Jamie Wyeth was interviewed on today’s episode of RadioWest, available here. He talks about his latest exhibit “Seven Deadly Sins”, shares his thoughts on art and painting, and reminisces about his upbringing in a family of artistic giants.
26-year-old Singaporean shopkeeper, toy maker, painter and all around crafty gal, Weng Pixin (aka Xin) creates some of my most favorite things these days. Using second-hand clothing and recycled fabric, Xin has been cranking out wonderful goods for the past four years, with hopes to keep working ’til she’s “an all white-haired kooky granny from the shop around the corner who sews funny toys.” Xin admits her work process involves very little planning and that most of her ideas spring from the sketchy doodles in her head, which must be why her creations feel so spontaneous and spirited.
She is currently working on a comic journal about a failed relationship, documenting all the “weird, funny, quirky and mundane conversations, like a shared science project.” If it’s anything like the rest of Xin’s charming creations, I’m certain it’ll bring a smile to the face of all who read it.
To see more of her work, please visit her website, blog orĀ flickr page.
Alex Chechik only recently graduated from art school and he’s already doing work this sophisticated. Gorgeous!
He currently works in Toronto as a freelance illustrator and designer for animation and says his influences include Nicolas Marlet, Tadahiro Uesugi, and vintage children’s books.
As well, Alex tells me, “Music is a huge influence for me. It’s greatly inspiring, and helps you put more emotion into a piece. I love putting on a video of a great live performance and painting along to it – that’s where the jazz illustrations come from.
Jazz is incredibly influential, but I do enjoy a fair amount of rock, electronic stuff and definitely some good hip-hop as well.”
For proof, Alex laid down some phat beats on his terrific demo reel that really sets the tone!
Alex says, “Since July of this year I’ve been trying to get into the freelance thing, while slowly applying for work. Making contacts and marketing yourself is definitely the biggest challenge in the freelance route; it’s a skill I still have to learn much about. But I enjoy the studio environment and collaborative work, so I’d love to get a full-time gig in visual development or design for animation. That’s a goal and I’m just beginning to seek out that type of work more aggressively.”
To which I have to say, “Hello animation industry? Why haven’t you snapped this guy up?!”
These paintings were from a series of paper clips using sepia watercolor. I gave a handful of paper clips to friends and asked them to alter the shape however they seemed fit. What I found was everyone had their own distinct sensibility in how they manipulated them.
The combination of silliness and simplicity of Luke Butler’s series of Star Trek paintings, Enterprise, is right up my alley. His paintings seem to capture both the campiness and the pure spirit of adventure of the original series.
Sophie is another artist who draws her inspiration from Craigslist’s Missed Connections. She posts he illustrations (each lettered by hand) on her blog:
Every day hundreds of strangers reach out to other strangers on the strength of a glance, a smile or a blue hat. Their messages have the lifespan of a butterfly. I’m trying to pin a few of them down.