When you hear the name Dottie Angel, I’m quite sure you immediately think of the faceless, crafty goddess who resides at Mossy Shed, and looks a little something like this, yes?

Well, I am so excited for you to meet the woman {with a face} behind Dottie Angel… the insanely talented, Seattle based artist, Tif Fussell:

Tif and I have planned an AMAZING, collaborative, creative tea party for Seattle! The theme… “assembling”, and I’ll tell you why. Twelve of us are going to “assemble” at the very lovely “Assemble Gallery & Studio“, where we will “assemble” a collaborative, mixed media collage {using vintage papers, thread, text, images, buttons… whatever Tif and I can dig out of our studios, really}. After spending the morning talking artist blocks & inspirations, we’ll have plenty of ideas to work into our piece! Now, the most exciting part… our finished, “assembled” piece will hang as a group show at Assemble Gallery! Seriously. When the show comes down a few weeks later, the collage will be snipped into individual pieces, and you can each take one home for your very own studio wall. Here’s a quick look at an example that Tif put together:

Ah, so lovely! Oh, and did I mention that we’ll be eating stacks of sweet little cupcakes while we do this?! Yes, yes we will. If you’d like to join us on Saturday May 19th, in Seattle at Assemble Gallery & Studio, just click here to register. YAY!

{Thank you so much to Tif, and Andie & Emily at Assemble… and to Seattle blogger/writer/photographer Melanie B. for getting this whole Seattle Girl Crush rolling on Twitter! I think she has it almost sold out, so sign up soon!)

When I first announced the Girl Crush Workshops + Tea Parties in January, I did not have LA in the schedule… but then a WHOLE bunch of you emailed, and tweeted, and left messages on my facebook page… apparently you really like art, and you really like tiny little cakes! So, all of that to say, I listened. And look who I got!!!

I’ve had a girl crush on LA based photographer Stephanie Vovas from the first moment I saw her work. She’s a very successful photographer who specializes in, well, vintage-looking sex-kitten kind of shots… um, is it wrong that I want her styling team to make me over so that I can pretend to be one of these sassy vixens? Just for one day? Please!!! Ok, look at these stunning images, and I guarantee you’ll have a girl crush too:

Love. So much love {…you might recognize some of her subjects –  Robin Tunney, Gillian Jacobs, and Diora Baird to name a few!} Anywho, I’m knee deep into a girl crush over here, and I hope you are too because, on May 26th Stephanie and I will be hosting a Girl Crush Workshop + Tea Party at Edgar Varela Gallery :

What a great space, right!? We’ll spend the morning talking artist blocks/inspirations, followed by an amazing catered lunch. But wait, there’s more! After lunch, Edgar Varela himself, will take us on a gallery tour of the neighborhood, giving us the inside scoop on the latest shows in downtown LA. It’s going to be fabulous… wait, is that a Beverly Hills word, or can I use that in this post?

Sign up here if you’re interested!

I have a crush. Well, I have quite a few actually… so many, in fact, that I’ve turned them into a new series of guest posts, that start today, on the always lovely sfgirlbybay. The series is called girl crush. Can you guess why? Yep, the posts will feature amazing women artists that I have huge art crushes on! Here’s why I chose to do this…

When I was in university, I minored in Art History. As a young female artist, I wanted to know why there weren’t more women in my textbooks… surely they existed?! And it wasn’t just the Renaissance and Rococo periods that were lacking – I have a Pop Art book filled with artists that I love, but there is not one woman in it. Doesn’t that seem kinda crazy? Yes, yes it does. Luckily, contemporary art seems to be balancing things out a little more… I know that more than half of my posts feature women. Granted, I’m jealous of work regardless of the artist’s gender, but as a woman artist myself, I absolutely love to see, and celebrate, the successes of inspiring, crush-worthy “girls”… hence the catchy title of this series! Sigh… I have so many crushes, on so many artists, that these posts just might go on forever! So, now that I’m wearing my heart on my sleeve, you can tell me… who do you ♥?

{textbook worthy images by: 1. Tina Berning 2. Martha Rich 3. Maia Flore 4. Laura McKellar 5. Beth Hoeckle 6. Margaret Kilgallen ♥♥♥}

I love this work by Hanna von Goeler, and it just so happens to be a perfect intro into this bit of news I have for you.

So, as most of you know {I hope!} the Girl Crush workshops + tea parties are underway! San Fransisco {with Lisa Congdon} happened last Saturday, Seattle {with Tif Fussell} in May is almost full… but the rest only have two or three sign-ups. I did a little survey and realized that $275 was just too much money for most people in this economy. In San Francisco I used almost all of the money to put the event together {there was a little bit left over, and since I never intended these workshops as a way for me to make money, I am donating it to Southern Exposure, an arts center in San Fransisco that supports emerging artists.} Most of the money went into the tea party part of the event {which was amazingly delicious!!}, but after talking with all of the women that attended, the most important part of the day was actually meeting each other, hearing Lisa Congdon’s story/experiences, and breaking through a bunch of our insecurities/artist blocks. And so, I’m going to lower the price in all of the cities. YAY! My plan was to make them the same price in every city {seems fair, right?}, but the price will be determined by the sponsors we are able to get in each city. I didn’t go the sponsorhip route in San Francisco, but should have. I’m going to work more closely with the host artist/venue to see what we can do about having a lovely tea party {it still has to be fancy – pizza and plastic cups just won’t cut it I’m afraid!}, at a lower cost to you.

Here’s the thing {heart currently on sleeve}, I just really want these workshops to happen. San Fransisco was amazing! All of us got so much out of it, including a whole bunch of new friends/creative cheerleaders… who doesn’t need a few more of those in their life, right? Right!

Anyway, thank you for listening… I hate talking about money! As I work with each city, I’ll let you know what the prices have been changed to, and exactly what you’ll be getting at each workshop. Stay tuned! xo

Here we are, 77 episodes into “Art For Your Ear”, but today is something a little different. Yep, this was recored at a live event in Portland! Artist/illustrator Lisa Congdon and I showed up at a gorgeous shop called Hand-Eye Supply. But we weren’t alone, oh no, we had an amazing live audience there too! Lisa and I decided to sort of interview each other (really it was just a good excuse for me and Lisa to talk… which by the way we could do for HOURS.) I think my favorite part was at the end, when the audience asked questions. They were tough, but oh so good! You can listen right up there under the lovely Lisa, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

Alright, first up. Where were we? Right here:

Hand-Eye Supply is such a beautiful, creative space! This looks like me talking about when I started working on “Your Inner Critic Is A Big Jerk”… I had dinner with Lisa in Oakland about a week after I signed the contract, and to be totally blunt, I was freaking out. I have a feeling this was me saying, “Um, how do I write a whole book, Lisa!? You just wrote “Art, Inc.”, so TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” And no surprise, she had fabulous advice.

Next up, flowers, patterns, and Lisa finally being ready to put her own work on her own body:

Yes, there it is {photo taken today!} Her brand new tattoo, on her drawing arm no less. She has lots of tattoos, but this is the first one that is her work. I love the story around this, so if you’re not listening yet… hit play!

We were talking about showing “in progress” work, and I always love an excuse to post images from an artist’s studio, so here you go:

Ah, gorgeous! So happy and filled with life… much like Lisa herself!

Ok, here we go. Some of my collages because we talked about them and so I’m gonna show them, no matter what ‘Arlo’ has to say:

Oh, that wasn’t so hard. The titles of these three (because, for me, the titles are a huge part) are:

1. “saturday’s jazzercise class had, like totally, transformed candace both physically and, like, spiritually.”
2. “another saturday night, and without fail, margot left it ALL on the dance floor”
3. “they always said she had a real flare for fashion”

And finally, once the recording was over, we all headed back into Hand-Eye’s main shop area for chattin’ and book signin’:

Sigh. It was such an amazing night. I want to do lots and lots of live recordings now! Who’s in?

Ok, thank yous are going to pour out of me now… Thank you so much to Lisa for always being up for whatever I ask her to do; giant thanks to Hand-Eye Supply for hosting us and to their fabulous in-house go-to-guy, Matt, for doing the recording; thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone that showed up to hang out with us even though there was a protest/riot going on that very same night (?!) ; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; thanks to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book – it’s officially available now – and of course, thank YOU for listening. There will be more art for your ear next weekend. xo

Other links:

1. Your Inner Critic Is a Big Jerk (book)
2. Art, Inc. (book)
3. Lisa’s new online course!
4. Girl Crush Vancouver, Feb 25th, at THRIVE
5. Sarah Gee Miller
6. Jessica Bell
7. Lisa Golightly

Prince, snake soup, drawing for nuns, and a handful of bleeps… yep, he does amazing things with oil pastels, and tells some pretty hilarious stories! I met Terrence Payne in 2012 when I was in Minneapolis for Girl Crush. Jennifer Davis was my co-host for that workshop, and it was held at SooVAC, a gorgeous gallery run by an amazing woman named Carolyn Payne… who happens to be Terrance’s wife! A small little world filled with talented, artsy people. Anywho, I got the chance to see Terrence “coloring” on some reallllly big pieces of paper while I was there, and I was an instant fan! Ok, let’s go look… you can listen right up there, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First up, his ornate yet ‘no one in particular’ figure pieces:

Ah! Those patterns, that detail, the color… how is that oil pastel!?

Next, TEXT. Oh, I love Terrence’s text pieces very, very, very much:

BOOM, indeed. Again… oil pastel?!

Oh, and here are the big beautiful bears we were talking about. I saw Terrence “coloring” this one in person when I was in Minneapolis way back in 2012, and it has to be one of my favorites:

I wish I could show you the scale (it’s 66″x 66″) because this does not do this piece justice.

Up next we were talking about “Drift”,  his two-man show with John Diebel. It’s showing at Rosalux Gallery right this very minute:

Gor. Ge. Ous. And then of course, there’s the snake ball that led us off on quite the crazy tangent. Here it is in progress, and finished:

Beautiful… but also, ew. I really hate snakes.

And finally, Terrence’s loyal studio mates:

Aw! I’d want to be home hanging out with them too! Thanks to Terrence “Cabbage Patch” Payne for taking the time to do this with me; thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode; thanks to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book! To preorder a copy for FREE {or to pick up any other book you might want} just use my link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator. And as always… thank YOU for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Jennifer Davis 
2. Girl Crush Minneapolis 2012
3. John Diebel
4. Rosalux Gallery Open Call – Submission deadline is October 31st

“Drawings are like wine, they need time to develop.” Lovely words from an amazing artist … who I might just have a major girl crush on. I have loved, and I mean loved, the work of Berlin based artist/illustrator Tina Berning for years. And now, if it’s even possible, I love it even more. Tina is obviously insanely talented, but I found out today that she’s also very smart, poetic, funny… and organized! I tried not to gush too much, but “fan-girling” was the name of the game. So, let’s get on with it. You can listen right up there under that lovely washy woman, or you can subscribe on iTunes.

First, these are just a few of Tina’s gorgeous paintings on found paper that are currently showing at Alison Milne Gallery in Toronto {until Nov 5, 2016}:

Gah! See? How can I not fan-girl over her! Now, here’s where the smart/organized part comes in. Everything she does goes into one of three boxes: CRAP*, NOT SO GOOD, NOT SO BAD:

*CRAP not shown here … Tina assured me that there really is a CRAP box, but I can’t imagine any of her work ending up there. I love love love this system and I am totally going to implement it in my studio, and I honestly think every artist should. She comes back to the CRAP and NOT SO GOOD boxes later and uses those pages for collage bits, or as a base for new work. Truly brilliant, and a perfect jumping off point for creativity.

Next, one of my favorite projects ever, “100 GIRLS ON CHEAP PAPER”… which is exactly that:

So beautiful. This project started online, it then became a book, and then a show… and then a traveling show. Most of the girls from the original exhibition sold, so when it traveled to New York and Japan, Tina had to paint 80 new women for each show! Here are two pieces from NY and two from Tokyo:

Do you know how much self control was required for me not to post all of the pieces from this series? Very. Difficult.

So, when you work on vintage found paper, most of your work will be small… unless you use old record album slips, or stitch lots of small pages together. Yes. That’s what Tina does from time to time, and no surprise, they’re gorgeous:

The staples! I love the staples!

And finally, in the not-so-speedy speed round, Tina told me her favorite paint colors are black and red. I guess she wasn’t kidding:

Yep, two words… Fan. Girl. Oh, I enjoyed this so much, and I hope you did too. Stunning work, a lovely person, and advice that I will use forever. Thank you so much to Tina for doing this with me, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting this episode, and thanks to audible.com for making my new book into an audio book! To preorder a copy for FREE {or to pick up any other book you might want} just use my link: audibletrial.com/JealousCurator. But wait, there’s more… thank YOU for listening! There will be more art for your ear next weekend.

Other links:

1. Tina’s current show at Alison Milne Gallery, Toronto 
2. Heinz Edelman

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

Oh. My. Stunning compositions, gorgeous color choices, exquisitely cut paper… and don’t even get me started on that gradient paper used as the backdrop for all of that aforementioned amazingness! This is the newest body of work by Austin based artist Rebecca Rothfus. I wrote about some of her drawings in the summer of 2012, and had the pleasure of meeting her in person a year later at Girl Crush Austin. She is a hugely talented artist and one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet… don’t you love it when that happens?

{ps. all of these pieces are 11″x14″ and are only $250 for the originals! If you’d like to buy one you can email Rebecca directly.}

This is new {like, really new!} work by Maine based artist Jennifer Booher. I wrote about her in 2011… she’s known for collecting, sorting, and photographing bits ‘n pieces that she finds on the beach. But not today. For this work she collected, sorted, and photographed MY bits ‘n pieces! YES! Jennifer emailed me a few months ago and said she wanted to work with me on something that we could show in my GREAT.LY gallery. She wanted to break away from her usual work, and do a portrait… kinda. I immediately rushed into my studio and gathered up all of the precious little things that I’ve been hoarding for, well, decades in some cases. I packed them up and sent them off to Maine so that Jennifer could work her magic. And then she did!

Each little item in this gorgeous “portrait” means something to me… those spools of thread belonged to my great grandmother, that gold horse is from GIRL CRUSH in Portland, I bought that big B when I was in Paris years ago in honor of my grandmother, Blanche, who had just passed away. Thank you so much to Jennifer for doing this with me… the final pieces are so gorgeous, and now my weird “Danielle Collection” is documented forever! ♥

ps. If you’re interested, both of these can be found at GALLERYONE {my little online gallery that I love so much!}  Print One /// Print Two