From the outside, this traveler’s life must seem incredibly exciting and adventurous, and yes, in many ways it is. But even so, Mr. F and I still deal with life’s drudgery like work, insurance, and laundry. Add to that worries about illnesses among family and friends and we’re both craving an escape from reality. In her conceptual photography, Lebanese artist Lara Zankoul provides her own retreat into dreamland.
The surreal situations painted in soft, dreamy palettes make Zankoul’s work visually stunning, but it is the human element that packs the punch. Figures in enigmatic scenes allow the viewer to eschew the bounds of reality. Floating in a tea cup sounds so lovely, doesn’t it?
It can be so easy to push what we are or what we’re feeling back into the depths. Everyday life necessitates that we “get on with it” and we genuinely want to. But not being real with ourselves and with the people around us leads to surface relationships in which we just can’t be real. This series by Hungarian artist Flora Borsi beautifully seems to illustrate the struggle to balance self protection and vulnerability.
We need those people in our lives we can get real with. The ones that will cry with us, listen to us, laugh us through the weeping. Maybe we think no one else will understand our struggle. But if we never give them the chance, how will we know?
Borsi mixes photographic elements with painting techniques to create these emotionally charged images. To see more of Flora Borsi‘s work, please visit her website.
There is such a magic and a mystery to the natural world surrounding us. The way trees grow, skies shift, often seem to be inherently artful and purposeful. The work of Canadian artist Troy Moth gives expression to those dreamful moments.
When Mr. Forager and I are out hiking, sometimes we stop talking and just listen to the forest– trees creaking, the rustle of birds in a bush, a breeze gently rattling branches. Occasionally we come across a particularly lovely tree, stroke its bark and imagine it breathing and taking in the enormity of its long and vast life. I wonder how these beings know how to find the food, how to find the light. We make it such a struggle, they make it seem so effortless.
While Mr. F and I were reluctant desert-dwellers and are sure to steer clear in the summer months, I’ll be the first to admit that spring in the desert is absolutely enchanting. What has been dry and dormant for months on end comes to life with color!
This post is the second in a new series, The Artsy Nature, in which I pair a photograph from our travels and forays into the wild with a work of art in which I find a reminder of that moment.
Though I have no idea the original inspiration for Karen Silve‘s Wildflowers 1 ( cropped above ), the palette of yellows and greens instantly takes me back to our desert spring. It was a time when we knew our own arid wandering would soon come to end and life was filled with dreaming of new beginnings. That spring was also a time of renewal for both of us, I remember us both brimming with energy and creativity, just as Silve’s painting is awash in lively movement.
One of the things I love most about the art world is the diversity– of people, styles, ages, eras. It’s amazing to not only see the work of new graduates and up & comers, but to look back at the artists who made the way for today’s success. This week’s round up of must-see museum and gallery shows includes work from recent MFA graduates, old-school Abstract Expressionists, modern figurative savants, and some abstract artists who just wanna have some fun.
Oh how I wish I could be in all these places! Someone needs to hurry up with that teleportation device. If you’re in any of these areas and able to see these incredible gallery shows, share your experience on Instagram & tag me @artsyforager with the hashtag #dontmissartsiness!
Have you ever thought about the stories unfolding around you? I don’t mean what the neighbors are up to, but the countless big and tiny worlds humming along around us, hardly aware of our presence? As Mr. Forager & I were backpacking in the Trinity Alps last weekend, it struck me how very small we humans are in this vast world, and yet how self-important, while the majority of life on earth couldn’t care less who we are and what we do. The work of Belgian artist Isabelle Menin seems to illustrate those teeming microcosms so blissfully unaware of our presence.
Menin creates these flowery domains by photographing flowers and then using digital software to layer, manipulate, and bring forth explosions of color and light. The resulting images are incredibly mysterious and sensual, almost operatic in their style– filled with melodrama and small, elegant nuances. There is a feeling of emergence and immersion, that walking out of darkness into light and vice versa. I might seriously consider giving up this world for hers.
Last weekend, Mr. F and I took a little backpacking trip up into the Trinity Alps, a mountain range about two hours east of Eureka. As we were hiking, I got to thinking about the parallels between the creative process and adventuring. The act of being creative, whether as an artist, writer, musician or however you stretch those muscles, is a daring endeavor– you can plan and prepare, but the real joy is in the unknown path ahead.
Want to know how to be a creative adventurer? Here are a few simple steps to venture into the unknown!
1 | set some goals and make a plan. Think about where you’d like to end up and what you think you’ll need to achieve to get there. The trail might be smooth or you may end up doing some bush-whacking to find your way, or you may change course altogether, but setting out with a vision of the finish line will help keep you focused when you feel like giving up.
2 | find yourself a partner. Whether it’s a spouse, friend, or fellow creative, tell someone your plan. It’s never smart to go out into the wild on your own and having some company along the way will help to keep you on the right track and keep your perspective in check.
3 | work your plan, one step at a time. We all want to race to the finish line, to skip the grueling climb and reach the peak. Prepare to feel overwhelmed, discouraged, to want to turn around and head back down the mountain. But keep on keepin’ on and before you know it, you’ve turned the next corner.
4 | know when to veer off the plan and take a risk. Just because you have a plan doesn’t mean you must stick to it if things aren’t working. Maybe the path isn’t what you thought it would be or you just need to liven things up a little. Take a risk and you may find that you end up in a place even better than you imagined.
5 | let yourself take a break. If you’re finding yourself discouraged or disillusioned with where you’re going, give it a rest for a while. Do something else, something fun and completely different, then come back refreshed and rejuvenated.
6 | celebrate your successes! It’s easy to get so caught up into heading for the next goal that we forget to take the time to celebrate our achievements. Take a moment, a day, an evening, and dedicate it to treating yourself and reveling in a mission accomplished!
7 | evaluate & recalibrate Now that you’ve reached the pinnacle, look back at what you’ve done and how you got there. What would you change? How can you be better prepared for next time? Mr. F and I do this after each backpacking trip and we always find things we can improve for next time.. I mean, did we really need all this trail mix?
Once you can see objectively where you’ve been and how you’ve got there, you’ll have a clearer idea of where you’d like to go next. And a sense of assurance that you can do what it takes to get there.
Are you headed out on a creative adventure or find yourself in the midst of a journey? How’s your progress?
Thanks to this gypsy-like lifestyle we’ve chosen, Mr. Forager and I find ourselves on frequent road trips. Whether journeying to our next destination or exploring our current spot, we’ve put a lot of miles on our little Hyundai! Each stretch of highway has its own personality and Seattle artist Matt Sawyer beautifully captures the atmosphere of the view from four wheels.
An analog fine art photographer, Sawyer’s work has this beautiful signature palette– desaturated yet strong color and light that is reminiscent of those mornings when you rise before the sun to hit the road and evenings when you decide to just try to make it a little bit farther before stopping for the night. There is a quietness about this series, as if you’ve turned the radio off, stopped talking and just listened to the road as it passes. It has stories to tell, we just have to listen.
*This post contains affiliate links. As curator of the Artsy Forager for Mantle Art Collection, I receive a small commission on each piece sold from the collection.
Three posts in one day?! What’s going on? I’ll tell you what– I am joining with the folks at Great.ly to celebrate the first ever White House Maker Faire! America has always been a creative nation, but in recent years, as technology has become accessible, we’ve seen the rise of a Maker’s Movement, creating opportunity where there were once just dreams. Today, the White House celebrates our #nationofmakers and so do I!
To honor just a few of the amazing makers out there, I thought I’d share a handful of the creative entrepreneurs you can find in The Trove, my boutique gallery at Great.ly—
Emily Jeffords
Jennifer Steen Booher
Meredith Aitken
Romina Bacci
Deb Haugen
Find more from these amazing artists in The Trove! I’m so honored to play even a small part in helping to build up these creative careers! Happy Maker’s Day!
This post contains affiliate links. As a Great.ly Tastemaker and curator of The Trove, I receive a small commission on each piece sold from The Trove boutique gallery.
There definitely isn’t much from our time in the desert we’ve missed. But the desert skies truly are incredible. In our six months in Joshua Tree, we were treated to some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets we’ve ever seen and the most glorious blanket of stars each night. While not ultimately for us, we can easily admit the desert can be a magical place. Los Angeles photographer Jordan Sullivan turned his lens to another California Desert, Death Valley, and the results are breathtaking.
In these large scale ( 24×36 & 40×60 ), small edition c-prints, Sullivan captures the delicate shifts in the desert’s cycle. Colors melt and merge into one another like watercolors. These are from the Water & Light sub series, yet easily be desert skies. That’s one of the most incredible things about the desert– there are few fences, few boundaries, everything drifts one into another, so that all the parts become the whole.
