Illustration Corner - children reading

The last picture I had up was a bit dark and moody; I've decided to replace it with a more cheery image of a vintage children's book illustration. I found it nestled in a group of vintage children's book illustrations on Flickr here.
It does a good job of showing how thoroughly absorbing a good (or even mediocre) book can be when you're a soft and malleable childling. I cant wait to bombard my nieces and nephew with beautifully illustrated and cleverly written books!
There are some more beautiful examples of the genre in another Flickr set here.

Illustration Corner

Today's Illustration Corner is by Russian digital artist Sergey Ryzhov. Nice and sinister:) The image below is called Fishing. For more of his work see here.

Illustration Corner

Sadly one of the world's best (and most painterly) portrait artists Lucian Freud passed away yesterday at the age of 88. See the New York Times obituary here. Illustration Corner is featuring 'Double Portrait' in celebration of his life and work.

Illustration corner and Vintage Ads

Animalrium, (as I've said before), is one of my favourite blogs. She really curates a lovely collection of animal-related illustrations and short videos. The post that I got today's Illustration Corner from is all about the kind of vintage advertising that populated her Italian childhood, including lots of visual delights such as the wild horses featured in Illustration Corner, and the elephant/tire in the Pirelli ad by Armando Testa below.

Illustration corner - memo!

Illustration corner got a little bit dusty and cobwebby there, so I put up a new illustration - ship in a bottle by memo. Memo is run by British illustrator Helen Entwisle and she creates charming hand drawn and screen printed illustration, self-published zines, hand printed stationery, limited edition prints, tote bags and accessories. Check out her blog or her Etsy shop for more nice things (many of which I'd fork out for if I were in a forking out mood). And see to the upper left her lovely tote bags - perhaps we should do something like this for our library totes! (Although some rephrasing and covering of our tracks would be necessary). (I joke!)

Illustration corner

Today's featured illustrator is Sara Guindon from Montreal, now living in Denver. Theres a great interview with her on the Pikaland Blog about her work and inspiration, and more info on her own endearing blog. I like her indoor scenes at night of people sitting thinking - they remind me of an illustrated version of  Edward Hopper!

Another Illustration Corner

This week's illustration corner is from Finnish illustrator Anna Emilia Laitinen. She has a sweet blog called Weather Diary where she documents her musings on the colours and things that inspire her artwork. The one in illustration corner is called Tiny Tickles. The one above is called Heterochromia and the one below is called Rain Fresh Tea from a series called Tea Ceremonies (which I've included in honour of Buttonbeano). I love the delicacy of her paintings.

New illustration corner

Time for an illustration shake-up. I like totems (dont ask me why), and the ones in Illustration Corner and to the left are by Raymond Lemstra who I found through a blog called Ape on the Moon, run by two illustrators. It showcases a bit of contemporary illustration every day. I'm a fan of  hand-drawn looking stuff so Lemestra's art ticks that box, and the creepy box too!

Illustration Corner from Rilla Alexander

I know, I know; I'm pulling the carpet out from under your feet with a new Illustration Corner post so soon after the last. But I really love this sleepy-looking friendly bear on a bike illustration by Rilla Alexander. I also like his little sleepy freeloading back-friend. She's responsible for the fantastic, graphic ark pattern to the left aswell. I found Rilla on the Animalarium blog which is another of my absolute favourites because (a) I love the iconography of animals and (b) the 'zookeeper' has a great eye for beautiful pictures arranged into interesting categories. For example this post looked at illustrations of animals on bikes. Call me simple-minded (if you must), but does it get better than that? I dont want to know if it does!

Illustration corner from BibliOdyssey

This week's image in Illustration Corner is a beautiful lithograph: 'Hooded falcon close up' from 'Traité de Fauconnerie' by H Schlegel and AH Verster de Wulverhorst, courtesy of one of my favourite blogs, BibliOdyssey. I think I've mentioned it before, but this post on falconry is gorgeous and I love the way the curator combines images with text and book-lore. I also have a weakness for natural history type-paintings -see Audubon for more lovely birds which may pop up in Illustration Corner in the future! The picture to the left is in the same book. And the one below is by Audubon. In any case its worth mentioning BibliOdyssey as a rich source of book illustrations/fount of obscure knowledge again!

Illustration Corner

Time for another quick change to welcome the weekend. American artist Kris Lewis studied illustration but has become known for exquisite oil portraiture which looks somehow modern and classical at the same time. The one I'm featuring in Illustration Corner is called Sleep. It follows on nicely from Yoshimoto Nara's Cosmic Girls, which looked like they were in a pleasant dream. The picture below is called Low Tide. And you can read more about Kris and his work either here or on his own website.

Illustration Corner

You might have noticed that the images in Illustration Corner are starting to vary from illustrations to prints, paintings and what have you. However, 'Image corner' doesnt have the same ring to it and I refuse to stick to one type of image so we'll just keep going...I'm contrary like that. I felt like a change this morning, I've turned a corner, as I finished the last assignment needed for my diploma on Friday (yay!) So, fresh images for fresh eyes (well actually they're a bit bleary at the moment)...I've got Yoshimoto Nara in the corner this morning - he's a well-known Japanese artist and I think his pictures are enchanting. The one to the left is 'The girl with the knife in her hand', and the one in the corner is called Cosmic Girls, and you can read a little about him and see more of his pictures here.

Illustration corner - a Leonard Baskin special!

Leonard Baskin was a Jewish American artist who engraved, printed, sculpted, illustrated: you name it he did it. And he did it well! He's one of my favourit print makers ever, I love his style; I first came across him when I was studying comparative literature and was looking at the war art/prints of Otto Dix, and I found one of his Holocaust prints (see below) which was perfectly desolate. Having said that his bird-man type prints are my favourite, and the new image (Indian head with Bird Hat) in Illustration corner is courtesy of him.

Illustration corner update

Today's image is a weird one! It's by Gervasio Gallardo, and was found on Artfix.com.
For more of his weirdness go there or here.

Illustration corner and Galerie martel

Yesterday's book themed illustration was by Gabrielle Giandelli and you can see more of her pictures (and lots of other great ones) on Galerie martel. I feel like changing today so enjoy Shirley and Mr.Hoffman by Milton Glaser, also on Galerie martel in the corner. Check out the Dylan poster by Milton Glaser there too..

Movie review and Illustration Corner update

Hi there
On the right Illustration Corner is featuring one of Katy Horan's pretty yet somehow terrifying illustrations - Spectre. I decided I'm going to have to mention featured illustrations in posts as otherwise (because they're just in the image gadget) they will disappear when I change the image.

My first movie review is below - dont worry no spoilers! 
I went to see Meek's cutoff last night and I really liked it - alas in the IFI instead of the Lighthouse. I wanted to see it before reading Kelly Reichardt's article in last month's Sight and Sound (thanks for the tipoff, Anonymous Librarian!). The film does a great job of showcasing  the hardships of frontier life for settlers in Oregon (and the American desert) in the nineteenth century. The sparseness and dustiness of the landscape and the silhouettes of parched plants and the small band of lost wanderers in the desert look wonderful against the vast rolling sky; daylit scenes are flooded with light and the nights, devoid of light, are black and eerie. You get a real sense of what it must have been like to venture into unmapped territory, without roadsigns or markers of any kind, electricity, water supplies, or technology. The movie will have its critics - it doesn't answer any questions conclusively (I heard somebody muttering about disappointment as they left the theatre) and Meek himself seems a little cartoonish - but I think it works very well as a dreamy snapshot of the frontier, and the heart of the film is in its penetrating look at people stripped down to their most vulnerable. A word of warning: bring a bottle of water!

Illustration corner

To the right you can now see a rotating selection of (i think) lovely illustrations for your viewing pleasure. If I was consistent I'd change them on a daily basis but sadly i cant promise that - I do promise to change them frequently and or when the mood takes me. My first is by Stacey Rozich, an American artist who's paintings remind me (im not sure why) of the Mexican art (done or commissioned) by Miguel Calderón and displayed in Eli Cash's apartment in the Royal Tenenbaums. And do you like my Charley Harper wallpaper? I've been decorating...