Whoa. I love this… sketchbook? Ok, I guess I can’t call it a sketchbook, seeing how there are no sketches in it. Nope, instead of using pencil, New York based artist Nazmul Howlader has filled all of these pages with amazing cut paper creations. So, so beautiful, and insanely inspiring! Hmm, now there must be a pair of scissors around here somewhere…

{via Graphic Dirt}

Oh boy – that was fun! I have been here, there, and everywhere in the last few days, and I just wanted to take a minute to say thank you to all of my amazing hosts. I really am so honored to be part of these fantastic blogs, and I can honestly say, that at this very moment, I’m actually a little bit jealous of myself! Thanks again everyone… see you next week.
d. xo

{Monday: Escape Into Life ~ Artist Watch series featuring Laura McKellar // Tuesday: sfgirlbybay ~ curated collections series… Bedtime stories gone wrong // Wednesday: yellowtrace ~ guest post // Thursday: ecofabulous ~ consciously curated series featuring Jason deCaires Taylor}

Mmm… nothing like some polymer clay, acrylic paint, and cardstock to make a girl wanna do a late night run through the drive-thru! Although the majority of Vancouver-based artist Chris von Szombathy’s work seems to be digital illustration, I just love {love!!!} his food sculptures… yes, even the healthy options, like some ‘flav R full’ milk or a few perfectly fine/slightly over-ripe bananas. Yum.

{ …and hot off the presses, yesterday the The Cheaper Show announced the 200 artists that will be in this year’s show, and Chris is on the list! June 25th in Vancouver. Hm, I may have to do a burger run immediately after the opening.}

Ok, this should probably go under ‘design’, but really, an enamel pot with a bunch of illuminated teapots growing out of it, like some kind of bizarre Alice in Wonderland garden, should also totally qualify as art! Either way, I love just about everything that Tel Aviv based Junktion makes… or, more correctly, remakes. They take forgotten junk and flip it on it’s head {literally, did you see those dangling phone lamps?}. TV’s transformed into lights, suitcases into tables, and don’t even get me started on those bike seats turned bar stools. DIWITOT {ie., Damn, I wish I thought of that!}

{via sodapopgirl}

Oh. My. Word. I’m not sure if it’s the unbelievable textile work of California based artist,  painter, film maker, sculptor, designer {oh and of course, surfer} Thomas Campbell, or if it’s his amazingly creative mess of a home-based studio that’s causing these jealousy induced chest pains. Hm, perhaps it’s the combo… either way, I think I need to sit down for a moment.

{via Park Life Gallery}

Quiet, beautiful, and just a little bit sad.  I’m not sure if these lovely drawings by artist/illustrator Julie Morstad, are from the same series, but I absolutely love them together! Boys in boats, heroic swans, and fish-filled beards… yep, there is definitely a bedtime story in here somewhere… a magical story, that would be quiet, beautiful, and just a little bit sad.

{… and now that you’re in the mood for a slightly ‘off’ bedtime story, pop on over to sfgirlbybay to see my latest ‘curated collection’: bedtime stories… gone slightly wrong!)

Oh, Little Paper Planes… an online gallery/shop that is full of beautiful prints from a huge selection of amazing artists. I decided to put a little grouping together {you know, just a few of my favorites}, but that ended up being about 25 artists, so I forced myself to scale back. My ode to lpp ended up being four very talented women, whose work I thought hung together nicely. Oh, and also, I’m totally jealous of all of them… but you already knew that, didn’t you? Yep.

{1. Alyson Fox 2. Erin Gilkes 3. Ramis Kim 4. Julia Pott}

Ok, that’s it… the first chance I get I’m going to Bar Harbor, Maine. I will then track down American artist Jennifer Booher and beg her to take me on one of her beach walks! Glass, china fragments, and tiny bits of colorful rope… she finds the most amazing little artifacts, and if that’s not enough to make you insanely jealous, she then organizes them into perfectly composed groupings, and photographs them for your viewing pleasure. Sigh.

Never in my life have I been more in the mood for coffee, fajitas, and marshmallows than I am at this very moment. Ok, normally I wouldn’t think that combo was a very good idea, but Danish artist Jonna Pedersen has me convinced otherwise. Fantastic color choices, and beautifully boring subject matter. Now that’s the kind of combo I really love!

{via Art Hound}

Let’s see, how can I explain this? When a mommy lion and a daddy lion love each other very, very much… hm, ok, they might not love each other very very much, but there’s definitely some major chemistry going on there!  Well, regardless of how the lions feel about each other, I love this series, titled Animal Acts, by Vancouver based artist Helen Eady. So pretty, yet kinda dirty – in a totally natural, circle of life kind of way.