Dots and stripes and wonky shapes! Oh, boy. I really really love these ceramic bottles – they sort of look like strange drawings, brought to life! Éric Hibelot & Jean-Marc Fondimare are French ceramic designers that together are, l’atelier des garçons… their work is so much fun, and what I wouldn’t give to spend an afternoon surrounded by all of these pieces in their gorgeous, light-filled shop/studio, a few hours south of Paris in the French countryside. Sigh…

♥

* Well, that’s done… ?! It took about 30 minutes for Holly to reach her goal! You guys are amazing! xo

Yes. You read that correctly! Put in your bid for a custom still life painting of one of YOUR beloved objects! Toronto based Holly Farrell is not only an insanely talented painter, she’s also an amazingly kind person. Here’s the deal, and the reason she decided to do this auction, in Holly’s words:

“This is for a little ballet dancer named Megan: She is 10 years old, and from Orillia, ON. My sister has known her since she was a baby, and is very close with the family – so close in fact, that due to Megan’s mother being ill, my sister Lorie has been asked to accompany Megan to Poland for a dance competition. Megan must be an amazing dancer as she has been asked to compete with two teams! Lorie has been making casseroles and selling them to friends and family to raise the much needed $6000 for the trip – I am hoping you will help me reach their goal – 100% of the winning bid will go towards Megan’s trip.”

Isn’t that the sweetest thing? So, if you have a pair of ballet slippers (how appropriate would that be!?), or your childhood skates, or a favorite piece of pottery that belonged to your grandmother, etc etc… and you’d like Holly to paint it (approx 16″x12″, valued at $2600) then just email Holly at hfarrell@hollyfarrell.com, and make your bid! Bidding starts at $1 and closes on September 1.

Oh. I love these so much! They are from a little book, titled “Accessories”, by Paris based interior designer, turned illustrator, turned full time fine artist Philippe Weisbecker. These gorgeous pages are a little bit scrapbook, and a little bit sketchbook – found vintage illustrations snipped, cut, glued, and then paired beautifully with Philippe’s own drawings. Oh boy, I’m gonna need a trip to the thrift shop, a pair of scissors and a very sharp pencil… and maybe a big ball of pink yarn, just for good measure.

{found on sfgirlbybay, and this lovely book can be found here}

Fun. Weird. Beautiful.

“Each of these portraits is the result of physically weaving together two photographic prints of the same sitter.” LOVE! This is the work of Brooklyn based photographer David Samuel Stern, and if you didn’t pick up on my subtlety, I LOVE it all! And now I’m a tiny bit dizzy.

{thanks to Jeanne Heifetz for the link to these pieces!}

This work by Amsterdam based artist Erik Mattijssen makes me want to set up the weirdest collection of things I can find, and get to work on my first ever still life painting! So many  stunning colors, so many bizarre bits ‘n pieces. I love all of these paintings, but it’s those grey, wooden table tops covered in plants & linens that are killing me. Fantastic!

{discovered via Artsy Forager}

These haunting, sort of sad, portraits feel like they should be posted on a Monday morning on a dreary day at the end of January, but here we are on a sunny Friday in the middle of August. They might be quiet / sombre but the mixed media work {acrylic and marker on canvas} of Paris based artist Antoine Cordet makes me very, very happy. So much emotion, so beautifully executed… and perhaps an appropriate way to end a week filled with far too many sad headlines.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone xo

{found on Saatchi Art}

Oh, I love these paintings by Belgian painter Stefan Peters. I loved them immediately, but it took me a second to figure out why… it’s the shadows! These gorgeous, muted landscapes almost look like circular shadow boxes, with the trees and clouds sitting closer to us than the sky/rest of the forest. So beautiful… and not tiny! These circular canvases range in size from 20″ to  44″ in diameter. Yes. I’m going to need one. Or eight.

Found images stenciled over with spray paint, and titled quite appropriately, Clown Face. This is the hilarious, kinda creepy, yet still gorgeous work of London based artist Steven Quinn. And, if you happen to be in London, keep an eye out for clown-covered walls! Yep, these vintage beauties are a series of paste-ups, that now grace the walls of Brick Lane. LOVE!

And the winner is…. KIRSTEN MORAN! Congratulations Kirsten! I’ll be in touch later today to get your mailing address.

Thanks to everyone that entered. It’s a really interesting/helpful read so if you’re looking for an new addition to your art library, I’d suggest buying a copy (it’s only $16.95)

Amen! Very smart words, from a very smart book, written by a very smart lady. Yes, as of today, Art Inc., by San Francisco based artist/illustrator Lisa Congdon hits shelves! You guys… it’s so good! Basically it’s all about how to turn your art practice into a business. Lisa did it. Lots of other artists have done it. You can too. It’s a really easy read, with very helpful advice – and what I love so much is that it makes you realize that this “dream” is not ridiculous. At all. Lisa, and the full time studio artists interviewed in the book, break it down in chapters like “Promoting Your Work”, “Selling Your Art”, and “Illustration & Licensing”. They give real world advice/examples of how you can turn your “dream” into reality. And then of course, once you’re a raging success, you’ll need this chapter:

YES! So good, right? Oh, and speaking of good, this book even has it’s own trailer {you gotta love that!} featuring illustrations from the book, by Karolin Schnoor… have a look right here.

{Art, Inc is now available anywhere that books are sold, but if you’d like to buy it online, please visit Chronicle Books or Powell’s Books… you can also enter MY GIVE AWAY! [another one so soon? yep!] I’ve got one copy for me to read cover to cover, and one copy to give away, so leave a comment below and I’ll draw one name on Thursday August 14th at 8am PST… good luck!}

I wrote about Canadian, now Bay area based, artist Crystal Liu just over four years ago. We just recently reconnected through email, and boy am I happy that we did because I got a peek at these beauties {not even titled yet, nor on her site… lucky us!}. Beautifully drawn flowers, sitting on inky backgrounds, with what I like to imagine are magical gold seedpods falling from the sky. Sigh. I could look at them for hours.