Awesome Paintings

Artist Steve Spazuk lays out the dark areas of his images using the sooty residue from an open flame, then manipulates what’s left behind on the paper using feathers, brushes and other tools to bring out detail from the darkness.

Simon Stålenhag’s retro futuristic digital paintings somehow combine dread and nostalgia. He’s currently raising funds for English language versions of two art books annotated with short stories about the world he created.

Artist Michael Aaron Williams creates amazing images by painting coffee and ink on sheets antique ledger paper. We’re particularly smitten with the image of the women with buildings and trees for hair, and the bears are truly awesome.

David Irvine loves to get paintings from yard sales, thrift shops or from the street and then paints in pop culture elements to humorous effect. On one hand, this makes the original art stand out. On the other hand, ceiling cat.

Illustrator Brynn Metheney was doodling on her sketchpad when a monster arose from her pages: the Shark Cat. She ended up making 12 different Shark Cat breeds and compiled them on a 2015 calendar. Expect a call from SyFy, Brynn.

Believe it or not, that’s not a painting. Gunpla hobbyist mumumuno53 painted a Gundam action figure to make it look like a retro anime illustration. The cardboard props are nice touches. Or are they cardboard?

Spanish artist Pejac’s simple acrylic paintings creates illusory silhouettes that use windows as frames and the view outside as the background. The painting is completed when it’s photographed in certain angles.

Alex Gross’ Future Tense series consists of paintings with a shallow and saccharine beauty, expanding upon “themes of consumerism, industrialization and the omnipresent media” and “our inability to exist in the present moment.”

Antonio Santin’s ongoing series Rugs is composed of hyperrealistic oil paintings. Antonio distorts the patterns and simulates shadows to make it appear like there’s a body hidden underneath each carpet.

While there are digital filters to make images look like paintings, Pixeli.st does it so much better, where real live human artists will handmake an oil painting of your digital image. Simply upload your image and they’ll do the rest.

Established by Mehdi Ghadyanloo and backed by the government of Tehran, Blue Sky Painters turns drab buliding facades in Iran’s capital into murals with eye-catching illusions or drawings that interact with their surroundings.

YouTuber Benjamin Dalsgaard Hughes shares this trippy painting in Windsor, England that reveals a different perspective depending on how you look at it. The trick is simpler than you think. We wonder if it works just as well in person.

Artist John Poppleton has created a series of body paintings wherein he uses fluorescent painting and then photographs the finished work under ultraviolet light, making the fluorescent pigments stand out. More here and here.

Gyula Benczúr’s The Recapture of Buda Castle in 1686 painstakingly recreated in 3D by graphic artist Zsolt Ekho Farkas. It took him a total of about two months to complete. Learn more about how he made it on Behance.

Wall-hanging artwork which doubles as a speaker. Soundwall streams music via AirPlay or UPnP and also has RCA inputs. Choose from Soundwall’s stock artwork, upload your own photo or order a blank canvas for you to paint on.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we had beautiful paintings in urban areas instead of ads? That’s exactly what Etienne Lavie did. The street artist covered advertisements in Paris with prints of classical paintings.

Have a custom-made oil painting of yourself done in the style of classical masterpieces. For some reason, we’re reminded of the episode of The Sopranos where Paulie has the image on Tony’s discarded horse painting turned into a General.

Ukrainian artist Oleg Shuplyak creates surreal portraits which double as optical illusions. Each image offers at least two completely different perspectives on its subject matter thanks to his clever composition.

Mike Mitchell shows his love of the movies by creating his digitally produced collection of favorite film characters; if you’re in Austin 4/26-5/25/13, check them out in person at Mondo.

(Some images NSFW) Artist Ben Frost has chosen an unusual canvas for his art – he uses McDonald’s iconic french fry packaging as the backdrop for some of his pop art paintings. Only one question: Where’s Frylock?

Bradley Hart’s imaginative pixel portraits are created using ordinary syringes and bubble wrap; he injects each individual bubble with acrylic paint in an elaborate and time consuming process.

Ebru or paper marbling is a method of aqueous surface design. Oguz Eygur shares some captivating footage of a truely professional ebru artist, his father Seyit, practicing the ancient and beautiful art.

Using long, linear brushstrokes and muted, contrasted tones, Italian oil painter Emilio Valerio D’ Ospina creates a tremendous sense of movement, depth and height in his urban images.