amanda briggs at dear ada

carl fredrik ekstrom.

I just discovered the delightful work of carl fredrik ekstrom via an archived post from karin's style blog. Oh my, do I love the energy and simplicity of his work. You'd imagine that it would be easy to pull something so raw and ephemeral off, but we all know it's quite the contrary. There is no place to hide with a layout so open and uncluttered. Ah, it's a totally lovely thing indeed.

billy renkl.

Oh my do I like this piece by billy renkl. A lot! It combines many of my personal artistic loves: collage, botanicals and cyanotypes, all with the added benefit of some amazing, decorative calligraphy to boot. Yes, fabulousness most definitely abounds in this piece of art.

katja prins.

I'm really liking the most recent jewelry of katja prins. It's beautifully crafted, made from silver and sealing wax of all things. There's an eerie tension between the organic shapes and medical, prosthetic allusions. Or at least that's what comes up for me. They feel so modern in their blur between the body and technology. Really compelling and cool work!

hung liu.

I am usually not drawn to art depicting people. It's not that I don't like them per se, it's just that I'm more enamored with botanicals or abstracts or landscapes or images of animals. Occasionally though, a portrait as amazing as this one by hung liu comes along and my heart just sings. I love the composition of this piece as well as the amazing printmaking technique used to create it. I love the color and the collage like approach to the layout. What remarkable work, both rich in story and happily for me, a portrait of a person so compelling, I'm forced outside my preference zone. Good on.

anke weckmann.

anke weckmann's birds are so great. They're delightful and appealing like most birds are, but not too sweet either. They have their own character, just like real birds only in animated form. Bird personality, happy drawings that can't be beat.

malwina toczek.

I'm grooving on the serenity and tension of this lovely photography by malwina toczek. Soft and comfortable, yet a bit of caution is in order to avoid the branch. Very compelling and smart. Wonderful!

subversive jewelry.

I love collections and collages and the clash of disparate things. I love the tension and strange beauty that emerges from the mix. Which is why I'm gaga about the necklaces from subversive jewelry. I love the over the top use of stuff, the chunky, gutsy mix of crystals (maybe from chandeliers) and copper or chains from vintage jewelry, beads, ribbon, ephemera, all mashed together to create these modern baubles. Yes dahling, they're totally fabulous!

susan connolly.

It's a rainy, wet summer day today so a wonderful mixed media painting like this one from susan connolly just fits the bill. It's sunny and colorful someplace in the world, unfortunately for us, it's just not here. But isn't that what's so great about art? It transports you and reminds you of the magic of the days, even when the weather doesn't seem to want to cooperate. Lovely, lovely indeed!

louise gibb.

Here's another wonderful example of the beauty of black and white. I really like this sweet platter by louise gibb. I love the freedom of the line work and the simple, almost childlike subject matter of the story. Wouldn't this be a fabulous platter to serve fresh green beans from the garden?

greg decker.

I'm kind of a fanatic about black and white. I love it in art especially. A tight reduction of color forces us to see the media used to make the image and of course, the subject and motif more clearly. Like this lovely painting of a moth by greg decker. I love it in it's simplicity and raw yet very steady hand. I love it because it's so beautiful in just black and white.