Can't Sleep!

Whenever I look at the works of Jennifer Sanchez it's like a bolt of caffeine just got forced into my veins; and the very best caffeine ever! Love her bold strokes, bright splashes and uncontrolled painting urges. From works on paper to works on canvas Jennifer's work will knock your socks off....or sandals if you aren't wearing socks.

Blue Bird am I ever gonna see you again?

That's a lyric from a Kasey Chambers song and Rebecca Trawick's fabulous Blue Bird Studios site just reminded me of it. Naughty ladies, collages and really sexy tattoos make this site charming, creative, original and other worldliness. Is that a word? 100 Tattooed Ladies are little gems of perfection, sheer awesomeness and whimsy.

Ok - we did have a car like that

Yep - I come from a big family and we did have a big Ford station wagon. It fit all 8 of us and all our stuff. Mark Weaver brings back those memories and lots of other cool retro thoughts with his enigmatic and inquisitive images.

I'm not going to tell you why I like this image, 1963. That would be giving away way too much!

Not Sure What it is?

I'm not certain what a Schmook is but I know I like it. Vist Schmook's shop on Etsy. This artist is another gem out of Australia. Do they just breed good artists? The creative energy there could solve our energy crisis. No - really. I mean it.

A Little shout out...

..to myself. I just added these little guys to Etsy. Urban Pop 1 and 2. An 8x10 for $10...and it's got a mate. How cool is that? I like crisp colors so I thought these two urban landsacapes fit the bill. They can go as large as 24x30 so please do not hesitate to ask about custom sizes. If you need squares they can be cropped to fit as well.

Lines Lines Lines

I found this artist today. And what a lucky day for me. Hedwige Jacobs. Love the name! These drawings are mix of humor, whimsy and a little juxtoposition with a surreal sensibility. Opposites Attract is so complex in thought yet simple in design.

And The Great Escape just makes me laugh. How long did this one take???And how did they all get in their in the first place.?

Clay and Hidden Treasures. Oh my!

I met this artist at an art show in Woodside. Clayswan's delicate clay creations are yummy and gorgeous with just a touch of whimsy. How does she get her colors so bright???

And then for something entirely different! I found the perfect place to hide my treasures. These little magnetic lockets are just too good to share - almost. What treasures should I hide? Notes or diamonds? Treasure maps? How does Polarity do it? And she makes them from recycled steel. Even better.

Things I want Now.

Eco-friendly and Oh So Lovely! These little gems by Swept From The Sea are made from 100% authentic sea-glass. I feel a little like a fairy princess right about now.

Ready to Ski?

This print intrigues me. Not sure if it's summer or winter but either way I know I want to be there. Above the ground, watching the trees and skies and my legs dangling free. F2Images has a way with photography. Check out this cicada too! OMG!

I Heart It!

Truly a little treasure of dare I say, "Heartness"? I heart everything here! Not sure where it all comes from but it's a present to my sanity. WE Heart It is a blog of images. You can make favourites. Mine are all text images. And search by tags for whatever your little heart desires. It's truly hard to pick a favourite image, so for today it's this one...love the Henry Miller poem!

Katrin Schwulst, a fabulous illustrator out of Dresden is truly a romantic. Her Seasprayblue shop in Etsy offers us hints of everyday life with vignettes and simple designs. She adds a story behind this images...defining the character and makes me wish I was there. Her whimsical and honest renderings just make my heart go pitter patter...just a little.

Raven Support

Who would have thought that ravens needed support? But - hey they have feelings too. They don't like to be alone just like the rest of us. So I created these three little ravens sitting on a line...hanging with each other. It's pen and ink and in a small 4"x4" manageable size. Now available on Etsy. And it's only $15! Not bad for an original work of art. Collect the whole series.

My Euro fix

I came across these truly gorgeous mixed media prints from Stephanie Levy out of Munich. I love the simplicty of design - a typical Swedish influence. The bright orange is so yummy too!. I want to move into this room. Don't you?

Things That Fly

Whenever I need an art fix or feel uninspired I turn to Jodie Hurt's designs. She takes things that fly, like butterflies and birds and turns them into little bits of magic with her mixed media collages. I'm constantly amazed at how well balanced and composed these are. Visit Jodie on Etsy. Her ACEO cards are so fun and affordable. A mini original.

Coffee Cups...no seriously - coffee cups

Obviously the art gods were shining on me today because I came across the most amazing artist. This person draws on coffee cups. Really...you have to see this. Your standard un eco friendly Styrofoam cup is now an ingenious thorougly original positively absolutely sublimely decorated coffee cup masterpiece. I need more adjectives. Boy Obsolete. He is a dreamer, an artist and an animator.

The unexpected Stool Sample

I found this on a site called Monsieur Cabinet. It's a Stool Sample. Bet you didn't expect this did you?

And here is a poem about beans. Don't you love an artist who has a sense of humour and can draw at the same time!

DIY Desk

I thought I would go another direction in this post and talk about a recent project I completed.

I needed a desk. But I didn't want the usual boring office desk that you buy at Target or Staples and put together. I wanted a unique DIY piece of furniture. Here's what I did. I took two floating shelves that we no longer used and painted them in a bright Citron from Benjamin Moore. #2024-30. High gloss finish. Once they were dry we attached them together with wood on the underneath side of the desk.

Then I bought table legs from Ikea and attached those. Once it was complete we finished it with a custom made glass top that fits perfectly on the top of the desk pulling it all together.

Next - I searched for the right color to go with Citron. Not an easy task. I used catalogues - especially Flor to see how they brought colors together and found exactly what I needed. Back to Benjamin Moore for a warm aqua color: Covington Blue, no#HC-138. I painted two walls of the room in this color and kept two in their original white.

Finally I needed shelves. Once again I used floating shelves that we didn't use much and painted them in a high gloss white. I bought four shelf brackets at Ace Hardware and we mounted them securely to the wall with wall mounts I picked up a few desk organizing items at The Container Store...and voila! a new office! Almost entirely DIY. I reduced, reused and recycled and the whole space cost right around $200. I still need an office chair. :)

And by the way- the cat is extra.

If you have a DIY project that you want to share can you send it to me? I will need a description and 2 or 3 good photos. I will include your name the project on my blog. Thanks!

Dallas Shaw and New Collages

I really love the simple lines and poetic emotions of this print by Dallas Shaw. It is available in edition of 25 and it's a charming size of 8.5x11. Creating work for stylish people with sleek spaces, Shaw offers both modern paintings inspired by music, and also vintage work, which features delicate drawings on vintage printed wallpaper at her website. Check out the boots and eyeshadow too!

Normally I don't add two posts so today is the Friday Combo special. It's been years since I have done any figurative illustration and on a whim I dug up my graphite pencils from college and came up with this nude image on 6x6 canvas. The drawing is actually on a torn up envelope from the UK. It's available for sale if you are interested.

Have an art filled weekend.

Big Eyes and Lot's of Soul

Just found this work by Olaf Hajek. Look at the eyes in this young girl. I'm pretty sure I can see all the way through to her inner thoughts. Olaf combines and blends all sorts of media and creates truly original works of art that that leave one questioning his motives and maybe...maybe just a little creepy - in a good way.

Custom Wall Decals

I just saw this posted on The Daily Candy...Dezign With a Z....."Here at Dezign With a Z, we can customize almost any wall decal for you.From your Art Work file or from a simple jpeg picture, we can make your vision a reality on your wall..."

How fun! Just send the file and they do the work. And what I like is that's it's a local SF company.

Happy Monday.

Mixed Media Genius

I discovered Michael Mews at the Erickson Gallery in Healdsburg over the weekend. He offers delicate floral illustrations with robots and Asian paper.

Each piece is coated heavily in resin accenting the depth of the piece. His combination of soft light drawing tempered with heavy acrylic mergers perfectly to create a balanced and calming work of genius.

Yellow Petals

4jw8-14-09 1000pix
Originally uploaded by Jan Weiss

This is one of four images I created as a set. My green petals series was so successful that I decided to go yellow. Go to www.tuesdaymoon.etsy.com for info on how to purchase.

Yellow Petals

4jw8-14-09 1000pix
Originally uploaded by Jan Weiss

This is one of four images I created as a set. My green petals series was so successful that I decided to go yellow. Go to www.tuesdaymoon.etsy.com for info on how to purchase.

Little Birds in Conversation

I'm a complete sucker for bird collages and the art of Sound Revolution - a studio out of Melbourne Australia just tickles me silly. And this little limited edition, Garden Sounds No. 1, with birds and conversation bubbles is so original. I love the vintage illustration with the retro colors of the bubbles. Great combination of style.

Don't miss any of their collages...full of whimsy and life.

Robots...I can't even handle the cute factor

Ok - do you have to have a kid to buy these? Seriously. Robots. Figgy and Wink is an Etsy shop devoted to high quality vinyl wall decals for children's interiors. Personally - I think grownups can use them too. Would you agree?

Like Swimming at Night In The Ocean

Yvonne Estrada's work has a liquid feel like the artist was actually floating around on her raft in the pool and simultaneously painting. Rich black tones and thin lines juxtaposed on the same background balance thew look of thick and thin; bold and quiet. Her work can be seen at the Jeanne Freilich Gallery in NYC.

What an amazing use of watercolor, graphite and ink pen.

The Art of Zhou Fan

I'm not sure where to start with this artists work. Giant hats and little faces hidden in fabric; pregnant bellies wrapped in colorful material and sketched with precision and whimsy and lots of humor. The art makes me smile and I'm not even sure what I'm looking at sometimes.

Born in China, Zhou Fan graduated from the art department of Shanxi University. Also in 2007, Zhou Fan participated in Art Beijing, one of the top art expositions in China. Here is the artists statement: A series of my paintings is based on dreams that I had as a child of many many jellyfish floating in the sky, some of which fell to the ground on parachutes and became mushrooms. These dreams had a strong impact on me, and I remember them vividly. Somehow I feel that it is easier to focus on dreams than reality. In one particular painting, there is a boy crying because he keeps things within him, is easily sad, and he refuses to face reality.

This art is so carefully constructed yet free and open. I can't help but enjoy and relish each design. Enjoy enjoy enjoy.

Now featuring...Butterflys!

I just added these to Etsy. Light as a feather butterflies now available. Layers of texture and shape create a background of depth and dimension and flying creatures and botanical shapes float through. These are great for spa space, relaxing space, sleeping space or just crazy space.

Enjoy.

Dreamlike Illustration

Here is another one of those artists that I can't stop going back to just to view this work and the intricate and delicate nature of each piece. Courtney Wotherspoon - currently living in Toronto mixes elements of realism with the talents of illustration and graphic design. An image will begin in pen and ink and end in color - either painting or color pencil. Her work is a jewel - ready to be treasured.

An Artist who Shares with us all

Timothy Adams blog is awesome. And...what I really appreciate is that he shares his experience and love of other artists wth all of us. Timothy posts his favorites from Etsy; he also guides us artists on how to use Google Analytics and gives artists...like myself an opportunity to post our Etsy sites on his forum. So instead of his blog being a brag fest...it's a site that shares. Oh - he's a big promotor of the handmade ideology. Yay - go handmade!

Now that's progress.

And - he's a great metal artist as well. I have bought three items from his so far. Simple industrial designs that are affordable. Tweet Timothy when you get a chance.

Green + Chic

The name says it all and this charming and visually calm site brings us green and chic spa essentials, organic bath and body treatments, baby products, organic soap and essential oils. Green + Chic believes in offering natural and organic personal care products that are free of artificial colors, fragrances, parabens, sulphates, and petrochemicals. And....if you live in the Bay Area buying from Green + Chic contributes to the "shop local" ethic. The owner, Carla Rose runs her business out of Berkeley...so local purchases hardly make a dent in our carbon footprint. Take a look. And read the blog as well. Lots of fun and interesting info.

Think green...act locally.

Etsy Today

Sometimes you come across a site so visually beautiful that you keep it up on your computer all day - just so you can go back and look. It's like a little treasure that you almost don't want to share because it is so lovely and special. I found this today while Twittering...It's Etsy Today. I'm not sure exactly if it's a blog, or part of Twitter but the paisley swirl background grabbed me and I was sucked in. It seems to be a forum for the owners to show their favorite Etsy item of the day. Like these delicate wine charms from Endless Sunner. (that's not a typo). Happy shopping and thanks for always supporting Hand Made!

Time for a Swim.

It's hot. It's 104 degrees. I want to swim. Escaping to San Francisco yesterday and watching the Pride Parade was a great way to cool off. Another way is to create art inspired by a swimming pool. This is a panel with lovely retro upholstered chairs. Now all we need is a Manhatten or a Gin and Tonic to complete the picture. This print is available on Etsy right now and it's an 18x48 panel. Please let me know if you want alternate sizes. Enjoy and cool off.

Dwell On Design June 09

This weekend is the Dwell on Design Show. Wish I could be there! But since I can't I have been checking out the shops and web sites that are listed in the Dwell supplement. Where do I start?? Ok - first we have A+R in Venice. Offering exclusive and uncommon home and personal accessories. I really love the idea of uncommon. Shouldn't your dwelling be uncommon?
Let's move on to Plastica. I was a little concerned about the name, I don't care for plastic - but this place sounds fun. The owners hand-select each item and the items are functional. They look and do something. How cool is that!

Moving on to books. One of my favorite things. Skylight Books is a cozy contemporary bookstore in the Los Feliz neighborhood of LA focusing on design, art, photography, film, theatre, fashion and graphic literature.
I'm going on a virtual tour now. Have a great day.

Artwork by Danna Ray

It's hard to explain Danna Ray's work. It's so soft and ethereal that when you look at it, it's kinda like yoga for the brain. All of a sudden I feel relaxed. She takes ordinary images like lawn chairs, leaves, umbrellas and water and makes a little bit of heaven on paper.

Take a look at The Kindred Site to download her work as a free desktop image. If you are feeling a little anxious take a look at Danna's work and lose your worries. Almost better then a bath with lavender essential oil.

Now Offering New Prints from R.L. Solomon

Love the whole nine patch thing going on. The colors are spicy and warm and are great for family room. This artist, R.L. Solomon, is very prolific so I plan on offering lots of great decorative art.

As for me...I just keep making stuff and working on my ecommerce site: Artprints-Online. I am also looking for new fabulous under-represented artists out there for publishing opportunities.

You know where to find me.

Terra Earth Series

I just created a series of landscapes using an entirely digital format but you wouldn't know it. Each piece is saturated in earth tones and colors of the sky. Deep horizons and solid earth mix and entwine to give the viewer a gift of the earth. Each one is 16x20 on archival paper priced at $49.99 on my Etsy site. Inquire about purchasing a set for $125.00 saving $25.00 of the purchase price and saving on shipping.

Thanks and enjoy your weekend.

Artprints-Online.com is now open!!!

Ok - so think it's appropriate to say: "If you can't join them, beat them". That being said I am the proud owner and founder of Artprints-Online.com the alternative to the big box type of online store for buying quality fine art. I guess you could say I'm a virtual art boutique. I don't buy everything because...well...why? I feature the best. Please visit...stay awhile and from now till May 21st receive 20% off your order by using the coupon code Open20. And free shipping for all orders over $250.00....all the time.

Oh the little red guy on the right? That's by Andy Warhol...I like cats.

Wine Country Visit...

Last Saturday we drove on up to Healdsburg - one of my favorite places ever! We stopped at Hammerfriar Gallery right there on Healdsburg Ave to see an opening of a group show. The owner, Jill Plamann pulls together an electric array of artists with a range of talent not usually seen all in one place; from balanced and calm collages by Deborah Salomon to tranformative figures from Ryan Douglas. The hanging puppets by Gene McClelland were mildy creepy in a good kind of way and the darkly poetic photography of Michael Garlington was moving, emotional and quietly thought provoking. Their current group show runs through May 6th.

And if you have time stop over at Zin for a glass of Sonoma Valley wine and intriguing conversation. But that's for another day.

Here's a new print that will take those blues away. Blue Note now offered on Etsy - it's 12x36" of texture heaven. Once again - I scanned in small paintings - this time lots of drops and splats and just layered and layered and changed opacity till it was just right. Enjoy...and have a sunny day.

Take a Dive Into The Ocean...

Here's a flower with a hint of ocean sensibility. Its transparent qualities float in a sea of blue and green....like the ocean. Now available on my Etsy site and comes in a 16x16 square on 18x18 paper. If you want a little larger...or maybe a little smaller just let me know. Now where did I leave my flip flops?

Hmmm..makes me want to go wine tasting...

Here's a Tuscan landscape that I created by scanning several textured landscapes; then opened them in Photoshop and dropped them into a large background and moving each piece around till I liked the composition. There are six pieces joined together and they all have that spicy earthy feel but it's a good balance of cool and warm tones. This print is being offered in a 27x12 panel size on archival matte paper, which is great for your living room or maybe an office or lobby.

Visit my Etsy site for purchasing. Thanks!

Gerbera's....I love gerberas

I love them. They just make me happy when I look at them. So I sat down at the old Photoshop wonder and created four new pieces...and here is one. It's a Gerbera - plain and simple. The colors are fresh, citrusy and soft. Plant your gerbera poster in your house - it's only $48, printed on archival mat paper and is a 16x20 - what a nice standard size! Get it here on Etsy.

Thanks and enjoy your week.

The sun is out!

It's such a great day that my art is inspired by the blue sky and the fresh air. It's been several days since I created anything so I knew today was the day. Here's a floral creation that is digitally inspired but as fresh as real flowers. I'm offering it on Etsy for $40 for a 16x20 print. I love orange! So here you go and have a fabulous day.

A Touch of Earth

This is my latest piece on Etsy. It's called The Color of The Earth because I used soft spice and earth tones for the colors. I took left over matboard from my husbands frame shop. (ok - I get great deals on frames!) then I painted 8x8 squares in different colors including, blue, yellow, orange and sepia. I used two values for each piece to give it depth. Then I scanned each one it at double the size. I used to scan them in and make the dpi really high...like 600. But it sounded like the scanner was going to quit on me.Then I found out you can scan it for the size you want it to be instead which works great. Then I opened each one in Photoshop, chopped up the images and dropped them onto a 12x24 space and moved the pieces around till I found a composition I liked. The circles were created by making the scanned image a pattern. The image is so large that I can easily create squares from it as well.

Yes George - Entrepreneur is a French word

Poor George...he thought there was no word French word for entrepreneur but yes - it truly is a French word meaning "to undertake" or assuming the risk of running ones own business. In this blog I want to toot the horn so to speak for those entrepreneurs out there who took the risk and established their own businesses or simply support themselves through their own hard work not for anyone else. Etsy is a great place to start but for now I'm going to start with my wonderful English friend living in Canada now, Roger Watt. He is a graphite pencil artist specializing in railway art and also teaches illustration classes as well as free lance art recruiting for art publishers. His wife Frankie Watt is a renowned portrait artist creating the most unique and thoughful portraits imaginable. Now let's move south to Oakland, California to see the work of Jenny Balisle. Jenny says " I pool, wrinkle, scrape and create chemical reactions with solvents that mimic occurrences in the natural world". And her pen and ink drawings "explore repetitions of line and organic forms.". Her paintings are heavily textured layer upon layer of heavy paint till all you want to do is reach out and into all those layers where rich colors melt into each other and balance perfectly. Now head over the hill to Walnut Creek, where artist Sharron Bliss not only creates her own work but publishes the work of several artists. Her customers are mainly corporate clients in search of large installations. Sharron's work is created on paper and is highly textured pastel medium. She then uses many of her images to create very large pieces that are reproduced on canvas for her clients. Sharron has limited editions available as well as original pieces. Sharron is another one of those fabulous artists who creates her own destiny and lives her passion.

Yesterday I was speaking with a friend who said going into your own business is scary - and mind you, she successfully owned her own business for years - and I said, "yes it's scary, but scary fun." What is truly scary is walking into a corporate office and being told your job is no longer available. Being responsible for ones own income makes your successes and failures your own. so you may choose to succeed and your future is not determined by the over inflated egos of CEO's or the fickle whims of corporate America. To all you artists and independent business owners, I salute you!

Feel The Beat

Ok...please forgive me because I'm a little late on this one. My favorite Berkeley gallery, Fourth Street Studio, had an awesome show last week called "Feel the Beat". It was on Valentines Day - thus the title. The theme was the heart or the beat and one could pretty much let their imaginatioin run with this one. I did a few anatomical collages of hearts. Eighteen year old artist Jenna Trost created a piece called "Eat Your Heart Out" and Ricki Mountain used hands and hearts to share her message. The show ended yesterday but I'm sure you can still see the art hanging up for a few more days. Don't miss their next show on March 28th. "Go Figure".

Free is In!

Right now free is a good thing. I lost my job at Art.com last week and I'm wondering how I can afford all those art supplies; so I turn to free on-line resources. The security net of corporate America does not exist anymore and the only way we are going to financially make it is to use the vast amount of resources available for us and to use them in ways you might not think of. There is always the philosophy of "reduce, reuse, recycle" and I use this philosophy everytime I paint over another canvas. If the painting is just sitting there and I'm not in love with it and my ego isn't attached to it then it gets a new life. I also use the free paintbrushes at Brusheezy. These artists are amazing and so generous with their talent. I download these brushes and use them on scrapbook paper, greeting cards and small prints. Some of my favorites are the retro ads and the blood spatters. I know - that's a little graphic but if you don't make the spatter red then it just looks like paint. Another favorite is CGTextures. This site is seriously amazing. I have used textures such as metal, rust, water, buildings and doors. The files are large and they allow the viewer to download up to 15 mgs per day. It's a user generated site and these artists once again contribute generously. Another one is Deviant Art but I struggle with this one. Maybe you will have more luck then I do. This site offers literally millions of images. Have fun!

Maybe when we are all earning a living again we can contribute back to these sites by adding our own high res images or brushstrokes. Our way of saying thank you to all these artists who give freely to the artworld.

One last thing. I added this image to Etsy yesterday. I love retro images so I used this car from Brusheezy; think it's a good balance to the motel image.

Happy Creating.

A Photographer Who Follows His Heart

Local North Bay photographer Christopher Foster follows his heart and his talent to capture the beauty of the west coast from the wine country to the coast and the sublime landscape of Utah and Arizona. Chris's 2009 releases include tropical visions of Hawaii, the abandoned towns near Lee Vining and a rush of color in fields of lavender in Washington State.

After earning degrees in physiology and neuroscience Chris took up his camera and left on a personal journey to be an artist. Traveling across the United States with a 4x5 monorail camera, real film and no batteries, Chris says " I like to work simply in the field, it is the easiest way to the truth. I prefer to let the light speak my vision.".

Christopher Foster's work can be found at Capture Fine Art in Healdsburg and Sausalito.

Come Perch Awhile

The site starts with a small bird flying through the screen and all of sudden you land in this surreal space where time stops and birds fly and pages turn and odd pieces of soap shaped like hands and made of goats milk welcome the viewer.
Strange and wonderful, curious and brave..a few adjectives to describe Perch, an urban gift and home accent shop located in the Glenpark neighborhood of San Francisco where shot glasses shaped like animals stand ready to work and an extra large wine glass that fits a whole bottle makes a perfect gift for the wine enthusiast.

Perch is located at 654 Chenery Street. Drop by....explore, savor and get inspired.

The Little Publisher That Could

I just discovered the most amazing indie publisher in SF's Mission district. Little Otsu Publishing publishes journals, books, cards, calendars and posters. Each piece is unique and colorful and whimsical to boot. The artist for each card is given credit on the web site including the artistic talents of Englands Kate Sutton, Martine Worknam who's cards are printed right in Oakland on recycled paper and vegetable based inks. Not only does Otsu represent local artists but they print locally as well and are good to our planet.

Little Otsu started as the publishing division of the San Francisco store Otsu, founded and run by Jeremy and Yvonne since 2002. They had already been working with artists through hosting art shows, carrying their handmade goods, and making their exclusive artist t-shirt series. LO began in 2004 as an extension of that, serving as a way to collaborate with like-minded artists to make unique and useful print products using alternative materials like soy-based inks, recycled, and tree-free papers.

Look for Little Otsu at 849 Valencia St.