Diattaart Blog

I have 2 favorite floral painters whose work gets me excited to paint some flowers, Richard Schmid and Robert Kushner. Robert Kushner was first a performance artist sometime appearing nude in the late 70s and early 80s. He has become known for his lavish and lushly created paintings. The work is okay on the computer, but when you see it person it is overwhelming the craft involved in one of his pieces. Most works contain acrylic, sometimes oil paint, a leaf  such as gold, copper or aluminum or silver leaf, and even glitter. The glitter really adds a WOW ! factor in person but online you can’t even see it.

He was a founder of the pattern and design movement in the 70s and uses a variety of mediums in his work sometimes only using fabric in a mosaic type style. He also from time to time does mosaic work.

The biggest lesson you can learn from him is to try and mix mediums and also to try working bigger than you ever have before.

keep learning daily! You will go far quickly.

Dan

this artist uses a variety of  media in her work and even makes video installations.  I really enjoy her large paintings of various professional basketball players in Portland. I really enjoy looking at her depiction of Rasheed Wallace with all the microphones ready to capture one his outrageous remarks.

The Wallace piece is made on paper with pastel, colored pencil,and acrylics. Its 72 inces by 110 inches so really impressive from a size point. Its as if you can really feel how large the basketball player is in real life(nearly 7 foot tall)

The artist attended college in Michigan in Kalamazoo graduating in 1995. Also watch for the exciting negative shapes used by the artist.

Keep learning!

regards,

Dan

here is a great artist using cut paper and water-media to give a different artsy feeling to the same old boring rocks and streams you see. She got her degree from Pratt Institute in 1978. She started working with waterfalls mainly in Palenville, NY. It was here she started making the collages in black and white. Now she uses color and hundreds of fragments of color to make her pieces.

The artist first does a plein air on site sketch in watercolor or gouache that is 12 by 16 or smaller.  Working from this and other studies in the studio she creates the collages using paint, charcoal, and paper.

How about trying a collaged landscapes  for each of the seasons. I think they are great because it teaches you to use bits and fragment of color rather than just one blob of paint.  It really becomes apparent how many colors you can use if you do a portrait in a collage style.

Keep experimenting! Don’t ever be afraid to fail, just learn from your mistakes!

cheers!

Dan

I love this artist’s work. Sometimes she works on panel and even copper. Using a wide variety of mediums she usually several different images in her works combining them all to make one fantastic image. The artist went to art school in Missouri and also took classes in New York City and Italy. Text is also important in her work and the layered effect is also another tool this collage artist loves to use.

The artist uses photo emulsion on sheets of copper and acid washes to find some abstract shapes and patterns.The artist even states that due to the nature of the materials that are used, the image relies on an element of chance.

How about trying a collage today. Don’t forget to check out Picasso and my favorite floral collage artist Patrick Locicero for some inspiration as well!

Get those pencils and brushes moving!

Dan

you might recognize the name, His grandfather was Charles Paul Gruppe, a highly regarded painter of marine life and also a great plein aire painter as well. His uncle was Emile Gruppe, another highly respected artist. His father was  deeply gifted cellist.  The artist studied at Yale and Columbia and also earned a fullbright scholarship to study abroad and ended up studying in Italy.

This artist has a few books out I highly recommend. One has a DVD out along with it in which  Charles C. Gruppe shows you how to paint a marine scene quickly with an emphasis on wet on wet painting. If you read what his students say after taking his classes they are most impressed as in most workshops you only get to work on a certain skill where as with Mr. Gruppe the student can finish an entire painting. He works in both oils and acrylics.

Try painting a marine scene or a river scene this weekend!

regards,

Dan

The artist was born in 1966 and this artist’s work was similar to another artist already featured, Mickalane Thomas. Both specialize in African American women. The artist is drawn to what is known as the ganguro, these are young Japanese women who crinkle their hair and darken their skin in order to appear African. Her work looks like Japanese woodcuts in highly fashionable clothes.

The artist was inspired by the book Yellow Negro about young japanese who want who are interested in hip hop culture,and also by Memoirs of a Geisha. The author portrayed herself as a geisha girl. This artist should inspire everyone to try some pieces combining two cultures you enjoy.

The artist uses mixed media often using acrylic paints, inks, and sometimes even paints on silk.

keep looking for inspiration and new ideas all the time, soon you will have so many ideas you won’t have time to paint them all!

regards,

Dan

I love this artist and printmakers very unique work. She combines water and acrylics and inks to make designs that in some cases look like they could be on caves in France 1000s of years ago!

Her website is http://www.ingridsoriginals.com She has been to Canada, South America, Africa, China, and Australia to find symbols and words written on rocks by people who have long since departed from this world. Lost tribes of peoples in a way. The people she shows in her rock writing pieces seem to be running or hunting, very primitive but very expressive as well.

She uses a variety of media in her work, some look like stone, some of smooth texture patterns. She tries to invoke the viewer by emphasizing dark and light patterns. Her work is meant to have HEART and I find it very emotional. I love primitive looking works of art done by very skilled artists who are bold and direct in their style.

On some of her mixed media works she uses ink resting on water and then makes a print onto rice paper. I really enjoy the shapes and patterns on the seagulls piece.

Be sure and create something today! Anything! Doing it daily is what matters the most.

regards,

Dan

is another great artist that specializes in the figure moving in water. He is classified as a photorealist, but with the element of water even straight lines become exciting and abstract. He was born in 1966 in Oregon to a father who was  psychologist and a mother who played in the San Francisco Orchestra as a violinist.  After finishing college in 1988 he took off around the world bartering his paintings for room and board but now lives in San Francisco.

He became interested with bathers as the subject of his paintings while living in Spain. For his series of mixed media works he didn’t the figure directly on the canvas but used a photographic transparency that was mounted on wooden box and covered with resin.

Another great artist to learn composition of the figure and movement of the figure below water.

Keep finding inspiration!

regards,

Dan

Carol Bennett is an amazing artist who loves to paint the figure in the water and really makes some spectacular pictures very large and abstract but the viewer gets the idea of the movement of the figure below water.

The artist’s website is http://www.carolbennettart.com

The artist was born in 1954 and graduated college from Los Angeles in 1978 and worked various art industry jobs such as painting backdrops and and billboards and theater sets. The artist is one of the most collected artists working in Hawaii and has been in numerous one person and group shows. The artist also has received a large number of commissions from Hotels located in Hawaii and also public works in airports.

See if you can try and make a great design with the figure moving in and out of water. Its a real challenge to show movement of the figure.

keep learning!

regards,

Dan