Yasmeen Ismail

This UK based illustrator graduated from art school in Dublin in 2002. 

Her emphasis is on character design and children's illustration. 

Her witty cartooning is sure to put a smile on your face.

Rikke Darling's Beautiful, Positive Art

The artist Rikke Darling from Denmark says her paintings and beautiful and positive ... no reason to do otherwise.

 Asked why she creates art, she answers - I can't stop.

And of course, she goes beyond the canvas.

Ben Wilson's Beautiful Miniature Art on Chewing Gum

The beautiful streets of London are getting even more beautiful thanks to Ben Wilson, the miniaturist who paints on discarded chewing gum.

Ben Wilson braving the cold on a London pavement creating a masterpeice

He uses a blow-torch to heat up the gum, applies a couple of layers of lacquer to prep the gum. He then uses acrylic paints drying between coats with a blow torch. Finally he finishes with a few coats of lacquer to make the paintings rain-proof and walk-proof. Awesome!

Just look at the detail in some of his work.

His work offers some beautiful relief from what he feels are the heavily advt dominated visuals in urban areas. It also deals with the chewing gum problem in a beautiful way.

Look at how he tucks in the year and his initials inconspicuously in to the art work.

Wilson takes requests from passers by at no charge. He feels this way people open up with their true stories.

He even painted a miniature chewing gum proposal. (Of course, she said, "Yes".)

For him, his art is all about people, how they relate to other people and how they relate to their environment. 

Wilson has painted over 8,000 chewing gum miniatures trying to capture the environment, the people and the beauty. When asked in an interview what he has learnt he said, 'people are always thinking about other people'

French Toast Girl

Enjoy the work of French Toast Girl Elena Nazzaro the super talented water colour illustrator. You can find her art here and her blog here.

On her blog you can find anecdotes about her three gorgeous children, like these dresses from her girls ...

...and little pieces of daily life.

This recipe for sun tea is my absolute favourite.

Graffiti by Adnate

This graffiti woman in a flaming saffron veil locks her hypnotic eyes with mine as I make my way to work everyday.

Indian Woman at Tulsi Pipe Road, Mumbai

On looking further I found that it is the work of Australian graffiti artist Adnate. Turns out, not only was he in Mumbai sometime this year, but there was also a little terrace-top talk by him that you could attend at a building at Shirley Rajan Road, Bandra. (Yes, we've all missed that!)

Of course he has a wide range of styles but there's something about his work with eyes that is just captivating...

These two are part of a series of wall portraits called Hidden History in Berlin

And of course, eyes looking down at you from walls remind me of this TED talk by JR, a French Street Artist who speaks about 'How Art Can Change The World'.

Believe me, if you have any interest in the arts, this is A VIDEO YOU DO NOT WANNA MISS. Enjoy!