Pacing various things and doing them properly

 As usual I've got a ridiculously huge list of things I want to see on the internet and because of the changing nature of the internet it feels a few tads more urgent than getting through my books. It does often feel like an endless burden going through all these curiosities and I'm sure there will be things I can do without but there's definitely an abundance of things truly worth seeing.

 I was going through John Coulthart's blog archives HERE, and it taken a month or two to see everything I wanted and even then I'm sure I missed a lot of good stuff. A lot of the preview images he chooses don't represent what I think is the best work in a lot of the linked galleries (but there's nothing that can be done about that), so I very nearly decided not to look at some of the best galleries. Nick Hyde and Leonidas Kryvosej are my two favourite discoveries from these links, their best work is really stunning, the type of stuff I aspire towards. Both are surrealists and I think both are best when they are doing less typically surrealist style images and go heavier on the atmosphere. Neither seem to have books dedicated to them and their websites have far too small images. A real shame.

 Here's Leonidas Kryvosej. I could have chosen so many, I like the mid period stuff best but it's still going to be a few weeks before I finish looking at everything. His gallery is HERE, and there are many phases.

 Nick Hyde has lots of copyright and permission warnings so I'll just link to two of my favourites HERE and HERE.

 Even regardless of my OCD, these images are demanding of my time. Just like with some of my art books, I hoped I could power through these galleries in a short time but that becomes surprisingly exhausting and you're not likely to feel the full effect of the images that way. Being someone who spends a huge amount of time creating images I do feel funny just glancing over a brilliant artist's decades of complex and extravagant work in just several minutes.
 There is a temptation to save them in a folder for later but it's quite possible I'd never go back to them if I did that (so many art discs I haven't looked at in years).

 Too often with internet hunting/viewing, I try to finish one thing at a time but it's much better to juggle as much as you can and take it all in small doses.

Trying to remember influences

 I feel like I have to keep reminding myself of a lot of the influences that seem ingrained in me but don’t have a constant and obvious presence at the forefront. There’s a lot of passions that have always been there but somehow it’s easy to forget about them, possibly because I just don’t see them enough in daily life.

 I usually remember to keep up the detail and complexity but occasionally I’ll see something that reminds me I need to keep taking it to the next level if I can. It’s easier to forget about the colour combinations, delicacy and textures that excite me.

 I’m always seeing images that remind me of things I need to do more and I’m starting to become more conscious of the idea that maybe I can’t do some of those things, or at least the same way that other artists do them.

  The most obvious non-ingrained influence that I have to keep reminding myself of is the lovely and elegant but seemingly effortless linework of artists like Carlos Nine, Lorenzo Mattotti and Christophe Blain or sculpting of Bernini and Dino Cunsolo. It was age 12 or 13 I started to want less sharp, unvaryingly thin and angular lines, in favour of something more wavy and curvy like the way the wind blows around things.

 This style has grown a bit more popular and I’m glad about that. Even artists a bit further removed like Blutch and Sergio Toppi have that full and free flowing quality.

 There’s a fairly new artist called Loic Locatelli that also really impresses me but he and a lot of the aforementioned drawers are far more sketchy and loose than I want to be. I really like the sculptural solidity of my best work but I want more of a free flowing feel to go along with it.

  One thing that seems like it should have been an ingrained influence by now but I have to keep reminding myself of is the whole dreampop/shoegazing look with all the blurring, faded, hazy shapes, colors and overlapping semi-transparent images. It’s probably just because I’ve been using linear tools all the time that I don’t remember these approaches often enough.

 I’ve also been reminding myself of colourful monsters more that used to thrill me as a child. All those toys and Halloween masks with very varied designs and colors. Also been thinking about the gardens and buildings I dimly remember long ago that have a large place in my subconscious but don’t get drawn enough. Just remembering all the things I want to see more of. The solution to all this is usually as simple as drawing more.