artists who inspire.

The Kiss , 1908 Expectation , 1905 Virgin Mother and Child   Music , 1895 Gustav Klimt was born in 1962 near Vienna in Austria-Hungary. He is characterized by his use of color and pattern in his portraits, which I think are beautiful! The wild designs give the pieces life rather than distract, which is a hard feat! I definitely want to implement this techniques into my own work. Please go explore some of his other work on this website , he is brilliant! (Disclaimer: It's difficult to find the original images of his work, because there are so many different versions and restorations, so I apologize if these are not exactly correct!)

2016 How to Hold Baby   In Their Image , 2017 Leaning on a Mother She Gave Him the Mountains and He Gave Her the City, 2018 Us With Them and Them With Us , 2017 Caitlin Connolly is a young, Utah-based artist, and she is one of my very all-time favorite artists. I love her concepts of womanhood, motherhood, religion, family, spousal love, fertility. Her figures are uniquely hers, with motifs like triangle dresses and large feet. Her color palettes and oil painting textures are beautiful. Basically, she is everything I want to be as an artist! I just included a few paintings that I love, but please check out all her work on her website!

Aikosan , 2005 Almost Blue , 2009 Himself , 2005 The Distance Between You and Me , 2011 Wallflower , 2010 Jacques Moiroud is primarily a printmaker many of whose portraits come from encounters with people in his life. I have a recent respect for relief printers, since I did it for the first time two days ago! I am amazed at how detailed he can get (this is from his series called "The Big Linos," or linocut prints). I am most interested in his concept, how each portrait is meaningful, because at one time, he was in direct contact with that person. I think that's powerful. Check out more of his work on his website .

Breath of Life (From the Dust) Every Knee Shall Bow , 2008 On Equal Pedestals , 2016 Angel of Empathy , 2013 Sanctuary , 2016 J. Kirk Richards is one of my favorite Latter-day Saint artists because of the way he uses texture and earth tones, and how he is able to portray so much emotion even when many, if not most of his figures are faceless. I really resonate with his themes and concepts, and I think all of his work is just beautiful. Please check out more of his art on his website .

Something Split and New , 2013  Dwell: Aso Ebi , 2017  5 Umezebi St. New Haven Enugu , 2012 When the Going is Smooth and Good , 2017 "The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born" Might Not Hold True for Much Longer , 2013 Njideka Akunyili Crosby was born in 1983 in Nigeria, and explores themes of living in two worlds/cultures (Nigeria and America). She uses collage, paint, and photo-transfer to create her visually stunning images. I absolutely love her style! The color palettes are beautiful and engaging, and the photo/collage elements give it life without making it too busy. Her titles are ambiguous and intriguing, as well. Hers is a style I would love to emulate, and collage painting is something that has just recently sparked my interest in my own work. Please check out more of her work on her website !

Multiple Bearings , 1997 Transient Transformations II , 1996 Veil' n Trail , (Triptych) , 1997 Unknown Fleshy Weapons , 1997 Shahzia Sikander is an American-Pakistani painter whose work is inspired by art history, minimalism, and cultural identity. She skillfully bridges cultures together as she draws from all kinds of sources, like Middle Eastern identity, and Indo-Persian miniature painting. I love her colors, her stylized figures, her shapes, and line work. I admire how she is able to seamlessly weave different parts of her identity into her work, and that is something I want to learn from! To learn more about her and see more of her work, visit this website .

From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes From Fancy Shoes Something about Ida Applebroog's figure paintings just intrigue me--maybe it's the fact that they're stick figures, or that they are made out of all sorts of different shapes, or that different body parts are exaggerated in each one, or maybe it's the textures, or the finger-painted nature. Whatever it is, I love it. To represent her work, I picked pieces from her series called "Fancy Shoes" because they were my favorite! They just made me smile. The concept is so simple, but for some reason it really touches me. Check out more of Ida's work on her website .

From Body , 2009-2011 From Chicory Coffee , 1995-1996 From Proprioception , 2002 From Red Earth , 1987-1998 From Earth Body , 2017-2018 Antony Gormley's figures are stunning to me. I love the abstracted nature, I love the colors, I love the titles, and I love  the textures. The watery marks and lines are just beautiful to me, and they make me want to experiment more with liquid mediums like gouache and ink in my figure drawings. Please check out more of his series and pieces on his website, he is amazing!