Family Interests

Depictions of family life are as varied as families themselves. Paula Rego's painting 'The Family' (above) has a distinctly threatening atmosphere! Stanley Spencer's memories of domestic bliss are also less than rosy, but the image of the whole family helping to bath the baby has a certain charm.
Helen Oxenbury's illustrations for 'We're going on a Bear Hunt' (below) are perhaps nearer to the image of the ideal childhood.
Joan Eardley painted the same family of children that lived next door to her in a Glasgow tenement. She showed them playing out in the street everyday, having been sent out from under their mother's feet. The older children looking out for the younger ones.
Natasha Kerr's textile pieces often feature old family photos and scraps of fabric that have significant memories for her.

Contrasts in Moods

The Expressionist movement utilised striking contrast and colour to convey strong emotions. Kathe Kollwitz's work (above) was about maternal loss and she used the relatively simple medium of lino print to produce her powerful images. The changing moods of the clowns in George Rouault's work (below) is expressed as much through the mark making as the colours.
Takahiro Kimura's paintings and drawings (below) use multiple imagery to show our ever changing moods in a surprisingly subtle way.
John Stezaker's collages of old film star images (below) may seem simple at first glance, but matching the images takes great skills and hours of work.
Zach Johnson's work shows that mood isn't just expressed through the face. Our bodies strongly show emotion. He embellishes his images with explosive mark making to emphasise this.

Grids

Architectural subjects perhaps give the greatest sources of inspiration for the theme 'Grids', whether it be single buildings, as with David Hepher's photo realistic image above, or the cityscape as a whole, such as Vieira da Silva's intricate patterned interpretation below.
Tommy Cinquegrano's images at first glance look like one building, but on closer inspection you can see they are made up of multiple images taken from different sources, as in the image below. He relies on the common grid-like structures of the buildings to allow him to combine his photos so successfully.Seeing the geometric patterns within a scene is the source of inspiration for a diverse range of artists. William Gilles' almost naive view of a fishing harbour (below) evokes childhood memories.
Whilst Lyonel Feininger's work (below) takes on a Cubist sensibility in both tone and colour.The connection with George Braque's still life pieces is obvious, an example of which is below. Braque, along with Picasso, pioneered the Cubist movement.
David Hockney has long been fascinated with Cubism and much of his work reflects the theme of grids, whether it be his 'joiner' photographic work (as above), or his more recent depictions of the Yorkshire landscape and the patchwork patterns of the hedgerows and fields (below).
Jerry Gretzinger takes this idea further by using maps and aerial views as his main inspiration.
Another interesting interpretation of the photographic joiner, are French design practice PNTS's kaleidoscopic works (below), where the pattern element becomes the dominant factor.

Stacks

A recurring theme in Martin Creed's work is that of organised and stacked objects (see above and below), whether it be the physical objects themselves or simplified representational paintings.
Renowned sculptor Barbara Hepworth would often represent the human form with a series of stacked geometric shapes, such as 'The Family of Man' at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Claes Oldenburg was a leading member of the Pop Art movement and is still true to those roots today. Some of his best known work features large soft sculptures, often of food such as hamburgers and slices of layered cake.
Chloe Cheese is an illustarator who often uses monoprint as a technique. She produced an alphabet of everyday images. The letter V was for Victoria Sponge.

Exotic

Henri Matisse was fascinated by the highly decorative textiles of North Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. He would often use pieces from his own collection as backdrops or to dress his models.
Frida Kahlo (above) was proud of her Mexican heritage and would always depict herself in traditional costume. When bedridden because of illness she would paint the fruit,vegetables and birds of her native country (below).
Margaret Mee was a pioneering environmentalist. She spent many years travelling through the Amazon recording it's plant life with her beautiful illustrations (below)
Marc Quinn's highly coloured images of plants (below) exaggerate and emphasise their exotic beauty.

Alfresco

The classic images of people eating outside come from Impressionists such as Eduard Manet's 'Le dejeuner sur l'herbe' (above) and Auguste Renoir's 'Luncheon of the Boating Party' (below).
Vincent Van Gogh's 'Cafe de nuit' (below) is another famous depiction of alfresco eating, this time with more emphasis on the cityscape than on the people themselves.
Arthur Rackham's illustration for Alice in Wonderland (below) shows the Mad Hatter's tea party set amongst the trees.