Sujay Sanan Merges Landscapes and Animals in Watercolor Paintings

 

 

Sujay Sanan is an artist who was born in the Himalayas and currently living in Cape Town. He gained a graduate degree in Graphic Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India.

He has been working on an ongoing series "A Place I Know" that features a merger of animals with the landscape they inhabit. "My works document landscapes seen through the species that inhabit them. Some of the places I have painted are familiar and close to where I live, while in others I have found myself as a momentary visitor. While these works document what I fear might be lost, they are also filled with optimism."

Each animal painting has multiple layers of details hiding in them that reveal on a closer inspection.  For example: an owl wings have monkeys hanging on a tree branch and a whale with a surfer riding waves. His highly detailed paintings come to life when he photographs them against the similar colors and textures he used in his painting. You can find originals and art prints on his website.

Illustrated Functional Ceramic Ware by CJ Niehaus

 

CJ Niehaus is a ceramic artist who has worked in clay since 1980s. She earned her BA in Art Therapy from Xavier University in Cincinnati and Masters of Fine Arts in ceramics from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. 

Her work is inspired by all the creatures and trees in her backyard. They slowly started to appear on the mugs, plates, vases and teapots in beautiful color palette. Her functional pieces are illustrated with themes based on nature and her own imagination. She uses her own recipes to make her glazes. The ceramics are often have interior and exterior decorated with washes of color.

She was awarded the Lillian Thomas Distinguished Fellowship at Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences and the IA O’Shaughnessy Foundation Scholarship at Penland School of Crafts. She has taught college level ceramics at SIUC, Elgin Community College and at McHenry County College. She has been awarded a residency at Paducah School of Art and Design. She has exhibited her work all over the country. She is currently represented by several galleries including the Charlie Cummings Gallery and In Tandem Gallery. You can follow her work on Instagram and see more work from the past on her website.

10 Valentine's Day Gift Ideas

Sculpted owl candle holder

Ceramic wall hanging

Hand painted owl tote

Owl necklace

Owl paper lantern

Hand knitted socks

Ying yang owl art print

Wooden bowtie

Owl mug with lid

Owl planter

For those of us who want to give something more than just chocolates and flowers this Valentine's Day, I curated this post. I hand-picked a few of my favorite things that I would like to give to my loved ones this year and thought I share them with you here. 

What better way to express love and gratitude by giving a unique handmade item that can be used everyday and cherished for a long time. I hope you like the things I made this post with and find something to give to someone special in your life.

Vintage Stamps Turned Into Artwork by Genna Tarnowski

Many Moons ago I used to be obsessed with collecting stamps. I had a huge collection of stamps from all over the world which I eventually gave away. It was intriguing to come across a vintage stamp that was an artwork in itself and later finding out an interesting history around it.

If you are like me or know of someone who loves to hoard stamps then these miniature ornaments will bring them smile. Signature Stamps of Genna Tarnowski is an online store that offers vintage stamp in form of washi tape, wrapping paper, gift tags and miniature stamp frames. Her collection is from 1970s, 1980s, as well as limited edition fictional characters, and famous people and movies.

The above shown are few of the stamps I hand-picked from the Valentine's day collection. You can also find more in her online store.

Hand Painted Functional Ceramics by Autumn Higgins

Autumn Higgins is a ceramic artist and an illustrator based in Minneapolis. She was born into a family of artists and it was almost destined that she would pursue the field of art. She studied at the University of Florida and gained degree in Masters of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University in 2011. In 2014, she was awarded the Fogleberg Fellowship at Northern Clay Center.

She specializes in sculpting wheel thrown and hand built functional pieces that she uses as canvas to draw. She paints natural elements, birds and animals, and depicts scenes from her surroundings. The artist uses watercolors to create narrative in each piece, her unique style of sketching and watercolor technique brings the drawings to life. To achieve variation in texture in her pieces, she covers some areas of the pieces with glaze, and leave some of the clay raw.

You can find more of her work she created previously on Instagram.