JOHN JOHNSTONE (born 1941 Scotland)
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this man before; a couple of his works (including the Dylan one) were on display at the gallery I visited yesterday. I rather like his work, mostly because his is an excellent draughtsman.
His observation and drawing of the human form is spot on. I suppose it’s because I enjoy life drawing and portrait painting that I understand how difficult it is to get it right. But John Johnstone manages every time; he is one of Scotland's leading contemporary artists working in the figurative style. The Dylan painting and the Check out painting are both quite old works.
I like them. Someone has already pointed out that the Dylan painting shows Dylan with a bass guitar (which his didn’t play) and with Alan Ginsburg playing the piano, I have no idea why this is but it does make for an interesting painting. I also saw the ‘Checkout’ painting yesterday. The amount of detail in this painting is amazing, you can get lost in it. I wouldn’t particularly want to hang it on my wall, but it is fascinating to stand and look at, there is such meticulous attention to detail. The packets are all painstakingly accurate and the dress and mannerisms of the people are brilliantly well observed.
He is a professional Dundee based artist. John Johnstone was born in Forfar in 1941 and studied at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee between 1959 and 64 where he was highly commended.
After receiving a major travelling scholarship and using it to visit a number of European cities, he returned to the same college and taught there for many years.
He is a regular exhibitor at the Royal Scottish Academy and the Scottish Society of Artists and is a professional member of the Scottish Society of Artists and Scottish Visual Arts. John Johnstone is a unique artist - in the special sense that he has no problem in being original.
He combines his technical skill at drawing people and capturing their essence with the sort of wild imagination we see in children’s book illustrations or fantasy/ surrealist paintings.
He is one of Scotland's leading contemporary artists working in the figurative style. The Dundee based painter has exhibited widely in Scotland as well as galleries in London and Kingston Jamaica. In other words, he is a professional artist, working within the Scottish Art world and practicing his art with a high degree of technical expertise.
He writes ; "My paintings seem to be expressing something either serious or amusing about life. They depict people acting out minor dramas. Gesture, composition, characterisation and setting are important. There is an element of gravity in them, but the humorous side probably eclipses that aspect." In recent years, he has explored etching. There is much detail in his work which rewards close viewing. John has exhibited widely and has work in numerous public and private collections including those of HRH the Duke of Edinburgh and The McManus Gallery. 
(information from (Wikipedia)
Above is a portrait of the artist Jan Van Kessel by artists, ‘’Hubertus Quellinus ( print maker) ; and Jan van Meyssen (artist)’’. The title is ‘’Flemish flower painter Jan Van Kessel’’ and it was printed in the book, ‘’Het Gulden Cabinet, by Cornelis de Bie’’, dated 1662. It is a hand coloured print.
And this is the signature of Jan Van Kessel.
This is the first one of his paintings that I came across. I loved it on sight because it has forget-me-nots beautifully drawn at the bottom, and because now I know forget-me-nots have been exactly as they are for hundreds of years. This is one of the best forget-me-not paintings I have ever seen, they are so realistic.
I’ve not found very much written information about him or his work but I’m assuming these are all little oil paintings.
I like them for so many reasons, imagine how perfectly they must be painted and cared for to still be here over 300 years later, and think about the continuity of life. In these little detailed drawings are insects and plants that we can still find in our gardens today, they are instantly recognisable.
And I find it a comfort to know what roams in my garden today, happily roamed in other gardens 300 years ago. There are other little insects that are not so easily recognisable, maybe they don’t exist in today’s gardens, and if that’s the case, we have Jan Van Kessel to thanks for keeping them alive and looking as if they just crawled across his page.
I admire this mans technical expertise as a painter, but I admire him as a man for his obvious love of nature. These are tiny things, little ‘crittes’ that most folk would not even see, he not only saw them but was interested and observant enough to make detailed drawings and paintings, he’s my kind of man.
Taken fro Wikipedia;
Jan van Kessel, senior (Antwerp, 1626-idem, 1679) was a Flemish painter of still lifes. He was the father of another painter with the same name Jan van Kessel (junior), and Jan Brueghel the Elder's grandson.
He became a member of the Antwerp painters' guild and was influenced by Daniel Seghers (1590–1661). According to Houbraken, he was famous in his lifetime for the neatness of his flower paintings and Cornelis de Bie wrote a poem about him.
He joined the Antwerp painters' guild in 1645 and specialised in small-scale pictures of subjects gleaned from the natural world such as floral still lifes and an allegorical series showing animal kingdoms, the four elements, the senses, or the parts of the world.
Obsessed with picturesque detail, Van Kessel worked from nature and used illustrated scientific texts as sources for filling his pictures with objects represented with almost scientific accuracy.
Jan van Kessel painted many animals (especially insects) and flowers, as well as some mythological and biblical scenes. His choice of subject leaned towards those which included animals and plants.
PHIL SCHIRMER
If you wonder what technical perfection looks like, it looks like this. This man is the undisputed expert in the egg tempra method. There are very few artists who use this method, probably because it’s difficult and time consuming. He is a self taught expert whose work speak for themselves. 
His actual subject matter is varied; he is so versatile that every one can find something they like among his works. I like the sea scenes, especially the beach pebbles that glisten with the sea, but I also like the portraits, but that’s because I always favour the figurative work. 
Info on egg tempra here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempera
His web site is great, well worth a visit, so much to see there.
http://www.philschirmer.com/biography.html
This is what the artist has to say about himself. 
‘’I graduated from college with a degree in English Literature and then spent ten years working cash registers, pasting up advertisements for newspapers, and even, for a short spell, making miniature carousels. In my mid-thirties I was still scanning help wanted ads.
Someone suggested I try to make a living as an artist. I went out and bought some books and taught myself egg tempera, a medium that takes a minimum of 3 lifetimes to master.
Twenty years later, I have accepted the fact that my life is, and always will be, out of control.’’
I love his seaside scenes
Gaela Erwin
http://gaelaerwinart.com/index.html
The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition is a triennial event that invites figurative artists to submit entries in all media to be considered for prizes and display at the National Portrat Gallery.
This is ‘Baptismal Self-Portrait’ by artist Gaela Erwin, Pastel on paper, 2006-2007, winner of the 2009 competition.
WWhat the artist says of herself;
‘’I am a perceptual painter. What I see before me in the mirror is what I paint. Though my methods and techniques have not changed drastically from those artists who lived centuries before me, I am an artist of my own time. I borrow from the great portraitists of the past to first seduce and then challenge contemporary viewers to catch a glimpse of their own anxieties mirrored in my work.
For ten years themes of self-portraits as saints emerged sporadically and eventually dominated exclusively all of my oil paintings. Why self-portraits as saints? Using my own image virtually guaranteed a contemporary point of view in my interpretation of the saint as subject matter. The death of a spouse, moreover, encouraged the exploration of the timeless theme of suffering death and redemption. Finally, there are the considerations of economy and availability in being your own model.
My latest work has been a series of self-portraits in pastel on paper ranging from paintings based on historical portrait paintings of the 18th century to a contemporary series of individual self-portrait heads with blue eye-shadow to self-portraits that include portraits of my mother.
Thematically, though, the pastels and the oils have a commonality in consistently exploring the painful gap in our psyche that is the unbidden place where we hoard that sense of loss, suppress thoughts of mortality and deny reflections of our sexuality.
The motif may be my face and body but if any are to be judged successful, they will have transcended my own life and physical particularities.’’
— Gaela Erwin
About the Artist
Gaela Erwin has lived and worked primarily in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. She received her BFA from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 1973 and her MA from the University of Louisville in 1983. In the summer of 1988, she studied with Robert Beauchamp through the Studio Art School of the Aegean in Samos, Greece. In 1989, Gaela studied with Jack Beal at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, FL. Currently she has a studio in Louisville and teaches at the Allen R. Hite Institute at the University of Louisville.
