My sister Jane has just started a blog where she intends to blog her artwork, including paintings like the birds shown here, and soft toys she makes.

She’s just started this whole blogging lark and she said to me the other day she doesn’t know how we do it coz her eyes are killing her. I have to admit I noticed my eyesight is getting worse recently and also I notice I get dark circles under my eyes after a few hours of work… but I’m going off on a tangent now…

Anyway, hopefully she’ll be blogging new stuff fairly regularly - I’ll certainly be hassling her to keep it updated, so keep an eye on it. Also the blog might feature videos in the future of some of the soft toys because photos just don’t do justice to such highly original crazy creatures as this guy, or even this guy.

They’re incredibly full of character, I’m sure you get some idea from the photos, but you really see them come to life when they’re waggling their wings or tilting their heads and being given a voice by their creator… hopefully we’ll sort out some YouTube stuff soon.

More traditional type toys are easier to relate to from photos because we’re more used to seeing stuff like them, such as the doll (pictured) Jane created recently called Mopsie, but Jane still gives even traditional type toys far more character most.

Jane may even begin to take commissions for the soft toys, so leave a comment on her blog if you are interested. So far she has produced them as presents and for her own enjoyment, but if you offer her enough money…

I’d love to see some of the crazier creatures mass produced and in the shops…

You’ve got to like the cleverly surreal work of Ellis Nadler and not just because I tell you to. Often when you look at absurd stuff like this, it can come across as contrived but, somehow, Ellis manages to create something that if you twist your head around the right way, it actually could possibly make some sort of sense.

He’s also a bit of a multi-talented bastard, able to turn his hand to cartoony stuff, portraiture and even photography - all with just about enough aplomb to mean you’d probably want to hit him if you ever met him but you would buy him a drink afterwards to apologise. If you still felt bad about it you could even buy one of his prints at Imagekind. And while we’re on the subject, I’d be curious to know if anyone has had any experience with Imagekind, or similar services, because I’ve always thought that a couple of our toons would make nice prints.

When someone has already been hailed by BoingBoing and Drawn, I usually don’t feel the need to add to the plaudits. Who really deserves that much praise? Well, Cali Rezo does, as it happens. Her digital paintings are absolutely stunning and contrary to what your first impressions are likely to be, they aren’t just touched up photographs. You can also buy prints of some of her work or commision her to do a portrait. Someone left a comment at the Drawn post asking what was the point of going to such painstaking lengths to create a picture that looks like a touched up photograph. Which is a bit like asking what is the point of being exceptionally talented and clearly enjoying what you do. I would like to say more on the subject but between Cali’s site and her blog, I suspect I’m going to be very busy for a while.

Sometimes when you go to a site like the previously mentioned Patchbox, your eyes can become assailed by so many interesting things that you often actually take nothing away from it. Alot of the time you follow a few links only to find the rest of the artists work doesn’t quite match up. Or, for reasons I’ll never understand, the image is a complete misrepresentation of the artist’s usual style. Just occasionally though you do find something that you really like.

Lee Elizabeth Pike is a painter from Western Australia with a real eye for colour and composition. She also has a nice line in fantasy art, some of it dating back to when she was 14. Kind of refreshing to see modern fantasy art where the women aren’t all top-heavy amazonians. the site hasn’t been updated in a while but I have it on good authority that there is more work in the offing.

Just one of those things you stumble upon while aimlessly surfing late at night… a painting by Isabel Samaras. Felt I should share.