One of my favorite things about Instagram is when illustrators share their work in progress. I love seeing the process! Amber Davenport, a self-proclaimed “pattern lover,” shares her paintings in the midst of being created—including the her current palette. The…
Molly Fairhurst gets back to basics in her expressive illustrations. Concentrating on form and the gesture of her subjects, the paintings have an energy that draws you in, be it one of her 1,000 Tigers or portraits of people in…
Last year, illustrator Rachel Jo gave herself an assignment. “I decided to challenge myself to do a painting a day for a month in November 2016 to really get my style to show some consistency,” she tells me in an…
Does the middle of the week got you down? If so, escape to the dreamy illustrations by Camila Ortega. Clad in cotton candy pinks and tranquil blues, her characters greet you with a relaxed smile and sleepy gaze. They occupy a…
Illustrator Olaf Hajek is known for his gorgeous paintings that are a feast for the eyes. One his more recent series is called Black Antoinette, and it imagines Marie Antoinette—the infamous Queen of France—as a woman of color. The regal portraits pay homage…
Last week, I featured the work of Isabelle Feliu as part of my list of 16 fantastical fashion illustrations. Since then, her paintings have been on my mind. Combing women of all shapes and sizes, she outfits them in fabulous fashions from…
Inspired by wildflowers, roootree (aka Kaori) illustrates their colorful beauty onto porcelain plates, cups, and saucers. My favorite pattern—a mixture of tall grasses and bright buds—seems undoubtedly inspired by this meadow of wildflowers. Kaori has translated the endless rows of…
Artist Celan Bouillet creates “little worlds full of animals, greenery, and adventure.” The colorful, highly-detailed pieces feature places that are everywhere and nowhere. Sloths, giraffes, tropical leaves, and peacocks—all painted at the same scale—occupy the same composition. They are, however, so…
If you’re in the midst of winter, Becky Blair’s landscape paintings are a beautiful escape from dreary skies and frigid temperatures. Fusing realism with abstraction, she layers colors, textures, drawing, and printing to create imagery that are like vivid dreams.…
Once again, Kirsten Sims has captured an incredible energy in her paintings that recall the spontaneity of pencil sketches. Her latest series was created for the Turbine Art Fair in Johannesburg, and they feature vibrant outdoor and indoor scenes that act as a yin and…