artatelier

Etsy shop: artatelier
listing: The Moon nr2
artist: Paulina Archambault

Paulina's paintings are reminiscent of some of Paul Klee's paintings. Klee is in my list of top 5 fav painters of all time.

cwysart

Etsy shop: cwysart
listing: original landscape painting
artist: Chad Wys

I'm an artist. I make my fair share of art. However, I have only purchased two pieces of art. This is one of those two.

It's a brillant landscape painting by Chad Wys. This painting has a great balance between abstract and realism. First let's look at its abstract qualities. The painting is divided into thirds which is a basic design principal for adding visual interest. The top two-thirds is a mix of blue, white and some green. The bottom third has a splash of blue cutting into a field of yellow-ish ocre. In between the two sections is a small, yet strikingly dominant slice of black.

So, I enjoy looking at this painting on a purley abstract level, then switching my brain and looking at it as a landscape complete with a lake, fields of gold, mountains in the distance in a partly cloudy sky with a very mysterious green substance floating about. All this for just $5 ($6.20 including shipping). AND IT'S THE ORIGINAL PAINTING. I get tired of seeing inkjet reproductions. It's nice to see a fellow artist selling original work for dirt cheap prices. Mega super kudos to Chad.

I even feel inspired now to paint similar abstract landscapes. The duality between realism and abstract is really intriguing.

davidvmoore

Etsy shop: davidvmoore
listing: Persuasion Print
artist: David V. Moore

EtsyArt.com took last week off. We're back up and running.

bobojunket

Etsy shop: bobojunket
listing: Abstract-Two
artist: Diana Grappasonno

clairejauregui

Etsy shop: clairejauregui
listing: Study 1.1 -- Graphite Drawing
artist: Claire Jauregui

colorpoetry

Etsy shop: colorpoetry
listing: Veils
artist: Martha Marshall

LinArt

Etsy shop: LinArt
listing: Rip Current
artist: Lin Jian

obsoleteworld

Etsy shop: obsoleteworld
listing: Forgetting The Sky
artist: Jeannie Lynn Paske

obsoleteworld's Etsy bio is the most elegant I have seen:

There is a world tucked away behind this one.
An old world made up of endless fields,
distant hills and timeworn cliffs.
A place where the sun is always setting.
A land in which extinct
slow-moving monsters and
elegant gentle-faced creatures
of all shapes and sizes reside.
Delicately balancing their hope with despair.
Reminiscent of long departed dreams
and uncollected thoughts.
Time stands still here
so as to let the residents gaze
in solitude
upon the vast
richly textured skies.
Forever in search of a place
to better sit and watch
their world pass them by.

Jeannie's watercolors are introspective, soulful visions into a sublime, melancholy world. Just read the titles of the pieces in her Etsy shop which are full of enchantment and wonder: "Magnificent Stories Grow Out of the Shadows", "Beyond The Faint Glow Of A Tired Sky", "Ships Glide Over Newly Created Seas", "Life Through Bombardment" are just a small taste.

"Forgetting The Sky" was chosen for this feature because of its curious story. On a crookedly aged naked branch of a billowing, full, welcoming green tree sits a singular bird. The bird's attention is fixed on a collection of flying creatures fading into the far distance. There's many ways the perched bird's expression can be interpreted: curiousness, resentment, anticipation. Has this bird been fixed on the other birds' departure for an expanded time? Or has the bird just noticed the scene? Why is the bird alone? Was it abandoned? Or did it abandon the other birds? Or perhaps it simply was just time for this bird's companions to leave. So many interesting questions arise from such a strikingly simple, yet visually rich scene.

art is 3 letters

etsy shop: artis3letters
listing: West Virginia on a Stick No. 2
artist: Erik Maldre

I hadn't planned on profiling one of my paintings, but I have been fortunate enough to have my "West Virginia on a Stick" painting featured in the Etsy Storque Spotlight! Many thanks to mermaidclaire for writing the Spotlight article.

Here's my artist statment on the Maps on a Stick series:

There's a duality of represented realities in this series. The first such representational interpretation is that of maps. A single line deviates from the area of land illustrated by the respective form. Such a line implies a border line, road or any number of symbolic attributes associated with maps.

This series is painted in a manner suggesting antique surfaces. Such embellishments lends a sense of history to the series evoking notions of time's past assumptive sense of reality defined by inaccurate measuring resulting in fallacious definitions thus giving the oddly singular, yet curiously charming, line a further sense of invalidity.

The second reality is clearly defined by the title of each piece. "'Region' on a Stick No. 'X'" perpetuates beyond the representational notions of a map by suggesting that the represented region is a physical object unto itself. Ironically enough, the duality of representation comes full circle for the suggested physical object is still a representation of such due to its physically painted nature.

constantdreamer

etsy store: Constant Dreamer
listing: Giraffe Print
artist: Shaylind Standing

The first line in the "description" field of this etsy store item made me laugh, "This giraffe would probably eat that flower if he had a mouth." Funny, yet so sad. Judging from body language, the giraffe is quite interested in this unique flower that equals the height of the giraffe. Certainly, this giraffe rarely sees such a treat. The flower is painted in such a way that it's almost turning to the giraffe and saying, "I dare you to eat me. Ha! You can't!" This notion reaches to emotions of need, greed, desire through the playful interaction of a giraffe and a flower.

Visually, it's a smart composition following elements of the rule of thirds. And the rough background texture serves as an excellent contrast the simple geometric forms of the subject matter.

From Shaylind's etsy bio:

I have a BFA from the College of Visual Arts in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I am always exploring the connection between my formal art education and the art from my childhood. My work encompasses childlike simplicity on a more complex foundation.

When I'm not being the Mama or creating things, I'm probably reading or playing videogames (currently Oblivion and BioShock on XBox360 and Zelda Majora's Mask on GameCube).

It's cool how she lists the video games she plays.

yellowmoonstudio

etsy store: yellowmoonstudio
listing: The Number of Grace
artist: Teresa

I never heard of the number 5 representing grace, so I did a little google search and came across the following, "Four is the number of the world. It represents man’s weakness and helplessness. But 4+1=5 is when Divine strength is added. We are made perfect in our weakness. ‘My Grace is sufficient for thee’".

This painting represents that statement well. The square has four sides. Rarely is a square shape seen in nature. It's a development of mankind thus further emphasizing the role of mankind in this equation. The singular shape next to the square is obviously the number "5", but it also is symbolic of the number "1" without directly pointing it out. Divine strength often works in a similar mysterious manner. The 5 (and 1) are directly to the right of the square thus representing the 4+1=5 equation.

Teresa is a fellow Illinoisian.

From Teresa's bio:

I've been painting for the past ten years. I have an admitted obsession for repetitive geometric shapes. I'm fascinated by color and segmented space. Add a pinch of minimalism, a dash of whimsy and you have - me, well, my abstract art anyway.