Honeycomb

Beautiful art by Alvin Epps

Alvin is an absolutely amazing artist who I stumbled upon as I was searching for black artwork. He's done a variety of different projects including cover art for fiction novels.

When I came across this piece of work, I couldn't help but just stop and stare. There is so much detail in every inch of the piece. The lighting in the hair was done perfectly, giving the hair the desired afrow-textured appearance. I can almost feel the poofiness of the hair in my hand!

The shadows, where the light bounces, the shine on her face in the T-Zone, they're all artfully placed. This guy knows his stuff.

And, as an added bonus, this is a picture of a beautiful dark-skinned black woman with natural hair. Our community still has so many hang-ups regarding dark skin, even if we don't admit it. So it's really refreshing to see a piece like this celebrate the beauty of chocolate skin.

Please see more of Alvin's work @ alvinepps.com AND visit his facebook page! Give this man mad support please!

The African Butterfly Fairy ~ by Delphine Gache

New piece I just found. And, I'm so proud, I found the artist! Her name is Delphine Gache, and you can check out some of her work here:  http://www.elfwood.com/~delfingache

Just an FYI, I do not know the artist personally, I have no rights to this beautiful painting whatsoever, I merely want to talk about its beauty and all its glory. Per Delphine's art gallery on elfwood.com, this painting was done using watercolor. Oh...how I envy such talent. The colors shine magnificently, the detail is phenomenal, and just looking at this picture gives me such a feeling of serenity and peace. It inspires me to be creative, and makes me want to write a story. I love art that can compel me to be more creative, and help to ignite my own unique creativity. I love that the artist wasn't afraid to use a variety of colors, soft hues of colors that when all put together on this picture, are truly beautiful. A simply great piece.

This is a really inspirational piece. I love the rich hues of blues in the scene. The blues and purples really make this picture pop. I love the detail in the piece as well. The shadows on the skin are placed nicely, the strong details in the mermaid's face is what I really love. The artist really captured the African features I think, which is one reason this piece is so inviting. So often you see mermaids with pearly white skin and long blonde hair. Of course, there is nothing wrong with that, but, finding this beautiful caribbean mermaid was like finding a jewel.

It is almost impossible to find diversity in art and stories about mermaids. This piece really got my creative juices flowing and it is one of two mermaid pieces that inspired me to write a story called The Mermaid's Song. Feel free to check it out here: http://www.quotev.com/story/2370774/The-Mermaids-Song/

Unfortunately, this is another piece I am having a difficult time finding the artist to. But, I will not give up. 

Picking Flowers

I absolutely ADORE this picture. I pulled this image from google.com months ago, and cannot seem to remember where it came from. I am not sure who the artist is, but, I will say one thing, his or her work is exquisite!

The colors in this picture are rich and vivid. There is so much detail from the little girl's hair down to the shadows in the basket. I love the light blush on the girl's cheeks.

This is by far one of my favorites so far. I will continue to try and search for the artist because I would love to see more of his or her work.

Caught in the water

This piece of artwork is so beautiful.  The colors used are vibrant.  The technique used to make the water look real is fantastic!  I absolutely love this work of art. 

I found this image from searching Google.  And, I researched, and found out the artist's name.  Her name is Arie Monroe.  I'm not sure if that's her real name or a pen name. But, she has a lot of other beautiful artwork featuring mostly women. 

Her work is superb!  Her coloring is phenomenal!  This drawing definitely inspires me to write a story.

I would like to interview Ms. Arie.  What inspires her?  How does she come up with such beautiful images. Her work is definitely going to be featured here often. 

Why I'm starting this personal blog

In this blog, I would like to share artwork that I find to be really inspirational; artwork, works of literature, etc.  Anything that I find online or elsewhere that sparks something inside of me.  The artwork I will post on this blog will usually be by or of African American artists/characters and will posses a fantasy element.  I absolutely love the fantasy genre; I love reading books in this catergory, watching movies, etc.  However, there are not enough, if really any, true representations of the black culture in this genre.  I find this very disheartening.  Fantasy, or the world of magic that makes up a fantastical world, really helps expand imagination and allows us to make commentary on certain aspects of reality that otherwise would be difficult to express.  And...well...it's just fun.  I think it's sad that African American children don't have very many Black heroes/heroines to look up in this genre.

So, when I find art pieces or writing that represents this ignored community in a genre so lacking in diversity, I get excited.