Vicki

    Links
    www.scottish-memories.co.uk/
    www.accessingscotlandspast.org.uk/
    1960s Scotland