Inspired: Watching Artists Make Art

I love to paint. It's my calling, the love of my life. But it's not the easiest form of art to sell and make. I spend a lot of my free time dreaming up the paintings I want to make in the future when I have more ample supplies. While I'm imagining all the paintings I want to do, I like to watch videos of other artists making their art. These videos are heavily inspirational, with lots of interesting techniques and applicable ideas. Perhaps you can find some inspiration, beauty, or technical ideas from these artists.




Jesse Reno - Like And Love



I love watching this video, it's so inspiring. (Maybe it's just because I love to paint with my hands too. I'm not sure.) Jesse Reno is from Portland, and he has thousands of  beautiful and multi-layered paintings. I dream to have such an amazing inventory of work. I read an interview with him once where he talks about his daily schedule. From what I remember, he probably spends 80% of his day painting or creating. Amazing.


Phil Hansen - A Moment



This video blew me away. Phil gave out his telephone number on the internet and asked people to call him and tell him about a moment/story that changed their life. He documents the key moment of change from each story and uses the words to create an amazing drawing. The whole drawing took 136 hours to complete. This is a must-see. Even though I watched this video, I still don't completely understand how he managed to create such a realistic portrait. It's astounding.


Unnamed Artist - Painting On Water (Paper Marbling)



Daniel shared this artist with me last week and I'm still going crazy over this technique. The artist in the video creates amazing paintings on water. He applies paint pigments with brushes, droppers, and other tools, then uses a pick to move the paint pigments around further. Daniel and I spent a lot time dissecting the video and trying to figure out how to do this technique ourselves. This video is really beautiful, if anyone knows the name of this artist, the place they are at, or how to do this technique, please let me know.


Blu - Evolution Of Man



Okay, so this isn't a video of an artist actually making art, but it is a lovely panoramic video of a graffiti piece by Blu. Many people know of Blu through his amazing stop-animation graffiti. This video is not one of those, but I think everybody should see this painting.
This work is one of my all-time favorites. It's conceptual value is enormous and heavy.
(Pay close attention the "man/human" figures and the weapons they're holding.)



Enjoy! If you know of other truly amazing time-lapse videos of artists making art, or just videos of artists and their art in general, leave a link in the comments. I'm always looking for more amazing art and artists.