I didn’t think I could love peonies any more than I already do… until Korean artist Koo Seong Youn made them out of sweet, sticky, colorful candy! Here’s a little bit about her still life photography series, titled <Candy>, and why she chose peonies:

<Candy> series derives its motif from the peony folk painting. Peony is known as symbol of wealth and honour. Thus folding screens of peony have been set up in the wedding hall or banquet hall. Small painting of peony was hung on the wall of newly-married couple’s room. In the past they might prayed for prosperous things to this splendid flower painting. Now they seem to be very naive when they depended on not a strong and timeless object like gold or sun, but on the transient flowers, as even though they are very dazzling and beautiful in full bloom, they soon disappear without any trace. Secular accomplishment, like momentary sweet but shortly melting candy in the end of the tongue, is actually futile.

{via Design*Sponge}

“nothing lasts forever” ; “time is running out” ; “up & down” ; “alone” ; “when the sun goes down” ; “we all make mistapes” … LOVE! Clever, clean, text-based work by Austrian artist Anatol Knotek. I’m even feeling inspired to make a few mistapes today. Happy Monday.

Holy sh*t, it’s Taylor Townsend! Perhaps I should qualify that… did any of you obsessively watch The OC? I did. Clearly. My favorite character on that show was, you guessed it, Taylor Townsend who was played by Autumn Reeser {she’s also been on Entourage, Hawaii 5-0, a ton of other shows and movies, and just finished working on Tom Hanks’ newest film, Sully}.  I’m shaking things up a tiny bit today, and instead of talking to a visual artist we’re heading to LA to talk to an actor about this whole creativity thing… it really is just one giant club. Whether you’re a painter {which Autumn also happens to be}, an actor, a writer, a musician, a dancer, etc we all go through the same things… blocks, self-doubt, and creative victories, too! Anyway, let’s get on with this. You can listen right up there underneath Autumn, or you can subscribe on iTunes. First things first, California here we come… where the fan-girl obsession began, The OC:

Ah, now I want to watch it all over again! She was also on another binge-worthy show, one of my faves, Entourage. She played a young TV agent and, more than once, got to go toe-to-toe with Jeremy Piven, aka Ari Gold:

Ok. Now I have to watch that again. These next images are from a movie called, Smoking Aces 2. Let’s just say this character was a little out of character for Autumn… and apparently a whole lotta fun! I love the story she tells about this crazy movie. She figured she wouldn’t get the part, so she just totally put it all out there at the audition, and whaddaya know, it worked:

Now, when she’s not working {which isn’t often}, Autumn dabbles in other types of creativity. Lately it’s been painting – and look – she’s not alone! Two little messy helpers – her sweet little boys Finn, age 4 and Dash, age 2. We had a long talk about The Artist’s Way {a really great book that I’m sure all of you already know about} and how it’s helped both of us so much. It’s pushed her in acting, in painting, and in 2015 she decided it was time to learn how to play the guitar too. Creative lady? Um, yeah.

And finally, the speed round. I obviously had to ask which of her co-stars was the best kisser. And the winner… John Stamos. Yep, Uncle Jesse gets it done! ps. she was mortified that I asked this question, but, well, too bad. Also, it turns out that Autumn was one of those ‘horse girls’ when she was little… you know the ones. Here is photographic proof from childhood, and then a few recent shots of her actually getting to live the dream! Yes, her last few movies have required Autumn to bring out her inner-cowgirl:

Wow, she makes it look so easy up there {and having Jesse Metcalfe beside you doesn’t hurt either}. Ok, so as they say in Hollywood, that’s a wrap … do they actually say that? I’m not really sure. Anywho, thank you so much to Autumn for answering all of my questions, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode, and as always huge thanks to you for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Links to other tidbits we talked about:

Girl Crush Portland  /  Sully (Upcoming movie with Tom Hanks, directed by Clint Eastwood)  /  Cutie and the Boxer  /  The Artist’s Way

Ooh, flower faces! This is the most recent work {acrylic and oil on canvas} of Polish born, Belgium based artist Hanna Ilczyszyn. Her portfolio is huge, but it was these flower faces that grabbed my attention. Oh, and this piece from 2013, because who doesn’t love a red balloon nose:

Weirdly wonderful.

Spoiler Alert: This is the work of a Canadian artist.  Yep, Glenn Clark makes these hockey heroes come alive… and not just through painting skill and scale… they MOVE! The series is titled “Wackem Sackem”… a throw back to good old table hockey. Ah, many Canadian winters spent playing table hockey in the shag-carpet-covered basements of my youth. Hard to do it justice with still images, so here is a video from a gallery opening last year. Pretty funny… well, as long as you’re not the guy getting punched.

Oh, so beautiful. This is the mixed media work {some of it quite large} of UK based artist Anna King. She has a lovely artist statement that explains her work perfectly, so I’ll pass this over to Anna…

“My work explores the margins of landscape – overlooked, peripheral places – abandoned buildings, wastelands, plantations and quarries. These structures are marks we’ve made on the world, and now time passes without human intervention – paint peels, grass grows through cracks in concrete and the temporary nature of our own existence is brought into sharper focus.

I work in oils on paper pasted onto board, drawing into the wet paint with pencil. This results in a deconstructed, sketch-like finished work, the smooth surface, fragility and fluidity of the mark making on paper echoing the temporary and incidental nature of the places I paint.”

Poetry, paper and paint ♥

Thank you so much to everyone who entered yesterday’s give-away! This is such a beautiful book/project, with partial proceeds going to the Susan O’Malley Memorial Fund for the Arts, so if you didn’t win feel free to pick up a copy via Amazon,  Chronicle Books or in any major bookstore. Ok, enough suspense… the winner is… Jess Carter {Jess Carter ceramics}! Congratulations Jess, and again, thanks to all of you for amazing comments and allowing this story to touch your heart. And remember, ART BEFORE DISHES!

Beautiful, funny, inspiring, and unfortunately, heartbreaking. This gorgeous artsy book, titled “Advice from my 80-year-old- self”, officially hits shelves today … and now I’m not sure what to say. I’ve been sitting here for about five minutes staring at the screen trying to write about this project, and the woman behind it, American artist Susan O’Malley. She’s an artist known for her text-based work that is filled with color and positive messages. Very sadly, while she was working on this project, early in 2015 Susan died suddenly and unexpectedly at the age of 38. She was less than a week away from giving birth to her twin daughters, Reyna and Lucy, who also passed away. Devastating. This book was already filled with amazing, inspiring advice – from 100 people ranging in age from 7 to 88 – but now it seems like these words of wisdom are even more important. “Try new things, it’s ok to make mistakes” ~ Emilia, 12 ; “This is your life, love it” ~ Alicia, 37  ; “Art before dishes” ~ Lea, 62… and of course, “Live each day as if it’s your last” ~ Abdul, 73. It’s a tragedy that Susan left this world far too early, but we can listen to these beautiful lessons and apply them to our own lives. For Susan.

Chronicle Books will donate partial proceeds from this book to the Susan O’Malley Memorial Fund for the Arts. You can find this book on Amazon, or at Chronicle Books… and keep your eye out in bookshops all over the world.

ps. I have one copy of this beautiful book to give away… just leave a comment below and I’ll draw one name tomorrow, Wednesday January 13th at 9am PST. Good luck xo

Oh my goodness. Portraits, patterns, pinks… I may be in love. These large-scale acrylic on linen paintings are the work of Amsterdam based artist Martine Johanna. Those pink flip flops surrounded in palm leaf wall paper? Killing me.

{I found her through New York gallery, Massey Lyuben}

Yes! I’m back after two very relaxing weeks by the fire, with snow falling outside. But, I didn’t sit around doing nothing, oh no… instead of eating chocolate in my jammies, I hopped on Skype and called Maryanne Moodie  – an Australian artist, who now lives in Brooklyn. Ok, I may have been wearing jammies and eating chocolate when I called her. I have been obsessed with her weaving work for ages, and now I’m even more impressed after hearing her totally inspiring self-taught story. And ps., now I want to be a weaver. You can listen to our conversation right up there, under Maryanne in her studio, or you can subscribe on iTunes. First up, a whole bunch of her stunning, vintage-inspired, colorful weavings:

Gasp! So gorgeous. Doesn’t that last shot (from her amazing instagram feed) make you want to try weaving immediately? Yeah, me too. Luckily for us she sells starter kits, and teaches workshops all over the world! (ps. you can get the kits and buy spots in the classes via her Etsy shop. You can sign up for her enewsletter if you want to find out when/where the workshops are happening. Scroll down to the bottom of her home page and sign up there). I love that she does these classes! So fantastic, and yet another part of her amazing story (you have to listen if you’re not listening already… go right now!). Here are some of her kits and workshops in action:

So fun! That last shot is in her Brooklyn studio where she works and teaches. Those windows are killing me. Speaking of which, this is the feather piece I mentioned:

Beautiful! So, after procrastinating for almost a year, I finally warped up the loom (fancy expert weaver talk… I think) that Maryanne sent me last spring. I bought some yarn at my local thrift shop, and threw in some hot pink embroidery thread. Here’s where I am so far:

A grey rectangle! Oh yes, it’s getting serious in here. So, what do you think? Are you ready to join the tribe…

Me too! I’m so happy that I got a chance to talk to Maryanne. She is beyond lovely, so generous with her insider weaver information, and clearly very talented. Thank you for saying yes, Maryanne! Thanks also to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode and, of course, to you for stopping by to look/listen. There will be more art for your ear next weekend!

If Dr.Suess was still alive, I think he’d have a huge collection of these porcelain “plants”! This the whimsical, wonderful work of New Jersey based artist Lindsay Feuer. Ah, nature through the beautiful imagination of an artist … such a perfect combination.

{via art is a way}