Inspirado

One of my favorite things about working at the art school was being surrounded by art and artists and looking at all kinds of art everyday. I miss it. I am glad that there are places like Etsy and Blogspot and the internet in general to help make up for my loss, but it's not the same. I need to do more craft nights, but that is hard with everyone living far apart. I've decided to make sharing art with others a focus of my blogge.

Audrey Kawasaki is an artist whom I stumbled upon just poking around on the internet. I am in awe of her. I could pore over her website for hours and still want more. I lovelovelove that she includes her sketchbooks on her site. She is the main reason I started drawing on wood. Her work also helped me to feel validated in my penchant for drawing pretty ladies. I've never seen her work in person, but I can imagine that it is only more spectacular and haunting. I am on a mailing list. It is a life goal of mine to own a print of her work. She also has a live journal!

The rest of the artists featured are sellers on Etsy. Most I have hearted for years, some I have discovered very recently; all of them make me so proud to be an artist!

Marmeecraft: I love her folk art/victorian sensibility and her simultaneous use of whimsy, symbolism and cuteness. There's something so innocent, yet eerily wise about her aesthetic; I find it to be quite engaging. I also obviously respond to sister imagery; especially when it's mixed with lots of hair. (I have an identical twin sister, we, until very recently, had exceedingly long hair). It's just a bonus that she also draws pictures of cute woodland creatures! Blog too!

sheridesthelion: Ok, so not technically drawing/painting, but I don't think anyone should argue with me on this one. Sonia Romero is the only linocut artist I need. I was initially drawn to her work for the alphabet series, but continue to find everything she does to be artfully and masterfully made and with a really intriguing point of view. She also has a website.

TheBrilliantMagpie: The most wonderful collection of special ACEOs I've seen. Each one of Amy Abshier Reyes' sweet paintings is a story in and of itself; a petite window to another world with a lovely narrative teaser. Her work really invites you in to an interesting little world.

There's also a blog!

mystikaz: My newest find in this list, an artist named Karen A. Townsend (KAT). I just happened upon this shop very recently and was stunned by what I saw. I had to blow the pictures up to their largest just so that I could study them and convince myself they weren't digital/photo art. You have got to love portraiture with this kind of detail and realism; plus, who doesn't love Erroll Flynn?!

www.pencilportraitsbykat.com

- The next two sellers mentioned have obvious talent and style in the drawing department, but maybe should have been in a separate post about artists who work with paper in 3 dimensions. But, I'm doing the post now and I'm including them anyway. So what?

LittleRobot: I love the strangeness and obvious quality that I find in

Lindsey Carr's shop.* This is work that is so different than mine I cannot help but be attracted to it. (But I still get my long hair ladies mixed in!) I adore the jumping jack/art dolls and paper theatre. I am filled with fascinating questions when I look through these

items and I find that so exciting! There's also a blog!

*another shop that I feel the same way about is crankbunny. This shop, however, is closed for an important project at the time I am posting. The link still has interesting info and other sites where you can learn more about this seller.

A major motivating factor in my becoming an artist was simply loving things that other people created. I continue to be prodded along by what is out there and what speaks to me. I think it's magical that art makes artists make more art.

After sharing some of my inspirational artists (specifically for drawing/painting); I would LOVE it if any of my readers shared theirs. I also plan on doing additional posts for other artistic media.