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

Beth Hannon Fuller

"Making art and ignoring the dishes since 1994" Now that's a blogger I can get with. Beth Hannon Fuller has 3 kids... little ones, and does a painting a day. I mean, I don't know if she does one EVERY day, maybe it's 5 out of 7 days a week, like me. But how cute is that studio/workspace of hers? And how cute are her pieces? Go check out her etsy shop. She has originals and prints for very reasonable prices.
Love this blueberry collage with the little stem over the map.
and I am really attracted lately to anything that resembles a lollipop. I'm doing trees shaped like these olives. Ivy calls them "popsiple" trees and makes me draw them all over the place.

found via paper n stitch blog. she's the featured seller.

Abundance For All

I am loving Jess Gonacha's new blog... Pecannoot. The whole philosophy behind it is to focus on the abundance in a world that is fricking FREAKING out about not having enough.

But the truth is, we never have enough, when we look at it in that light. And we always have enough when we focus on what we actually do have.

It doesn't mean you have to settle for things that suck, but it does mean you live the life you have in the moment and appreciate it.

I've been thinking lately that although there is no guarantee that thinking positive will result in a positive end, I am pretty sure that if we go around thinking negatively, we will be miserable, even if we do get the happy ending. And we probably won't be satisfied with the happy ending, anyway.

Which one sounds better, being happy living your life even if things end up badly, or being miserable with your life waiting for things to turn out right, and then being miserable anyway?

So hop on over to lovely Jess' new abundance spot and revel in how you already have all that you really need.

Oh, she's also looking for submissions from artists who are celebrating abundance in their art. How is that for practicing what you preach. Nicely done, Jess.

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?