Philip Barlow

Whenever I take an accidentally blurry photo on my phone I don’t trash it, I put it into a folder with other “mistakes” that turned out to be beautiful in their own unintentional way. I guess that’s the same level that Cape Town artist Philip Barlow‘s paintings resonate with for me. Though he paints in a traditional landscape style, Barlow’s work rides the line of physical and spiritual through his mastery of light. To me they perfectly capture the lazy days of summer and time spent in every large city.

Carly Waito

Toronto-based painter Carly Waito focuses on studies of geology, geometry, and light – and dare I say she’s mastered all three? Waito’s tiny mineral specimens in oil paint are intensely detailed and nearly indistinguishable from photographs. The high contrast lights and darks will really leave you scratching your head and wondering if she’s one upped nature.

Sylvia Baldeva

These watercolored faces from artist Sylvia Baldeva are mildly eerie… which I of course love. It’s almost as though you’re looking at these beauties from underwater instead of from under layers of blurry, translucent jewel-toned colors.

Alan Reid

Texas born, New York City livin’ artist Alan Reid manages to pull together three design elements in his paintings that I don’t believe I’ve ever seen employed together prior to this. Low-contrast, color blocks, and graphics. Honestly I’m loving the result. Reid makes a motley crew of elements pull together in harmony and manages to make you look deeper into his work all at the same time.

(via BOOOOOOM!)

Jaclyn Conley

I’ve always been a sucker for hair art studies, but I can’t even begin to tell you why because I don’t know. (Maybe it goes back to being a big Crystal Gayle fan in the 80s??) In the case of Jaclyn Conley‘s work, I think it’s a combination of the sticky sweet hues she paints with and the fact that maybe you wouldn’t even know you were looking at hair had someone not pointed it out to you.

(via The Jealous Curator)

Erik Olson

It looks like Canadian artist Erik Olson has found the intersection of cubism and expressionism, and I have to say I’d be happy to park myself there for awhile. I’m especially loving Olson’s New Portraits, full of thick paint and a deconstructed look that can make your eyeballs vibrate in your head.

(via The Artful Desperado)

François-Henri Galland

I couldn’t find much background about François-Henri Galland, so I suppose it’s a good thing that his work seems to speak for itself. The blurry, washed out portraits are my favorite. See those and more on his blog.