Ryan Woodward

One of my all time favorite short film animations! Ryan Woodward is an effects animator by trade and puts those skills to beautiful effect in his film “Thought of You.” The animation is purely gestural, but is so elegant and beautiful in its execution. The contrasting effects and values for the man and woman gives their relation life and vibrancy. The man being more volumetric and having slower, grounded and lower effects, while the woman is light and air and the effects more magical.

Kate Powell

I love the way Powell contrasts the color of the butterflies to the black and grey of the female figure. I find it interesting how the butterflies appear to be growing out of her and into her at the same time. I find the dripping paint interesting and how it feels like it holds the piece together and gives it a playful feel.

Lisa Mitchell

What attracts me the most to this painting is the feeling of temperature in the piece. The air feels cold, but there is also the feeling of warmth in the sunlight. The path leading to the sun emphasizes the warmth from the sun while being surrounded by cools. The only places where there is warmth in the painting is where light is hitting. Everywhere else has dark cool values and temperatures.

Georgia o'Keeffe

Georgia O'keeffe is one of my favorite floral artists. In her works the subject matter can still be recognized as a flower, but it can also can be seen as a beautiful abstraction of fire. The lines flow in a beautiful rhythm and the colors are vibrant and rich. There is also I nice use of cooler colors to balance and emphasize the night red that dominates the piece.

 

Keith Mallett

Mallett's works are very bold and bright. There is a balance of power and delicacy in his paintings that I find attractive. The strong patterns and shapes make the paintings vibrant and the warm colors and textures make the work feel alive.

Grzegorz Wrobel

Wrobel's watercolor works are so peaceful. He brings a calming sense to his works even in scenes that are otherwise desolate and unpleasant. I love the way he handles light and color in a scene with subtle color variation. The small amounts of saturate blue are just enough to unify the scene.

Julia Lipnitskaia

Julia is such a talented artist for one so young. She is able to control her body so well to create beautiful and precise movements and rhythms as she skates. Her exceptional flexibility gives her the ability to broaden the possible shapes and lines of action to create. She is also able to capture and hold onto strong emotion through her entire performance.

This is my favorite performance of hers. While her Olympic skate was excellent, there is no video where there is no commentary, which is crucial since music is such a heavy influence in this art form.

Alphonse Mucha

Mucha was an amazing line artist, colorist, and designer. The effect of his work is very soft and refined. The line work is prominent, yet delicate. The image is flat value wise, but the line work creates the feel of form. His work overall is that of refined beauty.

Christian Hopkins

Hopkins is a photographer who uses photo manipulation to create emotive and powerful images. Specifically the topic of much of his work is depression. This work is personal to me because of how much I identify with his images. His images are often very simple in there staging and presentation, but very effective. There is also beauty and elegance which is an intriguing contrast to the dark subject matter. It's actually very difficult for me to just pick one of his works as my favorite. There is one that I love for the beauty and one for it's accuracy of describing depression.

 

Nicolai Fechin

Fechin's portrait paintings are so beautiful. I can feel the life of the person he painted and his use of bright colors is beautiful to me. He directs the eye so well using refined and lose as his contrasts. I love the texture of the paint and gives the work a tactile feel.

John Singer Sargent

While Sargent’s oil paintings are masterfully done. It i his watercolor works that get me excited. I love his use of color and his ability to capture a scene so well with such few marks. Each brush stroke is simple, but accurate. There is also an energy and vibrancy that can be felt in the work.

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva

Elizaveta has such poise and confidence when she skates. But at the same time there is playfulness in her personality that comes out, especially through her hands. She is already inherently beautiful and the compositions she create with her body only serves to magnify that natural beauty.

This is my favorite piece of her’s because it has everything I love about her. The grace in her movement and her playfulness. I also love her smile and I can feel the joy in this performance.

Pascal Campion

Pascal Campion is able to easily and quickly capture a mood or emotion. He is economical in his use of line and shape. The colors he uses are beautiful. Story is always clear and at the forefront of all his works. Though the colors are mostly flat and shapes are simple and the illustrations are done quickly, all the shapes and gestures are accurate.

This is one of my favorite images for how soft and calm and moment is and for how the light peaking from behind the drapes leads the eye to the focal point, which is the woman.