Friends with the monster…

Hey everyone! I can across a really unique artistic interpretation of various types of mental illness. That being said I’m in no way trying to trivialize mental illness because it is a very serious disease that many people suffer from. I just wanted to share how an artist interpreted these illnesses through an artistic form. From what I know about the artist, Toby Allen,  he has suffered from social anxiety and he wanted a way to express his feelings through art. When I first saw this I thought of it as not only art but as a form of therapy. Writing has always been a good way for me to express my feelings and just get them out because I can write whatever I want without having to have anyone see or be judged. I thought this was a great idea as a form of therapy and releasing some of the feelings we may have some times. I also think to turn them into monsters was a good choice as well. Often what we think of a monster is something that seems scary to us or that we don’t understand. Mental illness is highly stigmatized and many people still don’t even believe it is a true illness. I think that by creating more awareness and hopefully reaching out to others and offering compassion instead of judgment. Anyway I hope you guys like these and are inspired by them, I think it’d be a great exercise for any artist because we all have things in our lives that act as “monsters”. Below will be a link to the entire article but I’ll have my favorites on this post. Until next time guys!

Link to article: http://www.fastcocreate.com/3018089/schizophrenia-paranoia-depression-and-other-mental-illness-brought-to-life-as-real-monsters#1

Just Add Water

Hey everyone! I kind of have somewhat of an underwater theme going on since once again we’ll be diving in 😉  to some underwater art. These photos were taken by photographer Benjamin Von Wong who I may need to take a closer look at later since I love these photos so much! I don’t know what it is but I think the vastness and mystery of the ocean is something that has always intrigued me. I don’t know how to swim and I think that adds a certain aspect of spookiness to the big blue. Whatever the reason, these photos are hauntingly beautiful. I just love the way the clothing and hair of the models move. This is especially true for the first photo. It looks as if she is descending from some world up above and is floating down into another realm. It comes across as very angelic to me.

I also love the movement and flow in all of these, it makes these models seem like they actually belong in these setting and are not just people being placed in a scene to make a pretty picture. I’m going to put the link to the article and images down below but let me just tell you now that these photos took a lot of work. In order to pull this off Von Wong needed freedivers who would also be the models, stylists, makeup, etc. This is one of the qualities of a good artist that I really admire. He had a vision and did what he had to make it come to life and he did it right without cutting corners. No one’s perfect and I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not exactly diligent when it comes to my craft. However, when I do something I try to put my best in it and do the best I can with what I know I can do. Effort is everything and it certainly paid off for Von Wong! As always below are my favorites (which in this case is all of them)and the link to the article! Until next time!

 

Link to article: http://blog.flickr.net/2014/08/08/surreal-underwater-photo-shoot/

If you give an artist Legos…

They will probably come up with some pretty cool artwork. At least that’s what artist Nathan Sawaya did when he created pieces of art entirely out of Legos. Not only has he created sculptures but he’s also made “paintings” as well. Although it may not seem like a big deal these pieces are actually pretty complex. Not only does he have to take the time to make sure they come out the right shape but color is another factor in making look as good as they do. Below are some of my favorites but I’ll also have a link to the others below. I know this is a short post but I think these pieces speak for themselves and I don’t see why I should bore you by talking about Legos in two paragraphs :). There is also a time-lapse video at the end of the slide show in the link! I hope you guys find these as cool as I did and I’ll see you guys next time!

Link:https://games.yahoo.com/photos/the-brick-tastic-work-of-lego-artist-nathan-sawaya-1395950375-slideshow/

Trey Ratcliff!

Hey everyone! Its been awhile since I’ve done a post on a specific artist so I figured why not do one now! I recently discovered a photographer named Trey Ratcliff and I really love his photographs. He does something a little bit different when it comes to his photos, he uses HDR photography. So what is HDR photography you ask? Well I’m not going to get into too much detail here since he does a great job of describing it himself but I’ll give you the basics. HDR stands for  High Dynamic Range which means you take several photos of the same subject and combine them to create one beautiful image. Each image is taken with a different shutter speed so you end up with three photos. One bright, one medium and one dark (which means each has a different lighting). I’m going to put a couple of links to all of his info down below because he really does provide a lot of great tips and tutorials!

I came across these and I love the depth to his photos and the mood they give off. I don’t know about you guys but I’m definitely attracted to certain styles of art in different ways. There is art that I really admire and think is beautiful but I just have more of admiration for it and that’s as far as it goes. Then there are other works of art that I want to replicate and stylistically bring into my own artwork. This is one of the later, I’ve always really loved landscapes and enjoy photographing nature over other objects. That being said some of my best photos, in my opinion, are ones that I’ve taken in a studio so you can analyze that since it makes no sense to me. Anyway, below are some of my favorites but I will have many links to find out more about Trey below! Until next time!

Websites: Portfolio site http://stuckincustoms.smugmug.com/

Informational site: http://www.StuckInCustoms.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/treyratcliff

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TreyRatcliff

 

 

One Man’s Trash is Another Man’s…

Hey everyone! Since my last post was a bit serious I thought I’d do something a little more light-hearted and fun. I’m always amazed at what artists can create out of junk. Maybe I’m over thinking this but I don’t think it’s as simple is gathering up a whole bunch of junk and whipping out a bottle of Elmer’s glue. You have to not only gather more materials than you probably need but you also have to figure out a way to use each item so that it has a purpose other than being a stand-in because nothing else fits or connects. That being said I have a great appreciation for artists who can take a whole bunch of random objects and make them into something meaningful.

These were created by Jane Perkins and you can obviously see the amount of work that would have gone into one of these because the attention to use of different shades in each piece. The skin in these is really amazing and really precise. I also loved how Mona Lisa’s hair was made out of beads, I thought it was a nice touch! I know that I would not have the patience to do this so I can really appreciate this artwork and I wanted to share it with you guys! Below are my favorites but you can check out the link  below for the rest.

Link: http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/art-made-from-junk-slideshow/art-made-from-junk-photo-1393273044770.html

Its in Your Genes!

Hi everyone, I found this article on how a photographer, Ulric Collette, merges two different generations of family members to create a really interesting photograph. Its really amazing how some people look like repeats of an older generation. In the photo below the photographer combined a picture of his mother and daughter and it ended up looking like a photo of one person at different points in life. The resemblance is really amazing. At first I thought this was a picture of one person!

I thought this was a really interesting concept although it might not necessarily work for all family members it could highlight similarities that aren’t really noticeable at first. I’d personally like to look into this more and merge some of my photos with those of my relatives. I think it would be a really interesting project! Below are some of my favorites that I got from his website and the one from the article. I’ll also have links to both down below!

 

Article: http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/the-grandmother-granddaughter-mini-me-portrait-you-must-see-220040587.html

Ulric Collette: http://genetic.ulriccollette.com/

X-ray Photography?

Hey everyone! I found some cool photographs that are actually x-rays of everyday objects. The x-rays were created by Bryan Whitney and they have a really beautiful effect to them. Its funny but I’ve never really thought of x-raying objects other than living things but this artist goes so far as to use a shirt and iron in his work. I really like any work that has to do with flowers but I really loved how beautiful some of the flowers he scanned came out.

I also really like the variation of opacity within these pieces which were created by any overlaps in the object. Adding color to these was also a nice touch I think the images may have gotten lost in just black and white so using color was definitely a good choice. I also couldn’t help but notice how these images look similar to the post I did a long time ago about photographing ink in water. It has the same ghostly feel to it that I liked. My favorites are below, as always, but I’ll put a link to the others down below! Until next time!

Link to article: http://news.yahoo.com/lightbox/x-ray-photography-hidden-beauty-inside-1376578462-slideshow/x-ray-photography-hidden-beauty-inside-photo-1376578290559.html

Getting Drawn In

Hey everyone!  I found this really cool artist a little while back and I wanted to include him in one of my posts. His name is Ben Heine and he’s a photographer and illustrator.  I thought it was really interesting how he was able to combine the photography and his drawing skills. I really like this approach and since I like both photography and drawing this interested me. It was a nice way to incorporate both of his talents into one piece of work.

These drawings also add a nice effect to the photographs and add another level of interest. He does some in color but most of them are black and white which is what I actually prefer. I think having the drawing in black and white makes me feel like I’m seeing what’s beneath the surface in these photos. It’s almost as if the colored portion of the photo is the surface and we’re peaking underneath. I thought these were really well done and I wanted to share them with you guys. Below are my favorites but I’ll also include a link below to the article I found on him. Until next time!

Link to article: http://blog.flickr.net/2013/09/27/photographer-literally-draws-life-into-his-photos/

Flowerbombing!

Hey everyone! So what is flowerbombing you ask? Well, its photographing flowers while they explode, at least in my definition. Got your attention, right? Mark Klimas has found this unusual way to create some very unique and beautiful photographs.  I was really attracted to these photos because of the shattering effect that they have. It was something that really caught my attention because it was something I’ve never seen before.

Now you might say ‘exploding flowers, what’s the big deal?’ but I there’s just something about them that is really intriguing to me. His process is also really interesting because he prepares the flowers before they meet their maker. First he puts the flowers in a box with liquid nitrogen to freeze them to about negative 326 degrees fahrenheit. After that point Klimas says that they are as fragile as a snowflake and are really easy to break. In order to get his beautiful photos he  shoots the flowers from behind to get the shattered effect. It’s a really interesting process so I highly recommend that you check out the link below to learn more about this process.

I love the photo of the dark rose, the coloring of the rose is beautiful and I love how the center of the rose is intact while the edges appear to have dissolved. I really love the pink flower, which may or may not be a rose, because of the way the colors blend and layer on each other. I picked the third flower because it looked as if it had been something so solid, almost as if it was ceramic. Remember to check out the link below to see all of the flowers! The ones here are just my favorites! Until next time!

Link: http://shine.yahoo.com/photos/photographer-captures-spectacular-images-shattering-slideshow/-photo-2686260-185600455.html

Mind On His Money, And Money in His Art

Hey everyone, I found these slide show on Yahoo that highlights a very unique artist. I’ve seen artwork using money before however these pieces by Mark Wagner seem to stand apart. His pieces feel really unique to me because the money isn’t really the focus, if that makes any cents (cheesy, but I had to). The designs are just so intricate that what I focus on is the detail and consideration that was put into these pieces. For example, in the piece “Bird in Hand” the shading found in the dollar bills used was really put to good use within the bird.

The shading near the front of the face and beak was really well done. I also love the texture he created for the sleeve of the person. “Petty Cash” was another piece that stood out to me because the text created was just so nice and clean. The “Mona Lisa” blew me away because it seems so detailed and planned. You can just tell by looking at these that there was a great attention to detail. I’m posting my favorites on here but check out the rest by going to the gallery link below. Until next time!

“Bird in Hand”

“Petty Cash”

“Mona Lisa”

Link:Yahoo Gallery