I’d like to offer a source and explanation for this image, but I pulled it from a Russian website and can’t find any other information. I actually rather enjoy the mystery.
Thoughts? Imaginative stories of origin?
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Carolyn Roberts’ House of Straw warms my heart. She built it herself out of natural matierals, with the help of a consultant and many kind friends.
It began with a tract of land outside of Tuscon, AZ…
And ended with a beautiful, charming and surprisingly cost effective little home:
Everything is explained, photographed and documented here.
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I believe I originally came across Robert Steven Connett (a.k.a vmaximus on Neatorama. Mmm…a bit like Giger, only colorful and shiny!
So much to observe in this tightly packed crustacean menagerie…
He makes wonderful use of transparency and anatomical layers in his otherworldly specimens.
See the full sizes (well worth it!) on deviant art.
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Have you ever wanted to feel like you were walking in a piece of graphic design art? Chris Natrop makes it possible.
For “Pink Dimension Burst,” he uses only watercolor on cut paper and tape:
“And Further the Dewdrop Falls” is a large installation comprised of cut paper and acrylic, watercolor, glitter, string and HD video projection.
Wouldn’t it be surreal to walk through?
Some of his pieces are cut paper suspended by wire, utilizing cast shadows are a mainstay of the design.
And then there are entire rooms of precisely cut pieces ans perfect shadows.
If I ever had a truly “spare” room, purely for decoration, I’d be quite happy to let Natrop have his way with the space.
See More.
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I have a serious fascination with “specialty cakes.” Cake artists don’t just bake. They sculpt, paint, configure, build…it’s a multifaceted adventure.
Take Mike’s Amazing Cakes for example. Pastry chef and owner Mike McCarey is an architect; a creator of the most awe inspiring “culinary realism” I’ve seen.
Yes, every image here is a cake!
Love his Mad Hatter Cake:
I couldn’t post some of my favorites because his images are in slide show format on the website and can’t be saved. Definitely check out the gallery.
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Joachim Knill built himself a giant polaroid camera for the sake of photographing his handmade surreal landscapes.
He uses mostly natural objects such as fruits, flowers, vegetables, seedpods, sticks and stones, or delapitaded building parts, all collected either on his travels or around Hannibal Missouri where he currently resides. These objects are built up as a real life installation which he then captures in a single long exposure with light painting techniques. –Source
As a “tactile” crafter, it makes me extremely happy to discover artists who build and use real materials instead of relying solely on digital imagery. Knill is definitely a new favorite. Check out his camera:
See more wonderful work on his website.
And a great collection at Migration Gallery. -
There is an incredible post over at Popgive entitled “Frightening Spider Eyes.” I’m somewhere between an arachnophobe and an arachnophile. I wouldn’t pick them up and cuddle them, but I greatly appreciate their role in nature and cultural symbolism.
The colors, detail and light-bending reflections in the eyes are stunning! The photographer did an excellent job highlighting the intricacies of these creatures. I’m marveling at these complex creations we so often take for granted.
When I look at the eyes, I’m reminded of the “Gazing Balls” sometimes found on suburban lawns:
I tried to research the tradition of these mysterious lawn orbs, and surprisingly didn’t find much. But we often see them amidst other collections of supreme kitsch, likely to show up on this site.
Now I feel inspired to do Lawn Ornamentation Week! I’m sure I could dig up some wonderful goodies. But I digress…
This is one of my favorite shots in the set:
And here he is, “smiling:”
Isn’t it entertaining how the brain cannot resist ascribing human facial characteristics to anything with corresponding shapes. If you doubt it, you can find a collection of examples in the Faces in Places blog.
See the rest of the spider photo set here.
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I wish I could spew forth some incredibly poetic reason for loving this painting so much, but…I just do.
I think I’m drawn to Alex Kanevsky’s work because, for better or worse, I could never “let go” enough to produce these lovely pieces.
I wish I could color outside of the lines and make fleeting images emerge from the shadows…
See more (there is artistic nudity, so be careful at work).
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Ready for some adorable misfit creatures? Dylan Sisson has got them!
Sure, they are oddly shaped, lumpy and malformed. They have rogue hairs sticking out of them, and strange pointy parts…
But I’ll be darned if they’re not somehow endearing!
Look at this guy in his little hat…so wonderfully awkward.
I love how he works with slight perversions of archetypal cuteness; as if every one of these characters were the sorry runt of the litter.
Sisson also has a few cute animations, my favorite of which is Object Lesson:
Explore his site for more.
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I would hardly know how to give proper samples of Chris Berens’ work that convey the scope of his talent, so I’ll focus on his most recent exhibit: Go West.
One of his darker series, Go West leaves us to wander on the gentle dividing line between waking life and sleep.
These watery, obscure dream worlds are rife with historical, cultural and artistic references…but they fade into whispers as you get drawn into the images themselves.
And I must include this little lady. I feel like I’ve been personally represented here, Pisces symbolism and all!
Pay a visit to the artist website.
Or see an absolutely stellar presentation of Go West on Erratic Phenomena.
SheWalksSoftly 