I hope you all have a lovely and safe New Year's. Thank you all so much for continually coming by the blog, leaving comments, sending me emails and your overall encouragement. I can not begin to explain what it means to me. This blog would not exist the way it does with out your continued support. Thank you.

Let's put 2009 to bed and start 2010 off right. Here's to a new decade; full of creative energy, new and old friendships, better mistakes and above all love. This will be our year, friends.

**above print by Mike Monteiro at 20x200.

I just gleaned this image from Anno Domini's  latest show Fresh Produce. I love the folkloric vibe this piece by Binho Martins gives off. I especially love how it says 'Free'. I think it perfectly captures the spirited season right now. It's been a bit of a long Fall and I am delighted the holidays are here. I hope you all have a safe and wonderful and truly loving holiday season. I will see you all next Monday with visions of sugar plums only for you. LOVE.

p.s. Don't forget to leave a comment on the stellar give-a-way above! Don't tell anyone...but I hope you win!

Wow, was what came out of my mouth when I first saw Beth Cavener Stitcher's arresting sculptures. My friend Dagan had sent me an email asking me if I was familiar with her work, attaching a link for me to peruse. Scrolling through her years of work I felt like I had let myself down in some way not knowing about Beth's work. Mind you my friend had followed up his first question with: "because you should be if you aren't." Ugh, I know!

Initially when I look at work, I gauge how quickly my mind starts to wander as I take a piece in. I really pay attention to my visceral reaction. Beth's work sent my mind into emotional overdrive. I had so many questions, ideas, thoughts. I was simply blown away. I am absolutely taken with how she translates human emotion through the animals she creates. Exploring body language as a metaphor, she portrays her animal subjects as 'human psychological portraits':

"The sculptures I create focus on human psychology, stripped of context and rationalization, and articulated through animal and human forms. On the surface, these figures are simply feral and domestic individuals suspended in a moment of tension. Beneath the surface they embody the impacts of aggression, territorial desires, isolation, and pack mentality" 

The piece above, A Second Kind Of Lonliness, is probably one my favorites of Beth's. Every eight seconds a breath is released from the goat's mouth and the pinwheel spins. SO many levels of awesome.

Alex McLeod has generously offered to give away the above print to a reader of ML4U. Titled "By The Sea", it's 12" x 17"7/8 printed on Fuji Crystal archival paper. The original image will be featured in Alex's upcoming show at ROJO Barcelona in lightbox form. Pretty sweet! Let's mix it up a little bit, k? This time, I'll still choose the winner by the trusty randomizer, but this time I want you to tell me what your favorite holiday dessert is. Mine is sugar cookies with a nice cup of PG Tips. Oh and be sure to click on the image to get a much bigger view of the print. It's SICK!

Alex lives and works in Toronto where he creates his super, bubbly, kinda sweet yet kinda creepy, chubby universes digitally. Take a virtual tour through one of his sets:

isle of the dead from Alex McLeod on Vimeo.

Documentation always amazes me. Love does too. Often using the latter to catalog such an emotion between two people (especially a forbidden love) can be a fascinating foray into the human condition. Jeff Barnett-Winsby has recently published a limited edition book titled Mark West and Molly Rose. Through correspondence, a hand tooled painting and photographs, the book catalogs a forbidden affair. A bit about the story behind the book:

Artist Jeff Barnett-Winsby had been photographing in Lansing Prison for a year, when he found out that an inmate, John Maynard, had escaped with the help of a social worker, Toby Young. Maynard and Young, under the aliases Mark West and Molly Rose, were captured two weeks later in Tennessee.

Andrew Schoultz Interview from Scion ART on Vimeo.

Check out this new crocheted piece (and clay) by Emily Barletta! It's her biggest and most labor intensive piece to date, measuring 68 x 49 x 3 inches. Wow. I asked Emily to tell me a bit about the piece:

"Mostly I just wanted to try to crochet something big (it took 6 months and I kind of hated working on it by the end.) Also I wanted to expand upon the mini crocheted sculptures I was making last year (you can see them here). I guess the piece goes along with the regular themes I've been working with (blood and guts and emotions.)"

One of the things I really admire about Emily is the intensity within her work and her ability to be so real about her it. You can read a Q&A I did with her when the blog was just a wee baby. ;)

Be sure to click to get a good look at this puppy.

Amanda Nedham's drawings are loosely based on mummies and objects from natural history museums. Within her work she explores what she terms "culture baggage - the appropriation of the body for the purpose of expanding narrative potential." I find her drawings stunning and slightly haunting.

Amanda's show Tapping The Admiral recently showed at Le Gallery in Toronto. To see more of her work check out the Gallery's site.

Join me, won't you?

Oh, my Todd! Receiving this too-cute-to-be-true Stevie Wonder-inspired postcard would put me over the moon.

Mimi Kirchner is a doll-maker unparalleled, and her series of toile-as-tattoo characters bring to mind aspirational painted ladies and the general vibe of the the Coney Island boardwalk scene.

Put some Underworld on the stereo and tune out: Caitlin Kuhwald's work is like a pulsing trance fantasy come true.

 

I love me some mid-century modern, and these modular plastic salt + pepper shakers are like physical figure eights..all curves, with no beginning or end.

 

This necklace speaks to me. Ancient future is "natural sea urchin spikes, tiny vintage brass cubes, and old car parts meeting up on a vintage brass chain for a pyramidal journey around your neck."

This little bun makes me get a little warm and gooey inside. The soft and unguent black merino definitely helps the cozy visions. I'd make a line-up of these little friends and decorate the mantle.

I've recently fallen in love with the Elaine Benes fashion oeuvre and have become convinced that a tiny backpack, oversized blazer and saddle shoes need to become part of my closet's lexicon. This canvas bag from Layer X Layer makes for a contemporary take on exclamations of "GET OUT!!!" (while artfully shoving).

Oooh! Gorgeous rabbit fur jacket in patchwork, be mine.

Thanks to Meighan for the oh-so-gracious and wonderful invite to guest blog on My Love for You: I've enjoyed it so! Keep on keepin' on, my friends: champagne wishes and hamburger dreams to all! For more craft and style musings, hit me up on Twitter or read me on Etsy's blog, The Storque.