Showing posts with label #landscapes. Show all posts

This Artist Takes Fallen Leaves And Turns Them Into Beautiful Art


There’s no doubt that autumn foliage is beautiful, since it sets the landscape ablaze in orange and red. But after the leaves fall and become crunchy and brown, it’s easy to forget about them. That, however, is not the case for Polish painter Joanna Wirazka, who turns to something other than traditional paper to create her artwork during the fall — something that’s free and abundant.


Wirazka paints on fallen leaves, turning them into tiny landscapes by using acrylic paints. The leaves are naturally very fragile, which makes the level of detail that she achieves all the more impressive.























Painting on leaves isn’t easy. Wirazka must contend with the small size, uneven texture, and brittleness of them — but she pulls it off beautifully. From nature and space scenes, to cityscapes and famous landmarks, her leaves become tiny windows into the world.


On average, a leaf painting takes Wirazka about three hours to complete.























(via Lost At E Minor)



You can see more of Wirazka’s seasonal art, as well as her more traditional pieces, on Instagram. She also has some words of wisdom for all of us: “Art makes the world better and more beautiful. Try to find real art everywhere and let it inspire you.”





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These Photos Of The Arctic Are Breathtaking -- And Will Make You Feel So Alone


The hustle and bustle of urban (and suburban) life can get to you after a while. You start to feel crowded, hemmed in by the people, the noise, the traffic, and the buildings. Sometimes you just need to get away from it all. But that’s not always a realistic option.


So we’re here to present a vicarious alternative: the work of Tiina Törmänen, a Finnish photographer who captures the vast, icy beauty of the Arctic tundra. There, human contact is rare and the sky looms huge and distant.












Her shots capture the wild, but fragile, beauty of the region, but also the immense sense of solitude the place brings.






While the shots of the landscape alone are enough to conjure the feeling of solitude, Törmänen goes the extra step by incorporating lone human figures into her photos.






These are self-portraits, taken with a timer, revealing that when shooting, Törmänen herself is all alone in this gorgeous but unforgiving land.






But the sense of being alone isn’t frightening or unpleasant.






Instead, it’s meditative and awe-inspiring, and reminds us that while humans are a massive force, we’re still very small compared to our planet.










The photos were taken in Sapmi, also known as Lapland, a region in the northernmost areas of Scandinavia and western Russia.










Because this region is relatively unpopulated, pollution is minimal, allowing millions of stars to be visible.






Even during the day, though, the landscape is still majestic.









(via Twisted Sifter)



You can see much more of Törmänen’s beautiful photography on her website, as well as on her Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, and Behance pages.





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What This Talented Artist Can Do Might Just Break Your Brain


There’s a process when it comes to looking at and appreciating Bertrand Flachot‘s work and its many layers. First, there’s the photograph. The Paris-based artist uses large photos of mountains, forests, cities, and waterscapes as the foundation for his pieces. But they don’t stop there.









Working off the natural forms and lines of the photos, Flachot embellishes them with ink, creating a sketchy, threadlike version of the landscape that spills past its photographic bounds. Sometimes this includes objects that aren’t in the photo. Eventually, the boundaries of the real and the imagined, or the documented and the created, become blurred.




The lines Flachot adds also serve to reduce the photographic images to their most basic components.




In this piece, the forest vegetation can either evolve from a few simple lines, or, if you read it the other way, it appears to fade into nothing, leaving only the most basic lines behind.







The result is a place that seems to be in a constant state of reimagining or reinterpreting. The photo shows the “real” place, but the lines suggest the movement, the people, and the mood that make the memory of the place come alive.





In cityscapes and urban settings, Flachot’s lines mimic the geometry of buildings and streets. This image suggests movement, and the lines added to the photo create a new physical presence in an otherwise open space.






Using different colors for the lines also creates the illusion of depth.









Dealing with memory and trying to recreate the past is something that hits close to home for Flachot. In 1990, his studio, and all of the artwork in it, was destroyed by a fire, leaving behind only the memories. That’s a devastating loss to any artist, but Flachot gamely pressed on, using the experience as an inspiration for a new body of work. The lines he adds to these photos are an exploration of memory and how memories affect not only the past, but shapes the present, as well.




Flachot working in his studio.







(via My Modern Met)



Some people think of drawing and photography as being rivals in the art world, but Flachot’s work shows how they can beautifully exist together.


You can see more of Flachot’s work on his website and Facebook page.