Robert S Connett - Night Trawler

¤ Robert S Connett's "Night Trawler" can be found on his "flickr" page on "flickr". You can also find R.S. Connett's work on deviantART as "vmaximus" -- "vomit maximus" in his gallery there. Do not forget to click on the "All Sizes" link at the top of the image to see the large size version to take in the impressive detailwork of this artist.

¤ Taken aback -- obscure, fanciful, or just plain crazy -- I'm not quite sure. One thing I do know however, is that this artist isn't afraid to push the boundaries of what we consider to be artistic. But that's what I think gives this artist his appeal. The dark hulking colosus in the middle of the work looks like its an invention from a Sci Fi movie set being sent to its final resting place. The other inhabitants of the water look like they've just stumblied upon modern man gone wrong.

~ Mags

¤ I prefer this artist's later works and his works with places and things, to those of people, beings, and animals -- but that is my bias. People need not like all of an artist's works to like the work of an artist. I recommend looking at what the artist has to say about his own work under the images on flickr. He has a talent for writing as well as painting.

Connett puts great detail in his work -- working with magnifying glasses and jeweller's glasses to accompany the hair fine brushes he uses. In "Night Trawler" there is nowhere you can look and not see something of interest, something to make you wonder about what it is doing there. There are themes from other paintings repeated here: I see the people with telescopes that I recognize from the "Spying on the Dark City" painting; I see the city of glass from "Spying on the Dark City" and "Dreaming by the City of Glass" as well as other pieces; and themes from other paintings.

There are many stories being told in "Night Trawler" and though many are put their by the artist, many more are set to be created by the viewer.

~ Darrell.

Arnau Alemany - The old Factory

¤ "The old Factory" is an "oil on wood" painting by Arnau Alemany. You can find it on his website: "the magic realism of Arnau ALEMANY". You can find his biography on there as well.

¤ This is another one of those paintings that plays with creating a reality that goes beyond reality. I am not sure how other to describe this form of creation of alternate realism... Of course you can describe this painting as surreal.

The old 19th century style factory is sitting in the open countryside with its surrounding wall and it's apparent product: spheres.

It makes one wonder perhaps if these are simply polished rock spheres with no purpose other than aesthetic or if they are planets in the making. I note that the painting is labeled as being "New" -- I was looking for when it was painted -- to give a reference point to the work.

Perhaps the factory doesn't make the spheres at all... perhaps the spheres have invaded the landscape or are explorers or tourists from another world. Or, perhaps they are not stone spheres at all, but people each in their own world: Adult spheres, some going to work in the factory; others watching children; and toddlers all on a work-day morning or afternoon.

I think that this sort of painting is intended to get the mind wandering -- considering possibilities and wandering in directions a landscape might not take you in.

~ Darrell

¤ Egg-tastic! This painting by Arnau Alemany is a fantasy artist's heaven. My initial thought when looking at this stoke house was -- that one egg dropped out of the sky inspiring cloning and mass production. What is inside these monstrosities -- a new life form determined to take over the world as we know it -- teaching us to live as one?

~ Mags

Jacek Yerka - Amonit

¤ "Amonit" by Jacek Yerka can be found on his own site Jacek Yerka painter of the fantasy worlds. You can find galleries of his work in a few places on his site. I suggest "How do I make my paintings..." and "My Worlds".

¤ I experienced a strange feeling when I looked at this artist's piece. My heart went giddy with excitement as it brought me to my childhood. This work has so many tremendous qualities its hard to know where to begin. The houses that are carved into the rock appear both fragile and robust at the same time. The spiral at the top of the image looks like a shell you would pick up off the beach and a pastry treat good enough to eat.

I do find it extraordinary how the water is able to just stay delicately placed on top of the cliff and refrain from dribbling down the sides. Every time you look at this image you will find something new to marvel over.

~ Mags

¤ I like the impossibility of the sea level being both at the top of the cliff and the bottom at the same time. I look at the buildings which meld into the cliff and wonder whether they are intended to be cliff dwellings or just to point out how stone buildings are so like cliffs. That reminds me somewhat of some of Rob Gonsalves works where cliffs meld into cityscapes and cityscapes into cliffs.

Of course my mind loves to move into paintings to feel what they are like and to explore and I wonder what travelling up that river would lead to. Would there be waterfalls from the top of the cliff in places? Is the sea salt or fresh water? Are there tides?I wonder if there might be a safe harbour in the shell? Do people dwell there still? Was the city carved into rock or grown like the shell the feature looks like?

Jacek Yerka has many fascinating pieces on his site and can be found in other places on the Web if you do a search for his name. His is a name I would like to keep track of.

~ Darrell

M.C. Escher - Double Planetoid

¤ M.C. Escher's "Double Planetoid" is an illustration of this well known artist that can be found in a number of galleries and collections. We are highlighting it on "The Oldest Escher Collection the Web - Since 1993" "World of Escher" and "Jill Britton's Escher Gallery". "World of Escher" has information on the artist. "Jill Britton's Escher Gallery" has the best and clearest images. "The Oldest Escher Collection the Web - Since 1993" has a good collection as well as links to works inspired by Escher. Please note that we chose to use a larger image for a thumbnail because smaller ones simply do not work for this illustration. (Link to "The Official M.C.Escher Website".)

¤ I'd like to credit my best friend, Darrell Penner, for introducing me to the work of M.C. Escher. After looking at his work for a little while, I realized that all of his shapes on one side of the planetoid are exactly the same as on the other. He takes tremendous care and pride in the fact that everything is symmetrical and drawn like a mathematician.

He is well respected by scientists and mathematicians and I just wonder if it is because of his exactness and attention to detail. I have glanced at some of his other pieces and he manages to put ordinary objects in places where they ought not to be, and somehow yet this still seems to work just fine. So if you are someone that likes symmetrical works of art, then Escher is the man for you.

~ Mags

¤ M.C. Escher's masterpiece, "Double Planetoid" might not seem so impressive to many people today, until they realize it was not done using computer aide. Escher was born in 1898 and died in 1972* and computers were not being routinely used for artwork until well after 1972.

Escher's work was done using techniques of woodcutting and lithography. These processes involve creating a master printing plate or block by hand and printing the piece from that. Each line on Escher's works were originally guided by hand!

Escher's work, like "Double Planetoid" contrasts geometry and nature along with -- in some cases -- optical illusion. He does in this case use optical illusion to create a feeling of depth, but that is something we are very used to. "Double Planetoid" takes two interlocked tetrahedron where one is a fantasy planetoid -- rough and covered with tropical plants; lizard and saurian-like creatures living on the cliff-like structures -- while the second is a fortress a Templer Knight might be proud of -- all tied to an internal point of gravity. The primitive tropical tetrahedron does not connect at all with the fortress tetrahedron but rather the fortress bridges it with arches which emerge from holes on the landscape of the primitive land.

You can see the lithographic lines used to create shading and shape for the print when you look at the full sized work. There is a very different feel between the sort of line used on each of the two tetrahedron.

You really have to view the full sized image from the "Jill Britton's Escher Gallery". At least it is the same size as the prints in the book of prints I bought in my youth, perhaps only a few years after Escher's passing. I have bought few art books in my life, but the book of Escher prints was the first I bought and one of my favourites! This is one of my favourite works as well. ...though I do love the "Curl Up" creature with the "baby feet" that rolls up into the wheel to travel by rolling as much or more...

~ Darrell

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* "World of Escher"

Rob Gonsalves - Spring Skiing

¤ "Spring Skiing" is an illustration by Rob Gonsalves whose artwork is featured in a number of places on the net though the best actual gallery of his work I have found is at Discovery Galleries. Another location with some good images of his illustrations is on "Seamless pictures | haha.nu -- a lifestyle blogzine".

Rob Gonsalves does interesting artwork in his own particular style. He uses an awareness of architecture that started at a young age taking direction into perspective techniques leading to his first paintings and renderings of imagined buildings. This has directed him into works which are surreal in quality where an image done of one scene blends seamlessly into another. It is reminiscent of Escher to me.

He uses "carefully planned illusionist devices."* to create these images in a seamless fashion that I find are very unique. I do like the term "Magic Realism"* to describe his work as referred to in the Discovery Galleries' Biography of the artist*. Outside of the seamless illusion of the blending of one image into the next, his style is crisp and reminds me of the best illustration work I remember from school books and Reader's Digest. I am not sure what you would call that style, but it works well here and can speak volumes. I think it is the clarity of the style that adds even more to the illusion. It is easier to hide an illusion in mist and fog than in crisp good lighting.

"Spring Skiing"blends that pure white snow of the mountains with that pure white "snow" shower of petals from the flowering fruit trees in Spring. While in places you may have drifts of pink, here you would have the white drifts from these fruit trees. The alpine purity of snow blending seamlessly into the floral purity of the Spring fruit trees.

~ Darrell

For those extreme skiers amongst us, Rob Gonsalves piece entitled "Spring Skiing" is a sports lover's delight. He has managed to turn an extraordinary environment into a seamless slope of powder which only makes you want to be there in person.

My selection on which piece of his artwork to review was made extremely difficult -- not because his gallery does not have much to offer -- but because each piece has elements that are worthy of artistic critique. After much pondering we settled for "Spring Skiing". More works of his will be reviewed in future here at Blended Realms.

~ Mags

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* Rob Gonsalves -- Discovery Galleries -- Fine Art

Frank Melech - Elements IV

This image is one of a series of Frank Melech's hosted on fotocommunity which unfortunately seems to be a German Language site -- though not unfortunate for German speakers.

This artist has managed to combine both silken soft and rocky rough textures -- blending both civilized and archaic.

His gallery will leave you mesmerized and wanting to come back for seconds. You won't be disappointed if you go to check out the rest of his work.

~ Mags

When I look at the thumbnail of the work it reminds me a lot of some large eye of a whale, though with slitted pupil. Looking at the full sized image you see a geode like feature hanging in space before an ocean-like background. The geode holds a stormy ocean with land in the background and a miniature version of itself leaps forth looking all the world like a sperm seeking its own way in the universe.

There are other works of this artist that are as grand. I find that there is much to see looking at the details. I wonder if the artist intended it to look like an eye at a distance? The textures are interesting and Mags mentioned to me similarities with polished paua or abalone.

~ Darrell