Bird Paintings by Betsy McLellan Studio

I stumbled across these colorful bird paintings by Betsy McLellan on Etsy earlier today. The vivid colors and bold brushstrokes are a great way to make the walls of often-neutral living rooms and bedrooms catch your eye. I think this cardinal one is my favorite - I love seeing their bright feathers contrast with newly-fallen snow in the winter.

She also paints chickadees, like this adorable little black-capped pair on a branch of bright red berries.

Have you ever seen a titmouse like this one here? They look a lot like cardinals, just with different colors. They're one of my favorite species to watch out for at the bird feeder.

There used to be a cat in our backyard when I was younger that was always after the blue jays. I remember one summer I kept finding bright blue and black striped feathers one or two at a time for weeks. Luckily, I think the blue jays we had (like this one painted here) always got away unscathed otherwise.

Here's another lovely chickadee print, this time with a lovely blue background to complement their black and white faces.

Betsy McLellan has a lot more paintings and prints available featuring more birds, other animals, and landscapes. See more of her work here.

Hen and Chicken Block Prints by Drenculture

When the husband and I transition from apartment living in the city to a house in the 'burbs, I've insisted on having a chicken coop in the backyard. I've always wanted to collect my own eggs to serve for quick weekday scrambled eggs and more elaborate weekend brunches. So these block prints by Drenculture by Rigel Stuhmiller would be a perfect accent for our house, as a nod to our hopefully-future feathered friends outside.

This first print is called "Hens with Lemons" and was featured in Sunset Magazine's holiday gift guide. I love the greens and yellows in this. I think it'd look great in a vintage-style kitchen!

 This next one is "Mattie the Hen". The bright red on her face really pops against the aquas and blues, and it looks like she's proudly puffing out her chest. A bit sassy, isn't she?

This last one is "Wendy the Hen". She seems less showy than Mattie. She looks like she's settled down to lay eggs or take a nap. I think the colors in this match really well with "Hens With Lemons" above. They'd make a nice pair to display together!

These chickens are part of Rigel Stuhmiller's Chicken a Week series, "devoted to chickens and the people who keep them". You can see more of the series here and more of Rigel's work at Drenculture here!

Edit: Coincidentally, Rigel Stuhmiller's work was featured on Shoppe by ScoutMob the same day I posted this! What are the odds?

British Beef Print by Paul Bommer

I'm currently captivated by this "British Beef...For Strength" print by  Paul Bommer. It's a little Guinness advertisement-y and a lot vintage-y with John Bull standing in front of his prize steer, yet also totally modern. I can hear strains of "in England's green and pleasant land" in my head as I look at the lovely little details in the background of a cozy country church, a little cottage, and haystacks in a field. This would be a great accent for a kitchen or breakfast nook, don't you think?

London Neighborhood Prints by Little Gonzales

These London neighborhood prints by Little Gonzales, featuring the sights of the city's various areas, are so wonderful! He mixes witty phrases with classic British icons, all in bright colors.

I think the little bird above "Hampstead Heath" is my favorite detail. So clever and whimsical! See more of Little Gonzales' work here.

Zebedee Print's Linocuts

Zebedee Print's linocuts depict flowers, animals, love notes, and rural scenes in wonderful color schemes.

Her "Allium and Cosmos" and "Springscape" prints are shown above. See more here!

A Round-Up

A round-up of things that have caught my eye this week - I hope you enjoy them as well!:


This "Fortune Favors the Brave" print by Lilco Letterpress on Poppytalk combines a wonderful, inspirational quote with fun and playful design in the form of a banner.




Tinctory creates smocked silk necklaces in beautiful, hand-dyed shades. They remind me of old-fashioned millinery and feathers.




A big thank you to designer Erin Gates of Element Interiors for featuring my "Keep Calm and Rock On" print in the new "Baby Steps" article in Boston Home. It's an honor to be featured!




Ever wondered where the classrooms, halls, and other places seen in Harry Potter are actually filmed? This USA Today article reveals 10 real-life locations. I think the one for Hagrid's Hut surprised me the most. (It's very far away from London...and has quite a dark past!)



The New York Times has compiled a handy travel gift guide - I had no idea there were so many products for every travel need. Of course, if you have a friend who keeps dropping their cellphone or music player in various liquids, then #5 above would be perfect for them as well!

Copyright Infringement!

It's always disappointing when you find someone copying your work. I know "Keep Calm and Carry On" parodies are popular, but some people just don't realize that the original poster is in the public domain, not someone's parody! You can't make your own version of someone else's riff on it.

I was very upset to come across this shirt and print which copy my "Keep Calm and Grow a Mustache" prints (above) and t-shirts. As I came up with the phrase myself, I own the copyright. If you could email them and please ask them to take it down (I've already done so, but oftentimes people refuse to comply), I would really appreciate it! Going after copyright infringers unfortunately runs up very expensive legal bills, so lawyers have to be a last resort.

Thank you guys in advance!

Illustrations by TwoEms

Thanks to Etsy's front page, I discovered a great new shop this morning! TwoEms (cleverly named after her initials) creates playful prints filled with bright colors and charming textures. The Big Ben one is my favorite - I love how the details and windows are slightly off-kilter, and the helicopter overhead!

See more of her illustrations here!

Martin Wilson, via Photojojo

Photojojo's newsletter absolutely blew me away this morning! Martin Wilson uses the contact sheets from his film cameras to create prints. However, there's no Photoshop or any kind of editing involved! He has to plan ahead of time what he wants the finished product to look like, shoot it in the right sequence, and match up photos from frame to frame and row to row. I have no idea how he keeps track of all these things in his head at the same time! He also never cuts and pastes frames - if he messes one up, he starts all over. Because of this, a roll can take him months to complete.

I think his most impressive pieces are the ones where he spells out sayings using pavement cracks and tree branches. Again, I have no idea how he lines things up so perfectly without being able to see the previous photo! He must have a photographic (literally) memory.

See more of his amazing prints here, and more from Photojojo here.

Supermarket Print Finds

Have you checked out Supermarket yet? It connects buyers with designers and artists of all types. To discover new pieces, you can check out their front page, browse by category, or search by keyword. So far, I love the quality and variety of their selections!

Today I browsed through the print section and picked out these wonderful items to share with you. (I especially love the map cut diptych of Boston!)

Click on each picture for more information about the piece and to see more from each designer.

Decor8's Take Five Tuesday

A huge thank you to Decor8 for featuring my "Whatever You Are, Be a Good One" print! It's an honor to be in such lovely, talented company.

See more of the Take Five picks here!

UO's Print Shop

Some of my faves from the new Print Shop on Urban Outfitters: "Paris 1960" by Justin Skeesuck, "Empire" by Santiago Uceda, and "Take the Scenic Route" by Alli Coate.

Every print in the shop can be purchased as a canvas print, or as a laptop or iPhone/iPod skin.

I'm glad they have them available as skins! I think it's a great way to brighten devices, and to bring more art into your life and display it in interesting ways.

Shades of Blue

Lovely paintings in shades of my favorite color, blue, by talented Etsy artist Groundwork.

(From top to bottom: A Grand Discovery, In Passing, and Campfire.)

London-Themed Posters

Some of the amazing posters from Blanka, created to celebrate London. See the rest of the set here!

New Print

One of the new prints in my shop! For this, I reworked an old print that needed freshening up. I made the notes heart-shaped (to represent a love song), and brightened up the colors.

A version with chocolate brown notes is also available.

Giggin' It Old School

These unique gig posters are from Garrett Karol. They have a great vintage look and feel! I love that each print is full of detail, but does not seem cluttered or overcrowded.

Great Wall Art

Tiny Media Empire has really creative limited edition prints up at their site. This is one of my favorites. I love how luminous the moon is, and the rest of the sky seems to glow down onto the pavement.