Now this is my kind of “pet portraiture”! A little mermaid tattoo here, a delicate rainbow there… and voila, your pet is immortalized! American artist Brandi Marie Little’s hyper-real, hyper-weird paintings have me almost convinced that a rat would be a good pet… but it would have to have a unicorn horn, just sayin. Now, if my local pet shop couldn’t bring that in, I’d also be happy with one of these little woodland creatures:

A tattooed bunny ear? YES! {well, wait, not in real life… ouch! poor bunny} but in a stunning painting from Brandi… YES!

Sweet jiminy… I love, love, love these paintings. I mean sculptures. Or paintings. Ok, here’s where the confusion comes in… Melbourne based artist Sandra Eterovic paints with acrylic on wood, but then cuts away the background so that’s she’s just left with a giant Tshirt or a huge can of SPAM {so good! the painting that is, not actual SPAM} She lured me in with that number-covered couple, and then finished me off with these:

… grouchy men in Chanel shirts? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!!!

{Thanks to Lucy for sending me a link to Sandra’s work!}

The first three words that pop into my mind – strange, childhood, dreamy/nightmarey. Ok, that was technically four words, but I couldn’t just leave it at dreamy… these scare me just a tiny bit. And I like it.  This is the beautifully bizarre work of Montreal based artist Dominique Fortin. Ok, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… a finished face, and an unfinished everything else is pure magic to me… and don’t even get me started on those fire breathing dogs on paint brush stilts. M.A.G.I.C.

{ps. I featured more of Dominique’s work in my ART GOES HERE post, that just went up today, over at sfgirlbybay}

A leisurely breakfast, a trip to the circus, and then a little research on how to make my garden grow! Ah yes, that’s what my weekend would be like if I lived in the illustrations of Tokyo based artist Yuki Kitazumi. I spotted her Encyclopedia of Roses on Pinterest a few nights ago, and boy oh boy, I love where it lead me! Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m suddenly in the mood for a little bread n’ honey. Happy weekend to you!

Ahhhh, fresh-cut flowers in simple glass jars. If you love having flowers from the garden in your house every day, then you’re in luck – these are all from a very lovely “painting-a-day series” by Lisa Daria {most of them are 6″x6″ and only $100!} Oh boy, I think I might need a house full of these lovely bouquets… it is officially Spring, right?!

{via Artsy Forager on Pinterest}

Yes. It’s true. Almost exactly one year later, and I am still jealous of American painter Michael Carson… but here’s a new twist… I’m also very jealous of my friend Charlotte, because she just bought this Michael Carson original:

Sigh… excellent choice, Charlotte.

Sigh… it’s pretty amazing what can be done with acrylic and colored pencil… well, I suppose I should say, it’s amazing what Montreal based artist Alexandra Levasseur can do with acrylic and colored pencil. Love, love, love {Flowered underpants, random flames, and a fur coat… oh yes.}

Yes. Oh my goodness… YES!!! This is a series, titled Attraction, by Australian artist Maz Dixon. Sigh… these hilarious paintings whisk me off to my childhood instantly! Oh, I wish that I was spending a sunny day at the beach with a giant pineapple, a huge shrimp, AND a dolphin that I could kiss – but I digress – here’s what this series is all about:

The Attraction series is an examination of the prescriptive nature of souvenir media. Souvenir manufacturers photograph the scenery and attractions of a holiday destination, and mechanically reproduce these scenes for mass consumption through postcards, view-folders, tea towels. These items become instruction manuals for viewers, showing them how they are to experience their destination. Mass-produced imagery becomes mass-produced experience.

By separating figures and landscape from each other, the relationship between viewer and souvenir is realigned. With context removed, the viewer is free to create their own narrative around figures or landscapes.

Yep… and my narrative includes a giant pineapple, a huge shrimp, AND a dolphin that I could kiss.

Profiles. Of dudes. Painted beautifully in watercolor, by American artist Stef Cook. Love. That is all.

HA! I love art that makes me laugh. These make me laugh. This is the work of Kelly Puissegur {aka retro whale}. I mentioned Kelly quickly in my last post, as she was one of the finalists in last year’s UncommonGoods art contest. Anyway, as soon as I started poking around her portfolio, I just kept finding gem after gem after gem! Girl fights, and animals doing ‘the robot’… oh yeah! And, because I am in fact a child of the 80’s, I had no choice but to show these:

Hahahahaha! Sigh… love.

{ps. On a totally unrelated note, I finally posted a bunch of photos from ‘beautifully boring’ on Facebook, in case you’re interested.}