Ancient Inspiration

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond is one of my very favourite museums to visit.  I'm in Richmond house-sitting, and my mother is visiting this weekend for some Mother's Day fun.  Today we visited the museum, and I was captivated by these pieces (by the Pueblo Indians, I believe, though they're not on the website).  I love the way the hard lines play against the soft, the dichotomy of zig-zags and curves.

42 Studien

I've been looking at a lot of interesting art lately.  It helps that I follow a bunch of art-interested people on Pinterest, exposing me to works and styles I don't typically seek out.  For instance, Juergen Bergbauer's 42 Studien has completely captured me.  Images of stones printed on 11' x 8' paper on an ink jet printer, these are the definition of minimalism.  Yet there's something about them I find mesmerizing.

via I'm Revolting

The Alba Series

In addition to patterns, I've been on a photography kick lately.  I went a-wand'ring through 20x200 and was caught by these works by Laura Bell, taken while she was living in Edinburg, Scotland.  There's a sense of wistfulness to them, and I adore the circular framing, especially on the above, called "Ferry from Ardrossan Harbor."  It feels as if you're peering through a porthole.

"Arthur's Seat"

"Blackford Forrest"

All three prints are available on 20x200, in editions of various sizes.

Funnelcloud Prints

I find that the art that has been catching my eye of late is chock-full of patterns and bright colors, ideally lots of both.  So it's no surprise that I went ape over these Funnelcloud Studio prints.  Funnelcloud is Rachel Roellke, who lives just one town over from mine!  What joy!  Scroll down for more happy prints:

One perk of her being a local is her fantastic patchwork Virginia print.  Is it weird that I love the shape of my state?  It seems somehow silly and yet also stately.  She also has DC and Maryland versions, and is taking requests for other states!  As much as I love the colors in the above prints (and lots more), as both a collector of river stones and builder of cairns in the wild, I fell head over heels for these:

Even in grayscale, those patterns just leap out at you.  And the shapes!  Is there a Funnelcloud Fan Club?  If so, sign me up.

Waves, by Dulac

As proof of just how much I needed to get the previous post out of my system, I realized that I had been hanging onto this post about Edmund Dulac in Google Reader just in case.  Because what else am I going to do but blog about it?

You know how people like to say "I don't know much about art, but I know what I like"?  Well, I do know quite a bit about art, and I also know that all an artist needs to do to win me over is show me a convincing ocean.  Give me waves, give me foam, give me roiling seas and dramatic clouds, and I will love you forever. This are but a few reasons I love Dulac so much.

Stolen, as always, from Golden Age.

state letterpress prints

Just when I decide to buckle down and start long-form blogging again (I've remained very active on Twitter and Tumblr), both of my digital cameras go kaput.  On the same day.  One of them isn't dead-dead (the battery's dead and the charger is missing in action), but the other one ominously produced a spark the last time I unplugged its upload cord and has refused to take photos since.

Fortunately, there will always be folks producing beautiful things that I can write about sans photos snapped by me.  Like these fantastic state letterpress prints, for example!  Do you live in a state that you like quite a lot?  I do!  Which is why I love the Virginia print (which is made even better by the presence of my alma mater's school colors).  Here are a few other, non-Virginia states (click photo for link):

Also awesome: snow globe prints!

toys and words

On the list of recent things that have really been rocking my boat is the work of Aled Lewis, who composes these genius little scenes with toys and clever word balloons.  Some are available as prints!  (I want all of them.)