my love for you is a stampede of horses.

Sofia Arnold.

I just stumbled upon Sofia Arnold's work yesterday. Needless to say I have immediately fallen in love, hard. As I poured over her website, it was honestly hard to not post most everything I looked at. What I love most about Sofia's work is her ability to paint vague, slightly unsettling happenings in a very colorful, cheerful way. I love creeptastic all done up and pretty and stealth. Sofia has a solo show opening on January 16th at Tony Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee, Wi.

The Holy Goats by Brad Woodfin.

I was introduced to Brad Woodfin's haunting animal portraits through Atelier Gallery, that has since closed, :( last year. I was awestruck by his ability to capture animals in such a moving way. Brad's latest show The Holy Goats opens next month at Jacana Gallery in Vancouver. His latest work still manages to mesmerize me, I'm also really excited by what he is doing with the found books. He told me in a recent email that a lot of this show was painted listening to the new Fever Ray. I love little facts like that! See more on his website.

 

 

 

 

Michelle Hailey

I was charmed by Michelle Hailey's work. Her paintings have certain nostalgia that avoids flaky sentimentality. When I look at her interiors or still-lifes I begin to feel like I'm the figure in the piece. For me, they have an enigmatic "this is what I did and this is what I will be doing" quality that makes me feel warm.

Michelle is in a group show in Bushwick that opens Saturday, November 7th at 1717 Troutman Street. Catch it please!

Josie Morway.

My friend Evoker recently turned my attention to his friend Josie Morway. I have to tell you, nothing gets me more stoked than when I meet (or in this case e-meet) artists that are dynamic within their work. Meaning they have no limitations around the boundaries of what they will work on, everything looks like a canvas to them. Josie is a perfect example of this, she not only traditionally paints, but also has ventured into the world of lettering and pinstriping on bikes and cars. Josie sent a bunch of images to show us her work. Most is pretty self-explanatory, but the rectangular, pinstriped shape is a VW glove box cover, and the bike photos are of her lettering and pinstriping for Circle A Cycles. RAD. Keep an eye out for Josie at CRAFTLAND this holiday season.

Charmaine Olivia's Urban Menagerie.

Oh man, Jillian MacIntosh of Gallery Six in SF just graced my inbox with these paintings of Charmaine Olivia's. They're stunning aren't they? Charmaine got her start painting as a little girl with soy sauce on napkins. It's awesome to think of a little girl dabbling with condiments, who then grew up to make such gorgeous work... If you are lucky enough to live in San Francisco, make sure you stop by Charmaine's solo show Urban Menagerie opening October 16th at Gallery Six.

Caleb Neelon and The Imagination Wall.

I had the pleasure of hanging out with my friend Caleb Neelon yesterday at Children's Hospital while he worked on a super special project; The Imagination Wall. Caleb will be spending the next week and a bit working on two different murals on site smack dab in the foyer of Children's, measuring 7 ft high and 52 ft combined. So far it looks radical.

I have to say, sitting there for an hour and a bit was really an awesome experience. Not only was it great to be around a friend and watch him work, but it was super humbling and touching to see so many of the kids stop and engage with Caleb while he painted. If you are in the Boston area, feel free to drop by and check out the progress. Caleb will be working M-F roughly 9-5. Stop by and say hi!

Devin Troy Strother.

Devin Troy Strother just sent me a link to his website and MAN, I was blown away. His smorgasbord of acrylic paint, colored pencils, cel vinyl, silk screen on cut paper is a cacophony of beauty, race, emotion and just plain radness. Wow.

Lisa Romero.

Lisa Romero sent me a print a while back with a bunch of goodies. The package, like her paintings was adorable, I almost didn't want to open it. Before I offer the give-a-way, I wanted to post some of my favorites of Lisa's work and shots of her studio. It was super hard to choose, so be sure to check out her flickr as well. The girl's talent through and through.

New Work: André Ethier

I first posted about André Ethier back in February. Then, about a month ago a friend sent me the above music video for his song Don't Let This Mean Old World Swallow You. It got me thinking again about his brushy, stonerific oil paintings and how they forcibly send me down memory lane every time. (basement D&D, Jim Henson films, Rien Poortvliet illustrations, sci-fi/fantasy novel covers - you guys read A Wrinkle in Time, right?)

Anyway, Derek Eller Gallery has posted some new work of his. It's a bit darker, a bit gooier, but still carries that punch.

The BLDG: New Matt Haber Print.

The BLDG recently released the above limited edition print of Matt Haber's painting, Sniper. It's a nine color hand pulled print, limited to 100.

What I love most about Matt's paintings are the subtle 1950's quality they have with a new millennium spin on them. His brush strokes remind me of mid-century drawings I'd see in old magazines and books I'd pour over as a little girl at my Grama's. But Matt's colors and bursts of shapes bring me straight back into this day and age. Below are a smattering of some of my favorite pieces of Matt's.

Travis Louie: Portrait of the Artist as a young Monster.

Opening tomorrow night at Seattle's own Roq la Rue is Travis Louie's solo show Portrait of a young Artist as a Monster. The show consists of eight larger scale works. Kirsten from Roq sent over a link for me to post a few of these beauties. I am always in awe of Travis' work. His paintings look like old photographs from another dimension, that for lack of a better way to say it jsut kinda blow my mind. He uses transparent layers of acrylic paint over a tight graphite drawing on a smooth flat surface to conjure this effect. As if they didn't stimulate the imagination enough, these paintings each have a little story to go along with them:

"No one knew exactly who or what he was. He spoke with an unusual gurgling voice and interrupted himself every third sentence with a loud bubble noise that seemed to come out of his ears. He often swatted flies with his tongue in mid sentence. He always mentioned the sturgeon. Following them, was a hobby of his."

Can you guess which painting it belongs to? Travis will be at the opening signing his new book Curiosities.

Insert Metaphor Here: Adam 5100 and Seth Armstrong.

Insert Metaphor Here, the two man show with Adam 5100 and Seth Armstrong opened last week at Tampa's Red Letter 1. I just received a boatload of opening night pics from Adam! Just in case you aren't in the vicinity of the sunshine state, you can sit in your air conditioned cubicle and catch a glimpse of this solid show. Check out that last photo, Adam saw the Space Shuttle taking off as he arrived at the airport. Pretty Rad.

New Work: Catherine Ryan.

Here is a bunch of new work by Catherine Ryan. What I really love about Catherine's work is her ability to combine and blend light and dark, resulting in a sort of diffused glow. Such a great way to start a Friday!

Arianna Stolt.

When I found Arianna Stolt's blog I couldn't resist immediately posting her drawings. That God's eye is KILLER! Besides the fact that I just fell for her drawings...she has a category dedicated to "People I would drink with." So awesome.