GIVEAWAY WINNER: Congratulations to Melanie Boucher! You are the winner of both of these prints (I’ll be in touch to get your address). Thanks to everyone that entered, and don’t worry… there are A LOT more giveaways coming up in the next few weeks!

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Confession: When it’s 1am and I don’t have a post for the next day, Saatchi Art is where I go every single time {I have a major weakness for their “portraits” section}. Anywho, I’ve written about a lot of their artists over the past few years and so last week they very sweetly, and totally unnecessarily, gave me a gift card to buy whatever I wanted from their gorgeous site. Um, okay! But wait, I wanted to make sure I shared the love, so here’s what I decided to do… instead of buying one original, I chose two beautiful prints… a set of two, in fact. Do you see where this is going? Yep, I’m going to hang these beauties on my living room wall, and I’m going to give the matching set to one of you! YAY! After hours of deliberation {literally}, this is what I chose:

Sigh. Gorgeous. Two prints by American painter Erin Fitzpatrick. I wrote about her last April and so many of you went crazy for this fabulous portrait, titled “Lane”, so I bought it… twice! It’s 18″x24″, but there was still money left and I felt like this fabulous lady needed a 14″x14″ companion, so I added this leaf study, also from Erin’s portfolio {handy tool on Saatchi to give a sense of scale, while showing us exactly how they’ll look in our perfect/clean living rooms!}. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this little duo… I love them so, so much! If you love them too, and want a chance to win these two prints {valued at over $200}, leave a comment below and I’ll draw one name on Friday November 21st at noon PST. Good luck! {and thank you so much, Saatchi – that was realllllly fun!}

Ok, this was hard. I love absolutely everything that I’ve got stocked in my online gallery, but I can’t put everything in the gift guide… it might break the internet! There are no warm woolen mittens or whiskers on kittens, but these are a few of my favorite things {cue Julie Andrews}. Huge abstract prints, delicate watercolors, and vintage cars for your walls… books, planters, and trays for your studio! Happy holiday shopping – I hope you find something you love:

{Walls: 1. Lola Donoghue, 30″x40″, $200 // 2. Lisa Golightly, both 11″x11″, $35 // 3. Nathalie Cusson, 22″x18″, $105  // 4. Kelly Ventura, both 11″x14″, $42  // 5. Kiana Mosley, 11″x14″, $65  or  18″x24″, $125}

{Studio: 1. Traci Yau, 2″ concrete diamonds, $9 // 2. Alicia Zwicewicz, cat planter, $50  // 3. Sea & Asters, 2.5″ wood planter, $25 // 4. Stacy Altiery, 6″x6″ gold foil tray, $40  // 5. Creative Block, $25 & Collage, $25 }

Oh. My. I love these… the palettes, the vintage-ness, the scale… I love it all! This is the work of Canadian designer/illustrator Nathalie Cusson. Gorgeous vintage cars and, well, a skimobile? Yes! I have to admit, although I’m neither a hipster nor a corduroy-clad professor, I do have a thing for old Volvos so that one might be my pick… although I’m pretty sure the pink Citroën wants to come home with me too. Or the Fiat. Yes. I need that pretty blue Fiat.

{Each 22″x18″ print is a limited edition of 10, and they’re only $105! Available here.}

It’s not always easy to find affordable art that you love… but it is possible, I promise! I have all sorts of stuff in my house – a few amazing originals, but honestly, lots and lots of prints from lots and lots of my favorite artists. There is something so energizing about walking into a room and seeing a piece you love hanging on the wall… and when it’s affordable, well, even better! I’ve made a conscious effort to have pieces in my online gallery, GalleryONE, that won’t break the bank. Here are just a few that range from $20 to $200. I hope you find something you like…

1. Kathleen Turner $25  2. Kathleen Turner $20  3. Lisa Golightly $22  4. Becky Kemp $22  5. Becky Kemp $22  6. Wilder California $30

1. Shannon Rankin $45  2. Shannon Rankin $45  3. Kelly Ventura $42  4. Alicia Zwicewicz $50  5. Kiana Mosley $65

1. Print Club Boston $100  2. Print Club Boston $100  3. Jaime Rovenstine $100  4. Jaime Rovenstine $150  5. Lola Donoghue $200  6. Lola Donoghue $200  7. Lola Donoghue $200

Tah-dah! And there are many, many more pieces for you to choose from in the gallery. Pop over and take a peek {and if there is an artist you think I absolutely have to show at GalleryONE, please let me know!}

Oh. I looooove the work of Taiwanese artist/illustrator Hsiao-Ron Cheng. I’ve written about her a couple of times over the years, so when I got the chance to work with her on an exclusive print I jumped at it! I invited her to be part of The Jealous Curator Collection at Sebastian Foster, and luckily, she said yes! This gorgeous piece is the result. I don’t know what I love most… the dreamy palette, those braids, that foresty shirt, those twinkly eyes?! This lovely print has been added to my collection, along with previous pieces I’ve shown by Casey Roberts and Rebecca Chaperon.

{ps. Only 50 of these prints have been made! They are 11″x14″ and $40… available here}

I suddenly have a major craving for bubblegum. This is the gorgeous abstract work of Melbourne based artist Belinda Marshall. All of her paintings are such cheerful explosions of color, and kind of make me feel like I’m in a candy shop… mmmm, cotton candy, lemon drops, and gum balls, oh my!

{Several of the originals, and prints in various sizes, are available here.}

CONGRATULATIONS … Amanda Lipke! Thank you to everyone that entered, and thank you so much to Tracy {who I had the pleasure of meeting at Emily Carr’s art market last night} for donating these fantastic prints!

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Canadian artist Tracy Jager is an alumni of Vancouver’s Emily Carr University of Art + Design… and this weekend just happens to be their “Comeback” Alumni event! There will be all sorts of things going on down there, including an art market, and you guessed it – Tracy is one of the featured artists! {I’ll also be there on Friday night – 26th from 7-9pm – to speak on a panel that will kick off the weekend!}. Anyway, in order to celebrate all of this alumni goodness, Tracy has graciously donated these two prints for a give-away! YAY! Please leave a comment below and I’ll draw one name {yep, you win both 10″x12″ prints!} on Saturday morning at 9am. Actually, let’s make that 10am just incase “The Talkback” keeps me out past my bedtime!

Sigh. I wish this magical place was real. Pink water, cotton candy skies, icebergs and palm trees living in rosy harmony with a big floating black diamond… hm, I think I had this dream once? It is titled quite appropriately, A Place Beyond Our World, and is a gorgeous new piece by Vancouver based painter Rebecca Chaperon. It is a limited edition, signed print that can be found at Sebastian Foster as part of “The Jealous Curator” collection! {Remember the Casey Roberts print I wrote about awhile back? Well, over the past few months I’ve been working with several artists from all over the world to create new, affordable pieces, exclusively for Austin based gallery Sebastian Foster. Stay tuned as more work will be released in the next few months!}. This lovely piece by Rebecca has been printed as an 8″x10″ in an edition of 66, and brace yourself… it’s only $25. See? I really meant it when I said affordable!

Now this was fun! Artist/designer Stacy Altiery makes lovely prints, specializing in gold foil. She reached out and asked if I’d like to collaborate… she would do the typesetting design and production – I would come up with the words and paper colors… UM, ok!!! The phrases {and quote} I chose are all things that seem to come up over and over again when I talk to people about my book, CREATIVE BLOCK. I thought it would be fun to take a few of these thoughts and turn them into gold {on your choice of white, pink, mint or charcoal no less!}. Stacy and I decided to make them into lucite trays so that you can actually use these gems in your studio! The next time you’re in there, reaching for a pin or a bead or a bit of paper you’ll get a little creative reminder, like…

HA! This is the one I got for my studio… ah yes, there’s just something about seeing Asshole typeset in gold script on a pretty pink background! LOVE.

{All of them are available right here – and Stacy, thank you for doing this with me! I love what you did for each and every one of them.}

Sigh… gorgeous, layered, stitched-together, colorful cut-vellum by American artist Shannon Rankin. I’ve written about her large-scale paper installations before {and she’s one of the artists in my book}, so when she opened a maker studio on GREAT.LY I just knew I had to have these pieces in GALLERYONE! All of these delicate, papery inkblot-like prints are part of my Bold & Bright collection because, well, they’re bold & bright! I love this body of work sooooo much… so much in fact that I have an original framed and hanging on a gallery wall in my house:

Ahh, so dreamy! Happy weekend everyone, and Happy Fourth of July to my American friends!