Welcome to my first installment of Feature Fridays!



Kitchen Grater Jewelry Stand
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Today I welcome artist Irit Cohen of  
Outstanding Stands and QuirkyCreatures.




Irit E. Cohen is an Israeli born artist who now calls Venice, California home.
Her engaging photos were the first thing that caught my eye when I "bumped" into Irit on Etsy. Irit considers herself an artist, photographer and designer, and has studied a wide variety of medium including- art ,ceramic design, photography,
film ,and print making.  She has a fun, quirky style that I was immediately drawn to. Both of her shops feature unique, one of a kind pieces including artful jewelry displays in her OutstandingStands shop, and jewelry, artwork, photography, magnets, cards and prints in her QuirkyCreatures shop.



Truck Driver Goat

"I always had a great passion for contemporary design ,weird objects and images.
Humor in design is something I'm greatly attracted too."
Irit has been selling her artwork on Etsy since 2008. When I asked her about finding inspiration-she tells me that she gains inspiration from walking the city streets-reading  about future science and space, and  other artists and designers she loves. Irit enjoys contemporary art and design, and Surrealism/DaDa.

One of the other things I like to ask other artist and creatives about are dealing with creative blocks. I was surprised when Irit told me that she hasn't had any creative blocks for many years. "The last time was at art school .But when I did, what helped was to just get to work on whatever project WITHOUT TOO MUCH THINKING and let IT take you to another place. Another great way that worked for me is to try a new technique or art form, to get you excited, and out of your comfort zone that made you fall asleep."
 This is great advice. I know many of us who "overthink" something-whether it's a jewelry design, creative writing, painting-etc...I've noticed when I over-think or over analyzed something, it's hard to see the beauty in the creative process. It just becomes another addition to my "to-do" list.



Grand Canyon Necklace

        Irit tells me about being an artist: "My favorite part about being an artist is the fact that I'm never bored. I'm my own boss.That age isn't a factor and I can do it till the day I die and just get better , unlike so many other jobs with age limits. The fact that I can wear what ever the hell I want always , no dress code what so ever. Yes, all the above , but mostly I think what my favorite part is I get to deal with the beautiful things in life on a daily basis .Sometimes I have serious guilt feelings about this , but that might be also because I'm Jewish and we're SO good with guilt.
     Lastly I want to add- I couldn't possibly do what iI do and survive in this lousy economy without the support of my husband who is a very talented artist himself and truly believes in me."

Irit's work can be found on Etsy at:
OutstandingStands
and
QuirkyCreatures

     In addition to her two Etsy shops, Irit's work is on display at several galleries in LA Mindfulnest in Santa Monica and one in Burbank.
and soon to be featured at the
 Very Venice ArtReach Gallery on Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice Beach
which opens August 5th.

If you are in the Wilshire Blvd Area you can find her work at the
Craft and Folk Art Museum Shop
5814 Wilshire Blvd, LA, CA 90036
 www.cafam.org

Find Irit on Facebook here:

www.facebook.com/pages/OutStanding-Stands/236396429708567

And don't forget to visit her website:http://www.quirkycreaturescards.com/

I just want to tell you how honored I am that Irit allowed me to feature her on my blog. I appreciate the time, your honesty-and I'm forever a fan of your work. Thank you so much for allowing me to peek inside your artistic life!
(all photos taken by Irit Cohen)

Want to be featured on a future FEATURE FRIDAY? Just click on this link, and sign-up for my mailing list. Thanks!
light and love
amanda

ps...don't forget to stop back on Monday when I will be posting my first Stop-Think-Create Design Challenge.