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'Kieron Williamson', the 10 year old, artistic genius

7/22/2013

I am truly fascinated of the natural talent this young boy has. Ten-year-old Kieron Williamson's oil paintings have earned him over 1.5 million dollars so far, and now his pieces are expected to fetch 50,000 dollars each. The young artist from Holt, Norfolk, in Britain says he prefers to concentrate on his football, but is almost forced by his family to acquire private professional tuition for his craft. Kieron's parents are now going to home-school him so he is able to concentrate on his art. I guess if there is natural talent of this nature in the family, then certainly you may not have the choice to pursue your life the way you want to, particularly if you are only 10 years of age. Check out this video, of this amazing child, and his ability to come up with artwork which has an extraordinary value in the art circles.

Andrew Ioannidis

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John Williams Waterhouse, the marvelous Pre-Raphaelite artist

7/22/2013

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I wanted to include a mention of John Williams Waterhouse. If you view some of my portrait art pieces in my gallery section on this website. You might see the influence this particular English artist has impacted on me with my artwork. Waterhouse and my other favourite Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, are probably the most inspirational artists that have influenced my art over the years. Of course, I have not been able to paint with the master like craftsmanship of these two greats, but certainly I have tried to portray my own character in my work, comparing with the elegance and beauty depicted in their work.

Painter of classical, historical, and literary subjects. John William Waterhouse was born in 1849 in Rome, where his father worked as a painter. He was referred to as "Nino" throughout his life. In the 1850s the family returned to England. His early works were of classical themes in the spirit of Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Frederic Leighton, and were exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of British Artists and the Dudley Gallery. In the late 1870s and the 1880s, Waterhouse made several trips to Italy, where he painted genre scenes. He mainly painted women type of portraits, in beautiful scenery. Below are four of my favourite paintings of his, that I have looked upon with great envy of the years. Later on I will post some of the work of Rossetti, and give a direct description, of some of his work which I have emulated in my work, but specifically in my own style.

Hylas and the Nymphs by John Williams Waterhouse. Painted in 1896.

I have always loved the stillness of the water, and the faces and hair of the women, who all appear to be born of the same womb. And this fixation for giving the flesh tones an almost white ghost like appearance.

Juliet by John Williams Waterhouse. Painted in 1898.

The pastel type of pink and red of the wall, and part of her dress, is truly exquisite. Wonderful profile, and once again the long hair featuring, with the soft touch of her hands touching her necklace.

Destiny by John Williams Waterhouse. Painted in 1900.

The colour and texture of her dress, simply stunning. The whole painting depicting the perfect mood, with the ships and shoreline in the distance.

The Soul of the Rose Aka my Sweet by John Williams Waterhouse. Painted in 1908.

This would have to be one of my all time favourites, I have tried to emulate this theme in some of my artwork, but unfortunately have not captured this feel. The detail of her clothing, and the perspective of the wall with the flowers hanging from it, totally scintillating.

Andrew Ioannidis

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Last of the music art series from 'Johannes Vermeer'

7/22/2013

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This is the last of the music series, of one of my favourite artists, Johannes Vermeer. The first one 'A view of Delft' is one of the rare outdoor scenes that he painted. Vermeer's art mainly consisted of indoor themes. Clearly it demonstrates the ability he possessed to paint architectural streetscapes, and still be able to focus on the music theme he had at the time. The musician with the hat, in deep thought, and his musical instrument resting on the table, and leaning on the wall. I also particularly love the drape that is hanging from the ceiling on the second painting, with the woman playing the clavich. I think it incorporates wonderful fine detail, you can feel the drape almost moving in the air. I hope you appreciate the fine artwork of Vermeer, the same way I do.

A View of Delft by Johannes Vermeer

A Woman Playing a Clavich by Johannes Vermeer

Andrew Ioannidis

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Collection of the music series from the art of Johannes Vermeer

7/22/2013

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Here is more art of Johannes Vermeer, as I promised I would post from earlier on. I have selected works from his music theme. They were all painted around the same period. I will include another couple of his music paintings, to conclude this series. I still find his art captivating. Also there seems to be an essence of great vibrant colour in his art, and beautiful shape of his characters. Most impressive, and enjoyable to observe.

The Music Lesson by Johannes Vermeer

The Concert by Johannes Vermeer

Young Woman Seated by the Piano by Johannes Vermeer

Andrew Ioannidis

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Johannes Vermeer 'The Guitar Player' (circa 1672)

6/25/2013

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The painting above is done by Johannes Vermeer. He was a Dutch Painter who specialized in domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. During his time, music was the food of love. His art is realistic and precociously modern, and yet the musical instruments in his paintings and their association with amorous encounters draw on images and conventions rooted deep in the Renaissance period. In Vermeer's art, these associations of music and desire play out in silently cinematic ways. Music-making is flirtation, suggests Vermeer. He worked slowly, and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for 'cornflower blue' and 'yellow'. There is no other seventeeeth century artist who early in his career employed, in the most lavish way, exorbitantly expensive pigment like 'lapis lazuli', or natural 'ultramarine'. The earth colours 'umber' and 'ochre' were used a lot in his paintings, as they depicted warm light within a strogly lit interior. Vermeer's works are largely genre pieces and portraits, with the exception of two cityscapes and two allegories. I find his work outstanding, and I think I will feature some of these other exceptional artwork in later posts. Along with a lot of his painitings, religious, poetical, musical, and scientific comments can be found in his work.
A collection of his paintings will be exhibited in the National Gallery, London from 26th June until 8th September 2013.

Andrew Ioannidis

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Susanne Du Toit - Magnificent Portrait Painter

6/19/2013

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This is a painting done by artist Susanne Du Toit. It is a striking and powerful portrait of her 35-year-old son Pieter, which recently won her one of the UK's most prestigious visual arts prizes. Du Toit was named winner of the 2013 BP Portrait Award at a ceremony at the National Portrait Gallery. I really like her work and believe she is one hell of a gifted artist. Susanne has done an interesting number of portraits, of which I will show later on in some new posts. I am really impressed with her style, and her ability to express emotion in her art. She has worked in many different mediums, such as ceramics, photography, water-colour, etching, and mixed media within sketchbooks. Her portraits have not been largely commissioned, therefore she has had the freedom to take what she wants from them, and interpret them however she would.

Du Toit was born in Pretoria and studied there and at the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston before moving to the UK in 1994. She is now based in Crowthorne, Berkshire, and painted her son as part of a series of portraits of her family. Du Toit allowed her son to find his own pose with one condition: she had to see his hands, as she finds them essential in communicating personality. "I look to the body to provide as much expression as the face," she says. "Having said that, the averted gaze of this portrait, which was his choice, struck me as characteristic of his reflective character, and became intensely engaging".

The free BP Portrait Award show is at the National Portrait Gallery from 20 June-15 September 2013. The exhibition will go on tour later on in the year where it will be shown at the Aberdeen Art Gallery later on in November.

Andrew Ioannidis

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Paul Gauguin - Great Master Painter for his time.

6/19/2013

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Paul Gauguin as far as I am concerned was a great artist. He was highly original and was a wonderful painter of many portrait styles. His paintings can seem brittle and a little cold, because of the application and the colour selection. He was not as intense or as suffering as his friend Vincent van Gogh. Side by side you would probably think that Vincent's work would appear more profound. However, Gauguin had a special quality of ironic romanticism in his paintings. They were haunting in a way, and he deliberately distorted nature by enclosing broad, flat areas of colour with heavy contours. In his paintings, Gauguin idealized the peoples of the South Sea islands. He portrayed them as gentle and passive, moving as if in a dream. In this painting, he applies the rich tropical setting in brilliant pure colours. His work takes you to where he was, in an unsettling rhapsody. They strongly appealed to the collector Samuel Courtauld, which is why some of his best works are currently in London – the show is in the Courtauld Gallery, London, from 20th of June until 8 September 2013.

Andrew Ioannidis

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Salvador Dali's Watercolour Paintings of Original Fruit Studies to be Sold

5/18/2013

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TWO OF SALVADOR DALI'S WATERCOLOUR FRUIT STUDIES

If you first look at the paintings above, you would swear they look like the familiar 19th century botanical lithographs. However a closer inspection, and you notice there is a plum that appears to be running away, the raspberries look embarrassed and the grapefruit … well, what is going on here? the viewer has to ask.

The 14 original watercolour fruit studies are in fact by the surrealist artist Salvador Dali and are remarkable because they have remained more or less hidden since 1969, since the year of their creation.

William O'Reilly, the director of impressionist and modern art at Bonhams, London, at the auction house, announced their sale recently. "One reason being they are so fresh and are absolutely unseen." They were commissioned in 1969 by the publisher Jean-Paul Schneider and then became a series of lithographs. The publisher kept the originals until they were sold in the year 2000 to an unnamed European collector, who is now putting them on the market for sale again.

The works have names such as Hasty Plum, Raspberry Blush, Wild Blackberries and Erotic Grapefruit, which includes a leaf falling backwards as it is drenched by a shower of juice. Personally I think they are absolutely delightful. Salvador Dali was a prolific artist in his time, and was very diverse in painting in various mediums and styles. Each painting is valued at 40,000-70,000 thousand pounds with the series expected to make close to one million. O'Reilly said the paintings shone a light on the artist's hyper-fertile imagination, but said they were subversive and ahead of their time as well as entertaining.

Clearly with this work, Dali is inspired by the genuine 19th-century botanical lithographs and paintings done in a similar way by the Chapman Brothers, who were known to take real Goya prints and embellish them, in a similar fashion to Dali's paintings.

The works will be sold in the middle of next month in June 2013. In another post further on, I will display some of the other paintings that are part of this set.

Andrew Ioannidis

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Launching of Colourescape

5/3/2013

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Today is the launching of www.colourescape.com. I plan to write regular blogs here, about current art news around the world. Also anything interesting about poetry and green literature will be looked at as well. The whole purpose, is to connect with artists and all people interested in art, around the world, to get a better understanding of this great medium. In the gallery section of this website are photos of some of my artwork. I am currently expanding my collection, and working on a few different projects. I plan to upload some recent works on Green Art soon, you could say environmental art related pieces of work. I hope to attract some other people that have a passion in art like myself, and we can grow together in our comprehension and inspiration of this medium. For now, I will launch this website, and hope to implement my ideas, and opinions fairly soon.

Andrew Ioannidis

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'Kieron Williamson', the 10 year old, artistic genius

John Williams Waterhouse, the marvelous Pre-Raphaelite artist

Last of the music art series from 'Johannes Vermeer'

Collection of the music series from the art of Johannes Vermeer

Johannes Vermeer 'The Guitar Player' (circa 1672)

Susanne Du Toit - Magnificent Portrait Painter

Paul Gauguin - Great Master Painter for his time.

Salvador Dali's Watercolour Paintings of Original Fruit Studies to be Sold

TWO OF SALVADOR DALI'S WATERCOLOUR FRUIT STUDIES

Launching of Colourescape

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