Lovely black and white photographs of mundane objects… NOPE! Large-scale, mixed media DRAWINGS of mundane objects! What?! This is the pencil & acrylic work of Spanish artist Rómulo Celdrán. Some of these pieces are up to 69″ wide… like those pencil shavings. Oh, those pencil shavings. I cannot even imagine being able to draw like that. Love.

I was in the girl scouts when I was a kid. I made A LOT of these “Ojos de Dios” or “God’s Eye” pieces … well, these just put all of them to shame! North Carolina based artist Jay Mohler has been weaving since the 1960’s. Here, in his own words, is a small snippet of Jay’s story:

“I starting making Ojos de Dios in my hippie days, back in the late 60’s, after seeing Ojos sent as part of an exhibit sent by the Dalai Lama of Tibet. These ojos from Tibet were almost exactly the same as ojos I’d seen earlier made by Hucholes in Mexico. Since then I’ve evolved my own work to 12-sided designs that I believe encompass patterns of many beliefs around the world.”

Oh, they make me want to find some sticks, grab some yarn, and put my girl guide sash back on! If you want to try making one, Jay not only sells his work, but he also sells DIY kits for just under $30. Fun!

{via Honestly WTF}

I got chills when I saw this installation, titled “La chambre de Marie” {Marie’s Bedroom}, by Canadian artist Charline Giffard. Her site is in French, but without even reading her artist statement I knew immediately that this work had to be about her grandmother… because everything in this room reminded me exactly of my grandmother, Blanche {who also lived in Quebec!}.  I miss her, and these lovely vignettes brought so many memories rushing back. I can almost smell her powdery perfume on those pink dresses.

Oh. My. This is the gorgeous, dreamy, feminine, wonderfully weird work of Boston based self-portrait photographer, Alicia Savage. All of these images are from her series, titled Destinations:

“Destinations” is an on-going series of self-portraits inspired by the decision to explore on ones own. Over the past few years I have often felt compelled to travel alone, trusting in the direction of my curiosities and finding inspiration in the experiences that follow.

Beautiful. And now I want to travel alone. With really pretty dresses.

{via Hi-Fructose Magazine}

Simple. Elegant. This is the collage work of Belgium based artist Katrien De Blauwer. Vintage paper and a few perfectly sliced images that look a lot like old film stills… now I want to see all of these movies. If only they existed.

Today I’m talking to Vincent Serritella, a very talented, highly trained {and generous} artist who, somewhere along the way, also taught himself to be an animation effects specialist … which landed him an amazing job at PIXAR! What? Yep. We’re chatting about free drawings, a bizarre artsy family tree connection, and the inside scoop about working on PIXAR’S latest film, Inside Out! You can listen right up there, or you can subscribe on iTunes. Here is what we talked about, in the order that we talked about it. First of all, a few images from his ‘365 FREE DRAWINGS project’… which is how I scored that awesome blow-pop above!

Obviously this is just a fraction of the 365 drawings he gave away, but these are a few of my favorites. Here is the final, self-published, kickstarter-funded book! If you want one, you can order them here, through the Children’s Creativity Museum … to which Vincent has donated 100% of the proceeds. For real. Generous on top of generous!

Alright, now on to his day job. Inside Out... have you seen this yet? It’s the latest film from PIXAR and it’s so good! Vincent is an “Effects Technical Director”, and he worked on this {very exciting to see his name go by in the credits!}. Building magically appearing trestles and cables for the “train of thought”, and shooting fire out of the top of Anger’s head… that sounds like a pretty fabulous day job to me!

Ha! Love that angry little guy! And finally, a very weird discovery that Vincent’s mom made… he is related to a 17th century Baroque painter from Spain, named Pedro Nunez de Villavicencio. Hm. Notice anything similar about their paintings:

What?! So insane! Vincent painted that self portrait years before he found out about this artsy connection to the past. Look at the pose?! And the color palette!? So weird. And amazing. And a bit spooky. Alright, and with that bit of craziness, I’ll say thanks to Vincent {who totally sounds like Mark Ruffalo, no?}, to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode, and to you for looking ‘n listening! So excited for next Saturday… my friend Lisa Congdon will be on the podcast!

Are you seeing double too, or am I just dizzy from this fantastic, vintage, very sassy work! Rich gouache, curvy/confident gals, and shiny high heels as far as the eye can see! This is the vintage inspired mixed media work of Vancouver based artist Ryan Heshka. My friend Martha Rich introduced us over email today… and before I even wrote him back I had this post ready to roll! Instant love… x2.

Bizarre, dream-like scenes complete with found images, little sketches, and a lovely/quiet palette. This is the mixed media collage work of LA based artist, illustrator, and designer Tracy Hung. I love each of these pieces on their own, but when you see them all come together, as part of this album cover design that she was commissioned to do for Satoshi Gogo, an acoustic guitarist based in Nara, Japan… well, it’s a dreamy “bedtime story” waiting to happen:

Sigh. The collage artist and graphic designer in me are totally smitten.

Tiger plates, pirate bowls, and what might possibly be the best cat urn in the entire world. This is the whimsicle work of Canadian ceramicist Mariko Paterson. I love this description, that I found on her site, of her studio and her process:

“So, this is the thing. We are a little operation and my wiener dogs,
as much as I would like for them to help in the studio…well, they are useless.

Each piece is handmade either on the wheel or by sheer force of my hands.
They are then decorated to death and fired up to four, count ’em, four times.
I wish I could work faster, but alas, I am a slow, but steady little machine.”

Love! I have two wiener dogs too… also useless {but cute}. Some of her work is available in her shop, or you can follow her on Instagram to see her latest pieces. ps. Thanks to Bella for sending me a link to Mariko’s work!

Aaaand exhale. I wish I could wander around in the garden that is LA based painter Jill Sykes‘ portfolio. Dreamy colors, simple compositions, and large-scale leafy goodness {up to 60″x37″ in some of these cases}. I’ve been invited to curate a show in LA this September, and I’ve included a few of Jill’s pieces… I’m counting down the days ’til I can see them in person!