Special Birthday Edition of Art I Heart: Lisa Congdon

Happy Birthday…to me!

That’s right. Another year on the planet for me. I’m more than twice as old as my mom was when she had me. WOW. Did I really have to put it that way? Huh, mom?

To celebrate myself, I purchased this You Are Beautiful collage from an artist who constantly inspires me, Lisa Congdon. It seemed like the perfect gift (and reminder) for a (younger) 40-something, not quite as thin, not quite as fashionable, not quite as sane mother of a (practically) 16-month-old.

Although I haven’t had a chance to see Lisa speak in person (yet, she will be speaking at Alt, yay!), I have sort of podcast/vimeo stalked her. You can too, at My Love For You, CraftyPod, and the San Francisco Creative Mornings Vimeo page. If you listen to or watch any of these, you’ll see why I’m so drawn to this self-taught artist who changed her career in her late 30s. When I hear her story, it really makes me feel like I CAN be a full-time blogger/writer/photographer/artist.

Lisa has a cool book (published by UPPERCASE) based on her 2010 blog, A Collection a Day. She also has a rad studio that was recently photographed by one of my favorite bloggers (and Lisa’s friend), Victoria Smith of sfgirlbybay.

Here are some of my favorite prints by Lisa. Feel free to buy these for me at any time.

It’s Complicated
Deep
It’s Simple
Here and Now

Thanks for being so awesome, Lisa!

Note: For those of you keeping track of the pact I made with myself, this is my fourth artist in four months. The first three were Fifi du Vie, Cassia Beck, and Elle Moss. Huh. So far, my monthly artists have all been women…and it wasn’t even intentional.