Yep, an entire year of being ridiculously jealous… and I hope that’s only the beginning! That’s right, one year ago today I wrote my very first blog post, and I quote:

‘If I could curate an entire show of only felt food I totally would.  I think they are hilarious, weird, and beautifully hand crafted. Sadly, all of these objects are on etsy.com priced anywhere from $8 to $24 because they’re considered craft, not art. Show them in a white walled gallery with shiny wood floors, add some much needed intent by calling the show something like “Comfort Food – A Nation Consumed” and mark my words, they’d be selling like hotcakes for a lot more than $8. It probably couldn’t hurt to adjust the scale a bit too… just ask Claes Oldenburg.’

So, one year later, with a ‘jealously curated’ show section now firmly in place, here it is… Comfort Food – A Nation Consumed.

{The lovely little knitted birthday cake above is by Helle Jørgensen, aka ‘gooseflesh’.}

Ah, there’s nothing quite as peaceful as gentle spring sunlight filtering through your window, casting soft shadows of the leaves and branches outside. Wait a second… what the?!… THAT’S PAINT! Those aren’t soft lovely shadows at all, they’re soft lovely paintings by American artist Mary Temple. The top three images are from a project called Extended Afternoon, Aldrich Museum, and the fourth piece is actually how I found her. It’s her contribution to an amazing non-profit organization called RxArt based in New York. Their mandate is to curate ‘installations in hospital settings, [providing] a creative surrounding that helps to relieve stress and anxiety.’

So inspiring on so many levels.

It’s Saturday… do you have plans for tonight? Well, if you live in Dallas {and want to make me insanely jealous} I suggest that you get yourself down to the Marty Walker Gallery. Wayne White’s new show, I Fell 37 Miles to Earth 100 Years Ago, is opening tonight from 6 ~ 8pm. This show of his typographic paintings and sculptures will be on from February 20th ~ March 20th. Ok so, just to recap, I’m crazy jealous of Wayne White… and pretty much anyone that lives in Dallas and gets to see this show in person.

I want to know how New York based artist Jennifer Sanchez knows when she’s done. So many vibrant colours, layers and techniques, yet all of these mixed media paintings seem perfectly balanced. It’s the loose, dripping paint over the very controlled geometric shapes that makes me so jealous of her. After all of that work on the ‘perfect parts’, I’d have a pretty hard time loading up a brush and letting the paint drip where it may, so to speak. What an amazing trust she must have in herself. Personally, I need a brush with an ‘undo’ command… then I’d be all set.

{Thanks to curbs & stoops for reminding me about Jennifer’s work. Out of my bookmark list and into a post!}

Love VHS tapes? Got a thing for Atari? Well, have I got a deal for you!  These two prints of Hollis Brown Thornton‘s marker drawings went on sale yesterday at 20×200. I’m not sure how long they’ll last, but I thought I’d give you a head’s up.

I’ve done a show on embroidery and a show on portraits so how can I not love these pieces by Jenny Hart. Actually, these could probably be the offspring of those shows if I left them alone long enough.. and let’s face it, with two of them being topless, half the work is done! Anyway, I digress. While my jealousy started off simply because of her work, it grew even more when I saw her resume. It goes a little something like this…

Her work has appeared in Spin, Nylon, Rolling Stone, Venus, The Face, Bust and Juxtapoz. She’s collaborated with The Flaming Lips, The Decemberists, and with comic artists such as Dame Darcy and Gary Baseman. Oh, and her work is in the collections of Carrie Fisher, Tracey Ullman and Elizabeth Taylor. Seriously.

So there I was, just drinking my morning coffee, not expecting anything out of the ordinary to happen when THIS arrived in my in-box… a truckload of jealousy delivered straight to my door before I even had time to brush my hair. That’s how I knew it would be a good day. Thank you Kathryn Macnaughton.

This piece, titled Flotation, is just one example of many beautiful pieces by Buenos Aires based artist Melina Berkenwald. On first glance, they almost look like Impressionist paintings… the softness, the industrial subject matter, but in fact they’re actually photographs printed on canvas, with bits and pieces that have been hand-embroidered. Yes, that’s right. Hand-embroidered photographs. Sigh.

{If you’d like to see more of Melina’s work, check out boltax gallery. It’s located on beautiful Shelter Island, New York.}

Today, two art blogs, Habit of Art {Portland} and Art Hound {Brooklyn}, are joining forces on a collaborative six week artist interview series that features twelve well-known, independent artists from, well, obviously… Portland and Brooklyn. So, who’s on the list? Julia Rothman, Anthony Georgis, and Kate Bingaman-Burt just to name a few. I know. It’s gonna be good. Every Monday an artist from both cities will be interviewed, ultimately creating a dialogue between these two incredibly vibrant art communities. I myself have a few questions for this entire group. Things like, ‘Why are you trying to crush my soul with your talent? Why? What did I ever do to you?’ Yep, stuff like that.

{Images above are by 1) Julia Rothman 2) Anthony Georgis 3) Kate Bingaman-Burt}

Seriously, can you think of  a better way to spend Valentine’s Day than riding the rails in Philadelphia PA? Thanks to the very talented Stephen Powers, and the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, you can book a ticket on a slow-speed train that will take you leisurely past all 50 of the murals in Stephen’s A Love Letter for You project. Sound good? Well, then grab that engagement ring you’ve been hiding in your underwear drawer and get down to the train station pronto!

{Tickets are $40 per person or $75 per couple. Space is limited and reservations are required. For more information or to purchase tickets call the Mural Arts Tour Office at 215.685.0754}

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone… see you on Monday ♥