Come on, paint a cigarette… all of the cool kids are doing it. I have never smoked a cigarette in my life  – ok, once at a bar in Belgium when I was 18 – it did not go well. I’m hoping things go a little smoother tonight at The Cheaper Show preview party when I find myself up-close and personal with the work of Seattle based artist Vincent Pacheco {aka Mudchicken, and the founder of WAFA!?!} I wrote about him last year, and have been insanely jealous ever since… obviously you can imagine my delight when I was doing a final perusal through the list of 200 Cheaper Show artists, and there he was. I’m not sure if he’ll be at the show, but if he is, let’s hope I don’t cough, choke and tear up!

{The Cheaper Show officially opens on Saturday night at 6pm… 200 artists, 400 pieces of art, everything priced at $200. Get there early… and I mean really early!}

You know my little phrase, “Damn, I wish I thought of that” – well, Australian artist, curator, and writer Tai Snaith has come up with a project that makes me think exactly that. She recently collaborated with eight writers, asking them to describe the one thing that they could not live without… and then she drew all of those things, as she imagined them from the writers’ descriptions, to scale! Um yep, I totally wish I thought of that.

The Best Things In Life Aren’t Things opens at the Helen Gory Galerie on June 29th.

{I wanted to show more images, but this lovely yellow dress is the only image I could find [via frankie magazine]. Hopefully when the show opens we’ll be able to see everything!}

This makes me want to cry. I’m not sure why. It must have something to do with childhood nostalgia, and the fact that even though the streets and houses haven’t changed that much, we have. We’re all grown up, and we’ll never be little again… but I digress. These images are part of a lovely online project called “Dear Photograph”. Anyone {yes, even you!} can send in a photo to be part of the collection. All you have to do is “take a picture of a picture from the past in the present.” Easy… and apparently kinda sad, if you’re a sentimental sap like me.

Yes. I want everything in my home upholstered in this kitty bud fabric. Ok, you’re right, that might be overkill, but I’m definitely going to need a couple of throw pillows… oh, and maybe a jaunty summer dress! Now, just to be clear, Toronto based artist Melinda Josie does paint lots of other things besides cats, but come on… these textiles, and obviously the kittenwillows, are fantastic!

{via ML4U}

Yes, it’s finally summertime, and on The Jealous Curator that can mean only one thing… weekend guests are about to arrive! These fabulous friends show up first thing Saturday, and stay until early Monday morning… when every good house guest really should be heading home anyway! All summer long, bloggers, artists, designers, and a bunch of generally super-creative people will be writing about who makes them jealous, and of course, smoking in the pool. So get ready, my first amazing guest arrives on the 25th {Hm, I better put out some ash trays.}

{Images by Nina Nolte}

Thick, icing-like paint in perfectly picked hues… yep, I’m completely smitten with these blossoms, pretty girls, and lovely legs that seem to have been painted so effortlessly by American artist Ruth Shively.

{via Poppytalk}

I like to imagine that all four of these lovely, yet slightly disturbing, little paintings by Nadja Helena are from one narrative… you know, something like a haunted tea party with sweet two-headed guests, that ultimately ends in a tragic puddle drowning while a solitary panda provides a quiet, sort of plinky-plinky, soundtrack to the whole affair. Yep, that’s exactly what I’m imagining right at this very moment.

{via Brown Paper Bag}

I’m sure you all remember that I went to Alt Summit this past January {you should… I couldn’t stop talking about it!} Anyway, on that life-changing trip I met some amazing people, two of whom happen to be the founders of cargoh, a curated online marketplace for indie designers/artists. Well, as of today, cargoh is new & improved, with even more fab features to help you buy and sell beautiful things. Here are a few of my favorite items… and yes, I realize that I have a bit of a feather theme happening. I was even going to throw a feather pendant in there, but I couldn’t not show that nerdy little eyeglass necklace!  Happy shopping, and congratulations to the whole cargoh team! xo

{1. wood earrings ~ billy would 2. spray painted owl ~ indigo 3. eyeglass necklace ~ giftgirls 4. embroidered bird girl ~ cindy steiler}

The list of things needed to make me jealous today:

A second hand Olympia typewriter, a little bottle of white correcting fluid, and a stack of beautifully mundane 6×6 negatives shot by a French artist named Christophe Dillinger. Obviously, a swivel chair would have been the cherry on top of that list, but sadly, no swivel chair… for anyone.

This is a slight, ok, a major departure from my normal posts, but I really wanted your help with this:

I have been thinking about loneliness a lot lately, mainly due to a close friend who is having a really hard time with being an artist. I wanted to write something because I know, I just know, that she’s not alone! Her self-proclaimed problem is that she equates her success as an artist, with her personal self-worth… if she sells, she’s a rock star… if she doesn’t, she’s a huge failure on a catastrophic level. Sound familiar? The emotional roller coaster of trying to be a full time artist is breaking her heart, and it’s breaking my heart to watch her. My advice was for her to take the summer off from trying to sell anything. ANYTHING. I think she should spend the next few months just creating, simply because it brings her joy… because I’m sure that’s why she started making art in the first place. Experiment, make mistakes {if that’s even possible}, try new techniques, get really messy! Why not – it’s summer time, you can wash yourself off with the garden hose.

When your dream is to be a full time artist, it’s very easy to get caught up in creating work that you think will be a “big seller”. I recently sold two pieces in my Etsy shop, both of which had bears in them. I immediately thought “Ok, I should make more work with bears… people love bears!!!” Yep, that’s when I get squirrely… which is also the exact moment I stop having fun. My friend is not having fun. At all. In fact, she is very sad, and that’s not why any of us became artists, right? We are artists because, since childhood, we have loved making things. ANYTHING. If someone wants to buy your work, that’s fantastic, but if it doesn’t bring you joy, then seriously, what is the point.

Anyway, I told my friend that I was going to write this. I said, “Just you wait! A zillion people are going to comment and say they feel exactly the same way… and the ones that don’t, are going to have some great advice. So, go to it you guys! Tell her… she’s not alone, right?

{Image by Tiina Heiska}