I love pinup art. Always have. There is a certain beauty to it. So, you take the pinup style, mix in some comic art, a little seductiveness and whimsy, then you have the art of Tracy Lee Quinn. Tracy is another artist I came across at the recent HeroesCon. A recent graduate of the Art Institute of Boston, Tracy has already developed a great style to her work that will separate her from her peers. Take a look at her portfolio here.

Easily going down as my favorite album of 2010 thus far. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti have really outdone themselves with their new album Before Today. Enjoy the video for the song Bright Lit Blue Skies. Can’t wait to catch them live when they come around.

Finally after all this time I’ve started doing some mixes. Basically these will just be tunes I am listening to currently or a mood I want to convey.
Here’s the rundown for the first every LoupeMix:

Local Natives – Wide Eyes
Broken Social Scene – Forced to Love
Sleigh Bells – Infinity Guitars
Surfer Blood – Swim
Caribou – Sun
Beach House – Norway
Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros – Home
Charlotte Gainsbourg (w/ Beck) - Heaven Can Wait
The Dead Weather - New Pony
Metric – Sick Muse
Yeasayer – Ambling Alp

I hope you like!

There were some artists and tables I just walked past at HeroesCon. It was either artists who were doing the same thing as everyone else or whose work I’d seen before. Then there were the showstoppers. Those whose work was different, unique, and their own. Sara Richard is the one of those. I saw here portfolio opened from several feet back and I knew there was something unique yet beautiful about her work. Cartoonish yet organic. Her work has a flow to it that carries across many media, whether it be illustration, sculpture, toys, or paintings.

Check out her work at:

SaraRichard.com
The Inklings of Sara Richard
Sara Richard @ deviantArt

A movie based around and featuring the music of Broken Social Scene? What part of that does not sound killer!?!

This past weekend I got my geek on at the HeroesCon here in the Queen City (Charlotte, NC to outsiders). While there I came across a number of talented, indie artists and writers that I wanted to share with everyone. Over the course of the next few days I’ll introduce them to you.  I encourage you to check out their work. There are some very talented folks in the comic biz.

Jeremy Bastian’s work really caught my eye. Very detailed and concise. His work reminds me of old woodcut prints. Digital imagery doesn’t do it justice so visit his store, throw out some scratch and pick up some of his work. You can visit his site here.

I am falling in love with Sleigh Bells and their album Treats. I am really close to putting together my summer mixcast and picks. Stay tuned! Until then, enjoy the vid.

The design world has lost a true visionary when it comes to modern, contemporary design. Tobias Wong showed us the future of design and the future looked damn good. Read the full tribute here at MocoLoco.

Architect-turned-social entrepreneur Eve Blossom created a sustainable business – Lulan Artisans – that provides women and families in Southeast Asia with an economic alternative to participating in the sex trade. Extracting lessons from her nine-year journey, Eve urges us to be disruptive entrepreneurs, and to view our creative ventures as “cultures” – offering unique frameworks for collaboration – as  much as “companies.”

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I am supposed to be on hiatus. But I had to post this amazing video for Hammock’s Breathturn of their album Chasing After Shadows…Living With The Ghosts. Absolutely stunning and beautiful. Fits the song perfectly.

Hammock – Breathturn from David Altobelli on Vimeo.