OMG, I am in love with the work of Australian artist Fontaine Anderson! I discovered her work via the Australian blog indie art & design and I just instantly fell in love and decided that I had to feature her work on TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday.

Fontaine is inspired by such varied themes as her dreams, Japanese textiles, Egyptian gods, 1980’s clip art, fashion and music. The work I have featured shows Fontaine’s unique dashed-line style and her subtle use of color. I’ve included some detail images, so you can see just what I mean. Aren’t they just breathtakingly beautiful?

Fontaine sells giclee prints via her website and is also available for freelance commissions. I really may be adding 1 or 2 to my print collection.

I know I’ve missed TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday 2 weeks in a row, but it’s back this week! Fridays for some reason have been run-around-like-a-crazy-woman days lately and I’m not really liking that trend. Besides leaving me feeling frazzled, it means you have missed your TGIF posts unless I was able to write one the day before.

So, today I’d like to share an artist with you who’s work really helps combat frazzley days. Terese Bast’s sweetly magical & whimsical illustrations just make you stop a moment and contemplate simpler times. Her work really brings a smile to my face and I hope it brings one to your face as well.

I’m very happy to share selected prints from Terese in the Indie Fixx Shop.

I collect art prints of women and girls and my collection includes work from The Black Apple, Pencil Shavings, Tsai-fi, Jen Oaks and more. As you can see, I am drawn to artists who include a certain amount of whimsy and fantasy in their work and I think I may have found a new artist to add to my collection…Lindsay Brackeen. I just love the storybook quality to her work as I am still a kid at heart. I think I may have add Lindsay’s work to my upcoming birthday wish list—hint, hint!

Finish this sentence: I will find…

Leave a comment below with your response and I will pick one winner Sunday, April 6th to win a selection of goodies from past Samplers I’ve received including embroidery patterns from Sublime Stitching, a recycled vintage book notebook from Attic Journals, fill-in-the-blank calling cards for owner and pooch from Busy Nest Cards, a houndstooth wallet/mini-clutch from Ember Bags, assorted notecards and more.

Here’s my response.

I will find….a Wii, if it kills me.

I will find print from Laura George for TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday.

This week’s TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday is in honor of Earth Hour and features illustrations of lamps and other implements of electricity. If you haven’t heard about it yet, Earth Hour is an annual international event started to promote conservation of electricity in an effort to lower world carbon emissions. Individual households and businesses are asked to turn off all lights and other non-essential electrical appliances for one hour on Saturday, March 29th at 8 pm local time. Last March, the first Earth Hour event took place in Sydney with 2.2 million people and 2100 Sydney businesses participating and with an estimated reduction of electricity consumption in Sydney by 2.1%. This year, the event is being promoted internationally and Sydney is partnering with many US cities like San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago, Miami and more.

I plan on participating and since it will definitely be dark here at that time, I already have my candles and oil lamps ready. I think Mr. Indie Fixx and I will open a bottle of wine, play a fun board game and appreciate the time spent away from in front of the computer. How about you? Do you plan on participating in Earth Hour?

Featured Illustrators

1. Spark of Love by Vol25

2. Vintage Lamps print from Teresekam

3. The Entry print by Vol25

4. White Chandelier by Jaime Derringer

5. La Rainette by Ma Boutique a Ficelles

6. Quint Cats from Kerry Beary

I’d like to share the work of Melissa Moss with you this week for TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday. After leaving the publishing world, Melissa studied color psychology and through her studies discovered her love for paining. It’s not surprising then that color features very prominently in Melissa’s work. In addition to the vibrant and lovely color combos, I find that I am really drawn to the content of her paintings. Melissa creates a surreal abstract world and evokes a very clear emotional response with each painting.

I am really very happy to report that I am now carrying selected Melissa Moss paper prints in the Indie Fixx Shop. Melissa offers wood prints in her shop.

Pure eye candy today for TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday from Rosie Music.

Now, I’ve got to run out and do errands and get a massage since my back is still a little wonky, but you guys have a good Friday!

As Christian Siriano would say, “These are some fierce bitches.”

This week’s TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday pick (even if it is technically Saturday here) is the art from GalaHouse. Ooh La La! Inspired by the old school glamor of the French baroque era, these giclee prints are just gorgeous!

Today’s TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday pick is in honor of my brother’s Leap Year birthday today and what better way to commemorate Leap Year than with a frog and leapling tea party on a lily pad.

My brother is 7 years old today and I will not tire of teasing him about that fact all day long. Happy Birthday, Adam!

Limited Edition Print (Snack Time) from Apakshop.

I’m writing a short and sweet post today, because I hurt my back this week and taking muscle relaxers isn’t necessarily very conducive to writing coherently, so I’m writing this post and then going off the take a pill and lay on the couch.

Today’s TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday treat are the animal portraits from Ryan Berkley of Berkley Illustration. Cute, clever and comical, I can’t decide which one is my favorite…it’s a toss up between Squirrel, who has a nut allergy, or Penguin, who is a Hitchcock fan.

I love the scratchy sketchiness quality to the art of Groundwork’s Danna Ray. Textured and ethereal, her prints seem to be suitable for this time of winter when everything is dry, withered and windblown but you can begin to see signs of spring.

It’s easy to believe that Danna grow up in a log cabin. I know it must have been in the woods.

I’ve been waiting all week long to share this artist with you for TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday. I can’t remember how I first discovered Dan-ah Kim, but luckily I rediscovered her when browsing through my illustration bookmarks. I’ve been drooling over her visually vibrant work all week long. I’ve been trying to be a more frugal girl lately, but I have a burning desire to buy some of Dan-ah Kim’s work…only which one(s) would I buy???

Here are the prints that I’ve got my eye on. Visit her site or etsy shop to choose your favorite.

Janice of JaniceJ’s Illustrations sent me a tip this week about her new Esty shop and I’m glad she did. Inspired by architecture, her travels and stories her illustrations are bright, cheery and visually interesting.

I just had to share for this week’s TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday. Here’s some delicious eye candy for you.

1 Dollar Store and the Water Village.

Hotel City and Pyramid House

The Good Harvest Supermarket and Stone & Co.

The theme for this week’s TGIF: Thank God for Illustration Friday is hair…some of the featured prints may depict the dreaded “bad hair day” or just some really interesting styles. You be the judge.

Serpentine Braids by beesknees industries.

Bad Hair Day print from the Dreamy Giraffe. Corinne from Unconventional Ida.

Riding the Wind print from Badbird’s. Unruly Hair print from Emma Klingbeil.

The Precarious UniWig print from Marmee Craft. Temptation print from aussiepatches.

Winter Apples print from Carambatack Design. The Green Dress print from redheather.

I’m starting a new feature on Fridays called TGIF, or Thank God for Illustration Friday. I discover so many talented illustrators that I could write about illustrators every day of the week….that would be a completely different blog though, now wouldn’t it? Every Friday I will highlight some of my latest and favorite discoveries. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean I won’t be featuring illustrators on other days of the week, but TGIF posts will be extra special. For a TGIF post, I might choose a theme and feature several illustrators who fit that theme or maybe I’ll do a little more in depth post on a illustrator who really strikes my fancy. Whatever the case may be, I do hope you like this new feature. I hope both you and I can have a lot of fun with it. Let me know what you think!

For this week’s TGIF, I’m featuring Yellena. I discovered Yellena at Poppytalk Handmade and was so smitten I bought one of her prints right away. It was really difficult to chose which one, but I ended up getting the Someday print (the image on the right below).

I love the undersea water adventure feel to her work and think her prints are what Jules Verne must have been imagining when he wrote Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Although not directly inspired by the sea, Yellena does write that she explores flow and movement in her work.

Besides Poppytalk and Indie Fixx, Yellena’s work has been featured in Domino magazine and Australian Vogue.

View more of her work at her site yellena.com or her Etsy shop. You can also read more about Yellena and her creations on her blog.