I would venture a guess that most artists, at some point in their childhood, drew on walls in their house. (For my own experience, see my post about Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon.)

Charlotte Mann is a British artist who draws on walls as an adult — and gets paid for it!

Mann specializes in wall drawings and drawn room installations, created with bold black markers on a white ground. The delightful effect is essentially one of being inside a large pen and ink drawing.

Her website has examples of her walls, as well as prints.

[Via Escape Into Life]

Adrienne Stein is a painter living outside of Lancaster PA, whose recent works are primarily figurative, though you will also find still life and landscape in her website galleries.

Many of her figures and portraits incorporate floral, still life or other elements, arranged decoratively, but rendered with an eye to traditional realism. Some of her models have a touch of modern gothic style (in the fashion sense, Stein’s work has more of a 19th century sensibility). Her figurative paintings often suggest a narrative undercurrent.

I particularly enjoy her compositions that explore soft light, muted color and restrained value relationships.

[Via American Art Collector]

While other late 19th century American painters were flocking to Paris for their training, returning with the influences of the Impressionists burning bright on their palettes, Kentucky-born Frank Duveneck, the son of a German Immigrant, studied at the Royal Academy of Munich, where he learned and equally new and painterly, but darker toned style of realism.

Many of his portraits were focused on bravura brushwork, with their backgrounds left rough and unfinished.

Duveneck’s work eventually attracted the attention of both patrons and prospective students, and he returned to Europe and established a school in Munich. He also traveled in Italy, painting particularly striking views of Venice, as well as creating a series of etchings, somewhat in the vein of Whistler’s. In italy, he brightened his palette, but restrained his bravura brushwork.

He was an influential teacher, whose students included John Henry Twachtman and John White Alexander. Duveneck was an associate and informal student of William Merritt Chase. and he associated with other well known artists of the time, painting portraits of several.

After the death of his wife, he returned to the U.S. where he taught at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. His legacy as both a painter and a teacher is still influential on numerous contemporary artists.