Carnegriff

Another installment from DeviantArt...this time an artist who uses inks and pencil to create beautiful, organic portraits and images.  Carnegriff has a style all his own.  His lines and washes are loose and flowing, more suggestion than fact, but convey the mood better than a hard line would.  I love the emotion present in his pieces, how you can feel them through the computer.  The methods he uses to achieve the desired effects vary, from spilling tea to employing a hairdryer, and this makes them all the more compelling.  Anything that heightens the organic nature of the piece is attractive to me.  It's like his portraits are actual people, the personification of nature if it decided to take on a human face.  (all images copyrighted to the artist!)

Called "The Discovery", this piece uses the "spilled tea" method.  There's something otherworldly about these pieces, like the subjects exist at the boundaries of the imagination.  He is great at suggesting movement with very few lines, and again the organic feel to it is amazing.  It's like the art had a hand in the design just as much as the artist. 

The "Flower of Life".  Carnegriff doesn't just leave his work once it's done - he constructs lightboxes to show them off as best as possible, and that is what really drew me into his site.  How awesome is this?  Imagine this on your wall in the evening...and if you wand a conversation piece, you need look no further. 

Another lightbox with the image "Mortality", just to show you what it looks like completely.  I love this image as well.  Like I said before, I'm a huge fan of portraits, and his convey so much emotion and are so well executed.  I find the eyes a very important part for conveying emotion, and he manages to do that when they're closed. 

Yet another mixed media piece, "Leytonstone", ink on stone with gesso.  The gray of the stone complements his color palette perfectly.  Those are secret words that are coming from his mouth...so curious as to what they say!  But that's another draw for me, when there's a hidden aspect to the piece.  All of his works have that quality to them, a sense that you are not seeing all there is to the painting.  That if you sit with it a while, let it speak to you, it might reveal more of itself. 

To see more of his work and read more about how he creates the pieces, head on over to his blog.  It also has information on his career path, and it's very interesting.  If you want to see his DeviantArt page, it is here.  He is incredibly talented, and I am excited to see what he creates next!

EDIT:  he also has an Etsy shop!