Neon love letters illuminating the evening landscape. Um, yes, I absolutely love this text-based work by Korean artist Jung Lee. He had me at “WHY?”

{via Colossal}

So, someone {I won’t name names} was recently teasing me about the amount of “breast-related-art” that I show… well, this post is for you nameless friend! These paintings are definitely some of the tamest work in the portfolio of  Montreal based artist Eliza Griffiths, but they have just the right amount of “boob” for me! Add a neon coral car, and a tiny dog in the driver seat and I’m totally sold!

Yes, that is exactly how you start talking after you’ve spent a lovely, inspiring, creative day with Tif Fussell {aka Dottie Angel}

Sigh. What an amazing day we had at GIRL CRUSH Seattle this past Saturday, and it all started right here:

I had never been to Assemble Gallery in Seattle before this weekend, and I absolutely loved it! Emily and Andie, the lovely ladies behind Assemble, were amazing and made sure that everything was just right! It was beyond perfect for an art workshop & tea party… so airy, so pretty, and filled with artwork, design objects, & stacks of gorgeous books… including Uppercase Magazine! Thank you so much to Janine from Uppercase for giving each of us the latest issue… so peachy {as Tif would say!} Once we had everything in just the right spot, it was time to say hello…

What an amazing group of women. Lots of locals, and a few that weren’t so local. People came from LA, Boston, and Vancouver! We spent the morning talking… and talking, and talking. I was completely in awe of the transparency, and willingness to share. Tif’s story of her creative journey was so inspiring, and I was totally caught up in the reasons each of the women gave for being there. Painters, photographers, writers, performers, knitters. What we had in common was a passion to create… not to mention a few niggly doubts about what/how we create that have been slowing us down… well, no more!

I have a set of artist block crushing exercises that we spend the morning working through, and I am quite sure that all of us came away from them slightly changed. {There are already a few posts out there if you’d like to see what I mean… Here, here, and here.} We laughed, we cried, and so of course, by mid-afternoon we all desperately needed this:

So good! We had a lovely lunch catered by Macrina Bakery, followed by an afternoon of Dottie Angel inspired deer-adorned treats by Trophy Cupcakes… and our vintage teacups were constantly filled by the generous folks next door at Caffe Vita! Again, I am totally overwhelmed by the generosity that went into making this event happen.

So, after I finished my insanely delicious cupcake, it was time to lick the butter-cream icing off of Bambi’s hooves, and get to work!

Oh my word – I could have snipped, and glued, and painted until midnight! After a morning filled with amazing conversation, things went very quiet, very quickly. We listened to La Vie en Rose, and collaged like there was no tomorrow. It was heaven… and just like that it was over. I have to say, I felt a little sad to say goodbye to all of the beautiful women who I now call “friend”… oh well, at least we have Twitter!

Thank you so much to everyone involved in GIRL CRUSH Seattle… and to my lovely friend Tif ~ you truly are peachy, spiffy, and not at all ‘pants’ xo

ps. GIRL CRUSH Portland is only a few weeks away… if you’d like to come and spend a creative Saturday with me and Lisa Golightly {aka Kiki & Polly} you can sign up right here! If you’re thinking about it, please do come… we can’t make these events happen without you!

*Pants: adjective; British slang. Not good; total crap; nonsense; rubbish; bad; used quite a bit by the lovely Tif Fussell!

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These photographs were all taken by the ladies at the event… what talent! Thanks to Andie, Sandra, and Melanie xo

I just spent the entire weekend in tea party mode {GIRL CRUSH Seattle with Tif Fussell was amazing… post/photos coming soon!}, so these drawings of delicate, girly, vintage clothes are exactly what I feel like looking at today. Canadian born, Portland based artist Anja Verdugo has a huge photography collection of vintage clothing, but it’s this handful of lovely drawings she’s done that make me want to spend the day treasure hunting in my local thrift shop… after all, there are many more tea parties in my future, and I need to be prepared, right?!

I’m off to Seattle this weekend for GIRL CRUSH {with the lovely Tif Fussell}, so I thought it only fitting to leave you with another girl that I have a crush on… New York based artist Jenny Morgan has grabbed my heart with these hauntingly beautiful portraits. I wish I knew more about them, but alas, I can’t find anything anywhere. Oh well, we’ll just have to enjoy them for their gorgeous detail, their stunning color palettes, and their slightly {or majorly} disturbing beauty… and those hands! I love those hands!!!

{via Booooooom}

Gasp! Alabaster skin covered in bits and pieces of bizarre found imagery… LOVE. All of these pieces are from a series, titled Conquest 1, by Netherlands based artist Ashkan Honarvar. You know how I feel about work that is beautiful and totally weird, right? Yes, of course you do!

{via The Artful Desperado‘s guest post on Yellowtrace}

Birds, little feet, and bits of gold… oh, so lovely. These pieces, by Montreal based artist Dominique Fortin, are mixed media on wood, and are all part of a series titled “Entre ciel et terre” {“Between Heaven and Earth”}. I have to say, they make me feel a little bit sad, but I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I never had my very own peacock on a gold leash? Yes, I think I might have liked that.

I’m not sure how she does this {photoshop, watercolor, both?} but I like it! Berlin based artist Jennis Li Cheng Tien has a portfolio full of installations, interventions, and sculpture… and then there are these three pieces. Ghostly images married perfectly with the most cheerful color palette a girl could hope for. Gorgeous.

When I was in San Francisco for GIRL CRUSH, Lisa Congdon took us on a little gallery tour in the Mission, which ended at the very inspiring Gallery Hijinks. It’s a great gallery that manages to hang amazing show after amazing show. Well, this might be your chance to be in one of those amazing shows! They’ve put out a call for submissions and the deadline is June 1st… so quick like a bunny, and get your stuff in! Here is absolutely everything you need to know:

Gallery Hijinks is proud to announce its first juried exhibition, “Visions of Yore”. Along with the gallery director, Tanya Gayer, Gallery Hijinks has invited guest juror Emily Lakin of Yerba Buena Center for the Arts to be a part of the selection process. The exhibition will occur July 7th, 2012, and include live performance and artists lectures during the month, as well as an auction at the close of the exhibition.

Submissions are open to a range of work including sculpture, painting, printmaking, sound, video, installation, and mixed media work. The exhibiting artists should demonstrate the  quality of their work and relevance to the exhibition concept. The exhibition is open to all artists aged 18 and over. Artists must be willing to take on personal responsibility for their artwork if unsold after the exhibition closes. Entries should be completed within 2 years prior to the deadline. The exhibit is open to the public.

Visions of Yore:

Katharine Harmon, the author of The Map as Art, notes that to ‘orientate’ is to, “hop back and forth between landscape and time, geography and emotion, knowledge and behavior. Associations often happen with this idea of orienting because of memory springing from these categories.” To translate memory is to recall the sensory and time sensitive elements of a memory.

Memories coexist with time and space neither in the present or past, nor in one location at one time, but in fact exist and apply aspects from different places and people at all times. The process of remembering takes place in such an instant that memories only have concrete form by way of specific documentation.

Gallery Hijinks seeks works that  come from our beliefs of memory. At times memory cannot be pinned down, but only felt as a means of consciousness vying for a state of attention. Cues encountered in everyday life evoke past recollections without effort, while sometimes we deliberately try to piece together the past. Artists are encouraged to submit work in homage to memory and how it is recognized in regards to the visual and formulated.

Exhibition Details:
Deadline for submissions: June 1st, 2012
Submission Fee: $20
Artists accepted for the exhibition will be notified by June 4th. Works must be delivered to Gallery Hijinks no later than June 27th, 2012.

To submit please visit:
http://www.galleryhijinks.com/about/juried-exhibition

Yep, it’s my birthday… the last one in my 30’s – um, when did that happen?! Anywho, I have always loved my birthday, and today is no exception! I thought I’d share a few of my favorite images from my “random lovely things” pinboard … because, quite frankly, most of them sort of scream birthday! Ok, here we go:

Thanks for being part of my special day… I’m going to spend the rest of the day riding my new pink bike with my lovely husband, and eating chocolate cake. A lot. See you tomorrow!

{1. Glass bubblegum paperweights 2. Painting by Amanda Blake 3. NOW mirror by Doug Aitken 4. Neon/neutral party decor 5. Donut Queen! 6. Donut painting by Emily Eveleth 7. Mixed media cake by Martha Rich 8. YOU LOOK GREAT mirror by Jade Rude 9. Mixed media photograph by Unknown … to me anyway}