Fine Art Blog

News and Opinions on published UK Fine Art

  • Lord Of The Rings – What’s Gandalf upto nowadays? – artist Paul Horton

    I recently saw some great pieces of artwork and they made me think of Gandalf from Lord Of The Rings!…
    ‘The Secret Path’ by artist Paul Horton:

    ‘The Secret Path' by artist Paul Horton

    Well take a look at these pictures and tell me what you think the story is behind each? What’s Gandalf up to nowadays?

    Well ‘The Secret Path’ is obvious…it’s late at night and Gandalf was indoors watching X-factor on TV and realized he was all out of Coca Cola and Pringles and he decided to nip to the 24 hour garage for some supplies.

    He lives in a nice part of town but it’s very cold and they get a lot of snow….oh yes and his torch (flash light) ran out of batteries so he had to take a lantern!

    ‘When Magic Calls’ by artist Paul Horton:

    ‘When Magic Calls’ by artist Paul Horton

    Oh my god this is so obvious….the family at No.10 are throwing a birthday party for there 7 year old and they have hired a children’s entertainer…little did they know that they hired someone who does real magic!…That’s Gandalf there, he’s just arrived but unfortunately even he is not powerful enough to know which house is No.10, there’s no door numbers!

    ‘Shadowlands – Resin Sculpture’ by artist Paul Horton:

    ‘Shadowlands – Resin Sculpture’ by artist Paul Horton

    Ok well again I know straight away what happened. Gandalf arrived at the 24 hour garage but decided to rush the attendant too much to get his Pringles…little he did he know that the guy was the evil lord Sauron in disguise or was he a Nazgul? I can’t quite remember…anyway basically Gandalf was rude to him and he got turned into stone…only the lantern remained.

    I wonder if the artist Paul Horton, who created these pictures and sculptures, knows the story behind them as well as me? lol

    This is my favourite, I think it’s taken from Gandalf’s driving license!
    ‘The Wizard’ by artist Paul Horton:

    ‘The Wizard' by artist Paul Horton

    thank you

    Russell

  • Spongebob Squarepants – I could do better than that!

    SpongeBob SquarePants & Patirck Star

    I’ve always been a big fan of modern cartoons and animated series. I just love the artwork of the shows. But the question I have for you is, do you think you could draw better cartoon characters?

    Most people I speak to say to me “I could do better than that!, it’s easy to draw cartoons” but thinking about it, I really don’t buy into this. I think people answer like that for 2 reasons:

    (1) ‘The cartoon’s jokes are often very childish and unsophisticated’ – rocks falling on heads, eyes bulging out when a character is surprised lol, so a person thinks…this is childish and so the Artwork itself is childish and I could easily do better…Not so!

    Southpark characters: Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman & Kenny McCormick

    (2) ‘Most of it is done with computer animation, the computer does all the work!’ Yes there is case for this, that lots of cartoons are done with computers, such as Southpark or the Simpson’s movie used computers at certain points etc…But…

    Mr. Garrison & friend from Southpark

    …you are forgetting that the hard part is the initial design of the characters and how each setting or character complements the next one. (So simplistic a task you may think?) It is the intricacy and the nuances of the drawings where the genius lies…A whole lot of thought went into getting Homer Simpson looking right with his 2 strings of hair or the grey parts of his face to show him unshaven or getting Cartman to look like he’s typical outraged self; Colours & colour combinations, shapes, tones…I suspect the creators spent months if not years slowly building up each character and each setting: Mo’s Tavern, South Park Elementary…

    Who’d have thought a family of yellow coloured people would ever be a hit?…on paper that doesn’t work does it? then u haven’t seen The Simpsons!

    The Simpsons: Marge, Maggie, Homer, Bart & Lisa

    Who’d have thought a bunch of really simplistic drawings of characters with basic backgrounds…badly animated by computer would work? Then you don’t watch Southpark!

    Of course the shows are brilliantly written and are laugh out loud funny, but the thing that makes it work is the design, the original drawings that all subsequent shows are based on, which give the shows their unique ‘Feel,’ there own little cartoon universe.

    I can tell you something for free, id love to live in Springfield! :0)

    thank you

    Russell

  • Here Fishy Wishy Wishy! help me count the fishes please?

    Thought id post this great pic as I really love Koi carp fish and I found this very, very relaxing to look at.

    (‘On Golden Pond’ by artist Michael Jackson, this is a painting and not a photo!)

    'On Golden Pond' by artist Michael Jackson

    Ok the quiz is as follows: how many fish are in the picture? lol it’s actually not as easy as it looks, this artist has done such a great job of painting that its hard to tell what’s a ripple of water, a fish or a light reflection. It’s so photo realistic it’s amazing.

    Apparently there is a ‘limitless variations’ on possible colours of Koi carp, wow! I’m interested in buying some already. It’s actually a very popular hobby in the UK to keep or breed Koi carp and they can live up to 30 or 40 years old; apparently one lived to be 200 years old! (See link below) Must have been all the oily fish he was eating lol

    (‘Like Fish That Pass In Night’ by artist Nicola Read)

    'Like Fish That Pass In Night' by artist Nicola Read

    Anyway, I love fish and the fact in art terms you could paint them in so many different ways, photo realistic like artist Michael Jackson has done….in a contemporary style with big splashes of bold colours, look at artist Nicola Read’s pieces or even in a cartoon/naive style, such as artist Linda Jane Smith’s work….the different ways are limitless.

    (‘The Fisherman’s Arms’ by artist Linda Jane Smith)

    'The Fisherman's Arms' by artist Linda Jane Smith

    Anyway if you want to read about this Koi Carp that allegedly lived to be 200…use the link below..in the meantime I just thought id post a random photo of a large Koi carp…enjoy!

    Take a look at this guy, he is big (Photo of a Koi carp)

    Photo of a Koi carp

    thank you

    Russell

    Further Reading:

    Japanese guy talks about various Carps – Some lived to over 200 years old!

  • These cows likes to pose, Big time! – pictures by artist Caroline Shotton

    Just got the latest Cow art pictures and they are hilarious. Basically they are Caroline Shotton’s take on some of the world’s most famous paintings. Can you guess the names of the pictures these funny paintings are from!?

    Moona Lisa by artist Caroline Shotton

    If you are an average Joe and have no knowledge of art, have a look at these pictures and just see them for what they are, Great cow pictures.

    The Cow With The Pearl Earring by artist Caroline Shotton

    But if you feeling clever, then here’s a test for you guys, like I said can you guess which photos they are representing? Ill post the answers soon in another post

    The Laughing Cowvalier by artist Caroline Shotton

    Ok once you know your score, here’s your rating

    1) 1 Correct answers: you are a ‘Silly cow’ and you need to drink more milk

    2) 2-3 Correct answers: you are a ‘Jammy cow’ and you’ve been eating your grass! well done you’re getting there

    3) 4-5 Correct answers: you are a ‘Clever cow’ and you get a free chocolate milk shake

    4) 6 Correct answers: you are one ‘Lucky cow’ and there no one else like ‘Moo’

    The Moo by artist Caroline Shotton

    The collection is called ‘The Great Moosters’ lol, someone must have been in a good mood that day! The 6 Cow pictures by Caroline Shotton are titled:

    -Moona Lisa
    -The Cow With The Pearl Earring
    -The Laughing Cowvalier
    -The Moo
    -The Persistence Of Moomory
    -The Smooch

    The Persistence Of Moomory by artist Caroline Shotton

    The Smooch by artist Caroline Shotton

    all by Caroline Shotton

    thank you

    Russell