Art Blog by Isabelle Bryer

Painting Audubon on psychedelics

John James Audubon decided in 1820 at age 35 to paint pictures of every bird in North America. The world over experts agree that with his work he achieved "a masterpiece of both artistic and scientific merit". I bought his book "Birds of America" long ago because I like that his renderings of birds are often a little strange or even scary. Not your run-of-the-mill sweet songbirds.

I made the decision to use some of his images as a base for a couple of paintings and add my personal style to them (which often means let's give these birds human legs!)

 Now that I look at the result it seems as I painted them under the influence of psychedelic drugs ( which of course didn't happen because 1) I am not that fun, 2) my only drug of choice is large amounts of sugar and 3) I moved to California way after the 60s were over).

Google tells me that in the best case psychedelics can make you experience "brighter colors, brilliant and intense sensory perceptions...visions of fantastically vivid images and a feeling of euphoria or bliss..." and it is a good description of what I am trying to achieve with my art. Take a look for yourself:

James's Fresh Water Marsh Hen:

Isabelle's Fresh Water Marsh Hen:

James's Great American Hen:

Isabelle's Great American Hen:

Midnight Thief: an Artist Collaboration by Bibi Davidson and Isabelle Bryer

We did it as children, behind the teacher's back, during painfully long algebra classes: someone would doodle a cartoon character on a piece of paper, slide it to a friend a few desks down for her to add her own doodle. Three or four kids got involved and by the end of the hour we had a cool piece of artwork, by far the best thing I ever helped create in math class.

Many years later, now that I officially call myself an artist, I wanted to repeat the experience. As an accomplice I invited my friend Bibi Davidson whose artwork is full of stories with intriguing characters like shaggy bunnies, martians, cats, and especially an ubiquitous red girl always involved in emotional scenarios. I thought her kind of wild would mesh well with my style of crazy.

This is our first piece of collaborative art. We hope to paint a few more after this one:

I painted the first character and handed the canvas to Bibi. It was a few days of suspense before she gave me back the canvas with this:

 

It looked like my girl got caught by a large rabbit in a dress doing something she shouldn't have like...snatching a bird?

Bibi added a quirky pilot girl on the back of her pink bunny and I painted the nest with eggs that she is holding. Then I painted the sky dark and added an exotic flower in the doll's hair and a black heart on her dress.

 

 Bibi's crowd of very alarmed birds joined the group along with spiky grass.

 I think we had our story and my last contribution was simply a moon to watch over the scene. Here is our final piece, we called it Midnight Thief:

 

And a couple of close-ups:

Okay Bibi, now it's your turn to start a new one!
 

 

Three steps forward, two steps back: my portrait of a Mermaid Siamese Twins.

 Once in a blue moon it happens: you sit in front of your easel with in mind a clear idea of what you will paint. From the pencil sketch to the final "fignolage " (ugly french word meaning "last touch ups") everything goes in a perfect linear way, no hesitation, no struggle, et voila! Done.

Well this time it wasn't meant to be. I wanted to paint a two headed mermaid but it took several nose jobs, different hair textures or tail color changes before I was finally satisfied with the result. The important part is to keep on going and trust the process: the painting is in there and will appear if you have patience and try just a little longer.

Sketch and light wash all over. I apply the colors for the underpainting of the skin.

 

I am planning to give her (or them) blue hair so my favorite trick is to use orange, the complementary color, as an underlayer.

 

I change my mind about the eyes of the girl on the right and she has to be blind for a minute so I can repaint her eyes open.

 

I add a heart on her belly, floating above her hands.

 

 I paint the background darker and darker and decide to go for a tonal color palette, mainly blues and greens.

 

And now I am not liking the red heart anymore and I want something larger to replace it.

 

I cover the red for a while to make is easier to decide what color I would like to replace it with. I also fiddle with the hair texture because this look seems too cartoony for me.

 

I think I figured out her hair but the whole image seems boring. I push my easel in a corner of the room and try to forget it for a while but everytime I walk by I glance at it hoping that the solution will reveal itself to me.

 

And this is what I finally decide: to change the tail color to goldfish orange and add more texture to it and replace the heart with a pink lotus, one of my favorite symbols (yes, I am shamelessly using peace and/or love at any occasion)

 

I make a quick tear-drop shaped stencil and paint gold drops on the black background.  The final touch is to print on her chest "Be Like Water", a quote dear to me, inspired by one of the principles of the Tao.

 

Here is a detail of my final version of the twins.

 

 And I couldn't resist to show you this very different take on Mermaids Siamese Twins... 

 ...the four arms and four boobs kind, made by fabric artist Keighty Crochet.

 

 

One Fairy Out of the Closet

It is now official, my picture book project is out of the procrastination closet and starting to take form.

This week I finished illustration number one, a fairy, because let's face it, we need as many good fairies as we can get in this scary world. You can see her on these photos, slowly appearing in the sky above a garden landscape since she is actually a Garden Fairy (la Fee des Jardins in French), the kind who is instrumental in helping vegetables grow plump and flowers bloom. 

One illustration down, 19 more to go, and I am psyched!

 

 

 

 

 

Beauty and Madness in Rural America: The Art of Andrea Kowch

One of the characteristics of Magic Realism in art is that "it has an unsettling quality, remarkable details, sharp focus and some mystery or a secret seems to be hidden within the subject matter". This seems to describe perfectly the amazing work of Michigan artist and self-described crow lover Andrea Kowch.

Her impeccable technique reminds us of the Masters. Her subject matter would have been a rendering of simple life in rural Middle America if it wasn't infused with such madness. I love the moodiness of her country scenes, their symbolism, and I love the wind that just won't quit blowing.

 

The women in her paintings look like sisters brewing over a recent argument and still trying to get things done around the farm. In my favorite piece called "The Visitors" they manage to get on with pie-baking despite the added chaos of a dozen crows and a ferocious dog.

 

   

 

 

A pre-tornado atmosphere takes over most of Andrea's paintings....

 

...and still her women go about their lives as if everything was normal.

 

Andrea Kowch's fantastical themes are made even more powerful by her controlled, delicate and classically beautiful technique.

 

 

Here is Andrea herself:

I was reassured to see that she looks happy, serene, and not at all like the characters in her art.

You can read interesting comments about each one of her pieces on her great blog.

Flower Sisters Step by Step

 

Yesterday I finished painting a fairly large piece (36"x48") which I called Flower Sisters. Most of the time I have one main idea when I begin a painting and everything else appears around it only because "it feels right to me". I think an artist should leave room for the art to become what it wants to, I know it sounds a little crazy but it works! This is just what happened here. Here is how these little sisters emerged and transformed on my canvas.

(if the images seem cut on the right side, you can click on each to see it in full)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And here is the final painting (including the creepy detail of a black squid at the girl's feet!)...

 

...and a close up of the sister's faces.

 

 

 

 

Extreme Sweetness: the photography of Bill Gekas

 As I was speed-scrolling down my Facebook page the other morning my eye got caught on the purest and most beautiful little girl's face. After a few clicks I was mesmerized by so much cuteness. I had just discovered the work of Melbourne photographer Bill Gekas.

Gekas takes photos of his daughter, not at all in the unforgettable style of Toddlers in Tiaras but with so much simplicity and grace that you cannot stop looking and smiling. See for yourselves:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In The Mind of an Art Collector

 

Damien Hirst, British citizen and richest living artist submerged his first real 14ft tiger shark in a tank of formaldehyde in 1991. It sold in 2004 to art collector and hedge fund king Steven A.Cohen for $8 million.

The Fortune 500 list is full of art collectors. They are cosmetic heirs, insurance tycoons or the Emir of Kuwait and they don't blink at dropping $80 million at Sotheby's for a Francis Bacon. But who are the collectors of beautiful AND more affordable art? The people who might look at art as an investment but for which it is primarily a gift to themselves, picked and chosen because it resonates with their sense of beauty?

 

Meet my friend Deborah. Her and her husband Eric live by the beach in California and they are enthusiastic art collectors. She is a choreographer and teaches ballet and he is an architect. They bought many paintings from me along the years (which I will admit I am thrilled to visit everytime I drop by for a cup of tea). I stopped by their home this morning to interview Deborah about her art-buying habits and take a few photos of their walls.

 

IB- Why did you decide collecting art and how long ago did you get your first pieces?

D- We started shortly after we got married. Actor and photographer Dennis Hopper was a friend of ours and visiting him was always extremely inspiring to us. He had a huge art collection and his house seemed alive and vibrating with art. He gave us advice about how to start collecting along with great deals on his own photography. He also said to paint our walls white to give a neutral background to the artwork.

IB- How many pieces of art do you think you have acquiered since you started?

D- Probably between 150 and 200 including sculptures.

IB- Where do you usually purchase art from?

D- The most expensive pieces we have, mainly Pop Art pieces like signed limited edition prints by Keith Haring, Warhol or Basquiat, were bought through a gallery we trust in L.A.

 

 

But most of our art was bought almost "by accident". We might see a painting we like at someone's house and track down the artist to visit his studio. We also buy art students' work. We bring back artwork from our travels. We found great prints from Magritte at the Jeu de Paumes in Paris. We occasionally find things we love at art festivals.

IB- Do you and your husband have mostly common taste when it comes to art? Do you try to compromise or do you take turns choosing?

D- 98% of the time we are in complete agreement when choosing a piece. We pretty much love the same things!

IB- How important for you is your home decor when you pick art?

D- Not important at all. The art we pick stands on its own. The least of my concerns is that it matches the couch and the drapes. Each piece is a valuable treasure in itself.

IB- Do you feel that the personality of the artist plays a part in your decision to buy?

D- Yes. We like to connect with the artist and are interested in the creative process. If we don't care for the artist we would rather not buy the art.

IB- Can you describe what kind of work moves you personally? what style? what influence?

D- I am not much into pure abstract art. In order to connect with an image I like to find realistic elements or symbols in it. I love Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt and also Surrealist art.

IB- Do you ever buy art for gifts?

D- We often do but I have to admit it is a little risky, you are never sure how it will be received. We have been known to give art as presents to our daughters, which of course ends up in our house !

 

 (Feel free to get in touch with me if you would like to know the names of the artists whose work is shown in these photos, I will be glad to ask Deborah for you).

 

The Muse Theory

 

"Inspiration exists but it has to find you working." Pablo Picasso.

 

Since the day I was born and as I grew up in my little French corner of the world I have been asked to suspend my rational thinking and believe in a number of irrational concepts: Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, God as an old man sitting on a cloud, the Devil as a guy in red with a goatee etc. To this day I am still not sure what I exactly believe in (I might be able to get back to you on this in 40 or 50 years, I am still working on it).

There is one concept that, as an artist, I find especially intriguing and compared to the ones we have seen before, is not even that crazy: the Muse theory.

 

The Nine Muses by A. Mantegna

In the Greek mythology, the Muses were the 9 daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. They were goddesses that each personified one of the Arts (poetry, literature, dance, music, tragedy etc). The Muses breathed inspiration in the artist's mind. The artist was only the hand creating the art, the mouth piece or the vessel. As an artist you were merely serving your Muse. The Muse was the divine influence behind all creations.

 

Hesiod and the Muse by G.Moreau

I recently finished reading a book about the creative process called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, writer, screenwriter and historian. He firmly believes in the Muse concept and in inspiration coming from a higher place. Your role as an artist is to show up and dedicate yourself to your craft everyday whether or not your work is recognize by your peers, whether or not you make money at it. Showing up to work on your art regularly is your chance to earn the approval of your Muse, to become inspired and create what you were meant to create all along.

 

The Muse inspiring the Poet by H. Rousseau

"I write only when inspiration strikes. Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp" said Somerset Maugham.

"By performing the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, he set in motion a mysterious but infallible sequence of events that would produce inspiration as surely as if the goddess had synchronized her watch with his. He knew if he built it, she would come" -Steven Pressfield

 

Terpsichore, Muse of Dance by J.M Nattier

 As a painter I have to admit I am not always sure where my inspiration comes from. It seems that part of it comes from outside influences, images that I discover online or in books. It comes from experiences and children, sunsets and nature and stories I read and I am guessing this is the case for most creative people out there. But what makes me chose to paint precisely what I paint is unclear, elusive and hard to explain yet it seems that no other subject will do for me. I often long to create a giant contemporary piece a la Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose art I love. But it would be a fraud, it would be me pretending to be Basquiat. What I paint is what my subconscious, my soul, my Muse whispers I should paint and as it turns out my Muse is the boss of me.

 

 

 

 

Dilka Bear's Alien Madonnas

 

There is a long list of excellent artists that can be found on Etsy. Today I would like to share with you the art of artist and illustrator Dilka Bear. She is Italian and lives in Trieste. However, her work seems to be loved the world over. Dilka works in various mediums, watercolor, oil or acrylics. She mainly seems to paint girls (with a few boys) portraits.

 

All of them are drawn in a similar style, with large foreheads and small spread out eyes...

 

...and with softness and quiet beauty.

 

Her girls are little alien madonnas...

 

 

 who seem to have gotten lost in a soft countryside background.

 

 

It is hard to decide whether they are staring at us in a sad or accusatory way.

 

 

They appear to have been painted right after they stopped crying, their tiny noses are red

and their eyes still watery.

 

If like me you are smitten with Dilka's art...

....you can see more of her work on her fan page and you can buy her prints by going to Dilka Bear's Etsy shop.

 

My 3 Love Messengers

 

I have been painting legged birds from way back. They show up in various artwork, when a regular 2-wings-2-regular-feet bird just won't be enough. Yesterday I started these three small formats. My plan was to paint each bird carrying on its wings a plump red heart, like 3 feathered "Love Messengers".

Here are my three birds. I usually cover the canvas with a blue wash and go over my pencil drawing with a dark purple/blue on a hard bristle brush.

 

Here you see one of them almost done. I want the second one to be a white bird so I painted my undercoat in blue.

 

 

The two smaller ones were easy. The third one will take a little longer because I will change my mind several times as I am painting him...

 

Here you see the orange undercoat that I painted under the blue sky ( I like to paint an underlayer of the complimentary color of what my final color will be. Then I dry-brush on top).

 

Here I added the fat heart on his back and changed the shape of his face.

 

I liked him in a greenish yellow but I decided he could use a bigger belly.

 

I like to add feathery details with a fine brush. This might be my favorite part because I like to get lost in minute details...

 

My background was too plain so I added a few clouds...

 

 

I wrapped the sky, clouds and branches around the canvas as well.

 

And here they are, all three ready to deliver their message of love. The next step will be three coats of glossy varnish et voila! Done.