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I don’t know if these illustrated travel diaries have me more excited to hop on the next plane to Europe, or to start drawing/documenting everything in my general vicinity! London based artist/illustrator Lizzy Stewart says “When I visit new places I always keep a sketchbook” … well thank goodness, because the results are lovely, and oh so inspiring. Happy Monday, everyone!

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!

Isn’t this the sweetest alphabet book!? And it’s even sweeter when you find out that Hungarian-born, Cyprus based artist/illustrator, Anna Kövecses, made this for her four year old daughter, Rebeka. Here is Anna’s description:

“This book is the result of a very personal project aiming to introduce a little girl to the 44 letters of the Hungarian alphabet. Illustrations were carefully designed so that every subject that appears in this book is something she’s currently very much interested in. So in one way this book is not just a tool but also a diary documenting a four-year-old little girl’s world in the summer of 2013 on an island in the Mediterranean Sea…”

What a wonderful mom… and an insanely talented artist! These were just a few of my favorite pages, and I have to say, the Canadian in me thought it was pretty awesome that ‘Yukon’ made an appearance! Anna self-published this lovely project through Blurb, so if you want to learn the Hungarian alphabet, or like me, you just really really want a copy of that campfire illustration, you can buy the book here.

Oh. Those pools! The diving boards! That shower! This is the gorgeous mixed media series, titled “Pool & Water”, by American artist Kristen Martincic. I loved all of these pieces the second I saw them, and my post would have been complete with this amazing, blue, perfectly composed work… but then I found these:

Gasp! Bathing suits. Bathing suits cut and crafted out of Japanese paper, with perfect monotype lines / patterns to finish them off… and there’s more! This is already the longest post I’ve EVER put together, so I’ll stop with these amazing suits, but please go to her site to see her bathing caps, and wardrobe series. Seriously, I could have shown her entire portfolio ♥ Sigh.

{Thank you so so much to Jenni Freidman for sending me a link to Kristen’s work!}

Sigh. So pretty. This is the big, bold, beautiful work of Irish artist Lola Donoghue. Her colors and compositions are stunning… and look how big they are! I love those over the couch shots – very helpful with scale, and in imagining them on my own walls! Shhh… listen, I can hear that last one calling my name. {All of these pieces are available here}

ps. All of these prints, that range between 36″x36″ – 30″x40″, are only $200. For real! Ok. I feel better that you know that. It’s such a DEAL, yes?!

{ CUT YOUR OWN PATTERN // DESERT DREAMER III // OUT OF HER LOOP // OUT OF HER LOOP V1 }

Bewildering Beauties is a new series by American artist/illustrator Marie Gardeski, Weird, right? Right. Everything Marie makes is weird.. and I love it all! I was curious where her bizarre compositions come from. Does she dream them? Do they just randomly pop into her head? This was her answer when I asked:

“I just surround myself with weird miscellaneous objects and images…  I’ll draw these things, not really trying to make the drawing look like the original, but infusing it with a new, more intense personality.  I’ll draw the same character again and again, each time creating a new beast or beauty.  Most of the time my ideas start with an element or character…  One thing suggests another and each drawing develops into a somewhat cryptic vignette. I rarely plan or sketch a piece before beginning.  This makes the marks more immediate, exciting and sometimes wobbly.  I think my favorite part of making art is being able to surprise myself with a mysteriously weird or funny image.”

Hm, what does she mean by “weird miscellaneous objects”, exactly? Let’s take a peek into her studio, shall we:

Ah. Yep. That explains it.

If it was possible to camp in a piece of art, this is where I would set up… in my little embroidered tent in the middle of a minimalist, one-thread, forest! I wrote about Salt Lake City based artist Stephanie K. Clark a little over a year ago. Well, imagine my delight when I came upon these houses in the forest, and in some cases, the forest in these houses… AND don’t even get me started on that sweet little flag-covered pup tent! Sigh. So. Much. Love.

ps. I did a little project with Stephanie that will be released in January of 2015 … can’t wait to show you!

Vancouver based photographer Angela Fama wants to take your picture, and then ask you…

… and then she’ll take your picture AGAIN! Yep, next spring, Angela is going to drive across Canada and the US in a used motorhome, turned mobile-photo-studio, so that she can ask that question of people from all walks of life. Her goal is to “unify individuals throughout Canada and the United States using compassion and a pop-up photo studio. “What Is Love” will reveal through comparative photography the strength and beauty of vulnerability that can be found within all adults, regardless of age, nationality, income, sexual orientation or gender.”

She had planned on doing this on her own {Canadians aren’t very good at asking for money… too polite!}, but her friends told her that she was crazy, and that she should at least try Kickstarter. So she has. Reluctantly. I’m glad she did though, because “What is Love” is going to be a beautiful project, as you can see from her past projects, Mirror Face, and How Are You. For How Are You, she set up a quiet/private temporary studio at a street festival in Vancouver. As people came in, she started by taking their “mug shot”, then she told them to close their eyes, and while their eyes were closed she asked, ‘How Are You… really?‘ which is when she captured the final shot:

Lovely, and so simply human. And so, next spring, she is going to travel through small towns and big cities, in her new/old motorhome asking people “What is Love to you?”. She’s not sure if the final faces will be happy or sad or a combination of the two, depending on what the word love conjures up for each person… if you’d like to help her get on the road, please visit her Kickstarter page {Details of the project & pledge rewards are listed there. Pledging closes on October 2nd.}

Bold, colorful, and well, perfect…. so so perfect. Look at those lines! I thought these were digital designs when I first saw them, but no… they’re paintings! Perfect paintings, and some of the most gorgeous palettes EVER, by Melbourne based artist Ester Stewart. Love.

And just so you can imagine what these beauties might look like on your wall {which is exactly what I’m doing at this very moment}…

Huge, snowcapped, breathtaking mountains… covered in perfect, bright, semi-transparent dots? YES! These large scale paintings {and two drawings on mylar near the top} are the work of Canadian artist David Pirrie. He grew up in British Columbia {as did I}, and these mountains were his playground. I’ve seen these rocky beauties in person… now I need to see these huge, gorgeous paintings in person! Love, love, love.

{Thanks to Jessica G. for sending me a link to David’s work}