Whoa. Utrecht based artist Anne Ten Donkelaar is taking cut flowers to an entirely new level! This amazing series of paper-cut collage is titled, Flower Constructions. I love the crazy combination of plants & flowers, and the mixture of color & greyscale. Gor.geo.ous. Beautiful, meticulous… and, they’ll never wilt!

{via Design for Mankind}

Tattoos, tattoos everywhere! No one is safe when Belgian artist Jean-Luc Moerman and his black pen are around. If you show skin, he’s going to draw on it. Bruce Lee, Karl Lagerfeld, some sassy nudes… and, the ultimate original sin!

{via frankie magazine}

Yep. I know… I want to get my scissors out too! How can you not want to go image hunting when you come across the amazing, hand-cut work of Auckland based artist Peter Madden. I have to say, I don’t think I’ve ever written “collage” and “sculpture” in the same post, but today, my friends, is that day… and I am jealous. Yowza.

{The Fehily Contemporary, in Melbourne, has an upcoming solo exhibition of Peter’s work – oh, how I would love to see those chairs being carried away by birds in person!}

I love this work by Hanna von Goeler, and it just so happens to be a perfect intro into this bit of news I have for you.

So, as most of you know {I hope!} the Girl Crush workshops + tea parties are underway! San Fransisco {with Lisa Congdon} happened last Saturday, Seattle {with Tif Fussell} in May is almost full… but the rest only have two or three sign-ups. I did a little survey and realized that $275 was just too much money for most people in this economy. In San Francisco I used almost all of the money to put the event together {there was a little bit left over, and since I never intended these workshops as a way for me to make money, I am donating it to Southern Exposure, an arts center in San Fransisco that supports emerging artists.} Most of the money went into the tea party part of the event {which was amazingly delicious!!}, but after talking with all of the women that attended, the most important part of the day was actually meeting each other, hearing Lisa Congdon’s story/experiences, and breaking through a bunch of our insecurities/artist blocks. And so, I’m going to lower the price in all of the cities. YAY! My plan was to make them the same price in every city {seems fair, right?}, but the price will be determined by the sponsors we are able to get in each city. I didn’t go the sponsorhip route in San Francisco, but should have. I’m going to work more closely with the host artist/venue to see what we can do about having a lovely tea party {it still has to be fancy – pizza and plastic cups just won’t cut it I’m afraid!}, at a lower cost to you.

Here’s the thing {heart currently on sleeve}, I just really want these workshops to happen. San Fransisco was amazing! All of us got so much out of it, including a whole bunch of new friends/creative cheerleaders… who doesn’t need a few more of those in their life, right? Right!

Anyway, thank you for listening… I hate talking about money! As I work with each city, I’ll let you know what the prices have been changed to, and exactly what you’ll be getting at each workshop. Stay tuned! xo

Yes, I know… I have a thing for vintage portraits in which the faces have been altered in some way {please find evidence here and here and here}. I love the patterns, the colors, and the fact that these ordinary citizens look like they’ve been initiated into some kind of bizarre art tribe! American artist April Deacon uses gouache {in stunning colors!} to turn these found photographs into my latest obsession. LOVE.

ps. that neon boy is missing a pinkie, right?

{via curate1k}

I’ve always wanted a tattoo, but I’ve never had the guts to do it… this might be my work-around! These vintage gloves, covered in elaborate painted tattoos, are kinda crazy… and I kinda love them! Chicago based artist Ellen Greene is clearly inspired by objects, and symbols from another time. Here’s a little snippet, in her words, about this series. It is titled, quite appropriately, Gloves:

… traditional American tattoo is a symbol of masculine adventure, rebellion and sexual exploits. At the same time gloves were a staple of “good” American women, tattoos were only for sailors bikers and criminals. No proper woman also had tattoos – especially not on her hands.

Yep, I’m going to need a pair of these. Gorgeous tattoos, no pain… and I can still keep my “good” girl reputation! Maybe.

As most of you probably know, I spent the weekend in San Francisco! I was there for Lisa Congdon’s Girl Crush workshop & tea party {which was ah-mazing, and I’ll tell you about as soon as I have photos}. One of the ah-mazing things we did as part of the workshop was visit Gallery Hijinks in the Mission… and that’s where I saw these. I loved them immediately and almost felt panicked to find out, as fast as I possibly could, who made them. Jillian, the director/owner of the gallery informed me that it was the mixed media work {pencil and collage on found paper} of New York based artist Matthew Craven… um hello, boy crush.

Oh my! Fairy dust, fireflies, and maybe just a little bit of magic. There is something almost celestial about this lovely found image series, titled Daré alla Lucé by Canadian artist/photographer Amy Friend. Here’s how, and why, she did them:

“Through small deliberate interventions, I altered these vintage images, allowing light to pass through them. (After all, photographs are made possible with light.) In a literal and somewhat playful manner, I aimed to give the photographs back to the light, hence the title of the series, Daré alla Lucé, an Italian phrase used to describe the moment of birth.”

{via curate1k}

In a sunny garden, or in a strange mushroom patch… yep, I love found imagery collage just about anywhere. One place that is unbelievably full of such things, is the portfolio of UK based artist Ben Lewis. Neon head dresses, hungry owls, flowery tears… sigh… inspiration overload.

{via ML4U’s Pinterest board}

Ok, I realize that it’s only February, but this series, titled EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL by UK based artist Hayley Warnham, has me counting down the days til summer! I want to jump in that bright blue pool, throw on my insanely yellow shades, and eat what I can only assume to be a strawberry lemonade popsicle. YES!!! I’m going to close my eyes and pretend that I’m that lady in the blue dress… here’s to a weekend full of that!

{via curate 1k}