Artist Feature: Johanna Tagada / BonjourJohanna

As I was going through a blog-redesign binge in the wee hours of the morning last week, I realised that one of my sidebar categories reads: "Art", and I haven't featured an artist in over 3 months! :o So without further ado, let's get into some art!

Johanna Tagada is an abstract painter who also works with many different media, including painting, collage, photography, textile design, and ceramics. She's originally from France, but currently lives in Germany. Her heritage is multicultural, and so are her interests; She speaks many different languages, travels often, and is inspired by cultural heritage, especially folk art. Her irregular patterns and shapes have something of a tribal or naive feeling to them, yet the colours and sparse compositions make it feel quite modern. The pattern below, with its visible painted texture, resembles cracked mud, a motif that brings to mind the ancient past, hunter-gatherers, wild, harsh environments - What makes this image modern is the two-dimensionality and the pastel colour. The best way I can describe her colour palette is: Sun-bleached pastels.




I really enjoy the textile pattern below, as it looks a bit like a quilt - an art form that has a long history and folk-craft connotations.


In her shop, you can find many different kinds of objects, prints, pins, zines, and even hand painted t-shirts. This one's pretty adorable, and even comes with some tea leaves and a matching card! I'm calling it "The Tea Tee" ... heh heh heh.

Speaking of her store, I love the paint-dollop background she has going on! I've been looking around for web and blog-design inspiration recently, and her store has a fresh feeling to it.


If you want to learn more about Johanna, I have links to a couple interviews she's done below, as well as all her other sites. She seems like a wonderful person: unpretentious, open, creative, and optimistic, just like her art. The best way you can support her is to like/share her work, or even better, buy something from her shop!


You can find her here:
Shop - Bonjour Supermarket
Blog - Bonjour Johanna
Portfolio - Johanna Tagada
Instagram: bonjourjohannatagada
Facebook
Interview about her life
Interview about her aesthetics






My links:
Instagram // Pinterest // Bloglovin // Society6

Spring Has Sprung

It's official! Spring has arrived! ...at least in California (The flowers say so).

For those of you who live in colder, more seasonally varied areas of the world, I encourage you to live vicariously through these pictures of springtime blooms! I found these bobbing beauties at the Japanese garden (the one nobody knows exists) on my school campus. Many of these are soon to be posted in Etsy!

Enjoy!


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Which one do you like the most?

Color Palette - Diaphanous Rose

I've been seeing color palette images all over the place, especially in Pinterest. They're pleasing to the eye, they satisfy the visual artist in me, and they make for really good interior design color inspiration!

In accordance with this new craze, I've decided to make my own, using one of my photographs and some help from Pugly Pixel (Check out this site if you have photoshop, she's got lots of free downloads!)

I also included some items from Urban Outfitters for us to fantasize about.


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Art History is Cool: Edgar Degas

This week, I've been at a loss for what to post. As I'm getting my bearings in the blogosphere, I've been brainstorming for new things to post about. I can do photography and style posts all I want, but in order to take it to the next level, I need something new, something unique! After reading these helpful tips, I realized I should take the advice and post about something I know and love: Art History!

As a few of you may know from the About Me post, I am a student of Art History, and I thought it would be cool (and if not cool, at least interesting) to make art history seem cool! If I succeed, bravo! If I fail, then at least I tried something new, and I'm fairly certain I'm one of the only style/photography bloggers out there who also blogs about Art History. So without further delay, here are Five Reasons Why Edgar Degas is Cool:

{ONE}
French Impressionism was revolutionary. Impressionists were like the hippies of the 19th century, and they literally changed art, the world even. You see, there was this governmental organization in France, called The Academy, that controlled nearly every aspect of art, how it should look, how it should be made, what subjects should be in it, etc. So to make a long story short, the Impressionists told The Academy to "take a hike," and look where they are now! Impressionism is probably the most well-known artistic movement in history aside from the Italian Renaissance. They took a stand, ignored all the rules, and created unprecedented and magnificent works of art.




{TWO}
Ballerinas. Enough said.




{THREE}
Look at that beautiful, saturated, unabashed color! They aren't blended well and they aren't realistic, and that's what conveys the energy of the dance so well.




{FOUR}
He "cropped" his images like snapshots. This was almost a criminal offense in "serious" art of the Academy. Back then, the critics saw this as sloppy, and certainly not worthy of being portrayed on canvas. Degas really showed them who's boss with that lady blocking our view.




{FIVE}
Degas wasn't afraid of empty space. He painted (although he often used pastels) that bare floor with no shame, and he wants you to notice it.



Image names and Dates, top to bottom:
Rehearsal of the Ballet Onstage, Edgar Degas, 1874
Two Dancers, Edgar Degas, 1893-1898
Ballet Dancers on the Stage, Edgar Degas, 1883
Ballerina and Lady with a Fan, Edgar Degas, 1885
Ballet Rehersal, Edgar Degas, 1873

I Love You, Pink Peony Photography

It is time *drumroll* for the start of a wonderful tradition, a tradition that will live in the hearts of all, a tradition that will occur once every month, a tradition called: the "I love you,[insert name of artist]" series, where I choose an artist I swoon, drool, and otherwise ogle over, and feature some of their work!

To start off this grand and momentous tradition, I have chosen someone very special, and I must confess that I love you, Pink Peony Photography. You've described your images best in your shop, "fun and sweet." Your images are full of pastels, cute things, flowers, and more cute things. Your photographs are light, bright, and happy, without looking washed-out or over-processed. Bravo, Pink Peony Photography, for earning a spot on my favorites list.