Artist // Anthony Lister

All work by Anthony Lister

So, I've been meaning to start this for a while... and here it is: the inaugural, weekly artists-who-inspire-me-and-have-shaped-how-I-work-and-think-about-art spot. 

I was originally planning on it being just one post, but I made a list of artists to include... and it promptly became a huge list.

So I'll start where I feel like I started, when it came to developing my own style and finding out there were other -- more irreverent, interesting and wild -- ways to engage in portraiture. That development and discovery was influenced a lot by Anthony Lister's style. 

And also, for me, Lister meant that not every great young artist came out of San Francisco or New York, or if they were Australian, Melbourne. I lived in Brisbane (which, as far as east-coast capital cities in Australia go, is often considered a bit of a backwater) for four years, and seeing his work around the place was a constant reminder that the culture of the place you come from is not directly proportional to the culture you cultivate or create.   

But anyway, all that kinda speaks for itself, I think.

Aloha

Mara Hoffman X Neil Krug

Mara Hoffman's Spring 2013 lookbook Aloha

Check out the video here.

Neil Krug has such a magic knack for capturing a long-lost sense of romance in images. 

Looking at his work, I often feel like I've opened a dusty box -- one that maybe belonged to my parents and was stashed under a cabinet, never given a second thought -- and unearthed a whole folio of late-60s psychedelia zines. Or even, discovered an envelope of photos that are totally innocent of the editing process, but look so crazy and saturated and hypercoloured because the world they were shot in actually just looks like that.

Anyway, add that feeling to Mara's ability to conjure up some mystical, powerful, ancient magic... and you've got something like the above. 

Aloha, magic beings. 

Luck.

∆ Stonefox ∆

Photography: christopher ferguson  

Model: bambi northwood-blyth
Stonefox #2
via fgr
I spent a few days recently working on illustrations of the above-pictured fine young lady (which hopefully I'll be able to share with you soon!), and I can say, she's an absolute delight to draw.

Also, how perfect is the combination of an orange light-leak on a blue summer sky?

Humble and the blue roses

Old Evil Twin shirt; op-shop skirt; Windsor Smith boots; old cheap-store sunglasses; necklaces via Ebay; market/pawnshop rings.

The first thing Humble did when I let her out into our backyard, on the day we brought her home, was to walk up to this blue-flowering tree and try and take a chomp out of one of the flowers. Now we're a week into living together and she's trying to take a bite out of everything with her sharp, tiny puppy teeth -- it's just lucky she's cute.

The year ahead: The Wild Unknown

I tried out a 'year ahead' tarot spread using the beautiful The Wild Unknown cards... Cards which I would be totally happy to just shuffle and stare at, but I was curious as to what they might say to me...

As someone who doesn't know much about tarot, I can only interpret it quite generally. It looks like quite a journey this year, with some rough stuff around August-October -- destruction and construction -- which resolves into wisdom/knowledge by the end of the year. 

Also, the 'year in general' card was The Star, which bodes well, and the Father of Wands jumped out while I was shuffling -- creativity and charisma, just what I need!

My logical brain is still not sure about tarot, whether it really shows anything, or if it can just become a self-fulfilling set of restrictions, but it is fun to explore, and to sit quietly and think about what might lie ahead. 

If you could see what was in store for the next 12 months, would you?

Love things: Hard at work

Life lately, just quickly...

1. Comission projects // print projects... all consuming at the moment

2. Get backing into the routine life: Early-morning breakfasting, train reading, pre-work sketching // Signing prints sold through here.

3. Missing Shadow and his weird antics (seen here with a cicada shell he accidentally picked up at the farm) // January saw a fair bit of travelling and bag-packing fun. 

4. Print projects // commission projects... hopefully I'll break for some personal projects soon. 

Sketchy Fridays: Slow progress...

In my sketchbooks this week: I'm just chippin' away at things, still omitting the use of colour -- gotta sort that out. Hopefully some proper, complete, works to share in the coming week. 

But, I am still being distracted by this: