Australian artist Cj Hendry is part of a new wave of successful artists who jump-started their careers through Instagram. This Brooklyn-based artist is known for her trompe l’oeil drawings of luxury objects with remarkable depth and details. She is recently shifting her focus to the delicate blooms of peonies, roses, and tulips in her latest series of flower drawings. Her hyperrealistic, large-scale drawings are so realistic they can be likened to high-definition photographs.
She uses colored pencils to draw individual florals and small bouquets at a larger scale to magnify each bloom’s complex anatomy and intricate colors. Appearing on the paper with exquisite detail and dimension, the soft, silky petals look as if they could be plucked from the canvas. The flower paintings look so lifelike that some of her Instagram followers initially thought they were looking at a photograph. And that’s trompe l’oeil art is all about – to trick the observer into perceiving a painting as a three-dimensional object.
Hyperrealistic Flower Drawings With Colored Pencils
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Born in South Africa and raised in Australia, Hendry dabbled in art since she was a child. She studied architecture and finance for seven years while working in a retail job at Chanel before she decided to drop out and quit her job to pursue a career as a professional artist. Then she took advantage of social media to introduce her art, a very convenient marketing approach that artists in the past could have only dreamed of.
Today, artists don’t need to find a gallerist to represent them. The advent of internet and social media allows starters like Hendry to sell directly to collectors without the aid of gallerists or patrons.
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After two months of advertising her creations on Instagram, her efforts and patience paid off when she sold her drawing of RH Williams boots for $6,500 in 2014. From then on, her audience began to grow and has now made millions selling her work on Instagram. With a growing audience, Hendry also decided to branch out from luxury items to pop culture and flower drawings. Check out the talented artist on Instagram to browse her impressive portfolio and follow her to get updated with her latest pieces.
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