Artist: Mike Stilkey

 

The artists that I tend to respect and admire most are the ones that push the boundaries and traditional ideas and methods of art. Mickey Stilkey, from California USA, has always had a passion for book illustration and reminds us the importance and beauty what books bring. Painting within books, around books, on stacks of books (which he calls "book sculptures"), and most impressively on walls lined from floor to ceiling with books, he exposes and enhances the beauty of the yellowed page and bounded book. Using a mix of ink, colored pencil, paint and lacquer, Stilkey creates these melancholic and whimsical characters inhabiting ambiguous spaces and narratives of fantasy and fairy tales. 

One of the things I found interesting about his book sculptures is that you can move them around. Even by painting on the cover you can still pick up a book and start reading it. I love his style of drawing and wish that I could do more work like this. It makes me what to grab my pencil and start drawing new mysterious and eerie characters. 

Stilkey has an official website where you can look at some of his other work and here is an interview with him that takes you on a tour around his studio. Also this is another really good interview with the artist as well. 

Photo Credit: via 1, 2, 3

We're All Mad Here

 

Some of my favourite book illustrations of all time are for the Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and especially these ones by Arthur Rackham.  Rackham was a English book illustrator who invented his own unique style and technique. His pieces were known for their luxurious use of color and great attention to detail. Unlike John Tenniel's illustrations for the original Alice, Rackman's brings out the dark side to Alice in Wonderland which I personally love. His images are just stunningly beautiful and remind of Tim Burton's film adaption of Alice in Wonderland.

Rackman also did many other notable works for such titles as Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, A Midsummer Night's Dream, A Christmas Carol, Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty and The Wind in the Willows. You can find many website and images about him and his work just by searching on Google.

No two persons ever read the same book

I posted about a week ago about things I wanted to achieve and do over the summer and one of them was to finish reading my books on my dusty shelves. So I thought I would share my titles that I plan on reading over the next couple of months. Some are come all time classics that I need to read and some are one's I'm just re-reading for movies and others are books about art. By the way how cute is that bookmark, totally wishing for that.


♥ Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen 
♥ Persuasion by Jane Austen
♥ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Clive Staples Lewis 
♥ Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer 
♥ Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë 
♥ The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde 
♥ A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess   
♥ City Of Ashes by Cassandra Claire 
♥ Hush, hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
♥ Mona Lisa by Donald Sassoon
♥ The Judgement of Paris by Ross King
♥ The Lost Mona Lisa by R A Scotti
♥ Painting Mona Lisa by Jeanne Kalogridis
♥ Perfume: The Story of a Murderer by Patrick Süskind
♥ Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier


What are some other books on peoples reading list?


Photo Credit: Anna Ristuccia

Sunflowers

Just picked up this book called Sunflowers: A Novel of Vincent van Gogh by author Sheramy Bundrick who is an art historian. Review from Amazon...

'In a knockout debut novel, art historian Bundrick (Music and Image in Classical Athens) brings Vincent Van Gogh's paintings and personal story to vibrant life. While Bundrick takes many liberties (recorded in an author's note) in her fictionalized account of Van Gogh's affair with her narrator, fille de maison Rachel Courteau, she gives Rachel such a believable voice that the proceedings seem genuine. At 35, Van Gogh meets lovable spitfire Rachel while surreptitiously sketching her in a garden. Having taken refuge in an Arles brothel after the death of her parents, Rachel greets Van Gogh as a customer not long after, and soon feelings blossom between them. Visiting friend Paul Gauguin and the cloud of Van Gogh's madness undercut the couple's bliss, as do financial troubles and Rachel's life at the maison, where she's kept a virtual prisoner. While infusing well-known historical moments (like Van Gogh's infamous self-mutilation) with vivid details, humanizing Van Gogh and putting his famous works in context, Bundrick generates an impressive volume of suspense, delight and heartbreak.'

 I love these kinds of stories about famous painters lives. Even though its not true their make you feel like you are getting to know them even better then from old books. Will start reading it tonight and keep you updated on how it goes :)

Paintings by Vincent van Gogh