I literally don’t even know where to begin… well, at the beginning I guess! The first of eight Girl Crush workshop + tea parties happened this past Saturday in San Francisco, at the lovely studio of artist/illustrator Lisa Congdon. She welcomed 14 of us {12 attendees, me, and my amazing intern Taylor} into her creative, inspiring, art-filled studio for the entire day:

She shared her story {from 1st grade teacher, to full time artist… ok, there were a few other stops along the way!}, and the behind-the-scenes of her process. So much beautiful work in one place! The other thing there was an abundance of {besides neon pink}… lovely, warm, inspiring, open women. Really, their reasons for attending the workshop were amazing, and their willingness to share their experiences truly blew me away. We spent  the morning talking inspiration, artist blocks, and the mean things we might like to say to our inner art critic {which I won’t repeat here!} {*”Amazing Things Will Happen” ~ hand lettering by Mary Kate McDevitt}

… and then of course there was the tea party! The food was amazing, and did not stop coming! {Thanks so much to Batter Bakery, Square Meals, and Coffee Bar …mmmmm!}

Of course after five or six chocolate ganache cookies, what better activity than a gallery walk! Lisa had arranged to take us to three galleries around the Mission. We popped into Guerrero Gallery, Southern Exposure, and Gallery Hijinks:

Gallery Hijinks is the gallery that reps Lisa’s work in San Francisco. Jillian, {on the right} the owner/director was amazing! She gave us the low-down on how she got started {just fueling the whole ‘insanely inspiring day’ theme}, and then back to the studio for a few more cookies, and a raffle {Lisa gave away two of her Collection-A-Day books, and two large panels… not to mention a zillion things in the gift bags! See, is it any surprise that I have a girl crush on her?}

Thank you so much to everyone that came… I am so honored that you trusted me, and I’m so thrilled with the lovely, inspiring day we had. It was a dream come true for me! And of course, thank you to Lisa for inviting us into her creative space – we loved every single minute of it! xo

*Most of the photos were taken by Taylor, my heaven-sent intern! Also thanks to Maggie, and Tiffanie who took a few of the shots as well.

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Ok, I’m not usually a ‘testimonials’ kind o’ girl, but I just had to share some of these email snippets from the women who attended! {If you weren’t at this one, I hope you can make it to one of the other 7 cities – there’s a list of cities & dates in the right side bar}

The experience on Saturday was such an amazing one and to think I was so super nervous about the whole thing. Everyone was so interesting and beautiful and I wish I had miniature versions of all of you to keep in my pocket. On my drive home, I thought a lot about the things that were talked about and I felt a shift in my thinking and just now writing about it, I’m getting teary eyed because Saturday was exactly what I needed to get me over the rather significant hump of ennui that I was using as an excuse for not moving forward with my creative work. ~ Catie

I had such a blast yesterday.  What a great group of inspiring women!  Thanks everyone for being so supportive and encouraging. ~ Kelli

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your space.  I don’t know if it’s the light, or the nooks and crannies of art and collections, or if it’s all the creativity that you’ve already oozed all over the place, but that room does make one feel like all kinds of amazing things can come spiraling out of one’s head at any time. And to all of you, thank you for being so gosh darned neat-o yourselves. Surrounded by so many interesting stories and pursuits, it would have been easy (for me) to feel overwhelmed and somehow lesser.  Instead, you all left me feeling like I was riding a rocket of supersonic awesome. ~ Maggie

A day later and I am still beaming about yesterday. What a fantastic time being with like-minded women and having the chance to hear Danielle and Lisa’s stories, and ask all those questions. I came home a changed person.~ Tiffanie

I just landed in San Francisco! Yep, tomorrow is the very first Girl Crush workshop + tea party, and it’s happening at Lisa Congdon’s lovely studio in the Mission. The fancy sandwiches & stacks of sweets are almost ready, the gift bags will be stuffed this afternoon, the neighborhood galleries are waiting for us to pop by, and the inspiration/artist block bashing starts tomorrow at 9am! I’ll report back with photos and details next week… have a lovely weekend! xo

{1.Hello Halo 2. Victoria Smith ~ Sunday in the City series 3. CJ Prints 4. Victoria Smith ~ Sunday in the City series 5. Ork Posters

Oh my! Fairy dust, fireflies, and maybe just a little bit of magic. There is something almost celestial about this lovely found image series, titled Dare alla Luce by Canadian artist/photographer Amy Friend. Here’s how, and why, she did them:

“Through small deliberate interventions, I altered these vintage images, allowing light to pass through them. (After all, photographs are made possible with light.) In a literal and somewhat playful manner, I aimed to give the photographs back to the light, hence the title of the series, Daré alla Lucé, an Italian phrase used to describe the moment of birth.”

{via curate1k}

Icebergs? Pastel-hued boulders? A land made entirely of forgotten bits of chalk? Maybe!

Toronto based photographer Evonne Bellefleur envisioned these places, and asked a very talented stylist, Caitlin Doherty, to build these lovely blocks… or bergs or rocks or chalks… for her. The result is a photographic series of very pretty, airy, geometric landscapes that I desperately want to frame and hang on my wall… and arrange on my end table too!

{The prints of this work range in size from 10″x6″ to 30″x22″ –  oooh, I want a big one!}

Ok, I realize that it’s only February, but this series, titled EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL by UK based artist Hayley Warnham, has me counting down the days til summer! I want to jump in that bright blue pool, throw on my insanely yellow shades, and eat what I can only assume to be a strawberry lemonade popsicle. YES!!! I’m going to close my eyes and pretend that I’m that lady in the blue dress… here’s to a weekend full of that!

{via curate 1k}

When I first announced the Girl Crush Workshops + Tea Parties in January, I did not have LA in the schedule… but then a WHOLE bunch of you emailed, and tweeted, and left messages on my facebook page… apparently you really like art, and you really like tiny little cakes! So, all of that to say, I listened. And look who I got!!!

I’ve had a girl crush on LA based photographer Stephanie Vovas from the first moment I saw her work. She’s a very successful photographer who specializes in, well, vintage-looking sex-kitten kind of shots… um, is it wrong that I want her styling team to make me over so that I can pretend to be one of these sassy vixens? Just for one day? Please!!! Ok, look at these stunning images, and I guarantee you’ll have a girl crush too:

Love. So much love {…you might recognize some of her subjects –  Robin Tunney, Gillian Jacobs, and Diora Baird to name a few!} Anywho, I’m knee deep into a girl crush over here, and I hope you are too because, on May 26th Stephanie and I will be hosting a Girl Crush Workshop + Tea Party at Edgar Varela Gallery :

What a great space, right!? We’ll spend the morning talking artist blocks/inspirations, followed by an amazing catered lunch. But wait, there’s more! After lunch, Edgar Varela himself, will take us on a gallery tour of the neighborhood, giving us the inside scoop on the latest shows in downtown LA. It’s going to be fabulous… wait, is that a Beverly Hills word, or can I use that in this post?

Sign up here if you’re interested!

I’m not sure where Madrid based photographer Fayna Attasara took these dreamy/slightly eery photographs, but I want to go to there.

{I actually thought these were paintings on first glance… I have a feeling that Leah Giberson might realllllly like them!}

Trees, wrapped in white and perfectly aligned with the horizon… hence the title of this beautiful work by Zander Olsen, Tree Line.

“This is an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest. These works, carried out in Surrey, Hampshire, and Wales, involve site specific interventions in the landscape, ‘wrapping’ trees with white material to construct a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon according to the camera’s viewpoint.”

Sigh. That first one kills me.

{via Booooooom}

Giant teacups. Girls defying gravity. Bunny masks in the woods. Um, yes, I love this.

Let’s Play Pretend is the title of this Alice in Wonderland inspired photographic series, by Canadian artist Lissy Laricchia. They are soft and beautiful, and slightly disturbing… I think Mr. Carroll would be proud.

Ok, I thought these were illustrations, or prints of some kind… but they are, in fact, sculptures! Yes… beautiful, light-infused, acrylic sculptures! Vancouver born, New York based Phillip Low is the artist/designer behind these lovely, man-made gems. I would love to see them in person, preferably not in a gallery setting, because I’d really like to pick one up and look at it from every angle {… and fyi, galleries don’t usually like that very much!}

{photos taken by Uday Kak, for Maryam Nassir Zadeh}