My favorite artist, an open book blog hop post

 

Welcome to Open Book Blog Hop. You can find us every Monday talking about the writing life. I hope you'll check out all the posts: you'll find the links at the bottom of this post.

Who is your favorite visual artist?
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Sorry, y'all. I can't pick. My favorite on any given day is the one that feeds the part of my soul that was hungry, and that's different on different days. 

So far as big, museum-famous artists, I love Francisco Goya, Frida Kahlo, Johannes Vermeer, and Auguste Rodin, among others. I'm more likely to get stuck on a particular work than all the work by a particular artist. For example, my favorite Van Gogh isn't any of his most famous ones, but a strange one that is part of the Cincinnati Art Museum's collection: Undergrowth with Two Figures. 

image source

That's my "hometown" art museum, so I've spent a lot of time staring at this particular wooded scene trying to decide if the people are ghosts, or if their semi-transparent appearance is more an optical illusion created by the lush undergrowth and the trees. I like that I never could decide. 

There are also quite a few artists in my life. People I know personally and love, whose work adorns my walls. From my father-in-law, who made his living as an artist, to my mother who studied photography, to neighbors, to convention buddies, to a college friend (Mark Davis) who sold me his cool octopus painting at a bargain rate because I wanted it badly, to a local guy (Wes Flanary) who painted The Gill Man and sold the work to my husband as a holiday gift for me. 

Honestly, I need more walls. I'm running out of space to hang the art that charms and inspires me. 

So, no, I don't have a single favorite artist, but I'm grateful they're all out there making wonderful things. Who's on your list?

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