Thought for the day....

Salvadore Dali once said

Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.

Strong words to consider today, after seeing some Dali work and various other modern artists at the Auckland City Art Gallery this weekend at the  Degas to Dali exhibition (on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland). It was a pricey entrance fee but worth it - wonderful to see contemporaries of each art movement in the same room together rather than just one artist alone. Inspiring to see people who were often working together and producing there own ideas within an art movement. For example the spider below, with the obvious influence of Miro, Calder makes it his own, turning an image into a sculpture then having it move, slowly spinning in mid air. very cool. 

Alexander Calder, The Spider, c1935-c1937, Metal, painted

Joan Miró, Peinture [Painting], 1925, Oil and black chalk on canvas

A few more of my  favourite works

Roy Lichtenstein, In the Car, 1963, Oil and magna on canvas

Jacques Lipchitz, Figure assise [Seated Figure], 1916, Bronze (1/7)

Vincent van Gogh, Olive Trees, 1889, Oil on canvas

Oh Little Deer please be mine

One of my 2012 resolutions was to start buying things for our house, especially for the walls which have for the past 4 years remained fairly bare. The past few months I have been hunting out local artists whose work I love, I previously shared with you Ellaquaint  from whom I have just bought another fab watercolour of a Tui - isn't he gorgeous?

Today I wanted to mention someone else who has been on the handmade market scene lately.  Recently I commissioned a piece of work (a gift for a dear friend) from a wonderful artist, Odd One Out - an upcycler of vintage items and maker of quirky cute imagery.  My favourite pieces of her work are the vintage plates with cute illustrations on, but I am having trouble choosing which one I want,  I may just have to have them all.

Here are a few of my favourites...

Help I can't decide! They are all so beautiful! I love the designs and how they incorporate the plate patterns, its very clever and very unique! Check out OddOneOut blog and Facebook page for more plates and other cool artwork.

love  LB

Follow the white Hare.....

Just wanted to share this with everyone -  I have stumbled across this wonderful artist Ellaquaint on the web via the crafternoon tea market.   I went down today and purchased a painting ( a christmas present from my wonderful mum). I am so happy.  I don't often find works of art that I instantly love.  But every now and then I will happen across something I just know I must own.  As a result I don't own many paintings yet, I find bare walls a bit scary, but also the commitment of where to put said piece of art fills me with fear too.  So Mr Arctic Hare doesn't have a home yet,  I will have to try him in different places for a while. He is so beautiful, I cant stop looking into his eyes. Thanks Ella for creating him.x

here are a few other works that I like
 

you can see other works at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ellaquaint/104428709634946 check it out!