Ah yes, I do love finding beautifully painted, perfectly hued {those purples & pinks!}, everyday subject matter … and who wouldn’t want to come across a giant, smoking cowboy? … oh look, the gorgeous oil on panel work of American painter Paul Rouphail! Everything I was looking for.

ps. If you’re in San Francisco, pop by Little Paper Planes tonight from 7~9pm for a little book party. Wine, sweet treats, a few unblocking projects, and a chance to meet some of the artists from the book. Hope to see you there!

What?! Have you seen these? You might have… this work has been all over the interweb lately, and rightly so! What appear to be plaster busts are actually bendable/stretchable sculptures made of tens of thousands of sheets of paper… sort of like giant paper slinkies… if slinkies were shaped like ‘David’!

Chinese artist Li Hongbo is the man behind this work. Wondering how he does this? Well, here he is in action:

Ah. Mazing!!!

If you are in New York before March 22, you can see these works in person at Klein Sun Gallery, 525 West 22nd St, New York, NY.

{via Colossal, Booooooom, and Don’t Panic Magazine}

Strange. Delicate. Creepy. Lovely. Yep, that covers it! I absolutely love these collages on paper by Toronto based artist David Woodward. His color palettes are gorgeous, the compositions are fantastic, and his images choices are the perfect combination of, well, strange, delicate, creepy and lovely.

Yes. I really really want to dangle myself from one of those pretty french balconies… from the safety of the floor! Leandro Erlich is an amazing installation artist from Argentina. I may have to post about him again next week because there is just so much insanely amazing stuff in his portfolio… but for today, let’s concentrate on this beauty, shall we? This work, titled Bâtiment, is not new {2004 I believe} but I’m still in complete awe. This facade was placed on the floor {at a group show in Paris}, with a huge mirror positioned above it at a 45 degree angle resulting in this gorgeous/death defying illusion! That’s right kids, don’t try this at home… unless you have a fake facade and a great big mirror.

Happy weekend : )

Ceramics, wood, brass, and bits of stained glass. Ok, that’s it… I am officially in love with these “Aura Chimes” by Dylan Davis and Jean Lee of Seattle based Ladies and Gentlemen Studio. Here’s a little something from Dylan and Jean about these gorgeous, hanging, tinkling works of art:

The Aura Chimes series is a special edition collaboration exploring sound and kinetics. Metal, wood, and leather components by L&G are combined with handmade ceramic pieces by Seattle artist Nicholas Nyland to create miniature functional sculptures. (Each chime is a unique creation with the ceramic parts varying slightly in size and color.)

I want alllllllll of them! Oh, well, would you look at that… a link to their online shop!

{via Anthology Magazine}

Sigh… I don’t know very much about this tranquil installation by New York based artist Jacob Hashimoto, but I do know that I want to go to there. Life has been crazy lately, and I think that a quiet afternoon with a few hundred sailboats suspended from the ceiling might be exactly what I {ie everyone everywhere} needs to slow things down a little. Lovely. And in action, it’s even more lovely. Watch this!

*I hear enya playing in my head {aaaand now so do you!}

I wrote about the lovely, vintage-looking work of American painter Jessica Brilli a couple of years ago. It was all old-school cameras and classic typewriters in that post, today however… it’s about clocks. And radios. And clock-radios. Love, love, love! {And oh, her palettes… I cannot get over her palettes!}

{Check out her upcoming show, Jessica Brilli: “New Work” …Walker Cunningham Gallery from March 15 – April 12, in Sudbury, MA}

Ok, I’m not a trekkie, but American artist Meghan Stratman and her layers n’ layers n’ layers of brightly colored, perfectly cut paper might just convince me otherwise! Ah yes, cut paper and pop culture, an excellent combination… she lured me in with that first piece {a tribute to “Step Brothers” starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, which is titled “Did we just become best friends?” – so awesome!}, and of course who can resist a little Wes Anderson tribute!? Not me.

Thank you all soooooo much for entering! The winner of today’s give-away is Erin Candela! I’ll pop it in the mail tomorrow, Erin!

But wait… I have to give more away, right?! Right! Stay tuned, as more give-aways are coming in the next month or two {ps. thank you for all of your support, lovely comments, and mostly, for actually wanting this book! I am totally and completely overwhelmed xo}

ps. A few of you asked how to get a copy if you don’t live in North America… it will be on shelves world-wide, but if you can’t find it in your area, you can also buy it through amazon.com or through chroniclebooks.com : )

A BOOK:

Boy oh boy, I love these artists so much! Gorgeous work, and such funny, smart, touching advice… I can’t believe that CREATIVE BLOCK is finally out in the world. Thank you so much to everyone that made it happen, and thank you so much to everyone who plans on reading it! xo {and a big thank you to Leslie Fandrich for these gorgeous photos!!!}

5 YEARS & A GIVE-AWAY:

So, tomorrow, February 22, will mark five years since I wrote my very first post on The Jealous Curator. It also just so happens that my very first book, CREATIVE BLOCK, hit shelves all over the world this past Tuesday… needless to say, it’s been quite a week over here! And so we have to celebrate, right? How about a give-away!? Leave a comment on this post, and on Monday at noon (PST) I’ll draw one name and send that person a signed copy of the book. Deal?

A CHALLENGE:

I’ve heard from quite a few people that they plan to go one by one through the creative “unblock” projects given by each of the 50 artists in the book. So fun! If you do one, snap photo of whatever you make, pop it up on twitter or instagram and hashtag it with #creativeUNblock … I’m going to keep an eye out for them, and then I’ll set up a Facebook album to share some of my favorites from each month. I can’t wait to see what you make!

ps. BOOK EVENTS: I’ll be in San Francisco on March 5, and LA on March 22 and NYC on April 2 {links on the left sidebar}. The book will be available to buy in SF and LA because the events are at stores, but the event in New York is not at a bookstore, and is limited to 100 people so we’re selling tickets to it… right here {the ticket is $25 and gets you a book, drinks, snacks, and a super fun evening!}. More info coming soon on the May 15 Vancouver event.

When I read the materials list, and it said “drawing on glass and skin”, it was pretty safe to say that I had my next post! All of these gorgeous, furry, geometric mixed media pieces are from a series titled “Transitional” by Colombian artist Marcela Cárdenas. Here is her description of this work:

“Transitional” arises from the intention of hybridizing two opposing natural kingdoms as animal and mineral. I am interested in the contrast between the geometry suggested by the crystallographic feature organic shapes and animal skin that is a drawing motion itself. The term “Transitional” is rooted in psychology and refers to objects in infancy act as bridge between your inner world and the cultural experience. The contained animal fur, trapped in the glass refers to how man prevails and controls surrounding nature.

Gah! I love them all! But there’s so much more in her portfolio that is completely different, yet still totally amazing. Case in point:

Ok, there’s still fur involved, but this fur is gouache… many, many, many, little delicate strokes of gouache. Oh, foxes and dots {the black dots are actually perforations in the board}… sigh. So much love.

{Thanks to Valentina for sending me a link to Marcela’s site}