Oh my! So, so so gorgeous! This is the work of Swedish fashion illustrator/artist Mats Gustafson. Sleek lines, gorgeous textures, elegant women dressed in haute-couture’s finest. LOVE. I could look at each one of these for quite a long time, because let’s face it, watercolor is tricky on a good day… how he manages to paint those layers of tulle, and fur collars… I’m in awe. And I also want to go shopping.

ps. My latest REAL ART FOR A FICTITIOUS WORLD post is up on SF Girl By Bay today and Mats’ work is featured in it… can you guess which character I might have thought this work would be perfect for?

Sigh. Little fledgling plants and some classic New Order, beautifully painted by Melbourne based artist Dane Lovett. I have always had a thing for mundane subject matter, and lately, mundane still life is quickly making it’s way to the top of my list of “favorite mundane things”. So quiet, so ordinary, and oh so special in it’s quiet ordinariness.

{via Artsy Forager}

Who needs real pots of flowers when you can have these beauties… they’ll stay fresh forever!!! This is the patterny, flowery, joy-filled work of American artist Lulie Wallace. So just to recap, if you were thinking of sending me flowers for any reason at all [insert husband’s name here], I’ll take any one of these colorful bouquets, please and thank you!

{via Design*Sponge}

The work of Japanese painter Naomi Okubo makes me want to be 13 again, at a sleepover with all of my best girlfriends… with streamers and as many patterned textiles as possible! That is honestly what I thought the moment I saw this work, which is actually really interesting considering that her statement, about much of the work featured here, is the complete opposite:

… In my adolescence, I had felt fear what others thought about me. As a result, I had been confused how I should relate to others. Through this experience, I have showed plural self-portraits in my works. This idea is that I could escape the fears that came from the relationship with others if all people in the world were myself. My expression was based this abnormal teased feeling.

See? Very different than a sleepover with all of her best girlfriends. It breaks my heart that anyone would feel like this as a kid, but wow, what an absolutely stunning way to visualize those feelings.

{via Booooooom}

How amazing, and hilarious, is this beautiful little zine?! “Shoes over Bills” is a project by Brooklyn based artist/illustrator Hannah K. Lee that is filled to the brim with gorgeous illustration, lovely hand-lettering, and the kind of perspective every girl needs! Cozy moccasins over 10 boxes of ramen noodles? Um, no problem! The cell phone bills might be a bit trickier, but I’m sure we can work something out.

Not only does she have great taste in shoes, she also has a very impressive client list. It goes a little something like this: GQ, Lucky Peach, The New Yorker, Aritzia, PLANSPONSOR, The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, New York Magazine. {Let’s hope this means less ramen, and more shoes, for Hannah!}

Gah! It’s like a whole bunch of colorful, little celebrations exploding on heavy, white stonehenge paper… love, love, love! These are bits n’ pieces from the pages of Ladies Journal and Good Housekeeping, placed carefully in a sea of white space, drizzled with vivid, flowing gouache. They are the mixed media collages of San Francisco based artist Elizabeth Amento… they are also exactly what I needed to get this weekend started! KA-POW!

The mixed media of UK based artist Charlotte Hardy makes me want to eat pastries, surrounded by flowers as I re-wallpaper my front parlor… and I don’t even HAVE a front parlor! Sigh ~ so, so, so pretty!

{via Artsy Forager on Pinterest}

I’m quite sure that if I saw this new body of work by Australian artist Abbey McCulloch in person, I would cry a tiny bit. First of all, they are big {a few of these are 4’x3′}, her color choices are absolutely stunning, and the girls she paints…oh, so mysterious! Yep, if I saw these oil paintings in a gallery I think I’d have to lie down, just like that lovely blonde {she’s breathing, right?}

Mmmmm, I can almost smell the peonies and roses… just imagine if my whole head was covered in them! This is the delicate, yet kinda weird, work of Taipei based artist Hsiao-Ron Cheng. I wrote about her paintings in 2012 {there were bunnies, a T-Rex, an alligator in a classroom}, but when I saw these new pastel-hued, flowery portraits, well… need I say more?

Happy weekend… I hope you get a face full of flowers!

So, we’re all familiar with the beautifully bizarre animal paintings in the portfolio of Minneapolis based artist Jennifer Davis, right?

Love, love, love! Now… look what happens to lost, forgotten, lonely ceramic animals when Jennifer spends a little too much time in her local thrift shop:

Gah! She JenniferDavis’ed them!!! {Ok, I just made that up, but that should totally be a thing!} Crazy stripes, gorgeous colors, and oh, so much fun! She always has a few of these critters for sale in her Etsy shop, so pop over and have a look… I’m waiting for a wiener dog.

ps. Jennifer also does commissioned pet portraits! I’ve included a few of them in a group of work that I just chose for Liz Lemon over on SF Girl By Bay today… yes, I said Liz Lemon.