amanda briggs at dear ada

leigh wells illustrations.

I tear out articles in magazines a lot. For the article (to read later), the object (to desire) and the artwork or illustration (to admire). One such article was about happiness from september 05 real simple. I love the illustration they used to frame up the article, done by leigh wells, who does fabulous work. Love her birds especially!

charlie roberts.

I love, love, love the artwork of charlie roberts.

ernest ciavano drawings.

A nice friend turned me on to the breathtaking work of ernesto caivano. I love the confidence and sparsity of his line work. And well, of course, I love the subject matter. Such a lovely find!

bird postcard.

Some sweetness from loaded hip press.

botanica.

Photographer howard schatz has a new book out called botanica. It's got some amazing shots of flowers as well as some colorized images that are interesting as abstracts. It's definitely worth a peek.

cloverfield press.

I got this lovely little book at tortoise in LA. I haven't read the story yet, but in my documented tendency of judging a book by it's cover, I couldn't pass this one up. It's beautifully made by the wonderful cloverfield press, who's goal is to make books that both stimulate intellectually and artistically. "Cloverfield Press is inpired by the example of Leonard and Virginia Woolf's Hogarth Press which published works by visionaries as well as modern masters, combining them with the best of modern design." Sounds inspired to me!

cindy jaswal.

Oh my, do I love the illustrations by cindy jaswal! Absolutely lovely!

Thanks to gracia louise for the sweet link.

stanley bielen flower paintings.

The paintings of stanley bielen make my heart ache, I love them so much. They remind me a bit of the last flower paintings of manet which can be found in a lovely little book by the same name.

karl benjamin.

l.a. apartment therapy has a post about an upcoming show at orange county museum of art next year called the birth of cool. I'm definitely marking that one on the calendar. The artwork of karl benjamin is featured on the announcement much to my delight. I'd not heard of him before, but with a simple web search, I found lots of his amazing work. I'm definitely adding him to the favorites list!

favorite book, lovely drawing.

I love this wonderful illustration by emma akerman, of one of my all time favorite childhood books, the secret garden. I can't imagine loving the story more than I already do, but when I see this illustration, I'm thinking maybe I could if this were the book's cover. As I've said before, I'm totally willing judge a book by it's cover!