A New Fantascape: Coup de Foudre

Today I eventually painted a new Fantascape, from this series where trees take human form and start to interact with each other in rather dramatic ways. If you want to know more about the story of the Fantascapes, please go to the Fantascapes Gallery, it is explained there.

But this special Fantascape today has another story. Some months ago I was contacted by Trey Knight, who wrote

“Hello Miki,

I wanted to reach out to you. I recently came across your roller skating paintings and it struct me they are very familiar. Do you know which team you painted? The painting of the one arm trick/flipping the women looks like the final trick in our freedance competition. It was a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers inspired piece dressed in black tux tailcoat and she was in peach crystals and ostrich feathers.

The yellow looks familiar as well because we had a lemon yellow compulsory tux/dress one year as well.

My name is Trey… My partner Kyoko Harada were the world dance champions in roller skating in 1995.

I could be mistaken but they do seem very familiar.

All the best and love all your paintings!!

love life
Trey Knight”

And indeed, it was him and his partner whom I painted on the two roller skating paintings. The painting below is one of them.

I was extremely pleased to meet him, and we had a very pleasant email exchange. At some point he sent me some photos and links to videos presenting his actual work. The best would be to go and have a look by yourself at Stilt World. He said, it might inspire me to some new painting.

And in fact, when I looked at his people on stilts, and especially his Amphibians, it strongly reminded me of my Tree People. And since then I wanted to make some new Fantascape work based on the Amphibians. So, this is the first one. I called it “Coup de Foudre”, as I couldn’t find any appropriate English translation. It French it means that you are struck by a lightning bolt of love. I think the closest thing in English is “love at first sight”, but really it does not convey the supernatural power of the Coup de Foudre. Don’t English people fall in love that way? I do!

The above paintings are currently available as Giclee prints in many dimensions, on paper and canvas, as well as greeting cards. Just click on the paintings above to access our shops online.

The Giclee prints from the above mentioned Online shop are manufactered in the USA and sent directly to the client from there. For personal or financial reasons it might not be appropriate for everybody to order their prints in the USA. Also, you might prefer to purchase my Giclee prints hand-signed. If so, you can alternatively order directly from me. Simply contact me indicating in which size. Go to Goodaboom Boutique to see a guideline of pricing for different dimensions.

We also sell A3 posters (297mm x 420mm) as high quality digital prints on a Heavyweight White 350gsm paper, each packed in cello with card stiffener.

Poster Price: 50 euros.

They are a great alternative to the Giclee prints, to a more affordable price.

(the price does not include packing&shipping)

Olympics Canoe Slalom

Olympics canoe slalom 02 – by Miki

I have been following the Olympics canoe competition over the last days, and I must say that I enjoyed it immensely. As well as a sportswoman as as an artist. That sport has all to excite all my senses and lust for adventure. It has loads of water spinning and jumping around, and the speed, moves and turns just look fabulous. The result being that I could spend the rest of my life painting it! And if I was younger, I would probably start slalom canoe myself. What a pity I have not known about it earlier in my life!

The painting above features the C1 canoe slalom gold medal, the French Tony Estanguet. I was told by my proud parents that Tony was born in Pau, a town in the French Pyrenees, 30 kilometres away from Tarbes, the town where I was born. And that he of course trains in the Pyrenean wild waters! Hard to believe that it was the first time these days that I saw images from this sport. My God, how much more am I missing in my life!

The Olympics make me realise once more how wonderful sport is, and that I would have loved to dedicate my life to it. Of course, I practised myself many sports, and still do quite intensely, but somehow, I have the feeling I had more within me than that. Oh well, I can at least render homage to the professional sport with my art…

Olympics Slalom Canoe 01 – by Miki

This artwork above was the first one I did of canoe slalom. I don’t remember which team it was, but judging by the clothes and boat colours, I think it was the GB tone. But it was not my intention really to feature any particular team, just the sport itself. I had just discovered it and I was over the moon!

Olympics Slalom Canoe 03 – by Miki

This one was from the Czech team, and the reason for me to paint him was simply that he had a pink boat! Well, it was more light pastel purple, but I exaggerated it a little bit, could not help, I love pink!

Olympics Slalom Canoe 04 – by Miki

I just finished this one, featuring the GB silver medal couple in the C2 canoe slalom competition. The GB team won the gold medal as well, and of course, it was delirious in the house here! I am not sure though  that David Florence and Richard Hounslow will recognise themselves on that painting if they ever come to see it, but it was not really my intention. It is not meant as a realistic portrait, but as an impression of these two guys having that fantastic run and giving us so much pleasure and pride!

Anyway, that is for now with the canoe slalom. There are so many other sports to come in the Olympics, and I want to try to feature as many as possible, at least a little bit. A tough job though, difficult to keep up with all these athletes!

These paintings are available directly online as Giclee prints in many different dimensions, on paper or canvas, and also as greeting cards. Just click on the images themselves or on the widgets below to access my shop online.

Le Tour de France in Tucson, Arizona, USA

I know, the Tour de France is finished. And yet, not totally … Somewhere else in the world the Tour de France is racing

The place: Tucson, Arizona, USA.

And how did this happen you ask? Well, thanks to my magic wand of course! My magic wand in this case being… my brush!

Le Tour de France 02 – by Miki

The painting above has been chosen for a big ad for the Tucson lawyer firm Velolaw

“… Scott Biaggi and Kurt Kroese have been riding and racing with you for well over a decade.  Both are trial lawyers with over 25 years combined experience in personal injury law.  Scott and Kurt practice throughout the State of Arizona and are admitted in state and federal courts.  Past clients range from professional and world-champion cyclists and triathletes to kids on BMX bikes, runners, and bicycle commuters...”

I would advise you to read the philosophy of this firm, it is REALLY convincing and honest, and worth the two minutes of reading. Totally opposite to all my experiences with lawyers, which is one of the reasons why I was happy to be part of it with my art, at least for the time that the ad runs.

“…  it will go to the St. Mary’s location first, which is the route to get to the mountains on the west side of Tucson.  After a few weeks there, it goes to the eastside of Tucson on Tanque Verde, which is the route to get to Mt. Lemmon – a very popular cycling area.  I will send you a pic. …”

The artwork needed to be altered to fit the requirements of the ad, approximately 4 feet x 6 feet. In fact a vertical format, contrary to the very horizontal format of  the original painting. But I managed to digitally alter the original artwork in a way which still works beautifully. Here is the result:

I would like to thank Kurt Kroese, with whom I was in contact all the time about this project, for his kindness and courtesy. I am dealing with people all around the world who want to use my art work, but I must say that Kurt was certainly one of the nicest. Well, this confirms my theory that sportsmen are the best people in the world. And obviously Kurt is a sportsman prior to being a lawyer. But the combination works wonderfully, I am sure he is great at what he does!

And as he promised, he did bike to the place where the ad is displayed and made a photo for me.

Mikis Cycling art in Tucson, Arizona – Photo by Kurt Kroese, from http://www.velolaw.com

If you are interested in buying a Giclee print of this painting, or indeed any of my sports paintings -a huge collection by the way, and currently working on an Olympics series!- it is available in many dimensions, on paper or canvas, in my shop online. Just click on the widget below.