Oh my goodness. This is the gorgeous work of LA based artist Elisa Johns. Some of her work is oil on canvas, and other pieces are acrylic & ink on paper… like those two snakes… who I had to make a bit smaller and put in the middle of the post so they didn’t freak me out too much. Luckily they’re flanked by blossoming acrylic/ink fireweed, so that helps. Here is Elisa’s artist statement:

I have been trying to convince this lady to be on the podcast since the very beginning. She said no… a lot. But I finally broke her. I love, love, love the work of Boston based Leah Giberson and so I’m thrilled that she finally said yes. Her subjects are mundane, but exquisitely so. Campers, trailers, old boats, lawn chairs from your grandparents’ yard, painted with insane detail, that truly celebrate the beauty in the everyday. You can listen right under that gorgeous, shiny airstream, or subscribe on iTunes. First up, a few of my favorite pieces just to set the mood:

Ahhh, those silver airstreams always blow my mind. All of her work is just so beautifully boring… speaking of which, here are a few photos from our trip to Chattanooga for the “Beautifully Boring” show, with Leah and New York based painter Samantha French. I love this photo of Leah in action {plus her butt looks great in this shot}.  There was a lot of “Leah Giberson” subject matter on the streets of Chattanooga:

That was such a fun trip! Next, these are a few of Leah’s older pieces… the houses, and open trailers that she talked about:

Oooh, those two trailers might be my favorites! Here are the two pieces that West Elm carried… that went absolutely crazy:

Gah! I love those too! Leah has painted a lot of lawn chairs, and some of them have even ended up on beer labels:

This is just one of the many pieces she created for New Belgium. I love them, so I purposely asked her about this project just so I’d have a reason to show them! We were also talking about how her work is evolving, and that she’s slowly becoming more interested in the mundane life reflected in the trailers instead of the actual trailers themselves:

Amazing. And finally, a glimpse into her studio. It might be small, but it is jam-packed with creative goodness:

Love! And that’s that… see, she had nothing to be nervous about. So easy. Thanks so much to Leah for answering her phone when I called, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode, and as always, thanks so much to YOU for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Ah, nostalgia… with a dash of “this is the weirdest dream I’ve ever had”. I am in love with the beautifully bizarre work of American artist Alex Beck. I want to jump in that pool and head over to Jack & Ethel’s for dinner with the gang… before the elephants and ghosts show up, that is.

Oh, I do love mundane subject matter and muted palettes… enter the oil paintings (on collaged paper!) of California based artist Meghan Jean. Sigh. Nothing like finding beauty in the everyday. In fact, do that right now. Look around and find something beautiful. A shadow, a texture, an old chair that you don’t even notice anymore. Yep, we’re surrounded.

{via Fresh Paint Magazine}

Ooh, flower faces! This is the most recent work {acrylic and oil on canvas} of Polish born, Belgium based artist Hanna Ilczyszyn. Her portfolio is huge, but it was these flower faces that grabbed my attention. Oh, and this piece from 2013, because who doesn’t love a red balloon nose:

Weirdly wonderful.

Spoiler Alert: This is the work of a Canadian artist.  Yep, Glenn Clark makes these hockey heroes come alive… and not just through painting skill and scale… they MOVE! The series is titled “Wackem Sackem”… a throw back to good old table hockey. Ah, many Canadian winters spent playing table hockey in the shag-carpet-covered basements of my youth. Hard to do it justice with still images, so here is a video from a gallery opening last year. Pretty funny… well, as long as you’re not the guy getting punched.

Oh, so beautiful. This is the mixed media work {some of it quite large} of UK based artist Anna King. She has a lovely artist statement that explains her work perfectly, so I’ll pass this over to Anna…

“My work explores the margins of landscape – overlooked, peripheral places – abandoned buildings, wastelands, plantations and quarries. These structures are marks we’ve made on the world, and now time passes without human intervention – paint peels, grass grows through cracks in concrete and the temporary nature of our own existence is brought into sharper focus.

I work in oils on paper pasted onto board, drawing into the wet paint with pencil. This results in a deconstructed, sketch-like finished work, the smooth surface, fragility and fluidity of the mark making on paper echoing the temporary and incidental nature of the places I paint.”

Poetry, paper and paint ♥

Oh my goodness. Portraits, patterns, pinks… I may be in love. These large-scale acrylic on linen paintings are the work of Amsterdam based artist Martine Johanna. Those pink flip flops surrounded in palm leaf wall paper? Killing me.

{I found her through New York gallery, Massey Lyuben}

Perhaps it’s because we’ve been snowed in for the last three days, but oh, these paintings are calling my name! Can you smell those peonies? Ahhhh, yes. These oil paintings are the work of Stanley Bielen, a Polish painter that now lives in Philadelphia {and teaches at the Fleisher Art Memorial of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.} I do love a cozy winter fire, but oh, these have me counting the days till spring.

Yes. This is exactly what I hope the next two weeks looks like! This is the decadent work {acrylic and enamel on panel} of American artist Lori Larusso. I wrote about her “shapes” series way back in 2013, but when I found these vintage treats I knew they were the perfect way to say farewell to 2015! And with that, I’m off to eat sugary treats and drink warm beverages with my little family, and I hope you’ll be doing the same… I’ll meet you right back here in January. Have a wonderful, restful, creative, cake-filled holiday ~ danielle xo

ps. So, I’ve decided to make one quick collage every day over the holidays {I’ll post some of them – good or bad – on Instagram}. I’ve never given myself a daily challenge before, and I think it’s finally time. Wanna do it too?