#30 Marilyn Shafer Bush

"After the Rain"

Acrylic on Clayboard

She is an artist after my own heart. I love everything about the country and I am also touched by the old barns in fields. It amazes me the beauty of what the barns of the past represent to us in the future. That is why I picked this painting of hers as my favorite "after the rain". I love the barn that she painted in this one, I love that it is white and so small and simple. The road that is filled with water is very beautiful too, i love the reflections that she created in the standing water from the rain. She has a very good sense of light and she portrayed it very beautifully in this painting. I love the colors that she used to create the field and landscape.

As a child Marilyn always knew that she was an artist and at the age of 12 she began to draw with the encouragement of her parents. Marilyn never attended college and most of her painting skills are self taught. Marilyn tries to paint everyday by finding inspiration in everyday life. She also enjoys teaching young children how to paint and teaching them how to "see" like and artist does. She really enjoys painting landscapes and snow scenes in acrylic. She finds inspiration in the people that she meet in the area that surrounds her. She loves to ride through Lancaster Pa area and looks at all the old barns and the simple way of life. The Lancaster area to her has a quiet beauty about it, untouched by technology while holding on to the memories of the past.

http://www.marilynshaferbush.com/

# 29 May Fleihan

"beautiful lake"

http://www.mayfleihan.com/home

I fell like her landscape paintings are the strongest of her collections she far. I love the texture that she used in the painting beautiful lake. The reflection of the water is very pretty. I also like that you can almost feel the wind blowing in the grass by the red flowers.

May received her Bachelor of Arts from the university of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 1999 was when May started her first ever painting. She says that it was the beginning of the discovery of her life, she found the joy of painting. She didn't study art in college but deep down inside she always knew that art was a great interest of hers she just never did anything about it. Then one day out of no where a friend of hers asked her to come with her to an artist friends studio to paint. With the first stroke of her brush she knew she had found her passion and she has been painting ever since. So far her medium is oil on canvas and she likes to paint realism because she doesn't like distorting beauty. She loves all natural forms such a landscapes and flowers but she is not limited to any subject in particular if her eyes love it then she paints it no matter what the subject it.

# 28 Weeda Hamdan

http://www.weedahamdan.com/2/Artist.asp?ArtistID=32737&AKey=K6CELP93

Weeda was born in Liberia and she lived in Las Palmas de Gran Canaries, Spain and Lebanon with her parents and siblings as a child. The mix of cultures and traditions from each country are a major influence on her design and art. Her interest in art began at the age of 10 and her relatives began to notice her talent. In 1988 she began to attend Lebanese American University where she majored in graphic design and took painting classes as electives when she could. In 2000 she moved to Texas with her husband and two daughters. In 2005 she decided to her Masters in painting and drawing through the Academy of art in San Francisco. Major influences on her work are Fauvists and the German Expressionist Eras, and artists such as Van Gogh, Jason Bowen, and Mary Cassett. Her paintings are a celebration of color and texture. She also likes to use bleeding art tissue paper when making her oil paintings

http://www.weedahamdan.com/2/GalleryMain.asp?GalleryID=93116&AKey=K6CELP93

I really like her painting called "reflection VI". I think that is it really cool that she uses tissue paper to add to her paintings. I like the texture and affects that the tissue paper create. The colors in her painting are very bold and beautiful. I like this one because it reminds me of a late summer rain or early fall when the leaves have begun to fall off of the trees and change colors.

#27 Eric Palson

"Cloud Appreciation No. 7"

I really like the cloud pattern that he was able to paint in this painting. I think that the contrast of the blue sky against the dark color of the tree makes this painting the most visually interesting. The sky is very dramatic in the painting. I like the texture that he was able to create in this painting. The clouds are very fluffy looking.

Eric Palson is an architect who runs a firm in rural New Hampshire. Both of his parents were artists and art teacher but he decided to take a more technical path by studying architecture at MIT and Berkley. He taught drawing and design at Berkley, University of Wisconsin, and at the Boston Architectural Center before going into practice. In his artist statement Eric says that he paints the things that he likes to study. He just stands in front of them and paints them. He says that he is usually drawn to a scene because of light, texture, color, form or the juxtaposition of opposites. When he paints hes tries to understand what is really going on or he tries to capture an elusive visual effect. He says when he paints he is not painting in a completely conscious way, but in a autonomous manner that is an escape from the left brain world of his professional life. He says when he paints he tends to get a lot of paint on himself and it is fun!


http://www.ericpalson.com/

#26 Angela Anderson

Angela Anderson is an artist from Russellville, Arkansas. She grew up in Palm Springs, California and moved to Arkansas in 1991 after graduating college with an Honors Art Degree from Arizona Western College in Yuma. Although grounded in the basics of art through her studies, Angela soon developed her own self taught style of painting with acrylics. Angela pursued decorative arts for a while but in 2004 she returned back to fine arts after her trip to France. She finds inspiration for her work in many things including music, a favorite movie, planting in her garden, childhood memories, and walking in the woods. She loves bold, graphic images with strong colors and elements of light and dark. Mood and color, contrast and harmony, simplicity and joy of discovery characterize her paintings. Impressionist art has always been a strong influence in her artistic expression, although her paintings have a more realistic feel, she enjoys leaving brush strokes and blurred edges to give a soft, painterly quality to her work. http://www.angelaandersonfineart.com/large-multi-view/Portfolio/54150-47-5440/Portfolio.html


The painting that I picked of hers is called "poppy days". I love the colors that she picked for that painting because I think that the blue of the sky and the red of the poppies work really well together. I am also a fan of bright bold colors and that is way her work appeals to me so much. She says she likes to create a mood with her work and I believe that this one does just that. The mood to this painting I believe is very happy and carefree and relaxed. I really like all the different colors in this painting and I like the composition of this painting.

http://www.angelaandersonfineart.com/index.php

# 25 Kimberly Conrad

"Days of Summer"

Acrylic on Canvas

After reading her artist statement and learning about her technique of painting I was interested to see how her technique would show in her paintings. I was drawn to this one initially because I could definitely feel the movement in this painting. I especially love the detail and texture in the sky of this scene. You can get a really good sense of the movement that she had to do with her body to make to clouds seem as fluffy as they seem. I really like the detail in the sand too, her choice of colors to create the depth work really well. This painting definitely makes me want to take a trip to the beach.

Kimberly is a contemporary landscape artist. She is fascinated by color so she likes to make paintings with bright colors. Kimberly is a full time artist who devotes most of her time painting and teaching in her Colorado studio. She has painted on every surface imaginable but she primarily paints on canvas, paper and board. She has a diverse style and she says that she has the heart of an Abstract Expressionist or even an Action Expressionist. She is an action painter. She has a unique way of applying paint to her paintings especially for her landscapes, seascapes and aspens. Kimberly like to pour her paint, and manipulate it with water and body movement.

http://kimberlyconradfineart.com/

#24 Annie Phillips

This work is a batik and it is from her series entitled "funky flowers". I really like this work because it is so simple but so pretty. I like that she painted the same leaves in all three batiks but she used different colors for each. I like this because I am most attracted to work that is playful and fun because I like to do work with the same style and feel to it.

Annie has been a batik artist for 25 years. She says that batik is her passion, vacation and also her work. She is continuously enthused by the process and finds it relaxing and freeing. Annie likes the medium because she is able to constantly stretch the medium. She likes that she can try to break down the boundaries of traditional batik and discover new areas and techniques. Unlike most artists Annie doesn't have any pre conceived notion on what her works will look like in the end when they are done. She likes to describe it as a magical mystery tour. She describes her creative process like a game of chess, one line leads to the next which then dictates what color should be used in the next part of her journey. Annie likes to create with organic lines.

http://www.anniephillips.co.uk/index.htm

#23 Paul Simmon

This is one of Paul Simmon's works that I like. I like that it is very simple and not very concerned with extreme detail. You can definitely feel that island flare that he is trying to portray in his artwork. You can feel the laid back feel of the island from the men sitting together enjoy a beer to the woman walking by carrying the basket of fruits on her head. I like the bold bright colors that are also typical in the tropics and I like his use of border.

Paul was born and raised in the UK. In 1970 when Paul was 21 he moved to the Caribbean, more specifically the island of St. Lucia. Paul first learned about batik while he was on a flight, that is where he read about it in an in flight magazine. In 1980 Paul was commissioned to make a number of pieces for a friend which lead to further commissions from people such as David Bowie, Mick Jagger, and Princess Margaret. In 1981 his work was shown at the world bank in Washington DC. Since then Paul has created and managed several restaurants and batik studios on the island, many which combine food and art which make for a very colorful cuisine. His inspirations for his work come from the natural beauty of the island such as the tropical rain forest and its birds and flowers. He likes to give a Caribbean flare to his work.

#22 Julie Komenda

Julie has been practicing the art of batik for 30 years. She learned the art while she was a student in Miami Florida. Julie likes the art form because of the many mediums that you can use to create with such as the different dyes, waxes and she even uses different papers to create on. Julie's subjects include sports, still life's, landscapes, portraits and the mermaids of Weeki Wachee.Natural and environmental themes are also included in her work from endangered species, weather, and fire.


http://1-julie-komenda.artistwebsites.com/featured/2-once-a-mermaid-always-a-mermaid-julie-komenda.html

Once a mermaid always a mermaid is the piece of work that I enjoyed the most of hers. I like to sort of organic feel that it has to it. I also like that it is a batik that is created on handmade paper and not just on fabric. The fact that she did not make this piece extremely detailed works really well because of the fact that the mermaids are under the water and moving. I like that you can see the movement of the water while one of the girls is in the process of doing some kind of flip in the water. I really like the giant air bubble that she painted coming out of the one mermaids mouth, and how she was able to recreate the water bubbles that surround the girls while they are doing their routine in the water it gives the painting wonderful texture.

http://1-julie-komenda.artistwebsites.com/index.html

#21 Wendy Tatter

"Trigger Fish"

I really like this batik of hers because of all the detail that she put into it. I especially like the shine that she was able to give to the fish. The composition of this batik is really nice, i like the face that you can't see all of the fish. In a way it keeps your guessing and it makes you want to see more, like you kind of expect the fish to finish swimming by you. I think she also did a really good job with the colors and using shading. I love the feel of all of her work it makes me feel like I am on vacation or that I wish that I could so to the Caribbean to experience all of natures wonders. I like that she paints things that she has actually seen and experienced so that her work is more personal to her.

In 1980 Wendy attended Instituto Allende is San Miguel, Mexico where she was introduced to the art of batik. The process of creating batik intrigued her because she saw it as an almost backward way of creating a design. The process intrigued her so much that it has been her main source of her creative outlet ever since. Wendy's work all has somewhat of a Caribbean flair because her work is inspired by places that she has been and loved and she has traveled extensively throughout the Caribbean and Central and South America. She has made her home now in Saint Augustine, Florida where she now owns her own gallery.

http://www.wbtatter.com/Bio.html

Artist #20 Echo Ukrainetz

"Potomic Gold"

Of all the subjects that Echo focuses on a like the landscapes section the best. I really can relate to this batik because I am from the country and see this scene pretty often so that is why I decided to talk about it. I love that she focuses on the round hay bales with the most detail because that it what she is trying to have be the main focus in this batik. I really like the texture the she was able to create with the hay field you can tell that it is still flowing full of hay. I also like that she is not afraid of the cracks and crinkles that are typical in batik and they actually seem to make composition stronger.

Echo is a native from Montana where she taught history, art and Spanish. She began her work in Batik in 1992. She enjoys the many aspects of the medium that she is able to experiment with. She has a large variety of subjects that her batiks focus on and she has work in collections all throughout North America. Some of her work is a collaboration between her and her husband.

http://echoukrainetz.com/

#19 Sarah Hale

"Gull Lake Island"

Batik on Cotton

I picked this piece of hers because I haven't seen very many batiks from artists who appreciate the unpredictability of wax when dying. I think that the crackle really works with the batik because it almost looks as if it could be reflections from the trees or something onto the water. I think Sarah did a good job creating the rippling effect in the water and the reflection of the trees.

Even from the age of 10 Sarah Hale always expected to become a famous artist. Sarah Hale first learned about Batik when she was living in Japan for a year. After moving to Arden, Canada Sarah took a basic class in batik. It was not long that she learned that she loved the process and enjoyed the finishes product because she was able to depict landscape in a way that was fresh and new. She also liked it because people liked her work and bought it which meant that she had the money to do more. Not to long after batik became a family business where her and her late husband worked together for 20 years and did work for major retail and craft shows. Sarah does both tub dying and the paint on method. She likes to focus on the landscape in Ontario as well as the native birds and flowers.

http://ardenbatik.com/

#18 Dorothy Bunny Bowen

http://www.db-bowen.com/index.htm

Dorothy started out as a painter and art historian. She received her BA in studio Art from Randolph Macon Woman's college in Lynchburg, VA and her MA in Art History from the University of New Mexico. In 1980 is when Dorothy discovered batik after working as a textile research associate at the Museum of International Folk Art for 10 years. She likes batik because it combines her love for textiles and her training as a painter. The theme that Bowen likes to focus on in her work is water. She lives the in Dessert in the Southwest so she says she is very aware of every drop that falls, flows, or evaporated anywhere nearby. Dorothy is a believer that we should live lightly on this earth and live in awe of its magnificence and she hopes that this belief is present in her artwork.
http://www.db-bowen.com/recent/recent-album/pages/morning_glory.htm


The image that I picked of her work is called God's Glory in the morning. I love the colors in this work. I love how it is depicting to morning glories in the morning as the orange glow of the sunrise is in the background. She did a really good just at making the orange in the background glow. It is also nice that she didn't feel the need to show every little detail such as in the leaves and the flower pedals but that you are still able to tell exactly what kind of flower it is even if she hadn't told us in the title.

#17 Inga Titova

Scarf "Happy Birthday"

I picked this scarf because I loved the colors and the scene that was depicted in it. This scarf is made on real silk using the cold batik method. I couldn't get the picture to blow up any bigger but from what I can tell it looks like fairies and flowers. It is amazing the detail that she created in this painting with lots of textures and tones. I like the colors that she uses in her works they are very happy and bright.

Inga was born in Karpinsk (Bogoslovsk) of the Sverdlovsk. When she was a child she entered a children's school of art where she studied for 5 years. After the 8th grade she studied in a musical school where she focused on mainly accordion and piano. After school Inga worked at a secondary school as a music teacher. At the beginning of the 1990's she studied at the Art School of Valadivostok simultaneously taking part in exhibitions in Germany and Russia. She then studied at Amur State University in the design department. While studying there she taught at a private school teaching 6 year old children to paint. Today Inga Titova is a free artist and her works can be seen in private collections in Germany, Russia, and China.

http://www.inga-titova.com/

#16 Alla Sviridenko

"1eva1"

http://www.allasilk.org/en/home

I picked this batik of Alla's because I like the simple colors that are in it. I also like that she uses words to create texture in this batik. Her use of the female form is very beautiful in this batik, simple but elegant. The colors go well with the water and wind theme of this batik. The texture of the ripples in the water work very well and i like that she uses words to curl around the waves and accentuate the ripples. Sometimes the most simple analogous color schemes work the best to make the biggest statement. Simple but beautiful.

Alla is an artist, professor, and designer who works in the techniques of batik and silk painting. The main directions of her work are fine arts, interior and fashion design. Alla was born in 1958 in Belarus. Alla received an education as a architect, artist, and teacher of arts. Alla works in the techniques of batik, silk painting and Shibori. Her favorite themes are flowers, herbs, female image and landscape. For Alla batik is not just a textile craft or a direction in decorative arts, but a philosophy, her world outlook. In batik in general Alla found an optimal form of creative self expression. Alla likes that silk painting allows space for improvising. Alla strives to achieve harmony of color, form and image.

Artist #15 Leo Twiggs

http://leotwiggs.com/leotwiggs.com/Media/transparent.gif

http://leotwiggs.com/leotwiggs.com/Home_Page.html

I selected a work from his Hugo Series to talk about for this post. The work is called Phillips Gate and it was made in 1990. I liked this series the most out all the ones in his gallery because I felt like it was the most playful. All of the works in this series are of images and people almost in a blur from moving way to fast or even like they are vanishing. Phillips gate is a very simple batik but I really like how Leo made the gate as simple as he did by just outlining it with the wax and then using color the most in the blur of the figure. This piece of work has a very whimsical feel to it but all the lines in it are very beautiful. I love that the color in the work is very limited and that it is mostly concentrated on the "blur" of the figure. I feel that this helps to bring your eye to that corner and that is what makes this piece of work so interesting.

Leo Twiggs was born in St. Stephen, South Carolina and received his BA from Claflin University. Later Leo went on to study at the Art Institute of Chicago and later received his MA from New York University, and his doctorate in Art Education from the University of Georgia. Leo Twiggs was the first visual artist to earn the Verner Award for outstanding contributions to the arts in South Carolina. Twiggs paintings are done with a unique innovative technique that he developed after years of experimenting with the traditional medium. Twiggs has has 70 one man shows and his work has received international recognition. Leo's work has been published in many art textbooks and featured in several television documentaries. In 2002 and 2008 he was selected to design ornaments for the White House Christmas tree.

Artist #14 Henry Sumpter

Henry was born in Myrtle Beach South Carolina in 1945. As a child Henry enjoyed meeting people from different parts of the world. As he grew his interest in art he grew a relationship with James H. Burroughs a noted local artist. The relationship grew into a four year scholarship and lead to many awards. Henry attended Chaflin College where he was introduced to batik master Leo Twiggs who taught at a neighboring college. It was during this time that Henry fell in love with the batik process. Briefly Henry worked in the Army as an artist during the Vietnam era. After the army Henry attended graduate school and then began to teach in the south, continuing to refine his art and coming up with new techniques for producing batiks. Henry likes to create paintings from dreams, tv, readings, and a vivid imagination of places that he has visited. Henry likes to leave the interpretation of his work up to the viewer.

http://www.visualdesignstudio.com/hiddentreasures.htm

I really like the piece of work by Henry Sumpter entitled Hidden Treasures. This work is the first painting of a series of paintings about people who toil in the soil. I like how Sumpter's work has a lot of detail without feeling the need to try to depict every little detail such as the one's in the faces of all the workers. I like how he used to circle to kind of highlight the story of what is beneath the soil that the workers can't see but we can, I think that is what gives this batik the most visual interest. I also like the technique that he used in the background so that he didn't have to depict everything that would be in the background. It fits in perfectly with the painting.

Artist #13 Elena Vedernikova

"spring"

I think that Elena Vedernikova is my new favorite batik artist. I love that she likes to use bold bright colors. Her work also appeals to me because she likes to use femine figures and objects in her work and the way that she uses it all together is very beautiful. My favorite painting of hers is this one called spring. I find it very delicate and beautiful. I love the fact that you can't see the womans face in this painting. I also love that she used the flowers in the womans hair that she also continued to use as a background. The transition of the hair into the grass flows perfectly. I love the texture Elena put into the dress. It is a very happy painting and it makes you want to go sit in a field of flowers on a warm end of the day.

Elena Vedernikova is a Russian Batik artist. She specializes in cold batik. Elena graduated from Udmurt State University in Izhevsk, Russia where she specialized in textile arts and silk painting. Since graduating Elena has worked as a batik artist and her works can be found in private collections in Germany, France, Italy Greece, Russia, and the USA. Elena creates work with the idea of being able to perceive her painting in two ways: the external contemplative method and the internal method of interpreting the artists intentions. Most of Vedernikova's paintings address the theme of femininity and a multitude of it's variations. Elena's visual style is original, with the smooth flowing vibrant lines that seem endless, capable of creating many images on the way.







http://batik-cold.narod.ru/

Artist #12 Sam Kurana

"Discarded"

This batik is done with the technique that Sam called Dyetik. He says that it gives batik more detail than typical batik but I feel that It makes his work look like it is colored pencil. I have never seen batik with this kind of texture before and I am interested to know how he does it. I think that it has beautiful texture. I like that colors that he was able to achieve in the grass and on the ground. I like that cars in this batik too and the depth that he created with them but I feel like they kind of just stick out because the grass has so many different details and colors and the cars are just red and white. I feel like he could have done something else to make them more interesting and not stick out so much.

Sam is considered to be one of the heroes of Malaysian Batik. He grew up in Perak but found his place early as an innovative Batik artist in the contemporary batik heartland of the state Penang. Penang is where most batik giants found their inspiration and where their talents were recognized. Sam is well known at home as well as abroad. Sam teaches Batik Fine Arts training for foreign art teachers, students, and batik enthusiasts. Sam has been a practicing artist since the 60's but didn't originally start out as a batik artist. Originally Sam focused in watercolor and oils. Sam believes that his appeals lies in the fact that he has taken the medium farther than his peers before him. Sam is concerned with receiving credit for originality for his technique that gives his painting detail that is not normally achieved in batik so he has guarded the details of his technique. Sam doesn't rely on defined segmented figures and scenarios which to typically common with batik painting. He successfully adapted a unique technique that gives his paintings a mottled surface glow that he calls "dyetik".

#11 John TInger

John Tinger grew up in Massachusetts and now lives in Oakland California. John started out with a degree as a civil engineer. It was only when working for the peace corps as a volunteer in Uruguay, South America that John began to learn the techniques of batik. He likes batik because of the random results that it produces that are only completely revealed in the final step. He likes the art form because he can use bright colors and simple shapes to create complex designs. He also likes batik because you you don't have to worry about little details as much. Like most batik artist John believes that there are no mistakes in batik, all the drips, cracks, and dye spills are all part of the creative process. John likes the concept of using very old, traditional media for contemporary stylized images. His inspiration is based on his interests in music, sports, architecture, engineering and the outdoors. Recently John has begun to bring some of his engineering background into his batik work by creating mixed media using three dimensional structural and truss components to lay over the batik.

http://www.batikfineart.com/


John's style is a lot different from the other artists that I have looked at so far. He isn't concerned with putting all the little details into his art. I like that he has some that he tries to do with a little more detail and that he also does batiks with less detail. I like both ways but sometimes I think that to much detail can take away from the piece of work so sometimes its nice to just go as simply as possible as long as you can still get the subject of the work to be depicted clearly enough. My favorite of his work is the batik of the spider. I like all the colors that he used in it and I also like the border that he created. I like that the spider is so simple but you can still tell that it is a spider and that he also did give it some detail but it is the most simple detail that you can give. I really like how he did the spider web too. The web is very detailed and the colors behind it work very well in this batik.

#10 Beth McCoy

Beth McCoy was raised in Washington D.C. and Maryland in a family of art lovers. When she graduated high school she did little odd jobs until she stumbled into painting and then in 1990 she fell in love with batik while she was designing and painting hand painted apparel in her Colorado shop. She was entralled by the process of drawing, waxing, dying and then over dying. She began to experiment on clothing and table linens at first. A couple years later when visiting a gallery she saw some very realistic batik paintings which moved her to take her work beyond the simple decorative motifs she previously had been doing. She is self taught with a lot of trial and error and travels the world to gather inspiration for her work. In 2006 she began experimenting with batik pointillism.

http://www.batikartbybeth.com/index.php

http://www.batikartbybeth.com/graphics/ro/Mother%20and%20Baby.jpg

The batik painting of hers that I decided to talk about is the one called "mother and baby". She took this photo one the streets in Delhi but she altered the background from a busy city street to greenery. I really like the fact that this artist experiments with different techniques and I love that she is experimenting with pointillism. Personally I think that it makes the portrait that much more interesting. I love all the colors that she was able to create by putting certain dots together in certain ways. I also like the fact that she changed to background to greenery because I feel it makes it easier for me to focus on the subjects in the painting with are the mother and baby and if she had kept the background of the city it would have been entirely to distracting. I love that texture that pointillism with batik creates and I like that she was still able to create depth in the portrait as much as she was by just using little tiny dots.

#9 Ada Florek

"Batik VIII"

What I have noticed from Ada's batik work is that she likes to use colors that are more muted and not so bold. Most of the work that I looked at by her was abstract but she did have some that were not. I chose this batik because I really like that texture that was created in this. The tree bark was recreated very well and it looks just like actual tree bark. I also really like the texture that was created in the sky. The clouds look so bubblely and soft. I really like the colors that she used in this batik.

Ada doesn't focus on just batik work. She looks to draw and paint too. She has work that focuses on architecture, still life and other various things. Ada is from Poland and she is a new artist.
She is so new I guess that I searched all over on the internet for an artist statement or a biography and I wasn't able to find anything.

http://adaflorek.daportfolio.com/

#8 Leonard Thompson

This batik is called "Tulipa Groenland" it is done on silk and mounted on a 50cm square. I love this piece because of the wonderful lighting and detail that he was able to capture. I love all the multiple different shades that were used just in creating the flower petals themselves. Leonard was able to use a water wash very well and create the different tones and shades. This piece of work is amazing because it looks so real. I really like the texture that he was able to create especially with the greenery.

Leonard Thompson started out as a teacher and taught primary school for 32 years but he decided to take an early retirement so that he would have time to produce his own paintings since teaching left him with little time to do so. Leonard likes to work with mostly colorful birds and flowers because he believes that they suite his approach to silk painting the best. Leonard likes to work with silk the most and sometimes he uses wax to create batik techniques in his work. Unlike most batik artists through he doesn't like the outlines that the wax creates so he works to hide the outlines in his finished products which he says is best from him because it fits his personality. Leonard says that his designs are mostly figurative because he likes to give his audience something to ponder.

http://www.silkartist.co.uk/silk.htm

Artist #7 Mary Lee Murphy

When Looking through the gallery of her work this one caught my eye the most. It is called "Rock in Sea, Connemara" I really like the colors that she picked for this Batik. I think its interesting that she used orange as an accent for the rock in the sea. I think that that texture that she created for the water is very pretty too, I ould tell it was water before I even looked at the title, i think it is a very interesting interpretation of water ripples. Also, the reflection of the rock in the water is done very nicely. You can tell that she depicted this scene when it was darker in the day time, probably at sunset or on a cloudy day.

Mary Lee Murphy is a Batik artist. Also she does not like to be considered that. She like that tell people that she is a painter and that her medium is dye and wax. She is a leading contemporary Batik artist from Ireland. She studied fine art in Sligo which is where she current works out of her studio in the country side. Mary's work is widely acclaimed and is on display in many public and private collections. Her subject matter that she liked to work with is landscape and the human form which she uses to express what is inside her. Mary like to work with a variety of clothes such as cotton, silk, and linen. She likes to apply the wax in her batiks with brushes.

http://www.thekennygallery.ie/artists/murphymarylee/

#6 Modern Batik Artist David Kibuuka

My absolute favorite work of David's that I found so far is this top batik painting called Hypnotise 3. I absolutely love his technique because it enable you to give your subjects depth which you can't normally do using the regular techniques of batik. I love how the face recedes into the black shadow in the background and how the face looks 3D. I also like that with this technique you can you many different colors. It amazes me how the lines in his work are so crisp and clean, you can't tell that it is even done on fabric it looks like it is a painting done with paint on a canvas.

Davids technique is very interesting to me. When I learned to do batik work I learned that you go from the lightest color to the darkest color. David and his brother Henry instead use the opposite technique which was pioneered by Henry. He starts with the darkest colors and works to the lightest. Also, instead of using full strength dye and dipping the fabric in it, Henry used diluted dye and painted it on the fabric allowing him to get detailed images with refined edges with dramatically enhanced tonality, shading and depth. David introduced the Fragmentation technique to this medium. This technique added increased background depth, a broader and richer color palette to the color palette of batik painting. This technique allows for control, richness, and detail comparable to acrylic and water color painting. This modification has been called " Modern Batik Art Painting". David Kibuuka is originally from Uganda. In 1976 David left Uganda to attend art schools in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1983 David moved to Ontario Canada where he finished his studies at Ontario College of Art and Design.http://kibuuka.com/default.asp

#5 T.G. Tarnowski

"Out of Business Store Window"

http://ttarnowski.net/large-view/all/166048-19--/Photography.html

http://ttarnowski.net/home

While searching online for some new contemporary nature photographers I recently stumbled upon an artist with an interesting concept. T. G. Tarnowski is an artist who likes to document accumulating absences. In reading the home page of Tarnowski's website there is an article written by a New York Times writer that describes Tarnowski's work. It talks about how we all have places in our lives that we pass through. Things grow and change and yet we still remember them like they were when they were part of our lives. The article talks about a corner Korean Market that had closed and the writer had a hard time dealing with the change. The writer walked passed it even when it was boarded up and could still imagine where everything was in the store they used to go in there for. The article talks about how all of us carry footprints of vanishing places such as old apartments that we used to live in, Restaurants that went out of business and other such places. The point in this article that I find most interesting and that has a very good concept is when the writer talks about these vanishing places and says basically that these are " places we knew almost by intuition until they vanished leaving behind only the strange sense of knowing our way around a world that can no longer be found."

T.G. Tarnowski's work is very interesting. He doesn't have much of an artist statement online but from what I can tell from looking at his work he likes to deal with the concept of vanishing places. The image I chose for this artist that was my favorite is called "Out of Business Store Window". This one is the most appealing to me of all the photos in his gallery because it speaks the most to me about vanishing places and what was once there that is now gone. You can tell that a lot of people were once part of the history of this business by the multiple pieces of tape that are still left on the window. That means that many people must have come and posted advertisements and other things in this businesses window and that people in this town must have come to this store looking for information on things. I love that this photograph is so simplistic but yet it tells many different stories.