Robert Doisneau

I am currently in France and today I visited Paris. I was walking along the Seine where I came across a whole row of stalls selling art prints, postcards, books etc. I was fascinated particularly with the postcard prints of Paris from decades before in black and white. The artist that featured the most was Robert Doisneau. I was fascinated by how he had captured Paris without having to have the famous landmarks in the composition. He captures the essence of Paris and how romantic the place is.

Doisneau started off his formal training in lithography and engraving, but having been surrounded by artistic people he took up amateur photography. At first, he was so shy that he took images of the pavement, then progressed onto taking images of children whilst they were playing, without the intergration of their parents, treating their play with respect. He was offered jobs with in ternational magazines such as Vogue and Life but still preffered street photography in Paris.

This is probably his most memorable piece and is easily my favourite out of all the works Ive seen. This image for me is the essence of Paris. Even though there is no signature buildings or icons within composition, the image depicts Paris perfectly. With the hussle and bussle of life going on in a busy city, there is always love :)

Punch Drunk Princess

Punch Drunk Princess is an artist based in New York who creates wearable accessories out of upcycled materials.

I was initially drawn to this particular item because I like the aesthetics of skuuls, particularly day of the dead skulls with their ornate and beautiful embellishments. Also, as I have started to make my own hair pieces in the form of bows, this inspired me to create a sugar skull hair clip, with machine embellishment using a selection of different coloured thread as well as coloured felt applique.

I also really like this piece becuase of the use of patterned fabric to create a patchwork head piece.

Michal Miszkurka

Michal is an illustrator and graphoc designer from Poland, who combines traditional and digital media to create his mixed media pieces. He trained at Univeristy as an architect, studying design disciplines but he felt that he was more devoted to the art and handmade stuff.

With the image above he started by drawing the sculpture at a museum in Glasgow with various softness sketching pencils. He then uploaded it into photoshop and manipulated. This is where you can see the design disciplines he has learnt through the geometric shapes and abtract designs.

www.behance.net/miszkur

Maya Hayuk

Maya Hayuk is a painter that uses abstract imagery and bright colours to create her distinctive style. Her work is very free flowing as she doesn't conciously think about what she is going to do next whilst creating her piece. Any "mistakes" that are made are incorporated into the final piece and are not painted over. As you can see from the image above, she paints on rundown buildings that are derelict and lifeless to brighten up the area and create more happiness in its surroundings.

These are examples of her more improvised work. They were created by using a thick brush with a variety of different coloured washes as well as masking tape. She applied a random colour of diagonal corner and repeated the same technique in different positions, layering on top of previous diagonal lines. The beauty of this technique is that you can stop at any point, as long as your happy with the final piece.

This is an example of a series of abstract shapes that feature alot in her work and here she has combined them using her distinctive bold colour choices to create an elaborate mural. Also, she has included the accidental drips of paint, involving her mistakes.

I really like jer work because of the bold use of colour and the intention of the work. I really like the fact that she wants to involve her work in the community by painting on disused buildings to make them siginificant in the local area as they once were. Abstract imagery isn't normally to my taste as I do like depiction in my art but here you can see the free flowing and improvisation in her work, reflecting her care free personality.

Sue Wills

Last week, when I was on holiday in PLymouth, I visited Sue Wills gallery space on the Barbican. I saw her gallery years ago and was inspired by her creative use of colour and variations of work surface.

This is an example of her use of colour. Although it is a sunset which normallys consists of warmer tones including reds, oranges and yellows, she has also added greens and blues into the composition which really makes the other colours pop, creating a more interesting sunset. I also love the use of horizontal paint strokes to create cloud formations and add movement to the water.

This is an exaple of her more creative painted pieces. She collaborates with her husband who is a carpenter to create a large wooden jigsaw, which she uses as her canvas. She then removes pieces of the puzzle to reveal a mirror behind. She has used singular wooden puzzle pieces as a canvas and created a composition on that. Also she has created a coffee table out of a jigsaw puzzle composition by placing it on a short wooden plimph and placing a piece of glass over the top, cut to size.

In her other work, she has used a series of small square canvases and layered them on top of each other on a diagonal, and then painting on a full composition on them.

I really like her style of painting and I like to visit her gallery every opportunity I get because she is constantly coming up with new and creative ideas that inspire me to think outside the box when Im creating pieces.

Anna Joyce

I come across Anna Joyce on Etsy.com and loved her use of applique using a simple zig zag machine stitch to create vintage yet modern looking designs. She is inspired by vintage textile designs, natural forms and 70s children's book illustrations. This is reflected in the subjects of her work as they generally include flowers and birds whilst using retro patterned fabric.

I love the use of her floral designs on clothing. Here she uses different patterned fabric to add interest and colour to a simple design. This works very well on this hoodie, adding more interest and life to a dull grey hoodie.

With this hoodie she included the pattern design on the fabric into her simple 70s-esque floral design.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/annajoyce