Laughing With Regina Spektor

I love Regina Spektor's new video for her song "Laughing With" because it reminds me of my good old angsty teenage years when I replayed my favorite Fiona Apple video "Paper Bag" over and over again and it broke my heart then healed it. Embedding the video is disabled but you can watch it on YouTube here.

Stella Im Hultberg's Moleskine

I love love love when artists post images of their personal sketchbooks! It makes me feel so connected to the artist and helps me to understand their work better. Recently on her blog Stella Im Hultberg revealed to us ink sketches from her Moleskine journal. If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that I'm a big fan of Stella's. She's part of my favorite female Pop Surrealist triad, consisting of Stella, Audrey Kawasaki, and Amy Sol.

Thanks Stella for sharing!

Books On Pop Surrealism I Want...

Here's my list of Pop Surrealism books that I'm dying for. So beautiful....but so expensive...

The Upset: Young Contemporary Art

Mark Ryden: The Tree Show

Juxtapoz Illustration

The Garden of Eye Candy

Camilla d'Errico's Painted Ladies

Camilla d'Errico's pieces capture a such a strange juxtaposition between naivete and corruption, innocence and intrigue, plus a touch of cutesy kawaii. Pretty compelling in my opinion. Look for yourself!

Kelborne Castle & The Graffiti Project

Although I almost hate to see those beautiful castle walls painted white, this fluid rainbow of surrealist artwork adds sort of a modern romantic edge to Scotland's Kelburn castle. 

"The idea was simple and original: take the vibrant and often transient art form of Brazilian graffiti, out of its predominantly urban context and apply it to the ancient and permanent walls of an historic rural castle in Scotland."

A team of 4 of Brazil's leading graffiti artists came together with some of Scotland's best to collaborate on this controversial painting of the south side of the turrets and walls of Kelburn castle. It's like each side of the grounds would look like separate fantastical realms. One where all sorts of that misty medieval castle stuff happened, and the other like a Dr. Suess and Rainbow Bright wonderland. 

Fantagraphics Book Sale

Today through Sunday, Fantagraphics Books is having a great book sale at their store in the Georgetown neighborhood of Seattle 20-50% off!!

Here are a few of the books I highly recommend....

Unlovable by Esther Pearl Watson (**sooo funny you won't stop laughing**:

"Loosely based on a teenagers diary from the 1980s found in a gas-station bathroom, Unlovable details the sometimes ordinary, sometimes humiliating, often poignant and frequently hilarious exploits of underdog Tammy Pierce. This remarkably touching and funny graphic novel tells the first-person account of Tammys sophomore year in 1985, from the first day of school to winter break. "

Beasts! Vol. I & II (I bought Vol. I today at 50% off it's so brilliant I love crpytozoology)

"Beasts! is a classic mythological menagerie, comprised only of creatures that were thought at one time to actually exist, depicted by about a hundred of the most acclaimed artists and cartoonists coming from the most avant-garde ambits of the art world."

The Magic Bottle by Camille Rose Garcia:

Dan DeCarlo Vol. I & II (to learn more visit THIS previous post)

stella im hultberg's new blogs!

We all love stella im hultberg's beautiful tea stained prints right? But lately, i've been wondering what's been happening with her blog! Today I found out...she's moved to Blogger this month and she's been updating regularly ever since hurray! 

But that's not the only exciting news...Stella apparently has also had a inspirations & obsessions blog this whole time called Lovely Distractions! It's such an amazing reference site and you're guaranteed to find something new to love every time you visit. 

So check it out ladies and gents! You won't regret it!

Here are some of the new artists I've discovered today from the site...

Carla Bedini

Edouardo Reclife

Lyndie Dourthe

Lisa Evans

Cute little UK artist Lisa Evans creates adorable pop surrealist art featuring fluffy animals and monsters, as well as Dr. Seuss-ish village illustrations.  And as an added bonus, she sells prints on her Etsy shop for only $25. Definitely a steal. 

Check out her blog for updates too yay!

New Amy Sol for Gelaskins

Yes!!!...Finally!!!...about a year ago I sent an e-mail to Gelaskins asking them if they could offer more skins by both Audrey Kawasaki and Amy Sol. I have the Audrey Kawasaki Odaijini iPod skin and I didn't want the Mario-like Amy Sol one because well...I'm just not a big fan of Mario....

But finally they've added a new Amy Sol skin called "Leave The Hair And Go Free"

I'm very very happy!

Art of Dreams: Daniel Merriam

As a Christmas present I bought this Art of Dreams calendar for a friend of mine. I hadn't ever heard of the artist before but the it caught my eye in a bookstore last week and I was just fell in love with the fantastic surrealist artwork on the cover I had to buy it! 

For those of you who know me, know that I love magical dreamworlds, fairies and all things make believe. I think it comes with being an only child, having only my imagination and my cat for company. 

So here is just a little sampling of the wonderful Daniel Merriam. I hope you enjoy his work!

The Drawing Room: Thank You A. Kawasaki

Many thanks to Audrey Kawasaki for posting an easy to use guide to the most up and coming pop surrealist artists today. Although she didn't intend the post to be anything but a sample serving of the new gallery show The Drawing Room (unfortunately in CA...i'm bitter), she successfully made my day by introducing me to some new artist blogs to enjoy each morning. Yay! 

Click here to be happy

And just in case you're too lazy to take a look....here's my new favorites...or at least those I haven't yet blogged about: 

Catherine Cambell blog: my folk lover

Joao Paulo Ruas

Fumi Nakamora

Amy Earles blog: Wool & Water

ughhhhhhhhhh I love her little paperdolls! Buy them in her Etsy store! 

Drawer Geeks

I came across this site via Folk & Fairy (which an really clever site you should all check out), and I was utterly amazed at the beautiful artwork it contained. Mostly by artists I had never heard of, it opened a lot of doors to exploring all new art forms. Drawer Geeks is a site that challenges artists to create their own artwork inspired by a certain characters such as Cereal Mascots, Star Belly, Catwomen, and Cinderella. See if you can guess what inspired these works...

Marco Bucci

Chuck Vallmer

Mel Milton

Mark Behm

Sarah Mensinga (my favorite! can't get enough)

If I Only Had $1500...

A new Audrey Kawasaki print is available everyone! This one is especially unique because it was hand pressure printed using an incredibly intricate process I don't think I've ever heard of before...

I had to say I think that it's one my favorite prints she's sold thus far. And if you happen to have $1500 lying around I would suggest to snatch one up quick because they go super fast! 

P.s- My dream is to someday own my very own Audrey Kawasaki print....donations anyone?