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.

Fate of Dollies Lost in Dreams by Michael Kaluta

and

Sentry by Michael Kaluta

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.

Painted in 2006 when Bullseye Tattoos called Todd Lockwood with what was for Todd an irresistible project.  This was to do an institutional series of posters where Todd Lockwood was commissioned to paint anything he wanted, so long as it looked like it was tattooed on a person’s back!  Every artist loves a job like this and Todd Lockwood was no exception!   He went into his archive of “Paintings I’d Like to See” and came up with this.  It turned out to be a stunning depiction of a war between heaven and hell with white and dark angels slugging it out in true Heroes fashion ! This ‘War of Angels’ was then reproduced as a large Todd Lockwood Limited Edition art print, which you can find on sale at Artists UK.

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.

Blind Narcissus by 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.

Well, all our customers who are on our updates mailing list were notified last weekend of the start of our Summer Sale and this has caused a bit of a “feeding frenzy” despite the hot weather, or maybe it is just too hot to go outside for fear of melting

One or two items have already sold out in the Summer Sale but there are still many more fabulous bargains on popular items available so if you haven’t already had a look the direct link to the Artists UK Summer Sale is here.

If it gets any hotter we’ll have to start wrapping everything in asbestos