I love a man with unicorns.

(Apollo Sunshine.)

Well, the year is drawing to a close and tonight I've been having a good old surf and uncovered a few artistic sites and names I wasn't really familiar with. Looks like 2010 might give me some more gems to blog about. In the meantime I'd just like to say a Happy New Year to anyone who checks out this blog and hope it will be a peaceful and prosperous one for you all.

And just to mark the occasion here is the long awaited, arty, ever so slightly psychedelic, zebra that I have been searching for and tonight discovered on the site of Western Massachusetts artist Nate Duval.

(Fancy Zebra.)

Nate has some great prints, that are inexpensively priced, for sale on his site. They would cheer up any room.

(Shapes and Colours.)

Or chase away the winter blues.

(Aquatic Cowboy.)

He also has an etsy store at www.etsy.com/shop/nateduval.

(A Peacock.)

Much of his work appears, at face value, to have a comforting, almost childlike quality. But he seems to enjoy tackling intricate and complex detail too.

(Silver City - Night.)

Nate also produces great gig posters.

(Black Moth Super Rainbow.)

Happy New Year!

(Golden Kitty.)

Eely Something.

One UK artist who I think has really got into his stride producing quality prints over the last few years is Eelus. Originally from Wigan, Eelus is now based in London and after cutting his teeth (along with his stencils) as a street artist, he moved into full time graphic art and has steadily built up a respectable reputation for his artwork, becoming a stablemate of some of the better known urban art galleries, such as Pictures On Walls and the now defunct Stella Dore.

(Shat At - one of Eelus' most well known prints, seen here stenciled on a wall in Bristol.)

Several of Eelus' earlier prints use ever iconic Star Wars imagery. They remain popular with collectors of his work.

(Wot U Looking At.)

Tiffany For Breakfast, depicting Holly Golightlys' cat going psychotic is another favourite amongst his fans.

(Tiffany For Breakfast.)

The piece I Said I'm Happy (What More Do You Want) indicates a scratching away at the facade of happiness, perhaps in a floundering relationship.

(I Said I'm Happy, (What More Do You Want?))

Eelus pushed the theme even further by creating a whole set of one-off I Said I'm Happy prints, playing around with icons of popular culture.

Over the last couple of years Eelus seems to have taken a darker, more gothic tinged path. Mysterious dreamlike ladies invite the viewers' imagination to step into the unknown.

(Raven Haired - original on wood. Prints of this piece are perhaps Eelus' most admired and sought after work.)

Eelus has a blog and Facebook page that he updates regularly and is often willing to divulge insights into work in progress, inviting opinions and feedback.

(The Good, The Bad and The Moon.)

Often an Eelus piece will start life on a wall or as a one off original. One of my favourites, The Good, The Bad and The Moon made its debut as a wall stencil at the Cans Festival, a Banksy curated 3 day celebration of stencil art, held in a London tunnel in May 2008.

Needless to say, the image of two beautiful girls depicting an angel and a devil was a big hit. I was interested to see Eelus share the source material for his inspiration for this work in his blog. His girlfriends' fashion magazines provide him with a rich seam to tap into.

Eelus often will produce a very limited run of hand finished prints too, alongside the regular edition. A handful of Raven Haired were adorned with a handwritten quotation from "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe, in the margin surrounding the image.

(Raven Haired hand finished edition)

One of Eelus' most recent prints, Nesting, saw him experiment with gold leaf for the first time. Suffice to say these editions are snapped up by collectors immediately they are issued.

(Nesting hand finished edition.)

A new print, High Hopes, is due to be released early in 2010. According to his Facebook posts Eelus has a solo London show in the pipeline and a New York show amongst other projects. I think a lot of people will be falling in love with his art this year.

(High Hopes.)