Three Artists Inspiring Me Right Now (May 2026)
Nowadays we are able to see so much more art through our screens on a daily basis than most of us ever got to see in our lifetimes before.
I've often found myself scrolling and seeing an artist's work that really jumps out at me for one reason for another, inspiring one part of my brain to explore that technique / use of colour / quality. However, I then find myself continuing to scroll and lose that memory of what sparked interest.
For that reason, I've been wanting to take note of my current inspirations, whether contemporary artists or ancient, and write down what it is about their work that I am drawn to.
I hope you also find inspiration in this litte list and get to discover new artists while getting a better understanding into my thought processes before paint has ever even touched a canvas!
Rob Pointon
Rob describes himself as a plein air artist based in the UK, and works primarily in oil. What makes his work unique to me is his ability to inject an enormous sense of energy and movement into his paintings.
His cityscapes that show terraced housing lining a road up a hill are stretched and exaggerated so well and works because his perspective feels believable while over the top.
His recent work capturing someone throwing a vase on a pottery wheel also spoke to me, as someone who loves painting scenes of people making / interacting with objects. He has absolutely managed to imbue the swirl of the clay and the many intricate postures of the potter into the still artwork.
Takeaway - exaggerated perspective to create energy
Thalia Bassim
Thalia is a Lebanese photographer who captures the essence of Lebanon's culture through the country's cuisine. I first discovered her through a Dazed article, and was blown away by the composition and dramatic lighting in her photos.
Her use of incorporating hands in the middle of reaching for food, interacting with it, serving it, and sharing it is exactly what I like to paint in my art practice. The snapshot moment full of energy that is both unique yet recognisable to all is what excites me.
I also find Thalia's use of colour and focus in her photography so important, creating a memory-like lense over the film and a saturated nostalgia feel to her work. It creates what I like to insert into my work too, a sense that you've been there in this moment with people and you have been intimate in this way. It reminds us that we are all connected, and even a small universal act of sharing some food or drink can bring down walls and barriers.
Takeaway - use of composition and subject matter to create a sense of intimacy
Wayne Thiebaud
An american still life oil painter from the 1960s who, of course, focuses a lot on depicting food in his artwork. I visited the Courtauld gallery the other month to see his work in person, and fell in love with his use of colour, repetition, and simple composition.
The way his colours are chosen for the shadows almost feels like you are looking at work through a camera lense or even perhaps the RGB lights of an old CRT TV screen. It gives so much energy to a still life that is emphasised with his use of repetition to create a pattern of repeating objects. His artwork often includes a fairly blank surface or background for the objects captured in the painting, and this along with his thick use of paint, somehow makes the work blur the line between realistic yet illustrative in style.
I was intrigued how his work had been interpreted over the years, whether critics thought he was interrogating modern processed foods or whether they thought he was celebrating the food of the everyday American. As he paints a lot of sweets and cakes some find his work to glorify excess while others find it nostalgic and heartwarming. The way that a painting can draw such different reactions from people intrigued me and made me wonder what I could simplify about my work to get similar personal opinions to form in reaction to seeing my artwork.
Takeaway - use of colour and simplicity to draw emotions from viewer