Catherine Slaymaker is an artist whose unique illustration style I’ve been really enjoying lately.

SPONSOR

I love the bold watercolors of California artist Erin Althea, with their esoteric imagery and experimentation. Yup, I’m just a sucker for the folksy stuff.

Kristin Baker’s paintings strike the eye like massive Hollywood blockbusters, but have the elegance of delicate watercolors. Reminiscent of Kazimir Malevich and the Italian futurists, Baker’s two-dimensional pieces abstract images of crashing cars, explosions, and other apocalyptic images to create unnerving and dynamic works that resonate with the uncertainty of our times.

Aurie Ramirez’s elegant watercolors have something outsider-y about them, with a slight nod of Henry Darger, but the fantasy world she depicts is less manic and angry — the whimsical and characters that inhabit her work seem more playful and less tormented by religious repression.