View Larger THIS Friday’s opening was a SF Bay Guardian’s top event pick! (Image by Shayna Yasuhara)
View Larger THIS Friday’s opening was a SF Bay Guardian’s top event pick! (Image by Shayna Yasuhara)
Lauren YoungSmith is an artist and writer from Denver, Colorado. She graduated from Stanford University and works as a freelance illustrator. Her projects have included work for Juxtapoz Magazine and DreamWorks Animation. We love her style; its distinctly dark attitude, fraught with monsters, ghosts and sea-creatures. The images featured here are from her Monster Month series. To see more by visiting her website or find her via Instagram (@laurenyes).
You can see more of her work, in person, at this Friday’s opening of the Paint Pens in Purses’ curated show, “Night Visions: Documenting Creatures of the Night” at Big Umbrella Studios in San Francisco. RSVP & full info here.
View Larger Paint Pens in Purses, the national urban art collective, is proud to present their newest show entitled “Night Visions”. The show is a collection of urban, contemporary, and Low Brow artwork documenting dreams and creatures of the night. The show is curated by Paint Pens in Purses’ founder, Shayna Yasuhara.
The fifteen artists selected for this show include: Chelsea Brown, Crystal Gonzalez, Kellen Breen, Harrison Love, Lauren YS, Lizzy Layne, Marina Loeb, Mary Syring, Michael Kerbow, Rick Kitagawa, Sara Jennison, Shayna Why, Shayna Yasuhara, Spencer Mann, and Tofusquirrel.
★ ☆ ✰★ ☆ ✰
FREE ENTRY, FREE DRINKS for early birds
Music by Brap Dem Recordings.
✔ RSVP via the Paint Pens in Purses Facebook page.
ARTISTS:
Chelsea Brown /// www.chelseadraws.com
Crystal Gonzalez /// www.crystalgonzalez.cleanfolio.com
Kellen Breen /// www.kellenbreen.com
Harrison Love /// www.harrisonlove.com
Lauren YS /// www.laurenys.com
Lizzy Layne /// www.lizzylayne.com
Marina Loeb /// www.marinaloeb.tumblr.com
Mary Syring ///www.marysyring.com
Michael Kerbow /// www.michaelkerbow.com
Rick Kitagawa /// www.rickkitagawa.com
Sara Jennison /// www.bigumbrellastudios.com/artists
Shayna Why /// www.shaynawhy.com
Shayna Yasuhara (CURATOR) /// www.shaynashenanigans.com
Spencer Mann /// www.nnamrecneps.com
Tofusquirrel /// www.tofusquirrel.com
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Paint Pens in Purses was established in 2008 on the east coast and has since created a second home in San Francisco. The goal of Paint Pens in Purses is simply to create a community; to find amazing artists, bring them together, and share them with the world. Paint Pens in Purses runs an online Featured Artist series, has created pop-up galleries, large scale murals, curated art shows on both coasts, and has been sponsored by Scion, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Sharpie, to name a few.
Featured Artist ||| Margarita Surnaite (Vilnius, Lithuania)
This week’s featured artist is Margarita Surnaite who is a Lithuanian artist studying illustration at Vilnius Academy of Arts. She creates colorful digital and traditional illustrations that range from playful to dark and eerie. Her work has dreamlike quality since it is often based on the visions that she has while daydreaming or right before falling asleep.
Her earlier art was influenced by pop surrealism movement; especially by artists like Mark Ryden and Ray Ceasar. Margarita is interested in children’s book illustration and character design. She is inspired by music, animation, comics, and observing people and nature.
She is working on finishing a picture book for her BA thesis. She also started a sketch blog on Tumblr to house her daily sketches, doodles, drawings, etc.. Margarita currently resides in Vilnius, however, she will soon be moving to Cambridge, UK, for her master’s studies in Children’s Book Illustration.
To read more & see more visit Margarita Surnaite’s website, Facebook page, and blog.
Featured Artist ||| Jessica Fortner (Toronto, Canada)
Here are few favorites from the 2013 artMrkt at Fort Mason Center in San Francisco. I was surprised to see so many of these great galleries were based right here in San Francisco. Here are the artists and galleries from left to right, top to bottom.

This weekend, Paint Pens in Purses checked out the third edition of ArtPadSF…twice. Once on Thursday, May 16th and again that Sunday. The show, which takes place at the historic Phoenix Hotel, in the heart of San Francisco’s notorious Tenderloin District, is magic. For ArtPadSF, the entire hotel transforms; each room becomes its own gallery space. A small representation of great galleries from across the United States.
While I visited the Press Preview event on Thursday, I returned on Sunday to…umm…take more notes. I had a chance to sit poolside, take in the sun, drink complimentary Drambuie cocktails, and just feel lucky that all this was happening right in my own backyard. Magic. I left with lots of great photos and one major question…who do I need to contact to suggest they change the name of next year’s event to “ArtMagicSF”. Just kidding.
Anyway, here are the Paint Pens in Purses Top 8. A small sampling of some of our favorites we saw at Art Pad SF.

Featured Artist ||| Chloe Edwards (Bowling Green, KY)
This week’s featured artist is Chloe Edwards. She holds the title as the youngest artist to be featured on Paint Pens in Purses. As I am about to turn thirty, the mantra that age doesn’t matter, is sounding better and better. However, I mention her age because this young lady, who is only nineteen years old, is extremely productive! She has a wide array of prints, a style of her own, and great characters.
She is inspired by the anatomy of animals, horns, and fur. She incorporates vivid colors and line patterns with watercolor to create a cartoon and dream like quality to her creations.
Her future projects include some large scale collage pieces, involving wheat pasting, and a portrait watercolor series. Chloe Lee Edwards was born in Bakersfield CA, and was raised across the country, from Maryland to Bowling Green, KY. To see more of her work check out her website and her online store.
Article written by: Shayna Yasuhara
San Francisco Friends! Paint Pens in Purses will be at Artmrkt San Francisco Art Fair and ArtPadSF this weekend to check out all the galleries in town for the busy art weekend! Write up to follow…
OakCatVidFest x PPP 2013 Photos
Here are some of the photos from the Paint Pens in Purses Cativities table at the Oakland Internet Cat Video Fest. We loved all the fun cat creations that were made and we promise to make waaayy more cat cut outs for next year!