Saturday, March 17, 2012

A Favorite Painting...or Two....or Three!














I wasn't planning on posting about another contemporary artist but when I discovered Mark Briscoe's work, I really had no choice in the matter. How could I not share these wonderful paintings?

Briscoe was born in England in 1964 - he's a relatively young artist with plenty of experience in several artistic disciplines. He paints in egg tempera with oil (as did Leonardo da Vinci, Van Gogh, Andrew Wyeth and Sandro Botticelli, to name just a few). It is a medium in use by artists for over a thousand years.

He studied art in the U.K. worked as an art restorer and traveled to India where he learned the art of miniature painting. Concentrating for awhile on the restoration and painting of antique chinoiserie lacquer furniture, he later moved to Spain (where he now lives) and began experimenting with egg tempera on panels.

The results are these incredible paintings which combine a modern aesthetic with a mix of impressionistic fervor. There is a great sense of movement in his work - the density and brushwork made me suddenly feel as if I'd tipped over the edge into some new world. It is almost impossible to resist lingering over Mark Briscoe's creations and I hope you'll want to do the same.

To learn more about Mark Briscoe, please use this link to his website and this link to his gallery. Here's also a link to a terrific post on Briscoe (from 2010) which appeared online at Fine Art, Business and the World.


Mark Briscoe at work in his studio.

10 comments:

  1. Yvette, this is a great post! Love the color pallette here! FYI, I tagged you and your blog for the 7X7 Link Award. The details are on my site http://randomramblingofabroadwayfilmtvfan.blogspot.com/

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  2. What lovely paintings--such color, texture, and movement! Thank you for exposing me to yet another artist with whom I was unfamiliar.

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  3. Yvette, these are such fine paintings. Mark Briscoe makes painting look easy. Briscoe at work in his studio seems like a self-portrait on canvas - vibrant and colourful. Talk of artistic space!

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  4. Mark Briscoe's work is charming — I see some Van Gogh movement in the trees, which look so much like flames.

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  5. Gilby - Thanks for dropping by and thanks so much for the award.

    I received a 7X7 award just last week from another blogger so I must debate what to do. I haven't responded on the blog yet, but will do so this week.

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  6. You're welcome, Deb. Normally I don't post about contemporary artists, but these last two weeks I haven't had much choice. Just had to share these talented people's work with you.

    I'm glad you enjoyed making the discovery as much as I did.

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  7. I agree, Prashant. Did you notice that he studied in India? His website will tell you more about what he learned there. Very interesting the way one technique blends into another. The skills learned in India have certainly influenced his current work.

    That photo of Briscoe working on a painting made me realize just how long it's been since I picked up a brush. I'll have to do something about that one of these days...

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  8. Oh yes, absolutely, Mark. I was looking at some other artist's work when out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Briscoe painting and said to myself - wait a minute, what's that?

    I was immediately intrigued.

    I feel as if I could slip into the artwork- kind of like falling into Narnia.

    Know what I mean?

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  9. Oooh I like these! I wasn't aware of Mark Briscoe before today.

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  10. Lauren: Aren't they wonderful? It's always thrilling to make a discovery of this nature. I've experienced it twice in within the last few weeks.

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