pinterest love: architectural details

When I was browsing my Pinterest boards for inspiration this morning, it occurred to me that I haven't done a Pinterest share in a while.

I have an ongoing fascination with architecture, especially the up close details.  So, I created a board to collect some great images.  You can see the whole board here:  Architectural Details


Hotel in Paris


Painted door in Burano, Italy


Natural History museum, London


Tile roof


Gate detail, Vienna

Can't you just  see all sorts of artistic inspiration in these closeups?  Have a fabulous summer weekend and a creative week ahead!

pinterest love: birds & feathers

Sharing more of my Pinterest pins - this week from my "birds and feathers" board.  It's a motif I love and keep planning to incorporate more of so check it out for some inspiration.



Collage bird by Animal House Art, ETSY



Love these loose feathers (watercolor?) - no link info

  found on My Revelment which isn't much help, but I love the variety of fills and soft colors - could be a cool repeating pattern.




Here's a happy journal page (and good advice in the text)! By Birgit Koopsen - looks like a generous use of stamping, stenciling, maybe some gelli plate pieces, collage, etc. Fun page.

  By Lisa Lamoreaux, a Renton, WA artist but her blogs appear to be shut down now.  You can google her name and see some other examples of her work.

  Here's an inspiring bird to mimic...all those polka dots! - it's a Northern Flicker.  (it was hard not to type Flickr - amazing how these sites get into our lexicon!)

  Great command of watercolor blending! By John Ichter


Fun idea to draw/paint/doodle on a piece of ephemera.

  No artist info - love the use of doodles to make very interpretive feathers.

If you recognize any of my unidentified artist pieces, let me know and I'll update the post.  Do you have some favorite bird pins that you look to for inspiration?

pinterest love: trees & leaves

I forgot my plan to share some of my pinterest finds until a couple days ago, so now I'm back on track.  There's just so much inspiration out there, I love sharing what I've seen so that I might be able to introduce you to a new artist or inspire you to try something new......

Here are a few from my Art: Trees & Leaves board:


Surrender to Evening by Ford Smith


Above my Head by Ellen Dittebrandt  - I love the use of color but also the unusual perspective


Paula Zinsmeister  - printmaking  - this style totally inspires me to use my own photos more (a long time goal)

    I have a ton of gathered fall leaves - I need to try this!


Great doodled, painted leaves by Shelley Malone via Flickr.


Isn't this an amazing watercolor tree?  No link to a site or artist.....let me know if you recognize it. [ed: thanks to Michelle A for recognizing the artist, Brian Payne.]


I love interpretations of birch tress - this is simple and elegant; again with no artist info/link.


Cardboard, photo transfer and crochet by Ines Seidel on flickr


A veritable explosion of leaves!  No artist info.



Soon by Eva Magill-Oliver



Berry Farm Studios - Laurie


Deep Roots by Ruth Palmer


Finally, a medium close to my heart: collage. I love the complexity created by using various pieces of text.  by Noli Novak (she also does amazing stipple portraits)

Hope you find a bit of inspiration - you can see more of my tree pins here.

pinterest love: collage

I decided to have a single pinterest board for collage and mixed media because, for me, there is often a cross-over.  So for this brief foray into my Collage and Mixed Media board I'll just focus on some of the cool examples of collage I've come across.  Maybe you'll find some inspiration here......


Found on Flickr.


By Jacki Long  - I like this unusual way of using text.




A New Direction by Felicianna on flickr  Her flickr pages are filled with fun little mail art sized collages and more.  I have pattern paper and never thought to really use it like this - great idea!


Delight in Summer by Kathy Z, flickr



By George Fischer


I've long been a fan of Melinda Tidwell's work.  She does lots with old book covers and cover papers - everything fairly neutral, and as much as I love color, I find myself drawn to her calmer work.


Another brilliant example of Melinda's work (with a bit more color) - look how she uses shades of bits of paper layered together.......love it.



Signals #1 by Julia Trigg  - she must have a great collection of ephemera to choose from!




Jill Ricci makes such fun collages and always has a variation of this shape as her base.....so appealing.


Another long time favorite collage artist is Donna Watson. She has an Asian aesthetic and often incorporates Asian text or dimensional elements - generally her style is spare and dramatic.


By Crystal Neubauer


By Umberto Manzo


Cut out a shape and overlay it on top of a stripey or dotty collage - idea by A Faithful Attempt.


By Hugo Werner (on flickr) - another great use of type to make a dramatic collage.....it's all about finding the right bits/pieces/edges/colors.

Well, I could go on and on and on.  Collage is endlessly fascinating and can be creatively challenging - I have the most fun gathering for collage - gathering magazines, menus, random bits and pieces of pretty or ugly or interesting paper.  Stacks and stacks of paper.  I may have to go back to 365 collages again next year to make a dent in all the paper!

Check out my Pinterest board for even more inspiration.......  Have a creative week.

pinterest recognition: floral art

Continuing my exploration of my own Pinterest boards, this time I thought I'd share from my Art: Flowers board.... I absolutely adore a gorgeous flower.  I was a florist for 5-6 years and I found joy and pleasure working with the colors and textures of flowers and greens through the various seasons.  I'm somewhat stunted in my ability to draw more than a simple daisy-type shape, but I can sure admire those who do it so beautifully......


What exploration of floral art wouldn't start off with Georgia O'Keefe?  A genius!


Don Rankin


Nebo Peklo on Flickr


Exploded flower from Focus on Fiber


Poppies on Redbubble    OR


Poppies on Blue by Patty Baker


Dina Wakley


great collage/paint flowers by Elizabeth St Hilaire Nelson

Thanks for browsing - hope you found something inspirational.  You can visit my boards on Pinterest here.