my love for you is a stampede of horses.

Lena Wolff: Gatherings.

Lena Wolff recently sent me a bunch of images of her gorgeous, spherical and symbolic collage/paintings from her latest solo show Gatherings, at Traywick Gallery. Lena has an incredible way of reinterpreting traditional folk and textile art, translating her vision into alluring compositions. Her work reminds me of quilts from another world transformed into paintings. Lena uses paint, paper cut outs and physically manipulates the surface of paper to create what you see here. Beautiful.

 
 

Jennifer Davis.

Super feeling the pastel colors and odd themes in Jennifer Davis' work. I can really get behind a crisp white shirt with monsters living it for sure. She has a few pieces up for grabs on The Beholder, and a few sold as well. I'd be stoked to have a piece of her's and I my feeling is you would too. I'm bummed I missed out on Tiny Showcase's print of her's, ahh well you snooze you lose.

Hayley Carmo.

I recently saw Hayley Carmo's drawings and ribbons over on The Shiny Squirrel. She's a talented lady for sure, just look at the range here. Hayley just updated her etsy shop with all sorts of things...limited edition totes, award ribbons and prints. I think everyone needs an award ribbon, personally. Hayley's are made of recycled paper and ribbon with beautiful colors like deep burgandy and teal.

suzanne coady/girly handwriting.

There are times where a certain name of piece just gets me, like who couldn't love something called Tiny Dancer, after the best song ever by Elton John? Or a site that is called girly handwriting, so descriptive, I wish I came up with it. I really appreciate Suzanne Coady's knack for creating deformed and lovable creatures both man and animal. She's got some great work for sale in her shop etsy at super affordable scrill, like this one, check it out.

nicholas venaglia.

Nicholas Venaglia's collage/drawings have a starkness with a razor fine silver lining of humor that I can really appreciate. The collages of found images, drawings and photographs seem at first as if they were found haphazardly strewn on the street. But look closer and there is a deliberate balance and Nicholas works it well. He recently just published a new zine 'Waddles', of photography all shot in Albuquerque, NM. You can purchase it through Needles + Pens or Kaugummi Books, the publisher. Nicholas also writes and shoots pics for Fecal Face.

joe ryckebosch: new work on etsy.

Joe Ryckebosch has a bunch of work in his etsy shop that I am coveting big time. I wrote about Joe in October, very recently, but I had to post this work today. I love it. I wish Santa was real, these pieces would be first on my list.

ashley lande.

ashley lande uses all sorts of drawing utensils to bring the noise in her psychedelic, collaged portraiture. lately, dabbling in oil paints, but not limited to, ashley uses ballpoint pens, colored pencils, grease crayons and graphite on butcher paper. ashley to told me a bit about herself and her work, and i have to say coupled with her intense pictures and her sincere earnesty i was really moved. i hope you'll see why i was exceptionally excited about this particular post:

"i drew a lot as a child but that tapered off and eventually i did go to college though not to study art; i have a degree in journalism. anyway, i picked up drawing again a couple of years ago and all that stanched [sic] creativity was ripe for expressing though it took a minute to find myself artistically. in my work as in life i never plan things out and when i fail, i fail but when it works i feel like i'm hand-holding with the divinity of the universe, if only briefly."

ashley has a solo show at the mercy seat gallery in kansas city in february. a solo show through dream bags jaguar shoes in london coming up in april, a zine will be published through jaguar to coincide with the show.

joe ryckebosch.

i recently found joe ryckebosch on etsy and quickly bought a piece from him i liked his work so much. joe uses 95% recycled materials found at thrift stores, yard sales and scrap yards in his work. his combination of colored tape, old magazine images and photographs are brilliantly placed. as a child who was born into the 70s i'm a sucker for national geographic-esque images. joe says this about his work:

"i want the viewer to see these familiar and not so familiar images in a different manner. i try to leave the focal point of the image intact, while adding colors and patterns that could have always been there, but just never seen until now.

the joy in making these pieces reveals itself in the "hunt" for the objects. i never know what i'm going to find when entering a thrift store, or stumbling upon a particularly interesting yard sale.

there's nothing better than stumbling upon something while cleaning or organizing and thinking, "wow, how come i never realized what could be done with this?" i suppose there was a reason why i acquired it in the first place. Blow off the dust, lay out the piece, turn on the lights, and let the OCD run wild."

"let the OCD run wild", i just love that. joe has a few shows happening now and upcoming. check out his news page to find out more.

aidan koch for the nurses.

aidan koch recently re-did her website, uploading a bunch of new work. you may remember the post i wrote a few weeks ago on aidan. i originally found aidan's work through aaron chapman, the lead singer of the nurses. aaron contacted me saying that aidan would be doing the art for their next album, that i should check her out. so glad he did...and just look how amazing the album artwork is! you can listen to the nurses here and see aidan's new website here.

elizabeth huey.

elizabeth huey's work is surreal and intoxicating. when i found out that the work i was looking at came about as a result of her fellowship at the smithstonian institution where she studied and investigated imagery surrounding the history of psychiatric medicine in america i was blown away! wow. you have to go to her myspace page to get a better (and way more awesome) look at her work. my little pixel limitations on this here bloggy just, sadly, do her epic work no justice what so ever. sorry, blog to throw you under the bus...but hey it's in the name of art.

elizabeth has a show opening up at quality pictures in pdx, portland in january. along with paintings, included in this post are some photos, collages and source material of elizabeth's. killer.

william steinman.

one of the personal blogs i check on the daily is for me for you. started by two friends to share things they love on the web and in the analogue life. i love the personality and fun on for me for you; stylish, arty and just a balanced amount of girly.

recently kate (the east coast side of the blog) posted about her boyfriend william steinman's work. i love the color and texture of william's work. there is an intensity w/ a raw, sexual undercurrent that is especially dope. his comic flesh grouping is my favorite, hands down. the presence of bright color is just right. super nice balance. william was heavily influenced by graffiti growing up, which later evolved into a passion for pop and contemporary art. i am continually excited by artists who have started out on the street w/ no reference of graffiti in their current work. it's refreshing, dynamic and different. not to mention, considering how popular graffiti and street art are in today's atmosphere, above all bold.

ana laura perez.

it's always so exciting to be contacted by people just as creative as what i am writing about. it tends to make my research a lot easier too! recently ana laura perez contacted me, i was immediately taken w/ her drawings. often of lovelies w/ lots and lots of beautiful locks (sometimes only their locks are apparent.) surrounded by nature, oversized jewels and beautiful birds. working in illustration as well as digital collage, ana's work has a magical quality that whisks one away into the dreams she creates. one of my favorite websites, book by it's cover recently featured her sketchbooks. to see more of ana's work and read her blog, check out her site. oh! don't forget to check out her etsy shop where she sells original art!

amy ross.

amy ross paints and collages beautiful images of animals and nature morphed together. ducks, quail and bunnies sprouting softly from pink magnolia petals. she-wolves howling like it's just an average day. mushroom birds hanging in the trees. amy's hybrids of beast and flora come over naturally. her work is seamless.

a few things amy has going on...if you are in the north west, amy has a show opening this thursday at punch gallery in seattle. the lovely folks over at keep calm will have the print below available. and on a daily basis be sure to check out amy's daily musings on her blog about her work, her daughter and her life as an artist.

stine belden røed.

stine belden røed at the moment is working on her bachelor's in visual communication at bergen national college of the arts in norway.  i found her quirky charcoal drawings and colorful digital collages on flickr and immediately loved them.  her colors are so rich and vivid.  her drawings of peeps so odd and malformed they're almost sweet.  see more on her flickr page.