Tag Archive for "painting"
Roger Dean Original YesShows Artwork
The classic picture shown on the right here is towards the end of the story of King Arthur’s life by TH White and a wonderful depiction by Alan Lee of both King Arthur and Merlin. This beautiful painting, well actually a combination of drawing and watercolour painting, was reproduced as a fine-art limited edition print that has always been popular. The detail in the picture is incredible and really evokes the whole scene so well. This was of course drawn and painted prior to Alan Lee’s rise to fame with the Lord of the Rings trilogy that earned him such high awards. When you look at the quality of his drawing and painting it is not surprising. Actually, it is more surprising that it took so long for the general public to become aware of such talent. But then we always seem to rate our film and pop celebrities way above our artists. That perhaps says something about our modern culture or a lack of it. At any rate, it is quite certain that Alan Lee’s work will be enjoyed as long as there are people on the planet to enjoy it and will be an inspiration to many future artists. Why not click the comments button and tell us what Alan Lee’s art means to you?
To see more art by Alan Lee click here.
Artists rarely have time to put pen to paper or bash out an email about what they are doing but occasionally we get updates on what artists are doing and what shows they are at etc. Michael Kaluta, the well-known American artist, while waiting for the go-ahead for his latest project, has told us what he’s been up to in his last busy year. This is what Michael Kaluta has to say –
“… back in March ’09, I was drawing the 3rd issue of a 5-issue story arc for DC/Vertigo’s Madame Xanadu comic book: the collected issues, titled Exodus Noir, just hit the stands here in the States.
The difficulty with some of Michael Kaluta’s work is that although it is quite immediate, vibrant and colourful, you don’t really appreciate it until you look at it closely and carefully. So few people take the time to really look at art and they are poorer for the lack of attention they give to it. If you want art to touch you then you have to give it your attention. A quick glance and, “Oh that’s nice” really doesn’t do it. Art will draw you in and reach depths of you that you didn’t know existed but you have to give it the chance to do that. These two paintings by Michael Kaluta are very much like that. ‘Fate of Dollies’ will probably awaken feelings you haven’t had since you were a child and possibly the same with ‘Sentry’. ‘Sentry’ is more complex and poses more questions but both are truly evocative pieces like so much of Michael Kaluta’s work. Let’s hope he’s doing it for many more years to come.
Well given the controversy over the new film AVATAR and the alleged wholesale ripping off of Roger Dean’s ideas I guess it is only appropriate to make Roger Dean’s ‘Floating Islands’ our Picture of the Month for December. Here it is:
The thing to remember is that Roger Dean was painting fantasy landscapes before most of those watching the film AVATAR were even born! If you are under 35 years old then while you were gurgling and attempting to spray the entire room with your latest meal he was out there making amazing art like this. Roger Dean is thought of as one of the greatest fantasy artists but he thinks of himself much more as a landscape artist and designer. As is often the case, the works that Roger Dean is so famous for are not necessarily what he considers to be the main areas of his interest or expertise. Whatever, his influence is tremendous and his surreal floating islands along with his waterfalls under water have captured the imagination of many people including it would now seem a film director called Cameron.
We are going to start putting up a classic here each month. That is a perhaps a bold statement with the hectic couple of months of pre-Christmas trading fast approaching but let’s see what happens. Anyway, this picture really deserves a lot more attention than it currently gets. The real problem is that no photograph can actually do it justice at all. When we traded at Merton Abbey Mills in South London all those years ago the Limited Edition of this painting, despite being fairly pricey, still outsold a lot of cheaper prints because it would just stop people dead in their tracks. It is just a stunning work of art admired by art-lovers and artists alike all over the world. It is called ‘Blind Narcissus’ and is by the extremely talented and well-known artist Jeff Jones.
Painted in the 70’s the original painting is 90″ x 48″ painted in oils on stretched linen. The Limited Edition print was published in 1979 so it is 30 years old this year! Image size of the Limited edition print is still a massive 850 x 425mm and is signed and numbered by the artist over 1000. It is printed on acid-free board. Often considered as a beautiful centrepiece for any large room or at the end of a hallway. There is also a collectible poster version of it as the Big O poster published by Dragon’s Dream and distributed through Big O Publishing. If you want to see more on the print or poster or see more art by Jeff Jones then just click on the image. One of the things that strikes people about this painting is its enigmatic quality. The posture of the woman is unusual in itself but seems somehow not that contrived. The way her dress seems to merge into the ground gives a vaguely ghostly air to the whole painting. The painting technique itself is reminiscent of the best of the pre-raphaelites. We really couldn’t think of a better classic to kick off our new theme with.