indie artist spotlights

charmed by katie almond’s ceramics!

~ jama ~ 18 Comments

I really don’t know how these cute things keep finding me.

Minding my own business, I hear a little voice saying: “This has got your name written all over it.”

Investigating further, I see the piece that caught my eye was made by a UK artist. Again.

So much talent across the pond!

It’s time we had a good ceramics fix, and no one better to do just that than Katie Almond. You know me, I like charming and quirky.

Katie’s based in Rutland in the East Midlands. Rutland is the smallest historic county in England (18 miles N to S, 17 miles E to W). Tiny! It’s motto: “Much in Little.”

This sort of describes Katie’s work: she includes a lot of beautiful detail on each of her ceramic canvases, a blend of hand-painting + found vintage ephemera.

An honors graduate in Design Crafts from DeMontfort University in Leicester, she set up her studio in 2009 and has exhibited throughout the UK.

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the charmed world of british folk artist anna pugh

~ jama ~ 11 Comments
“Training the Bees” (2018)

 

It’s always a good day when I stumble upon a new-to-me artist to love. More often than not, the artist in question turns out to be from the UK.

 

“Tea Break” (2017)

 

“Blue Birds Over” (2015)

 

Anna Pugh was born in 1938 and hails from Kent, “the Garden of England.” An esteemed British folk artist, her work shows her deep affinity with plants and animals, both a central part of her life growing up as the daughter of a veterinarian and a devoted gardener.

 

“Flying Kites” (2016)

 

“Burning Off” (2014)

 

“A Doodle Do” (2017)

 

I love the stories she tells in her paintings, whether a scene of the countryside or coast. Her finely detailed and beautifully textured depictions of flora and fauna and the changing seasons are infused with an element of whimsy and the surreal. Alongside a dog or chicken one might find the occasional unicorn. Who would not be charmed with titles like “Hang Gliding in Heels” or “Bugs Do Pilates”?

 

“Hang Gliding in Heels” (2013)

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love me some mouni feddag

~ jama ~ 8 Comments

When you’ve got the blahs, the perfect way to *WAKE UP* and have some !!FUN!! is with a little Mouni Feddag. 🙂

A self described “drawing person born and based in the UK” who is also “very nice,” Mouni’s distinctive style is all about vibrant shocks of color and a wry humor that examines the human condition with loads of quirky details. She’s like a sketchy doodler gone wild. 😀

Though she was born in England, she moved to Frankfurt with her family when she was nine, and has been back and forth between there and various cities in England ever since. She graduated in 2014 with a Degree in Communications Design from the University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt.

She claims that studying in Germany helped solidify her style, a reaction to the “somber, melancholic, and over-conceptual work” she saw in the classes she took. This prompted her to make “silly, pretty things.”

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loving bella foster’s happy watercolors

~ jama ~ 9 Comments

Yes, come in! Please do.

Bella Foster’s watercolor interiors are cheery, welcoming, colorful, quirky and exuberant. Who can resist stepping into a world of bright and pretty florals, cozy fireplaces, and inviting bookcases?

Currently living and working in Los Angeles, Bella studied painting at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She counts among her inspirations Bonnard, Matisse, Josef Frank, and Mary Cassatt.

Her love of pattern and textiles is evident in her still life tableaux. Very few people inhabit her pictures; she instead likes to think of “people’s stuff” as characters in composition.

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a peek at monika forsberg’s walkyland

~ jama ~ 7 Comments

 

These days I’ve been loving Monika Forsberg’s wonderfully quirky art. I’m taken with her vivid colors and interesting compositions, as well as how she blends humor and fantasy with reality.

 

 

A Monika Forsberg design is bold, eye-catching and very distinctive.

 

 

Though she now lives and works in North London, she’s originally from Sweden. She grew up in a northern seaside town where it was almost always winter.

 

 

In her early 20’s, Monika moved to London to study art and animation at the Royal College of Art. Her boyfriend is also an artist and they are the parents of two boys. After the birth of her second son, she decided to pursue illustration.

 

 

Her work appears in books and magazines, on fabric and paper products (gift wrap, greeting cards, planners, stationery), and a variety of children’s products (games, puzzles, backpacks, baby clothes).

 

 

 

Her client list includes Anthropologie, eeBoo, NY Review, United Nations, Gorman Clothing, Oopsie Daisy and Unicef.

 

 

Monika begins her pieces with pen, paint, and paper — drawing by hand while sitting on her bed listening to audio books or radio documentaries. When she’s compiled a stack of drawings, she moves to her computer, where she scans them in before assembling the best ones in Photoshop.

 

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