Art, Brothers, Ramblings

I'm looking at my email and of course, my daily OneKingsLane deal preview shows up... btw, do you want to just not open your email some days, because the temptation to go to the sites advertising all of their awesome deals is just so overwhelming? Yeah.. me too. So today's OKL deal was on art, lithographs and etchings. I started to get to my normal tipping point where I wanna scramble to find money and purchase some spur-of-the-moment thing I just HAVE to have when I realize... I don't need anyone else's art. My mother and my brother are both extremely talented artists and there's something about having their work in my home that is way more intriguing and REAL than having a distant artist's work that kinda speaks to me hangin on the wall. You dig?

This isn't to say I wouldn't love to have various art from people I respect and new ones I find along the way... CUZ I WOULD. But that costs LOTS of money. I have to bring myself back down to reality and think it would be so much more meaningful if I had something that touches me viscerally every day and maybe wouldn't cost as much.

My hubby and I were cruising along during our vacay at Bethany Beach in September and we went in to a local gallery at my mom's recommendation. They had an jaw dropping display of 16 different artists interpretations of one fall picture merged together to create a giant piece of art. It was great. Most of it not my style, but in and of itself - it was inspiring. As we ventured deeper into the studio, we saw a triptych by an artist, Joyce Condy, that we both stopped and stared at. If we had $900 (a piece) to buy that, I think we would have. It's SO much about how you react, in your gut, to art.

My brother is an artist. He got it honestly, since my mom was and is one, too. (I'd have to dedicate an entire novel to her... so more on that later). I have a few of my brother's pieces in my home and stuff all over from my mom. When I get the itch to acquire art, I need to go to ETSY or my mom's basement. You can check on his ramblings at The Self-Archetype. It might seem a bit cerebral vs. artsy - he really uses both sides of his brain! He's highly accomplished, recently graduating with a Bachelors in Fine Art. During his time in college, he receives several art scholarships and an awesome grant to build a foundry for casting bronze and other metals. He used mostly scrap material and hand-built a piece of machinery so complex yet so simple that the school currently uses it to teach classes. I miss my brother so much when I don't see him. He embodies magical-ness and such whimsy that it makes it so wholesome and fun to be with him. He's an artist, a sculptor, a scientist, a researcher, a musician and lives in acceptance of all things. Who COULDN'T like him?? (I'm not partial at all).

[the only painting of my mom's that I have a picture of]

[the artist in question, my lil bro. mom and bro took an art tour of paris this past summer. so jealous but so happy they got to soak it all in together]

[baby got back! sketching]

[a sculpture in his senior art show...I'm sensing a fascination with the nude female physique]

[one of my absolute faves. an etching transferred to paper with color of a u-boat tower right outside of the path up to our beach at Bethany]

[a painting i like to refer to as 'the mask'. i'm fascinated by it]

To top it all off, my bff is also an artist. And I happen to covet everything she does! Can't wait to purchase something of hers one day, too. You can see more of her things at Artworks by Stefanie Zehmer, but she doesn't update often. She's working on one currently that I literally have heart palpitations over.

[a watercolor of the duomo in italy]

[this painting is thick in paint-brush and palette-knife laden oil paint and is inexplicably awe-inspiring in person. this picture could never do it justice. it covers a 4' by 4' surface on her living room wall]

Who's your favorite artist, famous or yet-to-be-discovered??

-Bethany