Kind of odd? Check…   Simple line drawings? Check…   Japanese paper & a lovely colour palette? Check…   Girl riding a bike trailed by airplanes while blowing bubblegum? Check.

Yep, that’s all I need to make me wish I had done these. But I didn’t. Rachel Bone did. Sigh.

Well, I loved pretty much everything on Lee Gainer‘s site so I really just had to flip a coin to decide which ones to post… Bridesmaids and old men wearing funny hats, both of which are from a series called Group Therapy. Excellent choice, thank you ‘tails’.

{I found Lee’s work on designformankind.com, a blog that makes me jealous!}

This piece by Anthony Zinonos makes me laugh out loud. It’s the title, Oh Betty Look, that gets me. On top of thinking that the title is hilarious, I also absolutely love the composition, the palette, and of course, Betty and her gal pal.

{I found Anthony on BOOOOOOOM! – an amazing art + design + film + music blog}

Drew Khan thinks inside the box.  Well, inside the shadow box that is.

These shadow boxes are so cool. I love the fine blend of urban grit / friendly neighbourhood that these pieces have. Between the colour palette, and the small screen printed characters, he has made these urban environments look like a lovely place to live… and I should know, I used to live about 3 blocks from the street in the bottom box.

These are two of my favourite paintings by Eric Cator. They’re both sort of mundane and everyday, but you can tell there’s a story to be told. What’s the story? Who knows, but I bet it’s good. I particularly love the crossing guard piece. It looks like she’s waiting to help someone cross the ocean.

I love this piece titled, Dunce, by Erin Vincent. I met Erin in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and I have to say, her work is even more fantastic in person. I know that social norms say that you shouldn’t touch art, but I really wanted to pick this up. This one, and a bunch of pieces from her Shrine series remind me of being a kid going through my Grandmother’s jewelry box – the smell of old wood & fabric, random buttons, and old images found in lockets. Ah, nostalgia.

Yet another artist that I had previously written about, and then got to meet in person at the Toronto Outdoor Art Show.

I wrote about Holly Farrell in April. I claimed not to be a fan of photo-real painting but clearly that’s becoming more and more untrue. How can you not admire the skill it takes to paint like this, the  cool vintage subject matter, the lovely colour palettes, and the fact that she is so cool in person. Add all of this up, and you can’t stop yourself from becoming a huge fan of Holly Farrell.

Gordana Olujic is a Yugoslavian born artist who now lives and works in Toronto. During her schooling in Belgrade her focus was tapestry and fabric art, but when she moved to Canada in the late 80’s she added printmaking to her process. This lovely piece is a serigraph, mixed with hand-stitching… I need to learn how to sew. Today.

{If you love this too, you can find more of her work on the Art Interiors site.}

I wish I could paint the sky like this. Toronto based artist Randy Hryhorczuk certainly can. I saw these at the Toronto Outdoor Art Show, and you couldn’t miss them – they totally stood out. Hm. Kind of the whole point of an actual billboard.

There’s something about an artist’s sketchbook that I find very appealing. It feels a bit voyeuristic (hence the chosen image)… getting a little sneak peak into the artist’s thought process, the imperfect lines, and the unpolished ideas.

Tina Berning‘s sketchbook/diary is amazing. On her web site, this section has 335 pieces alone. That doesn’t even begin to include her actual portfolio work,  just her sketches! Sigh. And to make matters worse, all of them are lovely and therefore somewhat soul-crushing.