Monthly Archives: April 2021

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Raoul Dufy (1877 – 1953)

April 27, 2021 12:03 AM \

Appreciated his work more when we saw the original paintings at Musée des Beaux-Arts in Nice, France.  Raoul Dufy was a French Fauvist painter and designer whose paintings portrayed leisure activities and urban landscapes.  He created airy washes of light and shade, into which he would draw bold calligraphic brushstrokes. He painted views of the Mediterranean city of Nice, as well as scenes of horse races and regattas. His color palette was influence by Claude Monet and Henri Matisse.  The artist developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles.   He was also a draftsman, printmaker, book illustrator, scenic designer, a designer of furniture, and a planner of public spaces.  Following are quotes from the artist:

“Blue is the only color which maintains its own character in all its tones it will always stay blue; whereas yellow is blackened in its shades, and fades away when lightened; red when darkened becomes brown, and diluted with white is no longer red, but another color – pink.”

“My eyes were made to erase all that is ugly.”

“What I wish to show when I paint is the way I see things with my eyes and in my heart.”

Images:  Courtesy of various sources.

Posted in: Fine Art, Masters, Surface Design \ Tagged: , ,

Hine Mizushima

April 26, 2021 12:03 AM \

Hiné Mizushima, who was born and raised in Japan, majored in Japanese traditional painting before working as a designer and Illustrator in Tokyo.  She moved to a few prominent cities before settling in Vancouver, Canada where she lives with her family.  She expresses art through slow crafting, needle felting, weaving, making miniature collages, illustrations and puppet stop-motion animations.  We have previously featured her work but it is worthwhile to see her newest creations.  On the Floating Magazine she says this about how she chose to work with varied mediums:

“Since graduation, I always have been an illustrator. Then about ten years ago, I was looking for information about some simple GIFs on the internet, but instead of finding that, I stumbled upon ‘How to make a stop-motion video with your digital camera and iMovie.’ It looked interesting and easy, so I made a parody music video with tiny handmade puppets for a song by ‘They Might Be Giants’ (Brooklyn based rock band, of which I have been a big fan for a long time), just for fun. Then I tried to post it on their MySpace page, but I didn’t understand how it worked. But I found a ‘send message’ button instead, so I simply sent them the link to my video. Then a few days later, they contacted me, asking me to work on a video project with them!“

“Then, when I started to work on the second stop-motion music video for They Might Be Giants, I had to make some needle-felted characters and props for the first time. It was actually a lot of fun, and was easy to create 3D stuff by felting wool. Since then I have been making felt sculptures and stop-motion music videos. If I hadn’t stumbled upon the how-to website and then worked with They Might Be Giants, I probably wouldn’t have even been a crafter. Life is very interesting and unpredictable! At the same time, I started my Etsy shop to sell my handmade felt stuff and prints.“

You can follow the artist on her website, Behance and Instagram.  Some of her merchandise can be purchased on Etsy and Society 6.

Images:  Courtesy of Hine Mizushima.

Posted in: craft, Felting, Handcrafted, Japan, Knitting, Weaving \ Tagged: , , , , ,

Atelier Three

April 23, 2021 5:03 AM \

What attracted us to this Japanese stationery brand are the simple graphics and color palette.  They are the work of illustrator and graphic designer Masako Takeshima.  The artist graduated from a design vocational school.  She worked for a textile design office for two years and then worked as a designer and illustrator for a stationery company.  In 2019 she introduced her brand, Atelier Three, creating paper products such as postcards, greeting cards and calendars.

More of her work can be viewed on Instagram.  She has a shop at Minne and Creema.

Images:  Courtesy of Atelier Three.

Posted in: Graphic Design, Japan, Stationery \ Tagged: , ,
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