Artist Friday

Happy Friday!

What a very, very, very, loooong week!  I am glad to finally have two days to do homework, sleep late, watch t.v. with my sweetie, and maybe take some naps!

I am highlighting an amazing artist today who I am very excited about.

Her name is Liz Wolfe and she is a conceptual photographer who is living and working in Toronto, Canada.

She has no artist statement available on her website, but from my own perception she uses everyday objects and items, manipulating them and making the viewer look  and see in new and exciting ways.

Sugar Hills

Yellow Shoes and Sardines

Popsicle/Cupcakes

Red Shoes/Tampon

Lollipop Garden

Carrots/Peppers

Distorted Cones

I think her work is so interesting.  I love how everything is in bright and happy colors but that conceptually when you look closer there is something a little off.

Sort of like life sometimes, right?

Look tomorrow for the end pictures of my chalkboard glass tutorial!

Lots of love,

Jess

Georgetown Cupcakes, The Knotty Bride Blog, and Artist Friday!

Hello!

This is going to be a long one people so get ready!

I have to tell you first, that Meridyth and I celebrated Valentine's Day 4 days early and I took her to Georgetown Cupcakes in Bethesda for a treat.

For a background, my girl LOVES cupcakes.  She loves cupcakes so much I actually proposed to her using cupcakes and writing Will You Marry Me on them!

I now understand why Georgetown Cupcakes have a line down the block.  THEY ARE A PIECE OF HEAVEN ON EARTH!  Georgetown Cupcakes is not paying me for this, I swear!  They are literally ahmazing.

I ate the  Chocolate Birthday cupcake (not pictured).  It tasted like birthday cake and a chocolate milkshake with crunchy sprinkles.  Can I rave anymore?  These ladies who run this deserve all the success that they have had!

Now, onto the topic of the blog The Knotty Bride.  

I love this blog!  Alison who runs the blog is hilarious and does a post called The Bachelor Recap every week.  I do not watch the Bachelor, but every week I go to her blog to read her recap of the show which includes pictures and hilarious commentary.  I couldn't sleep last night and I laughed out loud when I read her recap.  Definitely something funny to read each week!

Now, for the artist.

This week I am featuring Jacek Yerka.

In an article on Visual News it say's:  "Along with some magnificent dreams, Jacek Yerka Find inspiration for his masterful paintings from his childhood memories:  the places, remembered feelings and smells of 1950's Poland".

I hope you find his work as interesting as I do!

The last image is my favorite.  The textures of the fabric make me want to crawl into that bed and never come out!

I can see some Salvador Dali influences in his work.  Very intricate and I feel like each painting takes you to another world.  A scary and beautiful dream world.

What do you guys think?

Have a great weekend and don't forget to visit LoveUPaperly if you haven't been in awhile!

Love,

Jess

Artist Friday featuring

I was using the app Stumble which I am addicted too when I want find cool things on the web (I also talked about it in this blog post), and I came across this artist/photographer who I found to be really, really cool.

Her name is Ariana Page Russell and her photography is mostly about her skin condition.  She has dermotagraphia.  This is a condition where the skin is highly sensitive even when lightly scratched. 
With this touch her body produces an excessive amount of histamines which causes capilleries to dilate and therefore produces welts.

She is therefore able to painlessly draw on her skin.

I have always been fascinated by body image.  Being a woman myself and an artist I found in my late teens/early twenties I focused a lot on self perception and how that related to other's views. 

I am absolutely enthralled with how this artist has taken something that could have made her feel self conscious and instead shows it to the whole world as her art.

In some of her pieces she also uses photographs of her skin and turns them into collages or temporary tattoos and uses those in her photographs. 

I find myself comparing her to a modern day Francesca Woodman.  I think this comparison could be that both artist's images make me vaguely uncomfortable.

I have always found that the artists I am drawn to the most are those that push my boundries and comfort.   To me feeling unsettled by a work of art means that it is truly saying something.

Flora 2006

Flora (Knee) 2006

Index 2005

Cameo Deux

Net 2011

Interesting, right?  Definitely check out her website and read her artist statement.  I think she is really relavent and interesting.

What do you guys think?

I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Love,

Jess