Artist: Ingela P Arrhenius and Her Book "142 Actors"

If you look carefully at the studio photo in my previous post, you will find a wonderful little book sitting on the shelf. It's a book titled "142 Actors" by Swedish illustrator Ingela P Arrhenius. I got the book from Ingela in April this year after reading about it on her blog. It's a beautiful book with pages after pages of colorful portraits which Ingela captured from a black/white German talent catalogue back in 1933. On each spread, Ingela arranged to have a male and a female facing each other, and some of them look like they are actually having a conversation. For me personally, this book is not only a feast for the eyes, it's a great book to learn about painting techniques as I've never took real painting lessons at school. It is so inspiring to see how she applied strokes, colors, as well as her own interpretation on all the characters and made each of them so unique.

I've planned to blog about the book earlier, but the timing is actually better now, because Ingela told me that she had set up a PayPal account, which should make it easier for her to take orders from international buyers. If you'd like to get a copy for yourself (highly recommend), please contact Ingela.

(All photos taken by Ingela P Arrhenius)

Ingela P Arrhenius is a freelance illustrator based in Stockholm. In addition to her advertising and magazine commissions, she has illustrated children's books, designed several stamp editions and patterns for products such as children's clothing, fabrics and stationery. Ingela lives just south of Stockholm with her husband, two boys and their puppy.

Celebrating 3x3 with artist Gustavo Aimar

Invitación 3 x3, originally uploaded by Gustavo Aimar.

One of my favorite artist Gustavo Aimar is celebrating the 3rd anniversary of his blog. Gustavo has created a special blog called 3x3, and you are all invited to create a tiny piece of artwork of your own, 3 cm x 3 cm (not inches), if you'd like to participate. He stressed the importance to do the actual artwork on a 3cm by 3cm scale, instead of scanning an existing artwork and scale it down. With that in mind, you can use any materials and there is no limit on the topic. This is not a contest and there's no prize, just simply sharing a creative space. If you'd like to contribute, email Gustavo at aimargus@gmail.com with your 300 dpi / 3 cm x 3 cm JPG file of your artwork with your name, your link and the technique or materials you used to make your art.

My tiny painting for 3x3

Come and play at the Letter Playground!

Do you love hand lettering? I know I do! At work I do a lot of hand lettering, but I don't get so many opportunities to do it once I get home. But now I have no more excuses because one of my favorite artist, Nate Williams, just launched a brand new website called Letter Playground, a place to explore and play with letter forms. It's so new that Nate is still working on adding more impressive features, but it's already working very smoothly. You can get a jump start before the site is officially launched simply by registering. You will get a confirmation email after your registration and then you are good to go! Now go create and share it with the world. The sky is the limit!

Note: Nate has already created a whole page of super fun letters on his website. Check it out!

Best birthday card EVER!!!

I should have shared this one long long time ago (my B-day was in June)... My friend Steph (also the guitarist in Softee), knowing how much I love Javier Bardem and luchadors, made this card just for me. Better yet, she fashioned this from a GIGANTIC Hallmark recordable sound card (11" by 11" to be exact and has awesome sound effect; when the music plays, the whole card shakes), and the theme song is "Mexican Hat Dance"... Isn't it perfect? It's so great to have creative friends! :D

Want to see the details of the card? Click the photos and then after you are in the Flickr page, click "all sizes" above the image.

Two new inspiring blogs for you to visit

I am very lucky to be able to work with many talented artists everyday. Two of them, Donna Van Hooser and Jon Kelly Green, just recently started their own blogs, and I would love to share them with you. (Hint: Bookmark and subscribe to these two blogs. You will be so inspired by their working process and many artworks to come! I promise!)

The first one is Donna's SunDog Mosaics. At work, Donna sits one cubicle away from me, and we are very close friends. She has been a designer and illustrator for Hallmark for 21 years and a mosaic artist for 18; she is a well of knowledge and I learn from her everyday. Donna makes the most amazing mosaics and she is lightening fast! Right now in her blog, Donna is showing the progress of a mosaic piece featuring her cat Edwina. (We all love to see an artist's working process, don't we?) She also has an on-going project of making 101 doodle mosaics (all of them are 12"x12" in size) based on the doodles found in our friends' sketchbooks. Donna also has a Flickr site where you will find more photos of her works.

Above: "Emily and Oscar" (ungrouted) mosaic by Donna Van Hooser

The next one is a brand new blog: "Action Art by Jon Kelly Green". Even though Kelly's blog is brand new (born just yesterday), for years he has been running Studio-Rama with fellow artist Jen Rarey (Hint: if you love designer plush toys, you have to visit Studio-Rama and click Jen's plush page). Kelly's works are so much fun and full of energy, and he creates the best character designs, as you can already tell by the header he made for his blog! Kelly doesn't have a Flickr page yet, but if you follow his blog, you won't miss any great artworks coming your way in the near future.

Do you love skulls? I DO!!!

Artwork by Maura Cluthe

I should have posted about this long time ago. During Christmas, my friend and artist Maura Cluthe dropped by my office and gave me one of her "partly cloudy chance of skulls" screen prints. What a surprise!!! (It's now proudly displayed in my studio! Thanks, Maura!!!) At that time, she told me that she took a screen printing lesson, but I didn't really get the name of the place she told me about until reading her blog yesterday. (BTW, I have LOTS of catching ups to do when it comes to reading blogs...) She took a lesson at the Art Incubator here in KC, and these awesome pieces of skulls are the result from that workshop. She posted two parts stories (part 1 + part2) in her blog about her experience and the process of making these skully prints. They are also available in her shop for only $25; it's a steal because they are limited editions, plus Maura went in and drew on each piece using gel pens so each one is unique and different! If you love skulls, better get over there and get a copy before they are all gone!

PS: After reading Maura's blog, I seriously want to take the silkscreen lesson at the Art Incubator too! Do any of my friends in KC want to come along?

Girls on Wood Panels

I put the girls on wood panels over the week.





And also we went to check out Dick and his booth at the Westport Art Fair. Look what we got. Isn't it awesome?

Artist: Dick Daniels

(All artworks by Dick Daniels)

This is a quick shout out for my buddy Dick Daniels! I've blogged about Dick's artworks before in my old blog... Well, it is this time of the year again. Dick will be showing his awesome awesome artworks at the Westport Art Fair in Kansas City starting this Friday. If you haven't seen his works, I suggest you go check out his website "FunHouse57". Super fun stuff! Talk about putting artworks on woods, he is the master (and I LOVE how he uses found wood so each piece is different)! He also makes really fun ceramic pieces like skulls and bunny+kitty heads! If you are not in the K.C. area, you can still browse his online shop or you can just email him I believe!

This photo is taken from Dick's site... Look how awesome the display is! It's like a candy shop.

And I put this FUNHOUSE sign above my loveseat in the studio.

Nate Williams Pillow

Got this awesome Tree House pillow by Nate Williams at Urban Outfitters this afternoon. I love the artwork and the fact that the cover is removable. The insert is really soft too! There is another design (see it here ) but the shop didn't have it, otherwise I would get it too...

Artist: Gemma Correll... what a gem!!!

I am so in love with Gemma Correll's funny and whimsical drawings. The first time I saw them, I laughed out loud because they totally spoke to me and made me so happy! I have since then been a fan of her works; so when she told me that she blogged about me, I was so flattered! I have long wanted to blog about her artworks too, and here are some of my favorite pieces from her! Aren't they just so cute? I especially love the expressions on all her characters. She also does awesome hand letterings. Please check out Gemma's blog, her Flickr page and her Etsy shop.

Busy Busy + New blogs + Book Alert

I have to apologize for totally ignoring my blog recently... Besides my root canal situation, I have been so busy at work. You know things are going be crazy when your manager is telling everybody to please work like if our hair is on fire. Oh well, at least I need to be thankful that I have a job which offers me insurance for my root canal. So I am going to quit complaining.


(image above by Ramon Olivera)
One good thing about my work is that I get to work with many amazing artists and learn from them everyday. My friend Ramon Olivera is one of the artists that constantly inspires us with his imagination and fun artworks (not to mention he is one of the nicest and funnies guys we know.) But, come on, Ramon, you didn't tell me that you have a blog and I have to find out about it myself??? That's wrong! Anyway, lucky us, now we have one more blog with great artworks to look at. Check out Ramon's blog here!


(image above by Bob Kolar)
Also, BOOK ALERT!!! Our friend and mentor at work, Bob Kolar, is going to have a brand new children's book out this fall. It's called "Big Kicks". I am very fortunate to be able to see the book in person when Bob showed it to me the other day. It's such a great story and the cuteness of all the characters just blew my mind! Bob has been showing his process of creating artworks for this book in his blog "Whoop Dee Doo".


(image above by Sarah Anderson)
Last but not least, my co-worker/girlfriend Sarah Anderson recently started a new blog called "Unicorn Poo". She is also an amazing artist. Her artworks are so cute and they will make you poop in your pants (pardon my language, but it's true). I am sure Sarah will be posting lots of wonderful doodles, drawings or craft projects in the near future so stay tuned.

Saturday Bookstore Hops, Art Inspirations and A Page from My Sketchbook

I am still waiting for my Botero Drawings book, but I went to our library at work on Friday and they had a copy of the same book, so I checked it out and I can tell you, it is awesome. I am so glad that I ordered it; it's definitely worth every penny.

So yesterday I drove around town to different bookstores to see if they have any other books about the artist; all I could find was one little book, but it was marked for only $4 so I got it. I also targeted a great Picasso box set and a book featuring Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights" which amazes me everytime I look at it; those will be my next book purchase.
(By the way, you have to check out this link. They actually make action figures out of the painting! Unbelievable!)

After that, I went home and just enjoyed my evening. Nothing beats winding down with an art book, TV and doodling in my sketchbook, especially after my crazy busy week/weeks at work. Here is another page from my sketchbook. Two of the little characters were actually modeled after these Botero paintings shown here (images taken from the book). Can you find which two? :)


(Top: Excursion to the Volcano, 1966, Oil on canvas; Bottom: Picnic in the Mountains, 1966, Oil on canvas)

Book of Fernando Botero's Drawings

I don't know how this subject even came up during our conversation today, but Robert told me that he found it odd that I don't like Botero's works because judging by what I draw and my style, he thinks I would love them because they are so comical. It's not that I don't like his artworks, it's just I've never really taken a good look. But today after we talked, I finally did my research and I have to say that they are really starting to grow on me, especially his drawings. So I ordered this book from Amazon.com. It's not a new book but it will be my first Botero book and I can't wait for it to arrive! I will try to show more of the images when the book gets here. Meanwhile, here is one of the Botero paintings I love (don't know how old/new it is)! The image was taken from this link. It made me laugh just to see the tiny chubby dog in the fat lady's arms. Also, here is a good flickr link to view lots of Botero's sculptures around the world.

(PS: Happy Birthday, Robsie.)