I don’t know about you, but I feel like we should all be slightly concerned for “Jeff”. I am completely in awe of Los Angeles based artist Mercedes Helnweinf. Her portfolio goes on and on, each piece as fantastic as the last. Oil pastel, black pencil, paper… such a simple recipe that produces the most amazingly creepy/pretty, beautifully drawn work. LOVE.

{Mercedes’ work is in a group show that opens tomorrow night, Saturday October 11th, 8-11pm, at Merry Karnowsky Gallery in Los Angeles.  ps. You must be on the guest list to get in, so please RSVP to RSVP@MKGALLERY.COM}

I wrote about London based artist Charming Baker in 2009, waaaaay back in the very first year of The Jealous Curator. I loved his work then, and I love it now! Holes drilled in wood and painted over, patterns and textures that make me want to wallpaper everything I own, and just a general fantasticness when it comes to subject matter and composition… I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love that bunny with a bad paw.

Aren’t these fantastic?! Such a unique take on landscape photography… but how did Montana based artist Katie Efstathiou get way up there to create her “Distancing” series? Well, that’s where it gets even more fantastic:

“The distance between a photographer and their camera is often only a couple of inches. It is that relationship that creates a thoughtful image. Imagine distancing the photographer 300 yards up and away from their camera. Careful composition turns into embracing abstraction. By attaching a camera to a remote control helicopter I have viewed the earth’s textured surface in a new way, but not without a challenge. I cannot see what the camera sees. I cannot be near my camera. I merely steer it over the landscape, hoping to capture details that would not otherwise be seen. I have allowed the viewer to feel this relationship by using halftone screen-printing. By distancing yourself from each print you can experience the abstraction the camera sees as it moves up. The further away you are from the print the more the image makes sense.”

Love! {Thanks to Alethea  for sending me a link to Katie’s work.}

Do these weird little creatures look familiar? I wrote about these ceramic “Oddities” by Los Angeles based artist Debra Broz a few years ago. So sweet. Soooo weird {which of course is my favorite combo!} Well, she’s at it again with this series…

Gah! “Rabbit as Fox” and “Lamb as Bear”… I absolutely LOVE these beautiful weirdos from Debra’s series, “Disguises”. Who knows what kind of ceramics she’ll manipulate next, but you better believe that I’ll be ready ‘n waiting!

When the beautiful, striking, black and white paintings of American artist Rebecca Adams showed up in my inbox this weekend, I knew I had Monday’s post! They almost look like photographs, don’t they? That “lighting”… so gorgeous! And once you read her artist bio, it will make even more sense:

Rebecca Adams has a BFA in photography. Her paintings focus on black and white portraiture referencing stylized and graphic photography and film. She transitioned into painting after school, utilizing her skills in photography and lighting to aid in her subject matter.

Well, yeah. Amazing.

I can almost taste the pretty iced roses of my childhood birthday cakes… après finger-swipe ‘n lick! This is the gorgeous work of UK based artist Simone Truong, and here are the thoughts behind it {which have absolutely nothing to do with icing}:

… [She] explores themes of flora and fauna in her work. A juxtaposition between the mundane and the beautiful coalesce to represent the transitionary states that occur in natural phenomena. By bleeding the present with the past and the inevitable future of the flora and fauna, a new, more permanent vision is realised and the temporariness is removed.

Lovely. And with that, I’ll wish you a happy weekend! … ps. you can find some of this work in Simone’s online shop.

Oh. My.

These are packaging illustrations by Romanian artist/illustrator Aitch. I wish that my milk and cookies looked like this… mind you, I’d probably never open them! Instead of holding my honey and flour, these gorgeous watercolors need to be hanging on my wall! That black paint is so rich, and the flat yet dimensional containers are beyond lovely. Sigh… ♥

{found on Pinterest via Chronicle Books}

Hair, fish, smoky cigarettes… these are the wonderfully weird collages of California based artist Eugenia Loli. Her portfolio is literally full of bizarre/beautiful compositions, which just so happens to be a favorite combo of mine! Too weird for you? No problem… she also makes slightly less strange, very sweet work too:

Love.

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.}

Oh summer, you’re so dreamy. Fading memories of summers past in the most gorgeous hues of blue! This is a new body of work by one of my favorite artists, Portland based Lisa Golightly. All of these paintings are part of a new show, titled quite appropriately Endless Summer, which opens this Friday {October 3rd, 7-9pm} in the city of endless summer, Los Angeles.

*The show has been organized by Goodeye Gallery, and will be hung at House of Honey {more details here}. You should totally go – not only will all of these amazing originals be there, so will Lisa!