I thought these pieces, by American artist Shawn Huckins, were fantastic when I assumed that they were little mixed media pieces, of everyday life, on actual paint chips… but, when I realized that they were in fact really big paintings, of everyday life, on huge canvases skillfully painted to look exactly like actual paint chips, well, that’s when I upgraded my opinion to “fan-freakin’-tastic”. That’s really the first word that comes to mind when you see cars partially submerged in Sea Kelp 390D-5, am I right?

{via Junkculture}

Not only does Barcelona based artist Guim Tió Zarraluki live and work in one of my favorite cities in the world, he also paints these stunning, beautifully bizarre, portraits. Oh yes… I’m jealous x 2.

{via Escape Into Life}

Yep. Still jealous. This is the third time I’ve written about New York based painter Samantha French, but when I received an email about a few of her upcoming exhibitions {see dates below}, I could not control myself! Archers, bathing beauties, and tranquil blue water… really, could you stop yourself from writing about her a third time? No, I didn’t think so.

1. Groveland Gallery / Summer Shorts: Contemporary Classics / Minneapolis, MN / Opening reception: Thurs., June 16, 5-8pm / Show runs from June 16 – June 28, 2011

2. 801 Washington Lofts / Summer 2011 Art Opening / Minneapolis, MN / Sat., June 18th, 6 – 9pm

Ok, it’s official, Finnish artist Jaakko Mattila has inspired me to dig out my watercolor paints, and give that tricky medium another try. Ok, who am I kidding… that’s totally not going to happen. His beautiful work makes it look so easy and effortless, even though I happen to know {from experience} that it’s not. Sigh… so lovely.

{via Design For Mankind}

I have been writing this blog for just over two years, and in that time, have slowly realized something about myself. I love portraits. I seem to unconsciously seek them out, especially the slightly odd ones… like these! LA based artist Kris Lewis has me completely drawn into his strange, imaginary world of butterflies, Aryan twins, seaside girls… and of course, this strange, imaginary world would not be complete without a tattooed girl holding a pug and a red carnation. Yes.

{Kris has a show on at the David B. Smith Gallery in Denver, from now until June 18th. Go!}

Two words. Road. Trip. Who wants in? I’m pretty sure I could convince American artist Grant Haffner to come, as long as I promised him some paint, a bunch of markers, and a whole lot of open road!

Ok, I’m not sure if I could pull off any of these looks… it takes a special woman to wear a shark, and not have it wear her, am I right? Well, these lovely ladies had some help form Swedish born, Milan-based artist/illustrator Daniel Egnéus. He transforms his daydreams into washy, beautiful, totally engaging paintings, and I love every single one of them… hmm, what about a goose hat? Do you think I could make that work?

You know the expression “being at the right place, at the right time”… yep, well, that totally applies to the work of Swiss-born, Paris based artist Felice Varini. At first glance I assumed these were just geometric designs digitally layered over a photograph…  I was wrong. They are in fact geometric designs painted directly onto actual buildings, but, the trick is, you must be standing at an exact point to see them, otherwise they appear as random broken lines (as seen above). Yeah, I know… Ah- mazing!

{via Honestly… WTF}

So, you know how I love mixed media collage, right? Right. Well, imagine how happy I was when I found the work of San Francisco based artist Kelly Allen… wait, what? Those are paintings?! Yes, yes they are. Ok, I know it’s not very artistically academic of me to say ‘holy crap!’, but come on, that’s what we’re all thinking.

{via Escape Into Life}

I loved these pieces, by American artist Catherine Ulitsky, when I thought they were just geometric gouache paintings on photographic skies… and then I looked a little closer and realized that the tiny black dots connecting all of the candy-hued lines were huge flocks of starlings in flight. Now I really love them.