Don't ask for the water.

Anna Betts

I really like these pieces.

I love that this is "student work", that they're so simple, so quiet, and so bold. They're really just so... everything-that's-good-about-Etsy. 

 The same woman who makes these tiles also happens to be my new favorite blogger and etsy shop, so check it out!

Sh-Boom

Sarah Morris

I like this.

and this.

and this.

and this.

Meanwhile, I'm making this:

It seems anti-climactic... but I'm starting to think that it's not. I've always loved line, pattern, repetition, and anything that confuses the eye (or, more accurately, the brain). I'm interested in the difference between what exists and what we perceive-- and the differences between the collective "we see" and the individual "I see". One could argue that these differences are easiest to discuss through op art but I think it trickles down through the styles and is important to each individual viewing experience, regardless of genre. As an artist, I recognize people's differences in perception and I'm acutely aware that I view the world through a different filter than everyone and anyone else. I desire to communicate visually with others both because of and in spite of these differences. 

These pieces remind me of this struggle and remind me of these ideas more acutely than a lot of other work and this reminder enriches my other viewing experiences.

Brown Sugar

Melanie Bilenker

picture taken from The Jealous Curator 

She uses her hair to capture and create moments in jewelry, Victorian style.

(Roughly) in her own words:

The Victorians used ground hair and pigment to secure the memory of a lost love. "In much the same way, I secure my memories through photographic images rendered in lines of my own hair, the physical remnants"

I love these. They're intimate, precious, careful, well-crafted, and beautiful.

All I want is you

Emily Eveleth

It's no secret that I love doughnuts. I blame it on watching too much Twin Peaks.

I also happen to be continually mesmerized by fat and the body. It's malfunctions and disfunctions and proper function. As a scientist, I've dedicated my life to figuring out how things work and how we work on a microscopic level but this obsession has made me prone to romanticism of the body as a whole. 

 When the complexity of something small like a cell is so overwhelming, it's hard to comprehend an entire body working, short of magic. For me, these paintings capture that magic and question the relationship between our bodies and what we put in them.

To me, the body is gross and gorgeous. What we do to it and feed it is equally gross and gorgeous. Gross and gorgeous is really my thing. and it appears to be Emily Eveleth's thing, too.

Boom boom

Amanda Mccavour

I am overwhelmed

She sews into fabric that dissolves in water, leaving just the threads behind, (re)creating a living room and hung from the ceiling. Wow.

I've been thinking about the hidden, the missing, and the things left behind lately and this is a perfect example. Enjoy!

more can be seen here // I found her through poppytalk

Wait

Narrative is so important in a body of work. I've been in "making" mode lately and instead of inundating myself with images of artists online, I've focused on stories. Reading a good book or story or resonating quote pushes my desire to make and helps me forget my desire to stop. think. rewind. rethink.

 Dostoevsky's Notes from the Underground.
I've read it what seems to be one thousand times. It's my go-to book and something that continually invigorates me as a "maker".
 

"Twice two's four watches smugly, stands in the middle of your road with his arms akimbo, and spits. I agree that twice two's four is a marvellous thing; but to give everything its due praise, twice two is five can also be a very nice little thing." -Dostoevsky

Currently, I'm reading two fantastic stories (really):

 

Is there anything to say about these? I'm not sure. 

Nice day for a

After a month of solid wedding planning that I refuse to bore my few readers with, I am back. I bring you, Michelle Ramin.

I'll admit it. I'm a little infatuated with her figurative and architectural works. 

Patterns. Realism. Familiarity. More patterns. And detailed line work. 

I like their feel. I both like and dislike that it's art I'd put in a house. I like what's missing and I like what's given. They remind me of every street I've ever seen, the way they seemed in memory, the way my house is purple in my head but in reality it's a pale purplish hue.

They're frozen and in motion, colorful and not overwhelming, detailed and sparse. Enjoy.

Walk This Way

Wooden Textiles by Elisa Strozyk

Yes, wooden textiles.

I'm not sure why you'd make these, but they're fantastically appealing. She's interested in addressing the immateriality of our online culture and the lack of tactile stimulation. She likes these wooden fibers as manipulatable by touch, recycled, and unexpected. In this, she is successful. 

And the Cradle Will Rock

Boris Vallejo: one of the most committed artists of our time.

Boris Vallejo: an artist who knows exactly what he wants to paint and what he wants to do and commits to it fully.

Dungeons and Dragons is to Boris what Greek Mythology is to Renaissance artists.

He glorifies the human, the humanoid, the extinct, and mid-90s sedan.

I couldn't not share him with you.

all I want

Things I'm influenced by:

honesty.

You Mouth the Words by Heather Willems

the mundane.

from Target

the quiet.

Central Park by Scott Schultheis

the invisible.

me by me

and those things that happen when nothing is happening.

from Wormbook Ch 13

maybe it's because my life is radically changing in the next few months
maybe I'm just buying into "the knot, the nest, the bump" consumer culture
maybe I'm growing up
or maybe they're just a part of me.

I'm just not sure yet... but I'm fixated and obsessed and I'm working on it and through it.