I’m a massive fan of pop art, this style heavily influences me, and my favouritie artists are nearly always in this genre …. so I was delighted to discover the colourful works of Artoony via a connection with a client; Diverse Gifts.

Diverse Gifts and Gallery in London are exhibiting the self described ‘surreal pop art’ works of Ellen Groth Reddie (who goes under the name of Artoony) between the 14th and 28th of November and will also stock her range of unique greeting cards.

You can read more about the fabulous, and definitely surreal world of Artoony at the Artoony blog, filled with updates and fascinating images as well as a link to the Artoony gallery.

The Pretty’s

What do I love about this?
Her expression – very compelling/interesting.
The strong and daring deep blue and red colour scheme. Believe me dark blue and red together is incredibly hard to pull off without it looking tacky.
I love the light shining on her face and shining down over the upper area of the design, and I love the fact that she’s blue.

What do I love about this?
Now this is so surreal, absolutely brilliant. Ellen is very creative indeed, one wonders what goes on inside her mind
The colours are again delightful and I love the leaf hanging out of her mouth, it lends an air of rebellion to the character.

What do I love about this?
This concept is so surreal, it’s fab, and as with all her work Ellen is the master of combining a range of bold dark colours that are so hard to work with for most people. Light is used to great effect as it shines down upon the character

What do I love about this?
With this design I love the colour combination … bright yellow and bright pink? Ellen goes where no designer dares and gets away with it every time
I also like the repeating pattern, the blue, and the light and shadow on the characters face.
The eyes are very compelling, but then most of her characters have a lot of charisma – Ellen has developed a magic formula for eye intensity – eye intensity and expression are quite a challenge in illustrations so those that achieve it are highly skilled.

What do I love about this?
I like the vibrant colours and the great sense of movement in this design.

What do I love about this?
This is just beautiful. I love the way that Ellen isn’t afraid of strong features in the same way she isn’t afraid of colour … look at those strong eyebrows and that well defined nose. It’s not all lips and eyes in Ellen’s characters
It’s called Brigitte – is it French actress Brigitte Bardot I wonder? It looks like her to me.

What Is Pop Art?
This is my Cliff Claven bit (you’ll have to be getting on a bit like me to know what I mean by that ).

The words ‘pop art’ had their debut in the 1950s when artists began using every day images and products around them as art subjects – hence the term ‘popular art’, soon shortened to ‘pop art’

It is known as one of the greatest art movements of the 20th century and a time when artists challenged traditional imagery such as fine art and abstract art, which was dominant at the time.

The end of World War II heralded a marked increase in product advertising, television and film, and artists became tired of abstract imagery and began to use common every day objects and general lifestyle imagery in their designs … the most famous example of which being Andy Warhols Campbell Soup cans.

Bright colours were used in abundance, and henceforth art that is colourful and focuses on the everyday world around us (such as lifestyle, fashion, products for instance) is most commonly described as pop art.

About Ellen

The great lady herself (left)

Ellen studied art in her birthplace of Norway and has experimenting with different ways of expressing herself since … including traditional oil and water painting, sculpting and more.

Ellen has travelled extensively, which lends inspiration to her art, along with early surrealists like Dali and Magritte. 60’s pop art has been an influence and Ellen cites Roy Lichtenstein as her favourite pop artist.

Artoony designs so far have been limited edition at a maximum of 100 prints per design, and exhibitions of Ellens work have been held in London, San Diego, New York and Los Angeles.

Ellen Reddie currently resides in London and you can keep up to date with up and coming exhibitions at her blog Artoony or buy Artoony products at her online art shop.