Modern watercolor frescoes, suitcases full of striped socks, and a mutual love for Swatch watches. Yep, this is what went down on today’s episode with American painter Ali Cavanaugh. I was so curious about her process – she paints on panels coated in a thin layer of clay!? Obviously I asked her all about that. I also had a question that read as follows, “arms, legs, striped socks… why?” Well, she told me! You can listen right up there under the dot-covered arms of that lovely redhead, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

Let’s begin with a few arms ‘n socks. I’m sure you’ll recognize this work – it was all over the interweb a few years ago {including my site of course}:

I love them oh so much. Not only are the stripes and compositions absolutely fantastic, um, these are watercolors! Stun. Ning.

Ali mentioned moving from oils to watercolor as an experiment. For those pieces – pieces that basically changed her life – she only used one color for each painting. These are not the exact pieces, but they’re from her “monochromatic” portfolio so that you can see what they look like:

Again, I must reiterate… these are watercolor paintings!

Alright, and now, onto the legs! This is where the striped socks began:

So feminine, so absolutely lovely… as was her reason for starting these swinging legs in the first place.

Oh, now this series is beautiful, on so many levels. Here are just a few paintings from the “Milly” series:

A teenager with a very aggressive form of cancer who became Ali’s inspiring, light-filled muse for the series. And in case you haven’t listened to the episode yet, I’m very happy to report that Milly is in full remission! Ali has painted her several times since, and yes, these pieces are insanely beautiful too:

I mean, come on. GORGEOUS. Also, I want Milly’s haircut.

From oil, to watercolor, to washy watercolor… the micro-evolutions that keep Ali’s work fresh. These are some of her latest portraits:

Dreamy, yes? Sigh.

I had to include this, even though it makes me sad. This is the portrait Ali was asked to paint by a mother whose baby was stillborn. She wanted an image of him that was filled with life and love:

Beautiful. And heartbreaking. And beautiful.

And finally, a peek into Ali’s brand new studio. I found these images on her lovely instagram feed:

Gah! That light… are you kidding me!? She’s got everything she needs in there – big windows, lots of space, and a few cute kiddos to keep her company.

Ok, and before we wrap things up, Ali took a few photos of her insane sock collection for us:

And that’s just a few of them! Yeah, that’s alotta socks. Thanks so much to Ali, a fellow Swatch lover, for taking the time to chat with me; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; high fives to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book – and for letting me narrate?! To preorder a copy of the audio book FOR FREE, along with a 30 day free trial at Audible, you can use my fancy link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator

… and last, but certainly not least, thank YOU for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Kendall College of Art & Design
2. Affordable Art Fair, New York
3. Milly’s work
4. L.Ross Gallery, Memphis
   
5. Swatch!
6. Short film about Ali… so good!

I just wrote about the abstract work of Vancouver based Scott Sueme from his 2016 portfolio … but for some reason I didn’t click past the 2016 section of his site. Um, good thing I went back because this is his mixed media work from 2015. How fantastic are these sporty pieces?! I love the simple, flat compositions… not to mention the fact that I totally have Olympic fever right now. Yes, these are perfection.

Photographs of vintage thread spools… except that they’re OIL PAINTINGS!? This is the stunningly realistic work of American painter Sydney Bella Sparrow. Now, she does paint other things {flowers, fruit, found objects}, but there’s something about these rainbow-hued beauties that tug at my heart… my grandmother’s sewing box perhaps. These lovely gems, in most cases, are no bigger than 5″x5″. I cannot even imagine being able to make paint and a tiny brush do this. Gorgeous.

Geesh… painting realistic work on a huge canvas is tough enough, I’m not sure I could handle that kind of third party scrutiny on top of it! This is the gorgeous work of Gemma Gené, a Spanish architect and painter who’s now based in New York. Big beautiful work that, for the first time in a really long time, makes me want to build a giant canvas to see what might happen. *No dogs allowed.

Ok, I’ll be honest… I’ve been wanting to show some of Minneapolis based artist Jennifer Davis’ new work for months, but I’ve been holding out until I can get her on the podcast. Well, I hate to admit it, but I still can’t break her! Don’t worry I’m not giving up… did you hear that, Jen? Not. Giving. Up ; )  In the meantime, I just cannot wait any more and have to post these gorgeous portraits! There. I feel better now. Happy Friday.

{Most of Jennifer’s work is available in her online shop}

Beautiful and haunting. This is the work of American painter Catherine Graffam. She paints other people too, but her self portraits take my breath away… So. Much. Emotion. Catherine is a transgender woman who explores the complex nature of gender identity. Going through her portfolio chronologically is such a beautiful evolution. Here are her own words about her work:

“Portraits help me better understand the people in my life, including myself, and by painting or drawing I am able to build upon and express relationships. Self portraiture is a way of cathartically process my emotions, and regaining agency over my body.”

Catherine’s work is available on Saatchi Art.

I think I might have dreamt this. Sigh. So lovely and weird. This is the ethereal work of LA based painter Mandy Cao. Apparently her surreal paintings are “inspired by real stories and emotions.” Ok, well now I want to know allllll of those stories… I’m especially curious about that jellyfish being released from his delicate turquoise box… oh yes, I need to know!

Mandy’s work can be seen in a new 4-person show that is going up later this week at the Helikon Gallery in Denver, Colorado. “SUTURE” : NEW WORKS BY YELLENA JAMES, MANDY CAO, SIMON TRAN, & JENSINE ECKWALL. The show opens this Thursday August 4th and runs through until September 3rd, 2016.

Buildings floating in quiet gray spaces, windows lit from within. Yep, I love these paintings by German artist Andre Schulze. Old meets new if you look closely… old architecture with a solid internet connection! Note the @ symbols here and there, the occasional Apple logo on a laptop through one of those rose-colored windows. Love.

{He has a show coming up this fall… it opens on September 15 at F5A by Gallery Z  Stuttgart}

Adam Hall is a lot of things. He’s a Nashville based graphic designer by day… and an insanely talented, self-taught, oil painter by night. Wow. {Note: I felt the need to surround that brush fire with water images. As someone who lives in a 100 year old farmhouse in forest fire country, it just seemed like the responsible thing to do.} Ok, obviously his landscapes have an effect on me! Here are Adam’s words about his work:

“These Moments that grab us and speak to our inner selves when we least expect them to. Some of my most profound moments of discovery have been while staring out into the vast landscape and allowing myself to be open.”

Beautiful. Speaking of which, Adam also happens to be a dad… this was just too much sweetness to pass up on {plus the added bonus that you can see the scale of his work}

♥

Gah! I could not be more thrilled with this gorgeous group of work. This is the Fall/Winter 2016 Wall Art Collection that I curated for The Land of Nod. From fall leaves to icy bergs… oh my goodness… so much goodness! There are ten very talented artists who created work for this project and I’m smitten with all of them. As always with my Nod collection, I aim to include art that will be amazing in nurseries and kids’ rooms, but I also want to make sure those pieces could hang in any room of the house {when your sweet babies get older and want Taylor Swift posters on their walls instead… it will happen.} Thanks to all of these amazing artists for creating such beautiful/fun work … love ya, mean it.

{The entire TJC collection from the past few seasons is available here}

Artists: 1. Martha Rich  2. Elise Morris  3. Agata Krolak  4. Liora Saad  5. Claire Softley  6. Lisa Golightly  7. Jay Dart  8. Mary Kate McDevitt  9. Cassie Marie Edwards  10 &11. Christine Lantz