Sunday, September 20, 2009

Meet the Anti-Koko

Within the past month, I have become more active on deviantART. I have discovered that the DA community is very supportive of my work thus far (although I'm not a superstar on that website by any means). One artist who has particularly impressed me is Julia Takagi (AKA martoo1973), or as I like to think of her, the Anti-Koko.

Takagi's work displays her technical prowess, understanding of composition, and subtle color choices. She is masterful at capturing and amplifying nature's beauty as well. Obviously, my work is often garish and impulsive, which is why I think she is my exact opposite. When working with color, I often don't have the patience to mix subtle colors; I'd much rather create complex hues by glazing premixed paints one over the other. Subjective thought and instincts shape my material much more than anything resembling objectivity. Thankfully, there are artists like Takagi out there, with the patience and focus to hone their craft to the point of sublimity.

Here are several of my personal favorites from her gallery:

Asian Sunset by ~martoo1973 on deviantART


Moonrise by ~martoo1973 on deviantART


Cherry blossom 1 by ~martoo1973 on deviantART


Dragonfly by ~martoo1973 on deviantART


Daisetsusan by ~martoo1973 on deviantART


Sunflowers by ~martoo1973 on deviantART


Autumnmood by ~martoo1973 on deviantART

For anyone interested in seeing more, here is a link to her deviantART gallery, and here is a link to her blog.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Hello, Gorgeous (2009)


I just photographed this painting, which is made from water-soluble oils on 18" x 24" canvas. Basically, I started with the background and added a face that embodied the opposite values (a method similar to my "Serenity...Now" painting).

Have a safe, happy Labor Day weekend!

Helpful Advice for Bloggers

I just stumbled onto this link earlier on Twitter. Although I may not be able to implement all of this articles suggestions immediately, it seems like it might be worth it to try.

Thus far, my blog has been used in a relatively limited way (namely to share my artwork with individuals not connected to me on Facebook, deviantArt, or Twitter).

For those of you interested in maximizing your blog's potential, Webitect can be followed on Twitter here.