Welded Insects Produced From Salvaged Metal Scraps by John Brown

Colossal: 

Gathering spare pieces of metal, John Brown assembles his findings into sculptures of colorful butterflies, insects, and birds. Although the assemblages are formed from salvaged materials like nails and bicycle chains, the pieces somehow remain delicate, wings appearing just as thin as a butterfly’s own. After welding each piece together, Brown finishes the sculpture by painting the wings with oil paint, accurately copying the markings of specific species such as the Holly Blue and Red Admiral butterflies. 

You can check out his etsy shop for more insects.

Just Because: A Jerboa!

Husband loves rats and wants one for a pet. I have always said no, but maybe an asian jerboa could be a solid compromise?

Also, I am sick and painfully bored. Expect many more random posting today. Sorry...

About an Artist: Ellsworth Kelly Dies at 92

On Sunday a juggernaut of 20th century american abstraction, Ellsworth Kelly, passed away at 92. If you have ever been in a museum with an abstract exhibit, you have walked passed him. He is known for his bold colors and simple geometric shapes, as seen below, but it is his drawings that I really love.

Contour drawing is one of my favorite ways to draw and consequently, largely make up some of my favorite drawings. Below are some of Kelly's:

Just Because: First Annual " Comedy Wildlife Awards"

These are hilarious. You can see all of the winners here, but below are some of my favorites:

The Art of Writing: For the Twins and Nanna

Fonts elude me. My best friend nanna and my sisters are exceptional with fonts. A couple of weeks ago my sister-in-law asked me to make some kind of family motto for her, and I passed the buck onto someone else. Because, like I said, I am horrible with fonts.

But these! These make me want to understand the wonderful world of typography!!! 

Originally printed in the early 1600s, these are the work of Paul Franck in Nuremberg, note there is no J. You can see all 170 pages here. I highly recommend checking it out. Be aware that the book is located at the top of the link's page. It took me a moment to realize where it was. 

Illustrator: Psychopsis or Butterfly Orchid

My brother-in-law has a rather intense obsession with orchids. He is currently into smaller orchid species, but one of his larger favorites, and one he does not currently have, is psychopsis.

Below is a Christmas illustration for him:

D is for Dashing Ducks, Dragonflies, and Daises

D is for dashing ducks dodging dancing dragonflies through darling daises.

C is for Calico Cat, Caterpillars, and Christmas Cactus

Last night Husband and I were having a hard time falling asleep. So we started coming up with some longer alliterations for the alphabet pieces.

A is for adolescent agile alligators, attempting acrobatic acts while eating assorted apples under ample aspens.

B is for the bored black bear eating blue berries through briars while bumble bees buzz.

C is for the cute, cuddly calico cat crouching in christmas cactus from crawling, crystalizing caterpillars, and other cruising colorful creatures.

I think that I am most proud of C. Also, here is the illustration to go with it:

Just Because: Wanna know how to make curling more appealing?

A is for Agile Alligators, Apples, and Aspens

I worked a little bit on my alphabet idea today. I created A and changed some small things on B. I switched out the original berries for the blue berries I made the other day and added the blue background to match the alligator's. I am not sure that I love the blue with the bear. Most likely I will change it as I create more letters.

Audubon: American Golden Crested Wren

One of my best friends just had a baby girl. I made this for her, after Audubon's own Golden Crested Wren, but it may be too adult for such a little one: 

Illustrator: Two More Fruits

It is a little bit ironic that I have been practicing my illustrator skills by making fruit. Painting fruit is how I learned to oil paint, but my professor, for years, only had me paint fruit and I hated it.

Illustrator: My Two Favorites

I really like how simple these two are, I would like to get my apple and lemon to match these two a little bit more:

Update:

I think I got the apple to match, what do you think?

Illustrator: A Teakettle and Pot

I have been working on some illustrator works as Christmas presents, and at the risk of spoiling them, I wanted to share some of them now: