Dessert.

I’m really wishing I could be in SF this weekend for the art show “Let Them Eat Cake” featuring small paintings by artist Paul Ferney.  This event will showcase Paul’s cake paintings with his wife Jordan from Oh Happy Day! art directing and cutting slices of real cake.  It sounds so fun and I really wish I could attend! If there are any paintings leftover they will be offered online the Monday after the show.  If you are in the Bay Area this Labor Day weekend be sure to visit the show at Paul and Jordan’s studio and help support your local artists! More info here.

Lovely.

These lovely prints by Finnish artist Anna Emilia are just the thing I needed to pull me out of this blog drought! There is such great design talent coming out of Finland that it has become a must visit country for me.  Listen to Anna’s description of where she grew up, “I was born in Leppävirta, a small town in Finland with strawberry fields, lakes and pine forests. There I built huts out of branches with friends and my brother, listened to stories from tapes and drew, cut and glued paper. One summer we found Melancholy thistle flowers which we used as painting brushes.” Sounds like a pretty idyllic place to begin your creative life.  See more of Anna’s work here and shop here.

(via Bloesem)

Serenity.

I am so attracted to the sereneness of these rooms which I spotted on the cover of House Beautiful this month.  The natural washed wood walls and floors, those big cushy sofas, the soft pastels and especially those gorgeous color-block paintings by Leora Armstrong all make me go ahhhh.

Man oh man have I been tired! The hubs went to Tokyo last week for work and for some reason I thought I’d be able to catch up on all the sleep I lost once he returned. Alas there is no such thing as “catching up on sleep” once you have a baby. Once it’s gone, it’s gone!

Thankfully, these fun prints from photographer Jeff Friesen landed in my inbox yesterday and dragged me out of my blurry eyed state.  Based in chilly Halifax, Nova Scotia, Jeff started photographing these interior animal dioramas as a way to pass the time spent indoors during the long winters.  Using his young daughters toys and other random things lying around his apartment he’s created these amusing scenes of animals complete with witty descriptions…read “Stripes” for a laugh.   You can purchase these prints from his Etsy shop Wild Life Prints and check out his mesmerizing professional photography on his website.

Spring.

Today while I was out walking, I saw purple and yellow crocuses sprouting up all over the neighborhood.  It might still be a little early but I’m going to go out on a limb and say Spring is here! This cheery artwork from Ish & Chi is made with the very Spring-like fabric of Amy Butler and Heather Bailey.  See more of these beautiful creations here.

Love.

Create your own customized Amy Butler wall art through Artaissance. Choose your favorite Amy Butler design, select the size and choose from acid-free paper or canvas.  Start here.

Beautiful.

Watercolors by San Francisco based artist and surfer Serena Mitnik-Miller. Available through Serena & Lily.

A favorite artist partnering with a great cause…doesn’t get any better than that.  The folks over at The Working Proof have partnered with Amy Ruppel in the release of an edition of her “This Land is Your Land” print. This print was inspired by the forests surrounding Amy’s stomping ground, Portland, OR, so it’s only fitting that 15% of the proceeds for the sale of each print will go to American Forests.  For $45 you get this gorgeous print and help American Forests in their goal to plant 100 million trees by 2020!

Seeing as I am in complete lala-gaga-loveland with the baby, it’s no surprise that I want the latest edition from 20×200, titled “Lovebirds” from Lisa Congdon.  This is the third edition from the fantastic San Francisco artist and co-owner of the gallery/boutique Rare Device. As per the usual from 20×200 you can buy an edition of this print starting at $20, love it!

Such pretty illustrations from the Japanese artist Takahisa Hashimoto.  I have contacted him to find out if he will be selling any of these digital illustrations. In the meantime we can admire from afar.

(via Fly)

I feel transported this morning thanks to artist Jean Jack. These serene paintings of farmhouses and beach structures take my mind on a trip to two of my favorite places.  The beach houses remind me of where we got married on Cape Cod and the farmhouses are reminiscent of the houses and barns you see on Rt 1 in California on your way to Pt. Reyes and Tomales Bay.  Enjoy.

I have to admit I was a little weepy on New Years Eve this year. You see, after spending every New Years Eve for past fourteen years as a duo, the hubs and I are about to become a trio.  As we prepare for our family portrait to change I think it’s important to take a moment and appreciate how blessed we’ve been to share so much time together just the two of us, even as we excitedly plan for our little one.  So when my friend Molly sent me these darling prints by Melissa Bryant I thought, what a sweet way to commemorate our expanding family!  Melissa’s prints of chair families are so imaginative and with my love of chair re-upholstering and interior collages I pretty much have to have one.  Melissa accepts custom orders for her chair family portraits and pet portraits as well. I’ll have to incorporate our cats George and Shrimp into my custom portrait as well because after all they are members of this family too!

The über talented typographer/illustrator Jessica Hische now has an online store! If you live in the Boston area you might recognize her work from the Boston Globe where she did six different covers for the magazine.  All six images are now available as an archival print on velvet fine art paper. The velvet paper makes it sound so decadent doesn’t it? Her work reminds me of one of my favorite typographers Marian Bantjes’ work.  Oh and did I mention if you buy one of her prints this week 100% of the proceeds will benefit the ASPCA? Get to it here.

(via Claremont Road)

Check out the newest items in Sanna Annukka’s shop.  She has two new screenprints in more subdued and sophisticated palettes than her usual bright and bold color patterns and a new set of beautiful carved wooden birds.

The screenprinted carved birds are called Sielulintu in Karelia (a historical province of Finland) which means Soul bird.  The ancient belief is that these birds deliver the soul to newborn babies and also transport the soul to the afterlife at the moment of death.  It was believed the Sielulintu protected a persons soul at it’s most vulnerable; when dreaming, and it was tradition to keep a carved wooden bird by the bedside to keep the soul safe during sleep.  I wouldn’t mind having one of these for the bambino’s room!

(via DesignSponge via emmas designblogg)

You can literally feel the tension in the tangled web of these urban landscapes from artist Amy Casey.  Amy writes that she is “inspired by natural and unnatural disasters, personal fiasco’s and the never-ending stream of bad news coming in from the media, the world inside my paintings has been turned (sometimes literally) upside down. The ground has crumbled underneath them and the sky is falling. In the wake of this, my created world bands together to come up with coping plans”  Although this might sound pretty grim, there is beauty in exploring these ideas through art and realizing that to some extent we are all in this together.  The print above titled “Residential Web” is currently being offered through 20×200 starting at $20!