Oooh, well hello “Rainbow Road”! These are just a few of my favorite pieces in this series by American artist Daniel Mercadante. He and his wife Katrina are filmmakers, and run “The Mercadentes” together, but these rainbow roads are Daniel’s still photography work. Well, kinda still…

“Using long exposure photography and a  custom built lighting rig covered in colored gels, the process of creating the images is surprisingly simple: the roads are created by Daniel running around with the lighting rig. No other post-production manipulation occurs, other than basic color and exposure balancing.”

Running around making rainbow roads in the woods? Hell, YES!

{I discovered Daniel’s work, and the quote above, via Colossal.}

Found images, portraits, women … these are a few of my favorite things! Lucky for me, Dutch painter Barbara Hoogeweegen combined all three in this series, titled “Incandescent (Gorgeous)”:

“In this series, Barbara Hoogeweegen works from found photographs of women. She aims to impact the viewer with visceral emotion and the incandescence emanating from the female psyche. The work also celebrates strength, beauty and diversity.”

Gorgeous, indeed.

{via Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London & New York}

Cozy abstract art! This is the wonderful woven work of Judit Just, an artist based in North Carolina, but you might know her as jujujust. Honestly, I thought I’d written about her before, and I’m a little stunned that I haven’t… clearly this is right up my alley! Her color choices, layers, textures … how does she do all of this with plain old yarn? Love, love, love ♥

{Her gorgeous custom work is available via her online shop.}

Real Ass Women, indeed! A bit Gauguin-ish … if his subjects chest bumped, slam dunked, and wore high heels to pump iron. These fantastic paintings are the work of Atlanta based artist Monica Kim Garza. I just read an interview with her on Juxatapoz – this is just a small snippet, but I thought it was kinda perfect:

People often see your work as a political, body-positive activist statement. How do you feel about that?
It is what it is, and it ain’t what it ain’t. I’m a pretty chill person, and my work, for me, is inspired by life, not conceptual ideas relating to movements. But art should be free for interpretation, so that’s what it is. 

Chest bump.

Whoa. These geometric paintings – yes, paintings – are the precise work of UK based artist Dominic Joyce. My high school math teacher told me I’d need math even if I became an artist … maybe this is what he was talking about?! Gorgeous.

{His work is available via Saatchi Art}

I thought I was obsessed with color, but Minnesota based artist Josie Lewis takes this passion to a whole new level. These are just two of her more recent pieces, but she’s got a portfolio filled with bits of paper, paint, resin, and mesmerizing videos demonstrating how she makes it happen… yep, there goes your next couple of hours! Happy Monday…

A post shared by Josie Lewis (@josielewisart) on Apr 2, 2018 at 7:17am PDT

There is so much to love about this! These pieces are the work of Milan based artist and illustrator Olimpia Zagnoli … not only do I love her style, her color choices, and of course, spaghetti… it’s her reason for creating these images of women so thoroughly owning their pasta-eating experience. This is the show description via Galleria Antonio Colombo Arte Contemporanea:

The show “How To Eat Spaghetti Like A Lady” overturns the series of photographs of the same name taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt, published in the American magazine Time Life in 1924, which is presented as a tutorial made of eight close-ups portraying a charming model in the act of composedly consuming a plate of spaghetti.

Olimpia, who in her illustrations favors the representation of soft, amused and colorful women, gives us a brilliant interpretation of the meaning of “like a lady”, thus drawing a series of portraits of girls who are tasting their plate of spaghetti in a completely singular and authentic way. Distant from established rules of conduct, from unnecessary poses or conventions, the women reveal their creativity and an unexpected and personal attitude.

With her works, Olimpia Zagnoli opens a window through which we can glimpse a fragment of the moment when, in their domestic intimacy, women voluntary forget the precepts of their education. And it is exactly at the same time that “they do what shouldn’t be done, they create new paths and new languages. There will be the woman who eats her spaghetti in bed, the one who eats them upside-down, the one who weaves them with her own hair, and so on”, says Olimpia.

Bravo!

Ahhh… clean lines, muted palettes, elegant compositions … I would happily move into ANY of these paintings! This is the architecture inspired work of UK based painter Mark Dyball. Keep an eye on his lovely Instagram feed for in progress work (because they’re beautiful before they’re even finished, too!)

SEA OF MEMORY 054 :

The sea is the origin of life.

All lives are connected and have been supporting each other.

I create my work by imagining the source of harmony and balance of the ocean.

Oooh, paper rocks! I really want to make a joke about scissors, but I won’t. This lovely piece is the work of California based printmaker Mark Johnsen. I wonder how long I would stand in front of this work, titled “The Rocks”, if given the opportunity. Monotypes, etchings, stone lithographs … oh so many textures, lines, details. Sigh. Here are a few words on where Mark draws inspiration:

“… from childhood fishing trips to the Eastern Sierras and is fascinated by the intersection of natural elements. By using the Monotype process he works reductively to scratch or wipe away extra information to reveal a clearer image. Much like his memories, the process caters to the images that are produced.”