Ruth Marks, Lovely Work

In the interest of Day of the Dead and All Saints Day here's a lovely new to me artist. Her name is Ruth Marks and she has all sorts of dolls and sculptures that are just dreamy and spirity (it's a word [okay it's not, but I'm working it]) and eerie.

Like this one

or this one

Very cool. I went through all her previous works of the various years, but I'm having trouble saving the photos. And I really wish she had a blog.

If you're out there Ruth Marks, can you start a blog? It's not that hard. I'm dying to know about your techniques and inspirations.

And Awesome Sleeping Porch That I Would Steal For My Office

How much do I want this screened sleeping porch with full sized bed swing? Oh, wow. A lot.

Really, I'm a lazy person who prefers to be reclining.

Wouldn't this be a fabulous place to hole up with a laptop to write that novel that I should be working on? Surrounded by notes, jazz playing in the background. Some chocolate not too far away for quick bursts of energy? The kids off somewhere else, far far away while I work. Sigh.

I found this on Piwackett. She actually knows this woman and gets to visit her and sit in that swing. And the other side of the sleeping porch is pretty awesome, too.

Hey look, a place to paint.

Brilliant and Creepy Illustrator: Jason Holley

This book cover was done by Jason Holley. I love it. I love everything on his website, actually.

I am putting him here because I wouldn't mind him illustrating my book cover, when it gets published. (I'm putting that out there as a "when" not an "if" because I just finished the third draft of my novel, and I am gearing up to get it out into the world. Positive thinking, folks.)

Anyway, take a look at his illustrations. Great work, thought provoking, beautiful, chilling, slightly Audubon inspired, slightly graffiti inspired, full of decay and yearning. Me likey.

Also look at his archives. When I get obsessed with something, it gets featured here. I'm obsessed.

via the always inspiring automatism

they sacrificed everything to the stars, print by Amanda Blake

One of my favorite artists, Amanda Blake, and her new print available now in her shop.

Oh buying art could bankrupt me, at least if I bought everything I loved. I love everything about it, the stars, the houses, the bonfires, the family, and the tapestry-like details of the ground.

Love.

Google Earth Images: South West Florida Inspiration

These amazing google earth photos of the human impact on the South West Florida Landscape are found here.
To me, they look like modern day petroglyphs and I can't help but be dazzled by the graphic look.
There's a lot of outrage in the comments, about environmental damage and American wastefulness and American snobbishness, but you know, before I read it, I just went through each photo amazed at the visual drama.
What can I say? Sometimes I look for pretty first. Sometimes I see pretty in ugly. Sometimes the story told is more than just about evil or good, sometimes it's just about being human. As well as the evil and the good. This one reminds me of Jess Gonacha Swift's work.
This one I think looks like a cave painting or a piece of aboriginal art.

Anyway. They make me want to paint abstracted images. Patterns. Roughed up geometry and organic forms.

Discovered via the great automatism. Thanks Lori.

Toto. We Are Not In Kansas

I am afraid of tornadoes. I had to spend a few dark hours in a basement with my kids and my neighbor, after I heard the train rumble and a tree fell down knocking out the electricity all over town.

Fine. No one saw an official tornado, but I'm pretty sure that when I was running around trying to close the windows to the wind and rain, and found that ALL the windows had rain blowing in, that meant it was an actual tornado. Plus that train sound. Plus the tree falling and the light going out.

Okay, we were only in the basement for a few minutes before it passed but it was scary.

Oh. What is not scary but in fact fantastic and inspirational?

The above tornado is not real. Nor is it digital. Nor is it an illustration or a painting or any of that.

It is a diorama.

*blink*

This man is a genius. He does dioramas of all sorts of scenes. From outer space, to glacier chill, to conflagrations, to gentle landscape. Amazing.

via astulabee. Thanks, Nicole. I love your blog.

Oooooh. Purty Violets and Design and Handmade Displays. Just Ooooooh.

I just found this lovely online thesis from whatyoulove by aprile.

I'm not 100% sure what it is exactly. All I know is that it is wonderful and magical and beautiful and inspirational. And you know what? That is good enough for me.

via robayre inspiration junkie, who ain't no slouch in the inspiration department herself.

Double Outstanding!

First this awesome art installation/camper for one on a deavy duty tricycle, found on Inhabitat,

then the awesome painting by it's owner Boston based Kevin Cyr. Loving. And check out his truck paintings, too.

I don't know why I've been loving campers and airstreams lately, but I have. Actually I always have. I'm a nester at heart, and sometimes I wish I could travel with my home right there with me.

If I had this camper, I could put my groceries away before I left the grocery store!

One Dress: 365 Ways. You Go Girl.

Wow. Loving what this girl is doing. I adore this outfit in it's punk/poet chic, but she is wearing this same dress everyday for a year and documenting her outfits. It's called the Uniform Project and you can find it here.I like this romantic one.

And this sexy tough one. I guess I like layered clothes and muted colors. She wears it as a mini sometimes, but I'm almost 40 and I'm kind of done with minis. I'll leave that to the kicky young girls and get me some leggings and long skirts to layer with.

Even better. I just read here that this project is both an exercise in sustainable fashion, with all the accessories being vintage or donated, and a fundraiser for uniforms for Indian school children. What a cool woman.

I want seven of these dresses, by the way.

found via secret notebooks hidden pages

The Dreamiest of Dream Studios

Talk about a dream studio. I have been wishing for this baby for a long time. If you think this is impressive, mosy on over to Sarah Lechner's slide show and take a look at the whole thing. Right now, I might be satisfied with a bag of paints and a couple of corners wherever I am in the house, but someday I would love something like this. So I could paint and write and hold workshops and meetings and shows. Sigh.

What Are You Afraid Of?

What Are You Afraid Of, sculpture

I know I have been absent lately, kind of being a hermit, if you will, and have not posted... but I saw this artist in a treasury that I was included in and I fell head over heels in love. If I had a spare 500$ I would buy it. But since I don't, I have to post my love. Love love love.

Her name is Darla Jackson. Glad to find her.

And it is quite, uhh, coincidental that the title of this sculpture is "What Are You Afraid Of."

Stop hiding little hermit rabbit and start posting again.

Moss You Can Wear and Moss That Might Like to Wear You If You Hold Still Long Enough.

Look how beautiful and lovely. A pendant reminiscent of moss and stone. Neither are real, so you don't have to worry about water or weight or even little lively insects taking up shop in your jewelry. You can find this and OTHERS! at AdornJewelry, which I found through secret notebooks wild pages.

They have both inspired me to add my own image of moss.

I took this picture back in January in my garden, because, well, that's what January is like in Florida. This is a planter that was covered in this cool moss with sprouts-- or whatever that is.
It was kind of hard to photograph because there was so much green. The planter was green, the moss was green, the background was green. I like this shot because you can see those moss things so clearly. I like the narrow focus.

Maybe I should start taking daily photos again. Hmmm. I really want a new camera, but it is not in the budget at the moment. Someday, though.

My New Art Studio!

It came! Yesterday, I got the WIP bucket that I won on maya*made for her first blogoversary. You can't imagine how lovely it it. Well, maybe you can.. Look at it!

First the wonderful bucket, wide and solid. I was growing out of my little beach tote, needing to dig deep into the thing to reach my paints. Now I will be able to see them, and I can put my paper pads in there too, along with my satchel of pens and my tin of pencils. Even my little jar of water and my palette.

Some people have whole lofts for their studios, garden buildings, basements, attics, farmhouses, even an airstream or two.

Me, I've got a little maya*made bucket to carry around the necessities-- to the kitchen table or the living room sofa in front of the tv, my corner desk in the playroom or out into the garden. Wherever I need to be. Could be anywhere, really. Good thing my studio is portable.

(In addition, there's a wonderful printed moleskine sketch pad that I will keep by my bed in case inspiration hits in the middle of the night, a burlap pincushion, which I really need [I have a portable sewing kit in another beach bag] the most marvelous smelling lavender sachet, I want to carry it with me everywhere)

Keep an eye on her shop and be quick and you might be able to snatch up a WIP bucket for yourself. They go fast... you can see why.

What a Dreamy Room!

Vineeta's done it again. Found something to match my inner vision I didn't know I had until she put it on her blog. Thanks Vineeta.

I love this room. I love the white draped couch (on a side note, I saw a gorgeous white bedspread at the thrift store, but before I could get there, someone else picked it up and examined it. I hovered about hoping she would move on, but maybe I hovered too close and she took it!) I love the collage of pictures. I love the ivy crawling up the wall and the wide windows. I like the spots of red. And I'm not usually a fan of carpeting, but that floor looks so cozy with all the pillows.

Anyway, I would love to live there, even if the room is a bit girly so I'd probably have to limit it to my studio. That's okay. I could handle that.

Image from Debi Treloar Photography

Really? Oh My. I Had No Idea.

Directed by Spike Jonze and written by Dave Eggers?

Can I find wolf suits for my littles before this comes out on October 16th?

Amanda Blake-- Sigh! So Lovely

she dressed her children in clothes made of night, painting by Amanda Blake

I love everything this woman does. Her awkward little personalities, the blockiness of it, the backgrounds, alternating between flat and patterned. Look at the little hatches in the yellow tree. I just love it. Reminds me of Aboriginal dream paintings. Oh, well, maybe that's another reason why I love it. Those paintings have enchanted me since I was in college.

I love the starlight here. I should, I do starlight like that often. Well, sorta. Doesn't matter. Still makes me swoon.

I love also the way she talks of being a mother and a painter. It just resonates.

Dear Universe, How's About You Grant Me A Fantasy?

Look at this holy smackalicious loft/studio (from Loft Life Mag) in my old home of Williamsburg Brooklyn. Now I loved lots of things about Williamsburg, but my apartment was a little four room floor through with tilting floors and no sink in the kitchen... although it did get lovely light.

Love this kitchen dining area with raw wood and glass cabinets and that funky table.
Uhm, and the CEILINGS. I mean that's just a ridiculonkulous kind of dream, but we could still take elements. For one, the open plan/open space. The adaptation of the original construction into a home... hey this could be in a barn, as well as a converted loft space. I also like the little cluster of potted trees under the sky light. The brick walls are nice, but I've living with brick walls, and if you don't have a lot of light/space, they can get confining. Or cozy, depending on your point of view. I like the industrial feel, too. Not just of the space itself, but of the furniture and art studio.

Oh. There are the chairs. Green wicker. I like green wicker, but I think that table would also be nice with benches.

I also like the color scheme of whites and grays and raw wood browns with little pops of dusty green. Not fancy, but soothing and chic.

One question. Where are the books. This loft needs books.

Found via sfgirlbybay

Diane Benezech-Schuh

Art by Diane Benezech-Schuh

Beware of stepping through this portal, Hibou-Caillou-Chou, you might be swallowed by the whale. She paints clothes, makes other cute things, and has an etsy shop

I have that funny feeling in my stomach that I get whenever I stumble upon something magical.

I found this site through an interview on Lou Lou and Oscar and could not get away.

Swoon

I'm a little in love with this artist at LittleRobot. Her name is Lindsey Carr and she has a blog, here, too. Let me tell you, it was hard to pick which images to show, because they are all swoon worthy.

I picked this one, Flight, because it reminds me of my Flying Girls. Not in style, obviously, but well... it's a flying girl. She has a sister, too.
And I wanted to show one of these puppets, too. They are fantabulous. They make me feel like I have fallen down a rabbit hole and into a strange and magical land. This one is the Strong Man. You can assemble him yourself. It reminds me of how I had my HS students create puppets to represent Shakespeare characters in The Tempest.

I found her through The Explorer's Notebook and Allison Murray's great etsy treasury. How does one get one of those, anyway?

Rothko

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1969, John and Mary Pappajohn, Des Moines, Iowa



So after an amusing interaction with my son, my self and my painting, I decided to show the boy some Rothko paintings. Now I just can't stop staring at it. I get drawn right in.

It makes my mind go off in flight.

More, here