I have written about Martha Rich so many times… I’m sorry, but I can’t control myself! When I paint in my sketchbook, I think of her sketchbook. When I try new colour combos, I think of her colour combos. When I am in the mood for cake, I think of her cake. For several possible reasons, {hunger, low blood sugar levels, the need for inspiration in the form of thick pink icing} I spent the entire day thinking about Martha’s cakes ~ so here they are. Now you can think about them too. Mmmm, cake.

{Coincidentally enough, she has a new site called cakeandlobster.com… hm, maybe my next ‘I ♥ Martha Rich’ post will be about lobster?}

Well, she may not feel different, but her new dress makes me feel great! This little painting, on a wood block, arrived in my mailbox yesterday morning direct from Aris Moore herself. She sent it as a ‘thank you’ {totally unnecessary, but why on earth would I turn down a piece from her} just because I thought the smart people over at Australia’s very cool frankie magazine* would love her work, so I sent them her link. Turns out that they do love her, no big surprise, and are featuring her in their upcoming February issue. Great art karma for everyone… including me who now has a lovely little addition to my art collection!

{* If you’ve never seen frankie, do yourself a favour and get a copy. It’s a bit tricky to track down if you’re not in Australia, but it is available at a bunch of cool magazine shops around the globe… totally worth the hunt because it’s beautifully designed, really well written, and filled with amazing art, music, design, craft etc etc.}

First I was jealous of Camilla Engman’s studio… now I’m jealous of her book. It’s the first in a project called The Suitcase Series put together by Uppercase Gallery. In each one they will feature an artist or designer, both at work and in life. The book about Camilla is so beautifully done, and what an amazing little gem for her to show her grandchildren one day… or grandpuppies, if Morran ever decides to start a family.

{There are 192 pages in this book, and all of them are gorgeous. Really, you have to go and see it.}

I’m  not sure what it is about me and my love for suburban homes? For Carrie Christian, it all started with her first doll house, and has resulted in these lovely, but sort of lonely watercolors. She says that ‘the Barbie Dream House appeared grand, thanks to the fancy scenes printed on the thick card stock; but once I started playing, I found I could only play in front of the rooms, never in them.’ Ah, so true. She puts beautiful detail into each painting, but I also love that the image is left incomplete. I want to know what’s going on in that white space… although maybe Barbie & Ken don’t want us to see what they’re up to?

Sadly, my living room is a far cry from an architectural space large enough to house one of these monumental, beautifully painted murals by Taipei/Paris based artist Michael Lin. His work is inspired by traditional Taiwanese textile patterns, but he hugely exaggerates the scale, truly transforming the spaces they’ve been placed into. Since my living room clearly won’t work out as a site for one of these murals, here’s quick list of where you can find a few of them: Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center Cafe, New York; the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the Palais de Tokyo in Paris; the Atrium, Stadhuis City Hall, Den Haag… Jealous yet? Yep, me too.

{The Vancouver Art Gallery has a Michael Lin show, titled A Modest Veil, opening on January 23rd, 2010. He will be creating a mural that covers the entire Georgia Street façade. And if that’s not enough for you, in his exploration of ‘veiling’ the gallery, he’ll also be wrapping the publications on the shelves of the VAG store in custom designed paper… hey – now that could fit into my house!}

I would love to have any of these brunettes, by LA based artist/illustrator Andrew Hem, hanging on my wall looking back at me. Penetrating stares, and faces that seem to be lit from within… so beautiful. Throw in that blue panda and I’m far more jealous than a person should be first thing on a Monday morning.

{Another artistic gem found via Eric Cator’s paintblog}

I truly love every piece of art that I write about, so it’s really hard to pick a ‘Top 10’… so I’m doing a ‘Top 15’. It has literally taken me hours to decide on only 15. Maybe I should do a ‘Top 100’ next year? Anyway, these are the chosen few {in no particular order}. Some of them have inspired my own artwork, others represent major milestones for The Jealous Curator, and the rest just make me really, really jealous.  Here’s to the year ahead… may it be filled with cheek-flushing inspiration & soul-crushing jealousy for all! Cheers and Happy 2010!

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Martha Rich (Sketchbook)

Trey Speegle

Alyson Fox

The Hot One Inch Action Show 2009

Margaret Kilgallen

Dave Barnes

Mikael Kennedy

Anthony Zinonos

Julien Pacaud

Diane Arbus

Tina Berning

Yellena James

Sarah Applebaum

Vivian Maier

Wendy Walgate

Hilarious and beautiful… I’m sold. This is from a series called Inappropriately Dressed by New York based painter Charlotta Janssen. Now, if you’ve ever found yourself inappropriately dressed for an occasion, you could be her next subject. I’m not kidding, this is from her site:

‘I will photograph, sketch and paint individuals and groups who are slightly or very inappropriately dressed for something. Anyone who’d like to send me images of themselves or others as material for inspiration – please upload them [under] inappropriately interactive … should I choose to sketch or paint from your image, I will send you an 8″ x 10″ print if you include your address …’

Ok, so how many of you are putting on a prom dress and heading to the laundromat right now? Yep, me too… don’t forget your camera!

I can’t imagine how Yellena James even knows where she should start on one of these pieces. They are so layered, complex and beautiful… very ‘bottom of the sea’ in a made-up, magical kind of way don’t you think? The top two pieces are acrylic on wood, and the bottom two are pen & ink on paper. I can’t decide which medium I love more, so I’ve shown them both. Although I have to say, the bottom two make me want to go pen shopping right this very minute.

Like most of you, I’m going to be knee-deep in holiday cheer for the next few days, but then I’ll be back and more jealous than ever! Until then, let me leave you with these four wintery pieces. The inspiration should warm you up quite nicely, but then you’ll probably want to drown your jealousy in a jug of rum & eggnog… that’s what I’ll be doing!

Happy Holidays!

TJC

{ Images above 1) Amy Bennett 2) Holly Farrell 3) Mikael Kennedy 4) Ilana Kohn }