Pencil, Charcoal and Coffee Stains: 2 Living Artists

Camille Rose Garcia

I really liked looking at her work. What really pulled me in was her choice and mixture of colors on her canvas. There is such a vibrant palette. Her pieces remind me very much of mexican "Day of the Dead" colorful decoration. Her illustrative images lead from darker storylines and folktale but instead of a limited palette of dark colors to convey them, she uses a variety of bright illuminative storytelling colors which are quite effective.

http://www.camillerosegarcia.com/art/hydra.html

This is probably one of my favorite pieces from Camille's Exhibition The Hydra of Babylon - I am so drawn in by her details and the illusions of texture from the background to her characters - It blows me away. Another qualilty that strikes me is her influence from vintage cartoons, old style mickey mouse and such. She has made her own stylized version which is just beautiful.

http://www.camillerosegarcia.com/art/illust.html

This piece is from Camille's Snow White illustrations, The Witch Laces the Corset. Look at the details on their faces!

Mark Ryden

When I first looked at Mark's pieces, I was confused. Moreso because his paintings have so much content, there are meanings hidden everywhere. The more I stare, the more I noticed. I read an interview of him that he tries and not to discuss the meaning behind his pieces because that takes away some of the curiosity of it (http://www.nathanspoor.com/NS_GE_BlisssRyden.html) - It comes to the audience, how they interpert it. It's quite interesting. I like his style, most of his paintings with childern remind me of porcelain dolls - but I can't help but see an eerie feel to them aswell.

The Creatix

http://www.markryden.com/paintings/index.html

These are on of them - The Creatix - I wonder...

I feel like I'm in a maze, what oh what could it be, what is he trying to say to me?

But nonetheless, after reading more about his approach to painting these narrative scenes, I liked more than after my first glance - but some pieces I really need some context otherwise I'm so bewildered.

But what I really admire is that not only does he paint, but he is very much involved with creating frames for the paintings, he designs and paints them afterwards.