The story of a rejected artist finally making it big time is as familiar as the tales our grandparents like to tell us: “I walked 17 miles, barefoot, through three feet of snow; I dog-walked in New York through rejection letter after rejection letter …” The similarities are noticeable, and the struggles equally ruthless. And while there’s a good chance that your aging grandpa has taken to spicing up his retirement with total B.S., the stories of struggling artists are mostly true, and there are only a few that come out of the fight still holding a paintbrush.

Casey O’Connell is one artist who has prospered, and even though she is finally content in her position as one of the West Coast’s most fawned over new artists, she’s too fresh off the track to have forgotten how she got there. Several cities, plenty of dog walks, and even more broken hearts paved the way for this young painter. But, we couldn’t be happier that she’s arrived.

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Just a gentle holiday weekend reminder to get your answers in for the gold and silver Jawbone 2 giveaway: Who can find the cheesiest song, music video, or album with the word Gold or Silver in the title? We’ll be grilling meat, and charring ourselves with tanning and illegal fireworks. But, before we let you go, why haven’t we seen these obvious answers?

3. Black Gold - Soul Asylum (Now that is grunge … and for some reason, George Wendt.)

2. Gold Dust Woman - Fleetwood Mac (If you want to see Stevie Nicks live, she’s probably playing a casino near you.)

and our #1 pick after the jump. Happy Independence Day!

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You want designs? Bored of Neighborhoodies? Ok, then we’re gonna give you designs. Or, more accurately Arts and Crap is. In the ‘printshop’ section of their site, you can choose from thousands of designs (more to come soon, though we’re not exactly sure why) to smack onto an American Apparel tee. For an extra $10, you can add-on your own design, ink, or combine of the logos. The possibilities are endless! But for this weekend, we suggest ordering the one that reads “BBQ.”

Doctor Popular has many talents. Not only is he a blogger and a yo-yoist, but he can work denim on a sewing machine like nobody’s business. This last talent comes in handy when it comes to concocting crafty creations such as his Raw denim wallets and iPhone cases available in his DocPopEtsy shop. These suave casings serve are a welcome respite from your run-of-the-mill leather-made money holders and i-cessories. Your belongings will be safe, secure and snug as Doctor Popular demonstrates on his youtube video. Paging Doctor Sensible.

In other Brazilian art news, but more accessible to y’all: The Os Gemeos are currently showing their Too Far Too Close exhibition at Deitch Projects (their second solo show at the gallery) in NYC. After all you’ve been hearing about them, it’s a good opportunity to experience the phenomenon first hand. The twins have built a city inside their art space, which functions as the base for new work, including installations and paintings within which their trademark yellow people live. You have until August 9th — and you’d be seriously lame to miss this.

While It is often said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the people behind Pulchra — the first online beauty contest devoted to the appeal of everyday objects — find that statement to be only partially true. The competition calls for voters to judge which not-so-unusual articles come across in an extraordinary manner. Submissions can include everything from cell phones to sneakers. Anyone is eligible to submit their favorite item and take home a grand prize of €10,000. When it’s over, Pulchra will take the ten most breathtaking pieces and bury them in an iron time capsule to preserve our beauty zeitgeist. Don’t be bashful, if you think something is pretty enough to be remembered, why not submit it?

The Santander Cultural center in Porto Alegre, a major city in the south of Brazil, is the site of an exciting, monster-sized street art exhibit called Transfer. Not only does it draw the biggest names from the discipline (Ornesto, Herbert Baglione, Carlos Dias) in the country but also matches them with their international peers like Mike Mills, Cheryl Dunn and KAWS. A group of star curators including Sesper and Christian Strike has brought over the amazing Beautiful Losers tour as one segment of the show, bringing the overall participant total to 300 works by 100 artists. The other three parts of Transfer discuss street art: how it’s documented by photographs and film, accessories to the scene, such as skate and publications, and work that has transcended the street and entered more defined art and cultural spaces. The show runs until Sept. 28, but since you won’t be there to check it out in person, see skate photographer Flavio Samelo’s shots from the show here.

Lina Scheynius has the second simplest website I’ve seen this week (the first being here). But the design’s simplicity puts her beautiful series of photographs front and center. Aside from the technical aspects of using fuzzy images that interlace light and shadow, there is an obvious emotional connection that turns the pictures into memories, documenting some of life’s most intimate moments.

Just a warning, there are some definite NSFW images on her site and flickr. And if her work wasn’t accessable enough, there is a book (for €12!!!). Yes, it’s minimalist.