Catherine Campbell

I love these crazy busy pictures by Natsu Wakabayashi.

Hello Monday morning. I like these.

Work in progress by Richard Pearse.

benconservato...

 

Benconservato is another name for Emma Kidd, an artist I like very much. I met Emma in person at the last Finders Keepers market in Sydney and we have recently been hatching a plan for some collaborative work. I think Emma's work is expressive and messy and beautiful and noisy and free. I got to thinking, I wonder if cool things could be achieved by combining our styles on the one page to make a picture.

We are starting off small for now with one drawing begun by each of us and then sent to the other to finish.

Progress shall be charted on this here blog and hopefully from small beginnings grand things may happen!

becca stadtlander...

Beautiful pictures and patterns by Becca Stadtlander.

p.s. There has been a certain lack of art making around here lately. This I hope is only due to the fact that it's the dead of winter and my art making motivation has decided to go off and hibernate. Sensible of it really. In the mean time I will continue to collect lovely bits and pieces such as those above and patiently wait for it to find its way back to me again.

p.p.s One thing re. inspiration... I seem to be growing more and more fond of the ceramics of Lucie Rie and the design of Frank Lloyd Wright. I wonder where that will take me.

missed connections...

I had to share one more find before I go to bed. Artist Sophie Blackall has a blog called Missed Connections where she illustrates posts from missed connection sites. As she says "they are funny, sad, beautiful, hopeful, hopeless and poetic, with the lifespan of a butterfly"...

 

 

Missed Connections

p.s. They're really big if you click on them.

miha tanaka...

These are lovely and odd...

 

 

Miha Tanaka

heike weber...

Look. Magic...

 

Heike Weber

:: Found via Ruby Mag ::

odilon redon...

Odilon Redon is my favourite at the moment. You can see a lot of his work right here.

kelly tunstall and ferris plock...

New favourites are Kelly Tunstall and Ferris Plock...

Most of their pieces seem collaborative, you can see more at either of their websites:

kellytunstall.com

ferrisplock.com

sarah applebaum...

Fecal Face just featured a studio visit with artist Sarah Applebaum. She has created a crazy cardboard cave in her living room which looks fantastic, plus some crochet monster men watching over her. I like it.

gibbous...

I think this might be the third time I have blogged about Gibbous. I love their world, I go there every now and again for a little inspiration...

:: website ::

:: flickr ::

sydney...

I am back in Sydney at the moment. Oh Sydney, while I must admit my heart firmly belongs to Melbourne, I really do think you are the most beautiful city in the world. Yes that is a grand statement I know but it really is a lovely looking place.

I went down to Circular Quay this afternoon to visit the Museum of Contemporary Art because I heard there was a big exhibition showcasing new Australian drawing called I Walk the Line. It was really fantastic with some great interpretations of what it means to 'draw'. One of my favourite pieces was a digital video by twins Gabriella and Silvana Mangano showing them mark-making on a wall in strange choreographed movements around each others bodies.

On the upstairs level there was a major show of work by Yayoi Kusama. She is an artist who I have seen in print many times and have never really understood the hype. I now realise I simply needed to see her work in real life. The image below shows an installation shot of one of the pieces, it is something like stepping into infinite space surrounded by a psychedelic solar system, all in a room no bigger than three meters square. I think it is one of the best artworks I have ever seen, ever.

Well, there you go, it is a day for grand sweeping statements it seems.

In other news, the lovely Finders Keepers market recently interviewed me for their website, you can find it here click click...

http://www.thefinderskeepers.com

betsy walton...

:: Betsy Walton ::

You can read her excellent interview in the latest Blanket Magazine.

fiona hall and heather shimmen...

Two artists whose work I have been looking at recently...

Fiona Hall:

Heather Shimmen:

margaret preston...

Margaret Preston has always been a favourite artist of mine, ever since I was tiny...

sachiko kanaizumi...

I am doing major battle with the art monster at the moment. Sometimes art can be such a pleasant skip amongst the daisies and at other times it feels like an exhausting fight with a huge shape-shifting beast. There you go, it probably explains why I haven't got one finished picture to show for 2009 and it is already March! I think I'm getting there though... very slowly, surrounded by piles of discarded paper and millions of tiny lines.

Anyway, here is the work of Sachiko Kanaizumi which I found recently and have fallen head over heels for...

beautiful...

Had to pinch this beautiful photo from The Sartorialist...

julie morstad and small...

These drawings by Julie Morstad in the latest issue of Small magazine are beautiful...

ronit baranga...

I like these clay sculptures by Ronit Baranga:

p.s. All those give-away comments made me giddy... so many nice words. Thank you... again!

keiko minami...

While I was in Japan one of my favourite finds was Bonheur, a book of artwork by Keiko Minami. Her colour etchings are very lovely...

 

If you would like a little more information the book was reviewed over at Book By Its Cover.