This is the 5-th post in the series of weekly giveaways sponsored by DecalGirl.com here on BlogKindle. According to our tradition let’s start this post with the winner name. Our congratulation to @Sweepgurl. I’ve sent the redemption code via Twitter.
Just to remember for our regular readers and new visitors: to be in the game you need to do the following: click on the twitter button on the left to retweet this post and follow @BlogKindle so that I can send you a personal message on twitter with redemption code in case you win. A winner will be randomly chosen next Friday and announced in the next post. Be with us on twitter.
Over the past few weeks I have shared with you some of the “nuts and bolts” of the DecalGirl operation: The origin and history of the company, how to navigate the website, and how to find resources to help you install DecalGirl skins. I also showed you some of our seasonal art for Halloween. For the next two or three weeks I would like to introduce you to some of the artists who produce the magnificent works that we put on DecalGirl skins. We couldn’t do it without them!
(Click on any of the images mentioned in the post to visit that artist’s page at DecalGirl.com and see all of his or her available designs.)
Al McWhite has been licensing designs to DecalGirl since 2009. The ocean has always been one of his big sources of inspiration. “I had no plans of being an artist,” he says. “I thought I was going to be an ocean exploring marine biologist.” It wasn’t until his high school art teacher recognized and helped him develop his talent that he realized that his career path lay in the arts. After high school he received a scholarship to the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah Georgia, where he double majored in graphic design and illustration.
Al has since combined his passion for the ocean with his artistic abilities. You will see that beach, surf, and aquatic elements are major themes in most of his work. “Sunset Flamingo,” shown here is one of over 40 designs by Al offered on DecalGirl skins.
Jackie Friesth is a self-taught watercolor artist living in Colorado. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Augustana College in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. When she was in high school she took as many art classes as she could. She helped paint murals on the school walls, and even painted one on her bedroom wall. Living in Colorado provides her with a great deal of inspiration for her paintings, which typically feature natural subjects and landscapes. “Grandmother’s Rose” is one of 14 of Jackie’s designs currently available at DecalGirl.
Julie Borden is a DecalGirl “local” of sorts, as she operates her gallery out of nearby Rehoboth Beach, also known as “The Nation’s Summer Capital” thanks to all of the visitors from Washington D.C. who arrive every summer. Julie earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology in 1987. To date she has produced over 700 commissioned works of art.
Julie’s art spans a wide variety of styles and subject matter. Music is a popular theme with her, and “Music Madness” shown here is a great example of her work. There are currently 30 of her designs at DecalGirl.com.
Vlad Gerasimov lives in Irkutsk, Russia. He plays piano and guitar and dreamed of being a rock star. In 1998 he started to design user interfaces for websites and software applications, and when he had some free time he created desktop wallpapers. Over time his hobby has grown into a full-fledged business, and today he works from home full time creating wallpapers for computers and mobile devices.
Vlad creates whimsical, brightly colored art with a variety of themes. “Cheshire Kitten” is just one of over 40 designs from Vlad Studio that you will find at DecalGirl.
That’s a glimpse of a few of our artists. We have designs from over 80 artists from all over the world, so unfortunately we won’t be able to showcase all of them here, but you can visit their galleries and read their bios at DecalGirl.com. We’ll look at four more of them in this space next week.