So, I was working on my art roundup post for the lovely Emily Henderson {which is up today btw}, with a plan to feature “houses”. Now, because I’ve written about Hagar van Heummen, an artist based in Amsterdam, a couple of times, I knew she had some great houses in her portfolio. But when I got to her site, I found all of this amazing new work! Houses, yes, but those plants! I love these pieces oh so much… and the icing on the cake … they’re crazy affordable! {originals range from $150 – $570, and her prints are only $30… I got the bottom most piece! Can’t wait to frame it.}

I’ve written about UK based artist Anthony Zinonos a couple of times, but that was way back in 2009… clearly, it’s time for a new post.  As you probably know, I am a ridiculously huge fan of collage, especially found image collage. A scrap of perfectly chosen paper, a few strategic snips from a stack of old magazines, and voila, you have an entirely new story being told on a field of canary yellow! Anthony’s work is so simple, and so clever. Oh, and not only is his work simple and clever, but he always has the best titles – that last piece {on the field of canary yellow!} is called … “justGOtalkTOher” … ha! ♥

ps. So I think you know that I’m working on a couple of books with Chronicle Books {it’s killing me not to tell you what they’re about… soon though!}. The first one is almost finished, and I’m knee-deep into the second, which just so happens to have a wonderful foreword written by one Mr. Anthony Zinonos! YAY!

I love this. I love it so much, that instead of me fumbling to describe it, I’m going to copy and paste the description of this lovely project, titled Mapping Manhattan, by native New Yorker, Becky Cooper. Ready?

“Armed with hundreds of blank maps she had painstakingly printed by hand, Becky Cooper walked Manhattan from end to end. Along her journey she met police officers, homeless people, fashion models, and senior citizens who had lived in Manhattan all their lives. She asked the strangers to “map their Manhattan” and to mail the personalized maps back to her. Soon, her P.O. box was filled with a cartography of intimate narratives: past loves, lost homes, childhood memories, comical moments, and surprising confessions. A beautifully illustrated, PostSecret-style tribute to New York, Mapping Manhattan includes 75 maps from both anonymous mapmakers and notable New Yorkers, including Man on Wire aerialist Philippe Petit, New York Times wine critic Eric Asimov, Tony award-winning actor Harvey Fierstein, and many more.”

So, so, so good! Here are a few of my favorites:

Awww! Isn’t that last one so sweet? ♥  You want to make one now, don’t you? No problem! You can download the map right here! Now all you have to do is draw/paint/write your love {or hate} story with Manhattan, and send it to mapyourmemories@gmail.com. Happy mapping, and happy weekend to you

{ps. If you want to buy this book, you can find it in bookstores everywhere, or online at: ABRAMS, Amazon, or Barnes & Noble. Oh, and there’s a great article about it in The New York Times}

New York based artist Trey Speegle is having a sale! He’s got an online shop set up called The RePOP Shop, and it looks GOOD! For example, you could scoop one of these prints for $50…

What?! Yes! $50!!! Or how about some paint-by-number plates? Yep, he’s got those too…

Gorgeous! And if that’s not fabulous enough, you can buy one of these original “paint cans” from his most recent solo show…

Love! And if you want something in which the paint is actually out of the can, how about one of these original paint-by-number collages…

So good, right?! And there’s plenty more where that came from. Go and have a look… and then let me know what you got so that I can be jealous of you too!

ps. THIS JUST IN!!! Trey just emailed me and said that he’d like to offer you guys 20% OFF on the site, until May 20th! Yay! Thanks Trey! Use this code at checkout: Friends520

Netherlands based artist John Breed is the man behind this beautifully bizarre installation, titled “Shoe Salon Breuninger”. Yep, you’re looking at 145 fabulous shoes on 145 perfect, rainbow-hued legs. Need I say more? Ok, maybe just one more little thing:

Gah! Golden legs! {“Medusa’s Shoes”, an Installation at Grassi Museum, Leipzig}

{via Colossal}

Yep. I turn 40 today (when the hell did that happen?), and when a girl turns 40 she really wants some cake. In my case, however, I’ve had my heart set on some cake from one of my favorite artists, Martha Rich, for years! Well, today my birthday wish came true…

Look what I got! An original Martha Rich vanilla cake with gooey chocolate icing. Yum! Only a slice though … I am 40 now … I can’t get away with having a whole cake like back in the good old days {Thanks Martha – I absolutely love it! And thank you so much to my parents who commissioned it! xo}

And with that, I’m off to play hooky for the day – see you tomorrow!

This is the work of Boulder, Colorado based artist Chinn Wang … she screenprints on wood, and in the case of her “heraldry” series, they come in the form of a few crazy amazing family crest type things {and, of course, a couple of big blue bears to guard her own personal crest, titled “CW”} . Oh yes, and then there are these beauties:

Those owls! Pink Deer! Snap, Crackle AND Pop? Yep, it’s the whole gang! Love.

What is the deal with me and tattooed pets? I wrote about some a few weeks ago, and now here I am again! I think it was that smoking sailor seagull that got me… it was physically impossible for me NOT to show him to you! These are watercolor linocuts, from a series called “hoons” by Australian artist Rona Green. I love them all so much… but don’t worry, I won’t give my dog a “mother” tattoo. Unless, of course, she wants to get it as a permanent reminder of our special bond. Her call.

{Thanks to Jess for sending me a link to Rona’s work}

Layers and layers and layers of goodness. This is the collage, and or drawing, and or paper-cutting, and or printmaking work of California based artist Elise Wehle. I came across her work for the first time a few weeks ago when I was judging the UncommonGoods art contest… one look at her portfolio and we knew we had a winner!  You can see why, right?!  She’ll be selling prints through UncommonGoods, but boy or boy, I sure would like to see an original up-close n’ personal! Beautiful. Speaking of beautiful, read her artist statement… it’s perfect:

“I make the art I do to pull me away from the increasingly digital world that surrounds me. Every day I spend so much time in front of a glowing screen that sometimes I forget I possess five bodily senses and not just one or two. Making art makes me conscious of my hands again, and all of my work requires time-intensive, redundant movements that remind me that not everything is as instantaneous as a click of a mouse. By weaving together paper, cutting lines, and folding shapes, I manipulate drawings, photos, and prints to create new landscapes for me to explore.”

I wrote about San Francisco based artist Chelsea James, and her sinks, a couple of years ago… and now, those chairs! Oh, those chairs! Simple, rich, beautifully lit interiors created with some of the loveliest brush strokes I’ve seen in quite some time. And those chairs! Sigh ♥