Oh my. Delicate, floral, paper-cuts by German artist Anna Maria Bellmann. These gorgeous pieces were a lovely surprise when I went to look at her portfolio. I actually found her on Pinterest because of these blue beauties:

… also delicate and floral, but not paper-cuts! These are called cyanotypes. Here’s the deal, in Anna’s words:

The cyanotype is an old precious printing method, also called Prussian blue print. 1842 discovered by Sir John Herschel, one of the greatest scientists of his time, it was initially used predominantly, to blueprints – create – technical drawings for architectural, engineering or shipbuilding. The cyanotype uses the light sensitivity of certain iron salts that form insoluble crystals under UV irradiation. Is exposed in the sunshine, developed with running water, the result is the beautiful color tone, the “Prussian blue”. Photograms of this kind allow a very fine representation of floral structures – as a symbiosis a gift from the sun, blue sky and botanical beauties.

Ah, so, so lovely… all of it!

{Blue pieces found via Lisa Congdon on Pinterest}

Rocks. Pretty, pretty, pretty rocks. These are collagraphs by London based printmaker Tessa Horrocks. I minored in printmaking, so these pieces are calling my name! Sigh… don’t they make you want to spend the day pebble hunting at the beach? Me too.

Episode no. 5 : Kansas City based artist Peregrine Honig. I “know” Peregrine, but only through email, so I was very excited, and a little nervous, to finally speak to her in person. We talked about her experience as a reality TV cast member {for real!}, helpful procrastination tips, and her latest body of work {no pun intended} that could have gotten her arrested in China. Everything in this episode is shown here so that you can follow along while we’re talking. Most of it won’t make sense unless you listen, so just click ‘play’ right up there {see, just under those beautiful boys}, and you can also subscribe on iTunes. Alright, first things first… reality TV meets art:

Yes. Reality TV and art… that might literally be my own personal heaven. Did you watch Bravo’s Work of Art? I sure did… and Peregrine was on it! {that’s her above, in silver, just below the “of”}. I loved this show, and Peregrine was my favorite all the way through so it was VERY exciting to finally ask her all of my fangirl questions! The images above are from her final, fantastic, absolutely gorgeous show. Sigh. Love. Ok, so after I obsessed over that for awhile, we moved on to talk about her latest series, #hoteldrawings:

Gorgeous, and I love that she didn’t create them in her usual studio space! She then took this sassy series to a new level via an incredible printmaking residency in China, just this past spring:

Yes, that’s the master calligrapher she mentioned… an inspiring collaboration, and “so sexy” as the girls would say! {This work will be shown in September 2015 at Red Star, Kansas City MO.} As we were finishing up with the “speed round”, I asked if she had any strange final stories to share… she did:

What!? The glass crown by Kate Clements that I wrote about {right here}, the day before Peregrine and I did this interview… and look where it lives?! Crazy.

Oh, and I said that I would include her first answer from my book, Creative Block. All of her answers were like poetry, but this Q/A was my favorite:

JC: Do you remember the first time you felt like “an artist”?

PH: I remember drawing in the sun on my mother’s apartment porch when I was four. My hand was cooperating with my mind. A Belgian man and his girlfriend were staying downstairs. He was smoking near me. He looked at what I was drawing and told me I was too good to draw on both sides of a sheet of paper. The memory of this moment is fresh- the airborne dust, the smell of tobacco, the texture of the wood under my paper. I had never been praised in the form of advice.

Ah, lovely. And with that, I will say a huge thank you to Peregrine for taking the time to do this with me, and of course a great big THANKS to all of you for listening/looking! The next episode will be filled with art and ready for your ears next Saturday.

This is the lovely work of Brooklyn based artist, and devoted bike lover, Taliah Lempert. Paintings, screenprints, paper-cut pieces all beautifully expressing her love for the bicycle. I found several bits of writing on her site, all of which sounded like bike poetry to me! Here are two of my favorite snippets:

“I paint bikes that are part of someone’s life, or have been, or are intended to be. The bike they ride around, race, present themselves with.  The right bike for the right situation. It’s worn when ridden, locked, or crashed. It’s grimy, sometimes cleaned, sometimes not. How they chose it, how they use it and how they care for it. How each bike looks develops because of a person. And says a lot.”

“… I love moving through the neighborhoods, the sites and people on my way. I am as fast, often faster, than any other way around town & always more fun. It’s wonderful riding down Broadway, through Times Square and Herald square. Watching the city lights as I roll over the bridge into Brooklyn.”

Sigh. Who wants to go for a bike ride? Yep, me too.

Gasp! Bold botanicals that are calling my name! These are “embellished linoleum prints” by Atlanta based artist Gabriela Ibarra... I didn’t know what that meant, but it sounded fancy so naturally I needed to know how she made these gorgeous, layered, neon color-blocked bouquets! Gabriela told me that for each piece in the series she starts with layers of collaged tissue paper, then arranges the lino-print flowers individually, and finally she paints & draws on top of the botanical layers below. Sigh. Gorgeous. 

{These three pieces are available in my online gallery.}

Love. I love the work of Australian artist Rachel Castle. I’ve written about her felt work, her paintings, and today {on this, the eve of Valentine’s Day} I’m sharing her super sweet, vibrant, full o’ love screenprints! Wonderful pieces for those of you who love love… but don’t worry… if love has done you wrong this V-Day, Rachel’s got you covered too:

Ha! ♥

Sigh. Linocut printmaking was one of my first loves… my only regret? Never using gold ink! This is the simple yet complex work of Danish artist Monika Petersen… and now I want a juicy pear… and an afternoon in the print studio with a tub of gold ink and a stack of black paper! Love.

This is my last day in Hawaii, and I can’t leave without writing a post about Pegge Hopper. She was born in California, and studied painting in Los Angeles. She lived Milan working as an illustrator for two years, and then moved to Honolulu in 1963 to work as an art director at a local agency. It was a visit to the state archives that would change everything… she found old photographs of native Hawaiians and was inspired to start painting again, and boy did she!  She opened her own gallery in Honolulu’s Chinatown in 1983 and hasn’t looked back! Her color palettes are stunning, and I love the combination of the solid dresses and detailed faces/hands. So simple. So unique. So Hawaiian.

And the winners are… Jay Barnham (UK), and Jill Ehlert (Can)! Congratulations! {I’ll email both of you to get your mailing addresses.} Thank you to everyone that entered, and thanks so much to Jp King for giving away two of his gorgeous calendars! If you’d like to buy one, you can find them at his site here. ps. Yet another giveaway coming up this Friday – stay tuned : )

Ahhh, I love this so much… a stunning, super designy, neon-hued calendar by Toronto based artist Jp King {he’s a featured artist in my book, “Collage”!} This is one of his projects done through Paper Pusher, his experimental Risograph print and design studio. Last year he gave me one for my office and I love it so much, which you’ll know if you follow me on instagram… I take a photo of it on the first of every month because each design is more gorgeous than the last! Anywho, the 2015 version has just come off the Paper Pusher presses, and Jp has offered to give TWO of them away to TWO of you! YAY! Leave a comment below and I’ll draw TWO names on Monday at 9am PST. Good luck!

ps. It’s only $24, so if you want to buy one, please do! Click here >

Claerwen James is a British artist… who originally trained to be a molecular biologist at Oxford. Seriously. However, she made a slight detour in her career path, and now the art world gets to have her! Paintings, monotype prints, and lots of very serious little girls. I have a very weak spot for portraits and these are no exception. Their detailed faces, and flat-patterned dresses? L.O.V.E.