Ok, it's no secret we're all sick of the snow and wind and rain that has been drenching the East Coast and New York City for what feels like weeks! As such, we've decided to defy mother nature and celebrate spring flowers despite the grey skies with some of our favorite flower images and projects. From Libby Black's envious flower and book tableaux to super sweet terrariums and floral wallpaper, we hope you find some respite & a breath of fresh air in these blossoms.

Top left: We love this easy pansy terrarium made in a simple glass canning jar. Better Homes and Gardens has an easy-to-follow tutorial.

Top right: We don't have a source for this lovely botanical wallpaper but we love how it includes not only the plant illustrations but the hadwritten descriptions as well. Perfect for a mudroom or powder room. Spoonflower in the UK has a very cute botanical wallpaper with lavender and hyacinth.

Bottom left: Gone Again by Libby Black.  Black's current series of paintings explores the symbols of luxury in our daily lives, whether they are luxury apparel, a jar of fresh flowers or time to read. At the same time Black notes, "our lives are also filled with mundane moments, small pleasures, and frivolous distractions." We love that the books included in the drawing include Just Kids by Patti Smith and other personal mementos of Blacks including a copy of Art in America in which one of her exhibitions was reviewed.

Bottom right: The Exuberant Garden by Marc Dennis. We are so excited to have this new piece on ArtStar. Dennis is known for his hyper-naturalistic, highly detailed and obsessively delineated paintings that explore the subversive potential of beauty and pleasure. Fresh and unconventional, The Exuberant Garden depicts a fantastically bountiful celebration of the wonder of nature besieged with super-sized insects feverishly courting, preying, and fleeing, distilling something otherworldly from within nature’s beneficence.

Join us at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show

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March 21-24 at Pier 94 in NYC

Booth 242

Trade Day: Thursday March 21st

Purchase Tickets HERE

Register as Trade HERE

HOURS

To preview work that ArtStar will be featuring, click HERE

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Interior designers are invited to join us for a reception in the ArtStar booth on March 21st from 4-6pm. Meet our curatorial team, preview new artists and explore our new framing options!

 We will be offering a trade discount to registered interior designers.

Questions? Email us at hello@artstar.com

As an annual right of passage, nothing compares to the Armory Show for signaling the official start of the art fair season in New York. From the parties to the private tours to the ancillary fairs, Armory Week is the main time when we recharge our visual batteries and feat our eyes on the incredible selection of art that comes to New York.  Beyond the main Armory Show at Pier 94 which hosts the top blue chip galleries there are many ancillary fairs around the city that are well worth exploring including Scope, Independent, SPRING/BREAK, Volta, Fountain and more. Finally, since this Armory Show celebrates its centenary in 2013, be on the looking out for special anniversary features and events celebrating 100 years of the art fair that changed New York.

For a full rundown and preview slideshow check out ARTINFO's coverage.

Our Picks:

Fountain Art Fair - Held at the Lexington Avenue Armory from March 8-10th, the Fountain Art fair is both manageable and youthful with a focus on alternative galleries and younger exhibitors. We're looking forward to our friends at Uprise Art's booth who will be showing the work of Robert Otto Epstein.

Volta - Focused on invitational solo artist's projects Volta is always near the front of the pack of the ancillary shows. This year they head to a new venue at 82 Mercer in Soho, much airier than their former midtown digs, and we're interested to see what they'll do in the new space. Their website could also use a bit of an upgrade to lighten up the dark graphics but we like that you can search by Artist or Gallery. We're looking forward to the Kadar Brock piece (above) at The Hole. DCKT and other cool downtown galleries show here.

Moving Image Art Fair - Now into it's 3rd year this fair wins for coolest venue, taking place at the Waterfront Tunnel at 269 11th Ave in Chelsea which proves to be a great venue for showing contemporary video. In past years we've been been pleasantly surprised by the calibre of video art on display and the narrow tunnel lined with suspended video screens actually draws the viewer along the length of the hall, unlike booths which are difficult to nagivate between in the space. Screen shot above from Shopping Heads by Michel Auder from Newman Popiashvili gallery.

Check out the illustrated version of our founder Chrissy Crawford by Nicole Yates. Look for it appearing soon in newsletters and on the blog to denote special posts and picks by Chrissy!

If you're out in Chelsea tonight, don't miss Firelei Baez at Morgan Lehmann in the Study: Project Space. We've been fortunate enough to work with Firelei on a special artists' studio project at the Affordable Art Fair and to represent two pieces from her Natural Grooming Series and her work is always multi-layered and fascinating. Her interest in anthropology, post-colonialism & women's studies is expressed in her use of color, texture and pattern leads to a complex and ever changing body of work. Opening tonight at Morgan Lehmann, 6-8 pm, through March 23rd.

We're very excited to announce the launch of three new editions just in time for New York's preeminent fashion event: Mercedes Benz Fashion Week by one of the world most coveted fashion illustrators. Entitled The Chic Set, this limited edition print collection was designed exclusively for ArtStar by acclaimed Australian illustrator Megan Hess. The former art director of Liberty department store in London, Hess's career accelerated after she illustrated Candace Bushnell's iconic book  Sex and the City. Today her clients include Vanity Fair, Chanel, Dior, Tiffany & Co., Yves Saint Laurent, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, Fendi, Ladurée and The Ritz Hotel, Paris. Says ArtStar Founder Chrissy Crawford, "As soon as I saw Megan's work I  knew we had to have some for ArtStar but I could never have imagined we would be lucky enough to get three custom pieces. I love how Megan's illustrations capture the strength and elegance of these creative women."

Check out the collection and please note that these prints are ONLY available in 20x24 inches, edition of 150.

Intimidated yet? Here's a sneak peek of the incredible Mexican wrestler series - the Lucha Libre - coming soon from acclaimed photographer Mark Mann. If you need someone to keep you on track while at your computer, this is the guy to hang over your desk!

Here's a peek behind the scenes into some of the thing we get up to in the ArtStar HQ on a daily basis. High quality paper is absolutely essential to producing a beautiful print that will endure on your walls for year to come. In this photograph,curator Grace is examining paper types and finishes on a new batch of test prints.

Some of the things to consider when buying a print are paper weight (what is the ply of the paper), the smoothness of the fibers (how they are woven together) and the finish (how both glossy photographs and matte works on paper will reproduce on the surface of the paper). ArtStar prints exclusively on museum quality cotton rag paper with archival Epson inkjet pigments and we spend a lot of time choosing which brand of paper has the best color saturation and the most refined detail. For our money as we figured out in photo above, Hahnemuhle paper is still the best! We've always used this paper and while it costs a little extra, the results are unparalleled. Do you have more questions about print types and quality? Email us at hello@artstar.com and we're happy to answer your questions!

"My pick for the new year is Snow Tracks by Michael Schall because it reminds me of growing up in Canada. My family goes cross-country skiing every winter and I know my parents would love to be reminded of our afternoons together out in the frozen landscape. Plus the subtle light from over the hill makes me hopeful for the year ahead." - Grace Johnstone