Yes, this is an announcement for Girl Crush No.8, and I am beyond thrilled to tell you that it’s going to be hosted by a major girl crush of mine! In fact, she was one of the very first artists that I ever wrote about, AND I just did a post about her last summer on sfgirlbybay…

Jennifer Davis! Oh my word, I love everything in Jennifer’s bizarre/beautiful portfolio, so when I received an email from a gallery in Minneapolis saying that they’d like to host a Girl Crush workshop/tea party with me & Jennifer, well, I jumped on it! Luckily Jennifer did too, and so we’ve booked it for Saturday June 23rd! We’ll spend the morning talking artist blocks and inspirations, have a delicious tea party style lunch, followed by an afternoon of making art a la Jennifer Davis! I know… so fun, right!? Now, where are we going to do all of this? At the lovely gallery that emailed me out of nowhere, of course! The Soo Visual Arts Center:

So. Much. Fun.

I hope you can come… you can sign up right here!

Books! Lots and lots and lots of beautiful gouache & ink books drawn by American artist Jane Mount. These are just a few pieces from a huge, ongoing series titled Ideal Bookshelf :

I paint people’s ideal bookshelves: your favorite books, books that changed your life, books that made you who you are.
Picking your ideal books is not an easy task (try it!). I think of this project as an intimate form of portraiture; a way to illustrate who the subject is on the inside instead of out.
I love that a book is something created very personally and then mass-produced in order to affect many other people very personally. I paint them to turn them back into something very personal and intimate. In the age of the Kindle (which I also love, btw), it’s very satisfying.

Ok, that’s it… I’m going to look through all of my books and make my own ‘ideal bookshelf’ right this very minute!

{I found Jane’s work on 20×200, when I was putting yesterday’s giveaway post together… stay tuned, at 3pm EST today I’ll announce the winner of the 20×200 gift certificate! You could get yourself some of Jane’s books!}

Gasp! I want the houses, the pools, the huge/beautiful trees, and the colors… oh, the colors! Yep, Australian artist Paul Davies has me wanting to relocate into a 5’x4′ painting. Someone call my real estate agent – immediately!

{I found the first image in this post on Pinterest, pinned by Joy Cho of Oh Joy!}

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}

Yep. An old feather factory turned into a gallery, and several artist studios {psst… that are for rent!}. The Active Space is in Bushwick Brooklyn, and looks like this:

Oh, it’s like a huge blank canvas! I desperately want an artist to paint a giant feather mural all over the exterior… wouldn’t that be cool!? Maybe in gold!!! Anyway, this post is about them {not my feathery mural ideas} so let me get back to the point! It’s a space with one large showing gallery, and several individual artist studios {free heat included in the rent – you can’t beat that!}. Here is a layout of the space, two examples of the rooms, and some jealousy-inducing work from a few of the ‘Active Space‘ artists:

{1. Lauren Clay 2. Sebastian Vallejo 3. Matt Nichols }

They are having a grand re-opening this Friday night, February 24th from 7 – 10pm, and you should go!  They’ll be featuring the work of street artist Criminy Johnson:

Have an amazing time on Friday night… and tell them about my gold feather mural idea! Thanks ; )

Portraits by British artist Ben Hughes. I’m really not sure what to say about these fantastic, life-sized, half illustrated – half realistic, simple, yet detailed portraits… all I can seem to muster is a jaw-dropped, whoa ♥ {Oh boy… it’s that ginger-moustached man with his floppy sunflower, and piercing blue eyes… van Gogh meets Tin Tin, no?}

{Where did I find this amazing work? Well, Ben just happens to be the brother of the very talented Seattle based artist Tif Fussell – aka the crafting goddess, Dottie Angel. Seriously. The talent in this family is insane – insane I tell you! Happy weekend, see you on Monday!}

Ok, if you have ever worked with acrylic paint you know how fun/satisfying it is to peel the hardened paint off of  your palette. During my BFA I saved a whole bunch of this strange, plastic, skin-like stuff… but alas, I never made anything with it. Well, Seattle based artist Margie Livingston did. She created this fantastic work, that she describes as “both a three-dimensional painting and a sculpture made of paint.” That’s right these sculptures, or paintings, or sculptures, were created using only acrylic paint… layers and layers and layers and layers of hardened acrylic paint. So jealous.

{via Artsy Forager}

I’ve just started an exciting new collaboration {that I’ll tell you about very soon!}, and it has required me to dig through all of my old posts. It felt like flipping through an old year book – full of really good looking friends! Enter the work of Canadian artist Eric Cator. I wrote about his paintings a loooooong time ago, so it is definitely time to show more of his fantastic work. Aah, the compositions, the color choices, that lonely police officer… yep, this work should be voted “Most likely to make me jealous!”

Birds, boxes, bold type, and bright pink paint. Yep, it’s love. I found Toronto based artist Amanda Happé on Design*Sponge, by accident actually. I was looking for inspiring living room photographs {I might be doing a little redecorating soon!} and Amanda’s Toronto apartment was featured in their ‘Sneak Peek’ section. The first shot featured a credenza, and the top-most painting in this post. I instantly forgot about the living room and was in search of that painting, and hopefully more like it… and I was in luck! It was, in fact, one of her own pieces! I found it, along with all of this other stunning work on her portfolio site. So. Good.

ps. The final image is obviously a detail, but I desperately want to frame it and put it in my soon-to-be redecorated living room! ♥

Oooh, fire! Beautiful, candy-hued flames engulfing equally beautiful, candy-hued houses {both drawings, and found imagery}. Oh my word, I absolutely love this work by artist/designer Jennifer  Mehigan. She is a graphic designer who is currently working towards her BFA in Art Education at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, Australia. Now, not that I would ever want her to ever switch majors, but she may want to consider a career in Arson Forensics.

{via Art Hound}