Yep! It’s a mini pre-holiday episode of Art For Your Ear… the perfect way to wrap up 2015, yes? My plan for this podcast has always been to ask artists questions that the art history books just don’t cover, so, I asked twelve artists to tell me about “the best gift they ever got”… see, I bet the art history books won’t tell you about that! There are a bunch of hilarious childhood Christmas presents, incredibly thoughtful birthday gifts, and even a good report card gift in there too. Have a listen right up there under Jessica Brilli’s “Nova in the Snow”, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

And in case you don’t listen {why aren’t you listening!?}, I’m going to take a moment to get a little sappy. I want to say thank you so much to all of you for not only reading the blog, but also indulging me earlier this year when I decided to try this podcast thing. I was really nervous about it, and wasn’t sure if it would be right for me… but now I’m obsessed! Part of that obsession is thanks to all of you and your insane enthusiasm / support! I’ve received lovely messages from so many of you – stories about listening while you work in your studio, run errands, make dinner, exercise. I get heartfelt emails about episodes that hit a nerve with you, and got you fired up to get back into the studio. It makes me so happy… so happy, in fact, that I’m able to put my phone anxiety on the back burner while I make the next call.

AND, thank you so much to all of the artists who say yes! Yes to evening Skype calls {sometimes with alcohol}, yes to answering all of my crazy fan-girl questions, and yes to the speed round! I appreciate it so, so much. xo

Finally, one more thank you… thank you to Saatchi Art for being so amazing. Before I launched the podcast – before even I knew what it would be like/sound like – I called the lovely folks at Saatchi Art in LA and asked if they’d sponsor the first episode. You never know, right? They might say yes? Well, they didn’t even hesitate! And it has gone long past the first episode – they’ve been supporting me since the beginning. See? Amazing.

Ok. I’m finished typing now. Have a listen to “the best gift ever”, and I’ll be back with more episodes of Art For Your Ear in early January … Happy Holidays! xo

{The twelve artists in this episode: Kelly Puissegur  /  Tiffanie Turner  /  Jessica Brilli  /  Jaime Derringer  /  Stephanie Vovas  / Bobbie Burgers  /  Sidney Pink  /  Debra Broz  / Michelle Kohanzo  /  Jessica Bell  /  Martha Rich  /  Esther Pearl Watson }

Be still my still-life loving heart! This is the beyond lovely work of California based painter Stephanie London. Ceramic birds, coral, funny little animals holding roses in their mouth… sigh… and her color palette. Oh, so gorgeous. I can almost smell my grandmother’s powdery perfume.

{Her oil paintings are available through Kathryn Markel Fine Arts: NYC & Bridgehampton, NY}

Mysterious, elegant, and just the right amount of odd. This is the mixed media work of Netherlands based artist Dorris Vooijs. She is one of the artists I chose when I curated the December issue of Fresh Paint Magazine… I’m sure you can see why!

This is the work of American painter Carole Rabe … is it rude to invite myself into her oil paintings for a cup of tea, or maybe a glass of lemonade? So cozy, and those colors… ahhh, dreamy.

I wrote about Spanish painter Andrea Castro almost exactly one year ago to the day. I just checked back in, and wow, she’s been busy! These paintings are a few of her latest portraits. Her work is so elegant/precise and loose/messy all at the same time – that’s one of the things I love most about her work – her willingness to “scribble” over something so beautifully painted. Oh, and don’t even get me started on her color palettes and those tiny little beads. Love.

Update: Earlier this year, Andrea quit her day job to give her artwork a true chance, so I’m just going to put this out there to all of you gallery directors, collectors, everyone… scoop her up now, because I predict big things for this artist.

Hoozy Thinky Iz? Wayne White, that’s who. Ok, let me start by saying that Wayne is one of my favorite artists ever. I tried to be cool, but alas, I spent the first quarter of this episode having a fan-girl panic attack, and I’m pretty sure you’ll be able to tell. So, to make it more entertaining for yourself, please feel free to take a shot of tequila every time I say, “WOW!” or “relaxed”… (sigh)… yep, embarrassing – but not the beautiful kind. You can listen to our conversation right up there, under that embarrassingly beautiful painting, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

So, I could have talked to Wayne for five more hours, I had so many questions. I wish I’d asked about his amazingly talented/creative wife, Mimi Pond (pictured below hugging Wayne in a giant LBJ puppet head). I didn’t even get to the part about his work on the Smashing Pumpkins Tonight, Tonight video or Peter Gabriel’s Big Time video… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Oh well, just go watch his film, Beauty is Embarrassing (directed by Neil Berkeley) and you’ll get the gist. Oh, and try not to cry. This is one of my most favorite movies of all time, so that’s where I jumped in:

It really is such a great documentary. Yes, it covers his work and his life, but it also hits all sorts of nerves about getting burnt out, self-doubt (hoozy thinky iz), and finding your way to a place where you’re just creating work that makes you happy. Yep, I cried at least three or four times as I thought, “Yes! Me too!” … and don’t even get me started on Mrs. Stoddard, or when Wayne’s dad starts crying. Yeah, you’re going to need a tissue.

Ok, now for all of you kids from the 1980s, you’ll remember this from Saturday morning TV … Pee-wee’s Playhouse! Wayne was part of the team from the beginning – designing sets, puppets, and he even did a bunch of the voices (Dirty Dog, Randy, one of the flowers, etc etc). Hello, childhood flashback:

Oh, Pee-wee. Good times. “Beauty is Embarrassing” covers all of this so well (including the pre-cursor to Pee-wee’s Playhouse, a Nashville Kids’ Show called Mrs.Cabobbles Caboose)… so again… go watch this movie!

And of course, Wayne’s thrift shop landscape word paintings that I love more than I can say. He does all sorts of amazing things (sculptures, puppets, drawings etc) but these paintings have definitely become something he’s known for:

So hilarious! I have a thing for funny art, probably because it’s pretty hard to find. I just love that he’s taken these forgotten landscapes and turned them into beautifully painted text pieces… text pieces that allow him to say whatever the hell he wants to say! You know, things like “all that fake laughin for nothin”, “just a picture / shunned by scholars / now it costs ten thousand dollars”, and one of my favorites… “just leave the awards on the kitchen table / i’m back here paintin a fuckin masterpiece” … Ha! That makes me LOL, as the kids say.

And finally, this is the book we mentioned a couple of times. Designer Todd Oldham loves Wayne’s work too, and one of the results of that is this beautiful book, “Maybe Now I’ll Get The Respect I So Richly Deserve”:

And that’s that. I am so thrilled that I got to do this with him… and I hope you enjoyed all of your many, many tequila shots. Next time I’ll be super cool. Maybe. Thanks so much to Wayne for taking the time to do this, and thanks to you for listening. There’ll be a special holiday podcast next weekend, but until then, please sit back and relax to this little gem that came out of the good old speed round… the first song that Wayne ever slow danced to: “Poor Side of Town”. Enjoy.

These are the whimsical, large-scale oil paintings of Canadian painter Jan Little. It turns out that Jan lives just down the lake from me, which is probably why these {very familiar to me} lake views grabbed my attention immediately… and then, clearly, the floating bunnies and swimming goats sealed the deal. And the titles? Yep, they’re like perfect Canadian cherries on top:

“Mr. & Mrs. Bunbuns Go To Heaven… But Then Decide To Move Back to Naramata”, 36″x48″

“Pickles and Rosie Idly Whiled Away All of July and Half of August”, 36″x36″

Pickles and Rosie are so smart. Oh, and if you’ve ever seen the lake views I post on Instagram, that’s looking over to Naramata… no wonder Mr & Mrs. Bunbuns decided to skip heaven and go back there!

Ah, Americana… through the skillful brush of an Irish artist. Yep, I want to live inside these vintage-inspired oil paintings by Irish artist Eleanor Mccaughey. Swimming, gossiping, parties, and a meet ‘n greet with JFK himself. The good old days.

Ahh, Monday morning in December. Yep, these mysterious swimming holes, deep in the American south, are looking pretty good right now… although … alligators. These oil paintings are the wonderful work of Alabama based artist Marisa Keris. I can feel the warmth and humidity all the way from my home in gator-free Canada.

Is it spring yet? Vancouver based painter Bobbie Burgers‘ gorgeous abstract-ish floral paintings will have you wishing for peony season sooner than later. I wrote about her a few months ago, and through a few weird Instagram messages we realized that we had actually gone to university together. Crazy! Obviously we had to talk about this in person, so I invited her onto the podcast {but had to peer pressure her into downloading Skype first}. Press play right up there under Bobbie at work, or you can subscribe on iTunes. First up, a few of my favorite blooms by Bobbie:

Gorgeous! Speaking of gorgeous, this is her insanely amazing new studio that we were talking about. Brace yourself for studio envy…

Yep. Ah-mazing. Don’t you kind of want to sit on that blue couch, drink coffee, and watch Bobbie paint giant flowers all day long? Sigh. And now, some of her latest work… the “drawings” she was talking about:

Ah, so rich, and loose, and beautiful. Now, if her studio in North Vancouver {or “Boburg”, according to the speed round} isn’t enough for you, this is where she works when she’s in my neck of the woods. You can see why she said it’s hard to concentrate here:

Isn’t it beautiful? I am so inviting myself over there this Christmas – I literally live about a 15 minute drive from here! And finally, one of my favorite things we talked about… the fear of big white canvases, and the little message she repeats to herself {and tacks to her studio wall}…

Love. Forget perfection, just go for it. Ahhh, so wise. Well there you have it – those were the flowers, and stripy shirts, and beautiful spaces that make up Bobbie’s world. Thanks so much to her for hanging out with me on Skype, to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and HUGE thanks to you for listening/looking! I’ll be back next week with another episode.

Other links: Bobbie’s gorgeous Instagram feed  /  Bobbie’s sculptures  /  Show at Bau-Xi Vancouver  /  Tiffanie Turner’s paper flower work