Oh, so pretty… and oddly familiar. These photographs are the work of Brighton based artist Cassia Beck, but each one also feels like it could be an image from my own memory… sorting buttons with my grandmother, collecting pinecones with my mom, and I’m almost certain that my sister and I had that pink rose wallpaper in our room when were little. Now, if I could just get my hands on those tights, and a some of those shoes, I’d be all set!

Lovely old polaroids, right? No. They are, in fact, “the evolution of polaroid”. San Francisco based photographer Lisa Wiseman used her iPhone to capture all of these vintage-not-really-vintage-at-all images… and I love them! So much! I’ll let Lisa explain:

Because the iPhone has become a ubiquitous accessory, on-the-go picture taking is now the norm. People use their iPhones to take spontaneous photos in the same carefree way that cheap polaroid film has been used inthe past. In concept and ideology the iPhone mimics polaroid, however it pushes the aesthetic forward by utilizing a non-film (but technologically average) medium. Just like traditional polaroids had a specific size and unique look, iPhone photos, both raw and processed with iPhone apps, are unmistakable because the technology limits them to a fixed size and resolution and imbues them with a unique chromatic aberration that says iPhone and nothing else. I love the new polaroid.

Me too Lisa, me too.

{Thanks to Victoria for telling me about Lisa’s work.}

I wrote about Fine Line, an insanely beautiful art magazine, when the first issue came out last year. They are now on Issue 4, and it, of course, is as lovely as ever. Here’s the latest news though… they are now selling limited edition prints by some of the artists that they’ve featured. The work is gorgeous {a few pieces are shown above}, and very affordable {as in $20 affordable!}… what a perfect combination! Pick yourself up a subscription, and a print or two from the Fine Line Etsy shop.

{Images above: 1. Issue 4 cover ~ art by Nina Nolte  2. Masako Miki  3. Greg Eason  4. Hollie Chastain}

Beautiful, ghostly, illuminated shapes that hover weightlessly over large scale c-prints… oh yes, I’m jealous. Canadian artist Claire Falkenberg applies highly mineralized oil paint to her photographs of dark, abandoned, over-grown, trash-filled places, and transforms them into an ethereal experience! I would love to see this huge work in person… the last image is titled Thorns, and is 59″ x 58″. Stunning!

{Thank you so much to Tiffany for sending me a link to Claire’s work.}

Reconstruction is a lovely, yet haunting, series about the construction and reconstruction of memories through “photographic suggestion”. I was trying to figure out how American artist Naomi Vanderkindren created these mixed media pieces, and I can safely say, this would not have been my first guess:

“Anything that makes a shadow can form an image in the darkroom, and I create my negatives using multiple layers of collage, pencil drawings, and photographs printed on typing paper. I titled these “photogenic drawings” after the early inventor Talbot’s description of his first experiments using the shadows of objects to make images.”

Nope… I never would figured that out on my own. Ever.

Step one: Take a gorgeous photograph of a gorgeous girl.

Step two: Paint on it.

Yep, that’s what American photographer Shae Acopian Detar did, and the results are killing me! Love, love, love!

{via Design for Mankind}

I have a crush. Well, I have quite a few actually… so many, in fact, that I’ve turned them into a new series of guest posts, that start today, on the always lovely sfgirlbybay. The series is called girl crush. Can you guess why? Yep, the posts will feature amazing women artists that I have huge art crushes on! Here’s why I chose to do this…

When I was in university, I minored in Art History. As a young female artist, I wanted to know why there weren’t more women in my textbooks… surely they existed?! And it wasn’t just the Renaissance and Rococo periods that were lacking – I have a Pop Art book filled with artists that I love, but there is not one woman in it. Doesn’t that seem kinda crazy? Yes, yes it does. Luckily, contemporary art seems to be balancing things out a little more… I know that more than half of my posts feature women. Granted, I’m jealous of work regardless of the artist’s gender, but as a woman artist myself, I absolutely love to see, and celebrate, the successes of inspiring, crush-worthy “girls”… hence the catchy title of this series! Sigh… I have so many crushes, on so many artists, that these posts just might go on forever! So, now that I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve, you can tell me… who do you ♥?

{textbook worthy images by: 1. Tina Berning 2. Martha Rich 3. Maia Flore 4. Laura McKellar 5. Beth Hoeckle 6. Margaret Kilgallen ♥♥♥}

During the summer of 2009 Catherine Soto was without her camera… what to do, what to do? The obvious choice, of course, was to spend the summer chopping up her photos from 2005 – 2007! These lovely geometric collages are the result… hm, kinda makes me want to lose my camera as soon as possible.

{via Design for Mankind}

I just got back from a few days of camping, and I’m thinking that instead of a tent, I should have stayed in one of these… except, of course, that they don’t actually exist. How did Swiss architect/artist Philipp Schaerer create this work? Well, “They are not a photograph; instead, they were newly designed and constructed from scratch by means of image synthesis and digital image editing.” Yeah, I still have no idea how you’d go about doing that. I do, however, know that I love them… and they all look more comfortable than a tent!

Ok, I am seriously considering buying a plane ticket to LA for the sole purpose of getting my picture taken by the amazingly talented Stephanie Vovas… granted, I’m pretty sure that I couldn’t pull off the vintage vixen look, but I sure would try my hardest {pout, hair tossel, repeat…} Her entire portfolio is filled with fabulous shot after fabulous shot, and if you’re in LA, or have already bought your plane ticket, she’ll be having a solo show this November at Edgar Varela Fine Arts.