Ok, now THAT is a lot of neon! As I’m sure you’re quite aware, I do love a little pop of neon here and there, so when I found out about this show that is COMPLETELY neon, well, I was totally on board. There are sooooo many amazing artists in this show, New Neon, that is currently hanging at Bedford Gallery in Walnut Creek, California {between San Francisco and Sacramento}. I’ve only shown a fraction of the artists involved… and thankfully Sandra Fettingis, the first artist featured at the top of this post, took a few instagrams of the space so I’ve included those too. I would love to spend a little time in this ridiculously neon space, wouldn’t you? The show is up until February 23rd, so pop by if you can.

Bring sunglasses.

{1. Sandra Fettingis 2. Tim Etchells 3. April Deacon 4. Ron Ulicny 5. Michelle Fleck 6. Elyse Graham 7. Barry Underwood 8. Kristin Farr}

Oh boy. I reallllly love these new paintings by Vancouver based artist Rebecca Chaperon. I just wrote about her in July, and was a little obsessed with her dark, moody color palette… and then I saw these! She told me that she had a really tough summer playing around with this new palette {it truly is such a huge departure from her regular work} but I think she’s got the hang of it now! I’ve said this before, but one thing I admire so much is when an artist pushes past their comfort zone, yet the work is still recognizable as their own… well, that’s what Rebecca has done with these pink beauties! {ps. they’re hanging at “Make Vancouver” from Dec 13- Jan 15 2013 – 257 East 7th Ave}

Ok. You thought I was finished – nope! While we’re talking about pink icebergs, I just had to show you these little “miniature iceberg” watercolor paintings that she’s been doing as well:

So sweet… and affordable!

Oh, summer… I miss you so much. Do you ever think about me? It’s going to be awhile before we see each other again, so until then I’ll just look at these gorgeous new paintings by Portland based artist Lisa Golightly ~ sigh ~ yes, these are helping. Pink skies, lazy-hazey days at the beach, and overexposed photographs to prove what a great summer it really was. Lovely.

{Good Eye Gallery included quite a few of these pieces in their pop-up show in LA, at Deasy Penner, and they’ll be up into the beginning of January. If you can’t make it into the show, you can also buy the originals through the Good Eye Gallery site. And, a few of them are available as prints through Lisa’s Etsy shop.}

Droooooool. So, I LOVE bread, but am not allowed to have it any more. Very sad. Perhaps that is why these gorgeous, little, gluten-filled paintings are screaming my name! They are the hyper-real work of USA born, Germany based, artist Heather McCaw Kerley. I want them for my wall… and I want them with a bit of butter. Yum! Well, whether you can have gluten or not, you can have one of these… the originals are being featured/sold on Buy Some Damn Art this week.

Gasp! That’s the sound I made when I saw some of this work, by California-born artist Brooks Salzwedel, when I was in LA a few weeks ago. These images are gorgeous, but it doesn’t do them justice if you can imagine that! They are layered and layered, and then there’s some resin, and more layers, and graphite, and tape, and and and… sigh. Stunning.

ps. Brooks’ work is part of a pop-up show, titled “Home As Art”, curated by Good Eye Gallery … that opens TONIGHT in LA!

When: Wednesday, December 4 / 5pm ~ 8pm
Where: deasy/penner&partners . 200 S Los Robles Avenue . Pasadena, CA

pps. I might have three of my pieces in this show too. Maybe.

Oh, that was fun! The opening of The Fig House has come and gone… and it was so much fun! Here’s the pre-party shot of my favorite space at Fig {perfect for evening cocktails – so pretty!!!}

Soooo pretty. Emily Henderson and her right hand-gal Ginny MacDonald did more than an amazing job! I just love it in here. Ok so… my plan had been to not forget that my phone was in my purse, to take lots of photos, and do a full recap… and then I got distracted! BUT, I can give you a few quick snapshots of how the night went down:

The amazing bar, with custom stained glass by Judson Studios:

The super duper beautiful Stephanie Vovas enjoying a “Queen’s English” with one of her stunning photographs in the background. GORGEOUS all around!

And, what party would be complete without a “fromage station”? {That’s one of Nike Schroeder‘s thread pieces behind the “fromage station”}:

Ok, so to be totally clear, this is NOT Nike Schroeder {although she was there – and she’s lovely and funny and great!}… this is a very pretty girl in a purple dress who was having someone take her photo in front of another one of Nike’s beautiful thread sculptures… so I jumped in and asked if I could grab the same shot – oh, so pretty, yes?

Love! You know what else I love? Sold stickers!!!!!!

Oh, now that’s pretty! Now, I would not normally show all of these photos of myself, but thanks to some very good hair and makeup people {I’m talkin to you Aviva and Stephen} I ended up looking better than I ever have , and thought I better document it!

Sigh. It was fun to feel like a movie star for a night! And alllllllll of this was possible thanks to these people:

Thank you so much Emily for bringing me into this project, and for trusting me with the art for these gorgeous teal walls. You are so talented, and truly amazing to watch in action! And Ginny… thank you for handling every little detail – even details that weren’t yours to take care of! Thank goodness for you! And finally,thanks so much to Steve {the owner of Fig House} – I’m so happy you let me hammer nails into your walls. I loved every second of it!

Oh… and one more! Look what happens when you take a cab home with LA photographer Stephanie Vovas {I basically got a Stephanie Vovas portrait, with an iPhone, for FREE in the back of a taxi. Awesome.}

Gah! I love it! Ok, I promise… no more photos of myself… I just can’t believe I got Stephanie to take my picture!

ps. If you happen to be at Fig for an event, and you want to buy some of the art, our gallery girl on the ground is Christine Fuchs. Find her card on the bar while you’re at your event, and she’ll get you set up! {Thanks so much for everything Christine! xo}

Tonight’s the night – opening party at The Fig House {I might just wear my fancy shoes all day! Ok, no… that might really hurt.} So, all week I’ve been showing you all of the paintings, drawings, prints, and collages hanging at Fig, but we also have two totally amazing LA based photographers in the show – Max Wanger and Stephanie Vovas:

Very California, yes? Yes! Ok, time to put my party hat on… let’s do this!

Portraits … shopping carts … portraits. Hm, strangely, an incredibly beautiful combination! Yep, it’s more work from the show at The Fig House:

Oh. I absolutely love these portraits by Bay Area printmaker Ellen Heck. They’re from a series called Forty Fridas… and yes, the other thirty-eight are just as fantastic! A quick break from portraits so that we can see these collage/mixed media shopping carts:

You should see these in person. Stunning!!! They’re the large-scale mixed media work of San Francisco based artist Amy Wilson Faville. I wrote about these two years ago, but seeing them in person – I almost cried a tiny bit. Ok… AND we’re back to portraits:

The only NOT California based artist in the whole show, although she is on the West coast of Canada, Vancouver’s Zoe Pawlak. You might recognize that last shot because we used it as the invite to the opening party. That aqua wall, that pink couch, and Zoe’s lovely lady with a bird on her head… magic! Ok, one more day of sneak peeks to come tomorrow, and then it’s time to party! *Again, all of this work will be for sale at The Fig House – and this is just a snippet of the work, just to tease you!

Ok, another day and a few more artists whose work is hanging at The Fig House for Thursday’s opening! These are the abstract pieces in the group. First Up… the tangly drawings, and bold paintings of San Diego based artist Jaime Derringer:

Love, love, love! Next – colorful canvases covered in bold shapes and striking colors. The work of LA painter, Emily Rickard:

Ah, a lovely compliment to the dark teal walls! And finally, these abstracts are not drawings or paintings. Nope, they’re the colorful, flowing, thread pieces of LA based artist Nike Schroeder:

That first piece is actually an instagram that Emily Henderson took after Nike’s work was installed. GORGEOUS. Ok, three more of our Fig artists coming at you early tomorrow morning {and then I board the plane for LA!!!}

*Note: Not all of the pieces shown here are hanging at Fig… some of them were created especially for the space and haven’t been photographed by the artist yet. Oooh, fresh art!

So, after months of construction, a whole bunch of insanely beautiful interior design/styling by Emily Henderson, and some art curation by me, I’m finally off to LA this week for the opening of The Fig House {my fancy shoes are already packed!} Here are two of the artists whose work is hanging on the turquoise walls as we speak: American artists Kai Samuels Davis, and Clare Elsaesser. They are both such talented painters… oh, and they just happened to be married to eachother!

So good! I’ll be showing the work of all ten artists for the rest of the week, leading up to the opening on Thursday – if I’m not too partied out I’ll put up a recap/instagram post on Friday!