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For the artist of the week this week, I am choosing the village of Câmara de Lobos in Madeira. Madeira is an autonomous region of Portugal about 400 miles west of Morocco in the Atlantic. I think that means they belong to Portugal but govern themselves.  We were staying in Funchal with our friends at the beginning of December and decided to trek to this lovely little village. It's a picturesque walk with all kinds of stuff to see. In January 2018, we spent some time in Funchal, and while we were meandering through the streets of the Old Town, we came across painted doors. Those doors enhanced the beauty of the backstreets and alleys of the town. I made a poster of it. It hangs with pride of place in Brian and Jan's kitchen.  This year, after our little excursion to Câmara de Lobos, I was inspired by the creative ways they used discarded cans. Many of the doors and windows down one particular street Here's a collection of what was there in the same poster(ish) format.  We saw a lot of art on the island. It's just about everywhere you turn. This sculpture is on the docs around where the cruise ships come into port. I loved it partly because the artist made it of old discarded nets, tire, fishing line, and lots of odds & ends.  Art is all around. It's part of who we are.
Now go out and make some ART!
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I first started watching Jon Peters on YouTube because I was trying to understand how to frame a painting. He gives excellent instruction and is a wonderful woodworker.
I like watching his videos because I learn something new all the time. He does top-notch woodworking videos (BTW - Woodworking = Serious Art). But he's a pretty decent painter as well. 
Though I first went to his site to learn about making picture frames, I've learned quite a bit more from him as well. Whether it's painting on aluminum, stencil painting, or even making small landscapes, he's one of my go-to demonstrators.
Here's one of his woodworking videos where he teaches how to make a picture frame. You might find it interesting. I know I have some woodworkers in my audience. I think you'll love it. 
Mark Carder is a self-taught painter who has developed quite a good reputation and business.
He not only creates fabulous paintings, but he also develops products used in oil-painting. I like his line of premium paints. He markets his high quality, hand made, oil-paints and accessories at Geneva Fine Art Supplies.
Mark has been commissioned to paint two United States Presidents and a Secretary of State. His paintings are barely distinguishable from photographs.
The goal of his "DrawMixPaint" YouTube channel is to "... eventually, cover all essential instruction for painting realism in oil so that anyone can learn to paint for free." Sounds good to me. Mark has been posting "how-to" videos for the last seven years. If you want to learn how to paint realist paintings, his channel is a perfect choice. I hope you get a chance to see those videos and learn a little bit more about the process. You can see his work on his art website, you can learn from him on DrawMixPaint website, or you can buy any of his products on his Geneva Fine Art website. Now go out and make some ART!  Brad Teare is a painter in the tradition of van Gogh. I love the thick application of vibrant paint in his landscapes. He calls himself a landscape painter, but to me he's more than that. I think he's a bit of a pioneer in the way he develops his landscapes and the way he thinks about art.  His career has spanned several decades. He's freelanced for the likes of the New York Times, and has done book covers for James Michener and Anne Taylor, and he occasionally teaches art at Weber State University as well. He and his wife shared a studio in Salt Lake City until she passed away in November 2018.
I enjoy reading what he writes about art on his blog and look forward to watching his calm and instructive videos on YouTube very much. Brad's been on my watch list for quite some time. I hope he'll now be on your watch list too. You can see him on these fine internet venues. Website YouTube Now go out and make some ART!  I first became acquainted with Rodgers Naylor at the London Online Conference about 9 or 10 years ago. That's when I met his other half, Ellen, representing the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP) We had a brief conversation, and I went on my way. It took me a little while to look up his work, and when I did, I think I drooled a bit. His plein air paintings are beautiful. They capture the light in a way I can only dream of achieving.  He uses broad, confident strokes that can only come with experience, patience, and practice. I often visit his website and flip through his Instagram feed to study his paintings, and admire his work. Rodgers teaches weekly classes at the Park Hill Art Club in Denver so I wish I were going to the 2020 AIIP Conference there in April next year. I might have even skipped out on a session or two to take a lesson from him. Rodgers travels to art festivals across the country to show and sell his work. Just this last weekend, he was in Carefree, Arizona, only forty-five minute drive from our house. I wish I would have known; I'd have driven up to see his work in person. Hopefully, there will be another chance. Here's Rodgers Naylor in Carefree, Arizona, last weekend.  If you’d like a larger dose of Rodgers Naylor here are some interweb sites where you look up his paintings.
Website You can also find his work at the following fine Art Galleries if you’re lucky enough to live close by. Button Gallery, Douglas, MI Susan Calloway Fine Arts, Washington, DC The Rice Gallery Of Fine Art, Overland Park, KS UGallery Now go out and make some ART! 
This week, you're in for something a little bit different. Off the beaten path so to speak. This week's artist of the week is Ann Osborne.
Ann creates splashy type paintings. She calls herself an acrylic painter and mixed media artist. Totally abstract. I love the random things that happen when she splashes, smacks, pours, and floats paint on a panel or canvas. I think she works mostly on panels because they're much more rigid. 
I ran into Ann a couple of years ago on YouTube and her style was so random it was intriguing. She just reached over 60,000 subscribers on YouTube. She has quite a following. Here's one of her videos to get you started. This is such an interesting technique.
I ran into this guy on the internet a couple of months ago. His name is Stuart Davies.
Even though his father had plans for him to become a police officer, Stuart's artistic talent was discovered early. He went to Eastbourne Art College, where he graduated. He then went off to seek fame and fortune as a freelancer. He was commissioned to paint "legal-forgeries" for people who wanted originals but could pay the million-dollar price tags. He's was very partial to Vermeer. 
As many artists do, he also supported himself in his early career in various positions in an advertising agency. This job allowed him to draw and represent concepts and live an artistic life but get paid for it at the same time. He also became the Art Editor and Design Editor for "the Queen's favorite magazine," Country Life.
Nowadays he likes to paint landscapes. Mostly things out of his own imagination.
I caught up with Mr. Davies on YouTube, where he provides excellent instruction with a calm and clear style.
There are several videos about him on YouTube. There's even a forty-minute documentary on him in Dutch. I watched it (there are English subtitles). I like the effort he puts into his work.
If you want a little introduction to his art, you can watch this YouTube video. It's only about two minutes long. I think you'll like it. No subtitles required. 
Sara Sandoval is a very creative stencil artist. I didn’t know stencil art was a thing. Apparently, it is.
She creates a wide range of images using stenciling techniques. The is something mesmerizing about watching her cut the stencils. I was watching her YouTube channel because I thought the stenciling technique she uses might help me make the images I like to create as well. Her intricate paper carvings are beautiful, even without the spray paint. I can’t say that I have watched all of her videos, but I’ve seen quite a few. In one video, I saw her create a poster using USPS shipping labels. It’s a creative out of the box approach.
Sara was born in Mexico and ended up in the United States as an undocumented immigrant through no fault of her own.
I will not try to tell her story here because I'll undoubtedly get much of it wrong. I think the United States should have a more flexible way of dealing with her situation. She finally got it sorted through DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals). If you want to hear more, please watch her video here.  This week, I'd like to present an artist that does some very creative and intricate drawings. I first saw John Kennedy, aka Jedika, on the Colour in Your Life program. His drawings and his process caught my attention. I go back and watch that video periodically because it provides me with some motivation to loosen up my work as well. I like how he starts with the image of a face and that image of the face is the jumping-off point. He starts his drawings and lets his mind discover the images that come out of the scribbling. I'm sure he has a direction that he wants to follow, but he discovers different things in the process.  As he goes along is images become intricate montages with abstract and surreal connections.
He is also an art teacher of fine art at the Levers Art in New South Wales, Australia. I hope you'll go check Jedika out. You can find him on: YouTube Website Now go out and make some ART! 
I thought, this week, I would introduce you to someone who can really help you learn how to draw with pencil and pen. Drawing is an important part of making art that people recognize.
I realize that's not always the objective, but in case you want to create recognizable drawings (I realize that isn't always the objective) you can not go wrong by looking up this next artist. His name is Alphonso Dunn. Alphonso was born in Jamaica and moved to the United States when he was 17 years old.
I first spotted his instruction on YouTube a few years ago and his instruction has been fundamental to helping me practice my drawing.
If you want to learn how to draw I would recommend watching and studying Alphnoso's YouTube Videos. Here's one to encourage you to draw every day. 
He says his YouTube Channel, "is dedicated to helping you deepen your understanding of the drawing process and helping you develop and refine your drawing, pen and ink, and watercolor painting skills and techniques." I think he does a great job. If you want something you can put on your shelf and refer to often he has two books out now "Pen and Ink Drawing: A Simple Guide" and "Pen and Ink Drawing Workbook." 
Today, I bring you, Luke Adam Hawker.
Luke is based in London and his subjects include some of London's most iconic architecture. He studies interior architecture and design at Nottingham Trent University. You can see in his drawings he understands how his subjects are constructed. 
I started following this guy's art on Instagram. When you watch him draw it seems like he's just scribbling, but bit by bit the image starts coming alive. I love his free form expression of London's architecture.
Some of you might know that Big Ben is undergoing some restoration. Here's one he did of Big Ben covered in all of its scaffolding glory. I love this because it's a bit unusual. Luke travels around London looking for interesting venues to draw in pen and ink. Here's a video that gives an overview of the process he uses. 
Bobby Dukes is a bit of a carver. He makes astonishing things from ordinary materials. Sometimes what he calls Wewd (wood) and sometimes from stone and other random things like billiard balls.
Don't let his dapper appearance fool you. He's a bit of an eccentric. Maybe that's just his YouTube personality. His videos are a bit out there. But I love them. He is so creative. The last thing I saw him carve was a black widow spider inside a billiard ball.
He's carved a lot of things out of a lot of things, but one of my favorites is this floating teacup made out of wood and Crayola colored pencils. It really is very creative.
And have you ever seen a pencil carved out of another pencil? You can watch how he does it on this YouTube Video. He's got almost 3 million subscribers.
I love watching his videos. He's funny, he's talented, he's really good, and most of all he makes curiosities I would never have thought of.
If you would like to find out more you can visit Bobby Duke on the following interweb places. YouTube If you'd like to support his work online you can go to his Patreon Page. Now go out and make some ART!  I run into great people all the time. Some of them are even artists. I met this guy today on our afternoon walk. His gallery in Marazion is about two and a half miles west of Penzance. It's like a little hole in the wall. I almost missed it. This gallery features the art of just one person, Morgan Read. Like lots of artists, after getting his art degree, he pursued the bright lights and big business of advertising and design in London. Now he operates out of his studio right across from St Michael's Mount. Not a bad view from the front door.  I'm thrilled I met Morgan and wish I had stayed to ask him so much more. I also wish I took the time to snap a photo of him while I was in his gallery. That's another thing I'll have to put on my "why the hell didn't I do that" list. It's pretty long. I do like Morgan's style, though. He has a few different styles, and I loved each one of them. Here's a harbor painting I saw at his place that I loved.  He's an accomplished hand sign painter too. He has a variety of signs that he's produced but will make them to your specifications as well. His signs have a great weathered effect. There was so much on the walls of his studio that he doesn't have on his website yet. You're going to have to plan a trip to Marazion to visit Morgan's shop. Delivery within the UK is free so if any of my UK readers want some hand-drawn - yes, hand-drawn - cards to send for any occasion - you can scoop them up on his website for a very reasonable price. 
I'm always on the lookout for artists who are not only proficient but also have a knack for explaining things well.
I've run across one such artist recently, and I'm just devouring his material on the web. His name is James Gurney. I just love his style, and ability to explain things in a simple, down-to-earth way.
I think we were almost neighbors when we were growing up. We're practically the same age, he was born June 14th, 1958 and I was born in July. He spent his formative years in Palo Alto in the 1970s. I was right up the road in Redwood City at the same time. He went off to Berkeley and studied Anthropology, and I went into the Marines. Well, at that point we diverge.
 Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time
James wrote a book with Thomas Kinkade in the 1980s called "The Artist's Guide to Sketching," and he spent much of his career as an illustrator painting over 70 book covers for science fiction and fantasy novels. I think he'd say that he's most famous for his illustrated Dinotopia series.
He is a prolific and proficient creator and sketch artist. I love the videos he produces for YouTube that explain his process and how he thinks about things. His style is laid back, easy-going, and a little bit quirky - that's something I really like. Here's one of his more popular videos. He sketches an airplane while waiting for a plane. I liked it and I think you'll like it too.
I'm getting a lot from his YouTube videos, but he does sell extended versions of the process. I'm sure I'm going to purchase some of his extended videos at some point to get a bit more into his methods. I love learning new things.
Here's a list of his web locations if you want to see what he does and how he does it. Website Blog YouTube Now go out and make some ART! 
This week it's an artist whom I only know by his initials and the back of their head. I'm stumped. I think it's a guy because of the haircut and I think I spotted a bit of facial growth or a beard, so I'm going with that. I apologize if I'm wrong. Nevertheless, I love the art he produces. His moniker is CJP.
Even though CJP's work is very detailed, I mean, there must be a microscope involved to see some of the details he draws. Yup, it's all using scratches on paper. I know, wild, eh? Look at this video. How he uses an ordinary pen to scratch images into being.
As an example of work, take a look at one of the pieces CJP has done called Rewilderness where he hides little critters away in a perfectly rendered pine cone. You can appreciate the perfection from afar and then hone in on little bits and pieces. I love looking for those little nuggets.
I love discovering new things that people do with their art. CJP is one of those artists I follow because I'm never quite sure what inventive this or that he'll put into his artwork.
If you want to see more of his talent on display, you can visit him at the following site over the inter-web. Website YouTube Now, go out and make some ART!  One of the beauties of the internet is that it brings far away things right to the comfort of your own home. I don't know if I would have ever heard of this artist if it weren't for YouTube. Knut André Vikshåland is a Norwegian artist who works out of the former stable in his childhood home. He is quite a character which, to me, adds to his charm. In the photo above Knut paints a portrait of Samuel Steinmann, the last Norwegian survivor of Auschwitz. Samuel died on 1 May 2015 in Oslo, Norway. His paintings will evoke something in you. That's for sure. He sometimes tackles some pretty uncomfortable subjects. I don't think anyone would have any trouble discerning how he stands on any particular issue.  Watching him create paintings on YouTube gives me the sense that I could do it too. He's a self-taught artist who simply spends a lot of his time painting. That's how he gets better. That's how any of us gets better, isn't it?
He says, "A good painting will give a sense of meaning, like music, philosophy, poetry, literature, and especially science." I like watching him paint. He usually shows the whole process. For those who are just interested in the outcome, I suppose this can be a bit tedious. But, for me, it allows me a closer look into the process and how to get things done. I hope you take a little bit of time to look up Knut and see how he does his paintings. I enjoy watching this tattooed tradesman of art do his thing on YouTube. YouTube His Website Now, after this little dose of inspiration - go out and make some ART!  I think I've been following this artist for as long as I've known about YouTube. Sergey Gusev is a very talented artist from St Petersburg, Russia. This is a recent photo of Sergey with one of his paintings. If this is what he looks like now, then when I started following him in 2012, he must have been ten years old. Sergey is so accomplished for such a young age. His style runs the gamut between loose and impressionistic and expressionistic with bold color and strokes to meticulous, detailed, and refined portraiture.
I love his style; I guess I'm a bit jealous he's so young. But that's relative, isn't it?
Give his work a chance. Others have - his art hangs in private collections in USA, Russia, Denmark, France, and England. YouTube His Website Now, after this little dose of inspiration - go out and make some ART!  This week, let's take a look at Tom Hughes. Tom lives and works out of his studio in Bristol in the UK. He spends his time painting both in the studio and en plein air. En plein air painting or painting outdoors was pioneered by impressionist painters like Claude Monet and Camile Pissarro. By the way - Pissarro was born in and lived on St Thomas until he was sent off to school in Paris at the age of 12. He returned to St Thomas when he was 17 until he was 21.  I came across Tom when he started his Vlog on YouTube, where he travels around from place to place and records his "Thoughts on Painting" while he completes several plein air paintings. Whether he comes to you from a beautiful seaside setting like Cornwall or Lime Regis or paints cityscapes from Bristol or London, his videos always contain some thought-provoking conversation on the subject of painting. I have always wanted to do some plein air painting. It looks to be so much fun. Sure there are things like the weather to deal with, but nobody ever promised you a rose garden.
I like the way Tom paints his landscapes and cityscapes, and I hope you enjoy him as much as I do. You can find him on the internet at: YouTube His Website Now, after this little dose of inspiration - go out and make some ART!  I ran across this week's artist in Montreal this weekend at the Gallery Le Luxart. The gallery highlights the work of about thirty Québecois and Canadian professional artists. I found most of the art there engaging. One artist that stood out to me was Hugo Landry. Hugo lives and works in Quebec City and uses a palette knife/spatula to create his paintings. They are colorful, and I could stare at some of them for hours. I don't often go for completely abstract works, but the colors and rhythm of his paintings just made me feel good. His works are in your face saturated with color that brings you to life.  I think it's important to take in art that stretches your imagination. For me, Hugo's art accomplishes that mission. It is a little ray of sunshine that can brighten your day.
If you'd like to have your day brightened by this Quebec artist you can visit him at any one of these galleries or internet venues. Le Luxart, Montreal Gallery Perreault, Quebec Website  Valérie Butters is a Canadian artist who is from Ottawa, Ontario and studied at the Ottawa School of Art graduating in 2005. She currently lives and works in Pemberton, British Columbia. Her paintings are referred to as - "Fearlessly feminine" (British Vogue) and "Interestingly gaudy and exuberantly messy" (Montreal Gazette). I see a lot of freedom in her paintings. Her art has freedom in practice that I would like to adopt in my work. I love the feel of it.  She sometimes paints with the brush at the end of a bamboo pole to help her gain the freedom and expression she wants to achieve.
I enjoy watching the short videos she posts on Instagram. You can also find her at these excellent internet venues. Koyman Galleries Saatchi Art Silk Art Gallery There's a great interview with Valérie at Create Magazine .  This week I bring you, Layne Johnson. I first spotted this talented creator from Texas on Instagram. He's quite a prolific Instagrammer. He believes art isn't something he "does" it's who he is. I like that. He says on his website, "I want my art to be a break from all the chaos and negativity." Absolutely! I agree wholeheartedly. We all need a respite from the vitriol that is so prevalent today. That's part of the reason I have this website. Though Layne produces some great portraiture, I get the feeling his heart is really with the landscape, and it shows. He wants to take his medium and transport you to a beautiful place, and for me, he does. His cloud paintings are phenomenal. His paintings give you a real sense of their overwhelming size and grandeur on the landscape.  Clouds are pretty much made from the same stuff, but they can be dramatically different. Some are wispy as a breath of air, and some have such heft you wonder how they stay aloft.
Clouds are constantly evolving. If you watch them long enough, you can see them changing before your eyes. They grow, evaporate, shade you from the sun, and pour down rain. They can morph from one shape to another before you know it. I love how different parts of the cloud reflect and filter light differently. Layne captures the whole spectrum of color from nature on his canvas. He is, like many artists, a teacher. It's no good to just hold on to your talents or techniques. It's much better to spread the wealth around. If you want to learn his techniques and make beautiful art as well, you can order his online course or attend one of his in-person workshops. But, don't take my word for it. Check out Layne Johnson's work for yourself. Here's where you can find him on the interweb. I'm sure he would appreciate a visit and a like or two on social media. Facebook Instagram Twitter Website No go out and make some art!  Not many of the artists I recommend in this newsletter come with a warning. David Goodsell is a scientist. He's a "structural biologist." He studies the structures of cells and in particular, viruses. From his studies of these cellular structures, he creates his artwork.  He makes up the colors in his painting because the proteins he's represents have no real color. So he makes up the colors to help distinguish between the different functions each of the proteins have.
I think the representations are fantastic. The reason I think Goodsell should come with a warning is not that he represents things like HIV, the Zika Virus, and other extremely hazardous cells in his paintings. It's because the subject he's representing makes you want to dig. You can lose yourself for hours in his work. His artwork makes some very complex functions a little more understandable and accessible. If you want to find David on the internet, you can find him at Molecular Art | Molecular Science. You'll find out all about him there. Now go out and make some art!  I can't believe I've not included David Hockney before this. Did you know we share a birthday? He was celebrating his 21st birthday when I was born. No wonder he's such a cool dude. A few years ago I was watching a BBC program highlighting the work of David Hockney. The BBC Program called The Art Of Seeing. Andrew Marr was the host of the show. Andrew starts the program looking over the North Sea sketching the sunrise on his iPad. In the introduction, he said David Hockney, at the time in his 70s, did a sketch on his iPad every morning and sent it to his friends. That's such a great idea. Apparently, at the time, Hockey got up at 5 am every morning to do these little sketches and send them to his friends. When I first saw this program, I thought of starting my blog and doing a sketch a day and posting it to my blog. I kept it up for a couple of months. It was exhausting. That kind of work ethic is impressive in my book, and if you keep a book, I'm sure it would be impressive in yours as well. He's from Yorkshire but lived a lot of his life in New York and California. He was an acquaintance of Andy Warhol's crew and hung out for a while with them too. Most of his time was spent in Southern California. I love that he's 81 years old and is still making stuff and using new technologies. He says painters are workers. You can't create unless you work and he says he works every day.  Hockney's paintings sell for prices in the millions. Last November, one of his paintings sold for $90 million. At the time it is the most expensive work of a living artist sold at auction. It broke the previous record of $58 million set in 2013.
If you want to learn more about that painting and the sale you can visit the Christies Website. You should check him out. Especially the interviews with him on YouTube. He's just an easy going relaxed kind of a person, comfortable in his skin. I like that kind of person. You can learn more about him on Wikipedia and at the David Hockey Foundation Website.  I ran across David Behrens on a program called "Colour In Your Life." Color in Your Life originated in Australia and was conceived by Graeme Stevenson who is an artist in his own right. David was one of the first people I saw on that show, and his style really intrigued me. It's an expressive style with bright, bold colors set against a black background. That doesn't stop him though. Looks like he'll paint on just about anything. He is very creative. He says he feels an affinity with ancient symbols and uses real and made up symbols in his works of art. The works are abstract but also representational and expressive. I love the detail and the systematic nature in the creation of his art. He has created his own style.  His works are collected by people all over the world from Australia, the UK, Asia, and the United States. The Colour In Your Life program on YouTube features Behrens and his art. I think you might find it interesting; I did. His work is unique, and I love the bright colors and symbols he uses. He says that the process he uses is intuitive and just flows while he is creating his paintings. I like the way things flow with him. Whatever the process, I love the results he gets. If you want, you can visit him on any of his interweb venues.
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