Ooh, there are some very lovely paintings by American painter Kate Pugsley over on Buy Some Damn Art at the moment! I wrote about Kate’s rosy-cheeked subjects over two years ago, and yes, her work still makes me jealous. Not only does the work on BSDA feature Kate’s famous rosy-cheeks, but there also happens to be someone with a jello-mold for a head, and a big beautiful polar bear. Seriously, what more could you want from a painting!?

Nicola Sheahan! Congratulations Nicola, you have a $75 gift certificate at 20×200 coming your way {I’ll send you an email with details!}… I wish you all could have won, but hold on a second, 20×200 just sent me this message:

As a thanks to your readers for participating, we’d like to offer them an exclusive deal – $10 off a purchase of $50+. They just need to enter the code JEALOUS during checkout. This is valid now through midnight ET tomorrow {March 2, 2012}. Please note: each customer/email address is limited to one use of this code only.

YAY! Thanks to all of you that entered, and thanks so much to 20×200 for this super fun giveaway!

Yep, the lovely folks at 20×200 are giving away a $75 gift certificate to one of you! These are just a few examples of the GORGEOUS prints {from a few of my favorite artists} that I would buy in a heartbeat… um, can I enter this giveaway?! No, I guess that wouldn’t be ethical. Ok, you enter instead then. Here’s the deal:

One lucky reader will win a $75 gift certificate for 20×200. To be eligible, please leave a comment on this post and let me know which piece of art you’d want to buy from their huge collection; and subscribe to the 20×200 newsletter {they announce new artists and new work all the time, so you’ll want to be in the know with $75 burning a hole in your pocket!}

The winner will be announced right here, and on Twitter, at 3 p.m. EST on Thursday March 1, 2012 Good luck!

{UPDATE! The winner was announced on Thursday afternoon – congratulations Nicola Sheahan!}

{1. Amze Emmons 2. Hollis Brown Thornton 3. Martha Rich 4. Jane Mount 5. Lisa Congdon 6. Aili Schmeltz 7. Trey Speegle}

Whoa… has it really been three years? Yep, just checked my archives, and sure enough my first post went up three years ago today! And so to celebrate, three fabulous pieces of art that seem to fit the occassion {because you have to celebrate with cake, no?!}

Thank you so much for coming along for the ride! xo

{1. Ashlie Chavez 2. Will Cotton 3. Claire Grill}

Wow – what a month it’s been! I can’t believe how well these Girl Crush workshops+ tea parties have come together! The first one, with the lovely Lisa Congdon in San Francisco, is exactly one month away! It sold out within a week, and as of a few days ago, is completely organized {right down to the color of the sprinkles on the cookies!} … and here’s who I need to thank for that:

First of all, a truckload of xoxo’s need to go to Lisa for being our host! She is clearing off her work tables, and filling them with cupcakes; she has organized a bunch of fancy swag*; AND she has even arranged an afternoon of gallery hopping around the Mission! FUN!

1. Daily Dose of Sunlight: seriously, this girl literally is a daily dose of sunlight! Taylor, a blogger and photographer, dropped from the heavens into my inbox, and asked if she could be my Girl Crush helper/intern for the day. I said, um… YES!

2. Oh my word – you should see the menu for the tea party! A very gourmet tea party lunch will be catered by Square Meals, and the insanely decadent treats are being made by Batter Bakery {thanks to Anne Sage from Rue Magazine for the reco – we’ll save you a sand angel Anne!}

*3. Arch, an art supply store in San Francisco, has very kindly donated a bunch of arsty stuff to be popped into our swag bags! Thank you Arch xo

4. Cargoh is the home to my lovely online shop where you can purchase a spot in any of the upcoming workshops. Speaking of which…

April is just around the corner… if you’re in New York you should come and spend a day with me and painter Samantha French! And a little further along in the 2012 calendar:

Painter Lisa Golightly in Portland, and mixed media artist Alyson Fox in Austin… AND the latest announcement, made just yesterday:

Yes – Shauna Alterio will be hosting a tea party at her gorgeous loft in Philly! She’s the woman behind Something’s Hiding in Here, and Forage Bowties {along with a zillion other crazy creative things!} Two spots have already sold for her October 13th workshop/tea party, so sign up soon!

Stay tuned… I have an amazing artist on board for LA {also in 2012}, we’re just trying to confirm a space and a date! Ok. That’s it. Whoa – I have to sit down after that. Have a lovely weekend! xo

Well, I’m back from Salt Lake City. I am exhausted, inspired, overwhelmed, and I have pretty much completely lost my voice from laughing/talking all day and all night at this year’s Alt Summit. If you weren’t there, I’ll give you a quick rundown… on the very first day of the conference, I was lucky enough to speak on a panel about “Successful Collaborations” with these lovely ladies:

As you can see, as soon as I was finished talking {first day, first panel, first speaker!? Yes, it was nerve-wracking!}, I got myself a giant cup of coffee and spent the next two days learning all sorts of things, from all sorts of amazing people. My favorite talk was from the keynote speaker on Friday… Ben Silberman, the creator of Pinterest. He was funny, humble, and well, totally and completely inspiring!

So, so good! {look how big that lunch crowd is – that tiny white dot in front of the black screen is Ben!} Now, if you’ve never been to Alt, you should know that you’ll learn an insane amount of information about being a blogger, but you’ll also learn how to look fabulous. All the time. Apparently everyone {including me} got the memo that this year, was in fact…

Buns, shoes, accessories, vintage dresses, stripy tights. Yep, the Sartorialist should show up to next year’s event… he’d have an abundance of material to shoot! Speaking of photos, on the final night, the third floor of the hotel was taken over by a whole bunch of fantastic mini-parties put on by some of Alt’s very generous sponsors! I think almost all of them had a photo booth… so, my super-cute roomie {Kathleen, of Jeremy & Kathleen} and I hit as many as we could:

What a couple of weirdos. I’m not sure why we’re attempting the ’sexy pout’ in every shot… oh well, we had fun! And then I lost my voice ; )

If you were there, I hope you had an amazing time. I highly recommend the Alt experience to anyone who is interested in the world of blogging… and photo booths.

{All of these images are from Alt’s Flickr stream. Thank you to the fantastic photographers that documented the past crazy few days for us!}

I’m about to get on a plane to Salt Lake City, because I’m lucky enough to be speaking at Alt Summit tomorrow! While I’m there I’ll be making a little announcement… but I wanted you to know about it first! I’m kicking off a new project in 2012. What is it? Well, it’s called…

Ta-dah! Yep, that’s what’s happening, and here’s why:

The idea for these workshops came out of a couple of things. First, I wrote a post last year called jealous & alone, and the response was unbelievable! I wanted to jump right out of the blog world and actually meet everyone that commented, and keep the honest/inspiring conversation going. Second, I started a series on sfgirlbybay.com called ‘girl crush’, which is all about celebrating amazing women artists. In one of those posts, I made a joke about hosting a girl crush tea party with American artist Alyson Fox - and then a whole bunch of people emailed me saying that they would love to attend a girl crush tea party… so we’re doing it! In fact, I’ve got the table set for four of them in 2012! Listen to the amazing women artists who will be our hosts… Lisa Congdon in San Francisco this March; Samantha French in New York this April; Lisa Golightly {aka Kiki & Polly} in Portland this June; and of course, Alyson Fox in Austin this September. Yep, one day workshops filled with inspiration, art, fancy sandwiches, and pretty cakes… in the real world! For more information {details, how to register, etc} check out my girl crush page {which is also in the right hand nav} or head straight to my shop to sign up. I’m so excited about this little adventure, and I hope you’ll be part of it! Ok, now I have to get myself to the airport! Bye bye… I’ll be back with new posts on Monday {but on twitter, reporting from Alt, from now til then!}

~ danielle xo

Almost three years in, and I’m finally doing my very first interview on the blog! What took me so long? Anyway, I’m very excited to introduce you to Kate Singleton, an art blogger based in Brooklyn {although, you probably already know her!}

I “met” Kate two years ago through her fantastic art blog, Art Hound. We actually met in person last January at Alt Summit, and she’s just as lovely in person as she is online! Kate started an exciting new venture this October, and so today we’re going to get the in’s and out’s of “BUY SOME DAMN ART”.

JC: Hi Kate! Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today! So, tell us all about your fantastic new project, Buy Some Damn Art…

KS: Buy Some Damn Art is a site I recently launched that sells small pieces of original art in weekly one-artist shows. Everything about the site is meant to be accessible – the work is inviting, the shows are small, the artists are incredibly nice people, and the prices range from $200 to $500. It’s all about giving modest art buyers an opportunity to discover artists and bring originals into their home.

JC: Have you been thinking about this for a long time? Is it a result of all the time you’ve spent running your lovely blog, Art Hound?

KS: BSDA happened pretty quickly (4-5 months from conception to launch) but was the result of two years of blogging, researching and building relationships. Although it may not appear this way, it was a long time in the making. I had thrown around so many different ideas that I had kind of lost perspective. I was adamant about not selling art unless I figured out a unique way of doing it.

JC: There are a lot of sites selling prints out there at the moment, but BSDA only features original pieces – fill us in on why.

KS: Print shops play a huge part of the online art scene and have made art accessible to many, many people! But in my mind prints are only part of the picture – perhaps like listening to a band on your ipod versus seeing them play live. Owning prints and originals are two different, complementary experiences. Owning original art is (as corny as it sounds) almost a spiritual matter. It instantly connects you and the artist – you are bonded through this physical object that the artist dreamed about, brooded over, etc.

JC: How do you choose the artists that you feature every Tuesday?

KS: I’ve asked artists to participate in BSDA whose work speaks to me, whose prices are in line with BSDA and who I trust to do business with. I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that you do business with people you trust.

Also, I’m only interested in artists with online presence – the idea being that today’s art buyers don’t just want to buy art, they also want to follow the artists, to connect with them and be inspired by them over time. It’s not just a transaction but an ongoing relationship.

JC: I love that! Relationships are the best part of this whole online thing! Speaking of relationships, do you already know the artists that you’re working with? Are they established, or up-and-comers?

KS: I feel that it is essential to keep BSDA fresh with new and varied work and to balance the work of more established artists with those of newbies in the very beginning of their careers.

While many artists on BSDA are people I’ve developed relationships with over time, others are virtual strangers who reached out and whose work and point of view spoke to me. In other words I am an equal opportunity curator.

JC: Ha! That’s good… if only all curators were! Do you have any interest in curating in the real world, or do you prefer working online?

KS: When I started Art Hound two years ago I made a very conscious decision to keep my distance from the formal Art World because the single most important thing for me was to be independent. Bill Cunningham, the fashion photographer, is a big inspiration of mine. As I continue to develop on my own as a blogger/curator I’m becoming more confident in my ability to retain that point-of-view in spite of what’s around me. So, as the gallery world continues to be influenced by the online art world I definitely think I’ll venture into curating physical shows. Perhaps in the future there won’t be such defined boundaries between the two.

JC: You’re only eight weeks into this and I’ve seen lots of SOLD signs on the featured pieces! Congratulations, it worked… People are buying some damn art!

KS: Thanks! In my mind the response means that people have been looking for new and smarter ways of discovering artists and buying art. That’s great validation because it’s exactly what I hope to do.

JC: Thanks so much Kate – can’t wait to see who you’ve got lined up for next week! xo

{1. Alan Brown 2. Jennifer Davis 3. Tyson Anthony Roberts 4. Rachel Sitkin 5. Stephanie Chambers 6. Sara Escamilla}

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

ps. This is the first interview on The Jealous Curator, but I also just interviewed American artist Alyson Fox for the December issue of The Fiddleback. So fun!

Yep, it’s true… every week curate1k, founded by Boston based curator Norah Guignon, finds $1000 worth of art for you. A $400 piece here, a $300 piece there, and maybe even a bunch for under $50! All you have to do is find something you love, and click on it. You’ll be directly linked to the gallery site that’s selling it {you know, places like Little Paper Planes, Enormous Tiny Art, Etsy, and so on!} Easy, right? Right. And, as if that wasn’t good enough, Norah’s putting together a few “$100 week Gift Guides” heading into the holidays for him, her, and even the artsy kid in your life! YES – I want art in my stocking this year!

{1. The Good Machinery 2.Britt Bass 3. Marlene Vergara 4. Kelly Lynn Jones 5. Olivia Jeffries 6. Anthony Zinonos}

Any post that starts and ends with a tribute to Frida Kahlo, has to be a good one!

I’m sure you all know about this fantastic project, appropriately titled Remake, but just in case you haven’t heard of it… well, I just had to show you! Inspired by a similar contest running in the UK, Jeff Hamada of Booooooom.com put out a call for people to remake classic works of art using photography only {oh, and no post-shot photoshopping tricks allowed!}. Van Gogh, Magritte, Lichtenstein, and countless others all make an appearance… several times! There were an insane amount of creative submissions – these were just a few of my favorites.

{1.“Self portrait dedicated to Dr. Eloesser” remake by Yesenia Caloca, original by Frida Kahlo   2. “Girl with Ice Cream Cone” remake by Stephanie Gonot, original by Wayne Thiebaud  3. “La bonne foi” remake by Noemi Mazzucchelli, original by Magritte  4. “Ohhh…Alright…” remake by Emily Kiel, original by Roy Lichtenstein  5. “Self Portrait 1889″ remake by Seth Johnson, original by Vincent van Gogh  6. “Portrait of Frida Kahlo” remake by Danilo Ursini, original by Frida Kahlo}