Japanese Artist Creates Botanical Arrangements Inspired by Nature

Raku Inoue is a Japanese artist and a photographer who presently lives in Montreal, Canada. He creates botanical arrangements into shapes of various animals and insects. The delicate portraits of owl, tiger, whale, flamingos and more are created using flowers, twigs, leaves, and seeds from his backyard. He also gets flowers such as roses and baby's breath from his nearby florists, and people from all over the world send him plants to help him along his creative adventure. 

Recently, he hosted a giveaway to raise awareness about endangered species and to raise fund for an organization that helps animals. You can view more of his work from the past and get updates on his new creations on Instagram.

Vibrant Gouache Paintings Against Dark Background by Namasri Niumim

Namasri Niumim is a traditional illustrator and a graphic designer. She was born and grew up in Bangkok, Thailand, currently living in New Zealand.

She graduated with a Bachelor's degree of Fine Arts in Communication Design from School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. She started to explore gouache painting in 2016 and has been working with gouache ever since.

Her paintings are inspired by the natural world often depicting plants, birds, animals, floral motifs and scenes. She chooses dark background which is perfect for her subject matter painted in vibrant color palette. 

You can find her art prints in two different sizes in her online store.

Rustic Jewelry Inspired by Birds by Justyna Krupkowska

Justyna Krupkowska is a jewelry designer, creator and an artist based in Poland. She makes unique handmade necklaces, earrings, bracelets and pins inspired by nature and woodland creatures - mostly birds. Her rustic pieces are made of silver, and copper that are embellished with beautiful stones.

These are perfect jewelry pieces for anyone who loves animals and likes wandering in the forest. 

You can find more of her creations on Instagram. Her one-of-a-kind pieces are available on her online store - JustynaKrupkowska.

Emily Jan's Sculptures Made of Recycled and Found Objects

Emily Jan is a sculptor who creates amazing hyper-realistic sculptures and installations using found objects. Montreal based artist is originally from San Francisco, has traveled to 35 countries and lived in 4 including South Africa and Mexico. Her work is inspired by her travels, and her exploration as a naturalist, and collector of objects. Jan gained a degree in MFA from Concordia University, a BA with Honors from Brown University, and a BFA with High Distinction from the California College of the Arts.

The artist primarily uses materials such as wool, reed, cloth, silicone and resin to construct life-size sculptures. The sculptures are completely handmade with love and can easily be mistaken for real. She needle felts raw wool into fur for the animals, casts resin to form their skulls, teeth and claws, and twigs and branches to give them antlers. For decorations she uses second hand flowers that are up-cycled in her pieces.

Her concern for the destruction humans are causing to the planet is a underlying theme in her work. "We need to change or transform our baseline assumptions about how we relate to all of the other life on the planet," she shares here. "So many of us born and raised in cities get a warped sense of what the world is actually like — what's important, what's disposable, what isn't." Her work is a gentle reminder no matter how powerful humans feel they are by building a world that's revolves around them, nature can not be conquered. We are not independent of the nature, we can't live in isolation from the natural world.

Incredibly Intricate Paper-Cut Artwork by Marina Gubareva

Marina Gubareva is a paper-cutting artist from Russia who presently works from the city of Stavropol. After finishing her graduation, the artist worked as a school teacher for many years teaching language and literature. When she became a mother, she saw paper-cut work of other artists and fell in love with the art!

She paper-cuts delicate and intricately detailed silhouettes, portraits and text with a simple craft knife. Her work is inspired by pictures of famous artists, books, photographs and real life events. Her work depicts human portraits, animals, owls, and fish that are hand-cut with lots of patience. Each cut on paper is usually about about 1 to 2 mm in size.

"My work gives me hope and demonstrates that you can reach everything, even if it seems impossible. I often hear that my pictures are unreal. And then I look at my hands and discover nothing extraordinary. Everyone is able to create masterpieces and be the best! You just need to love what you do. And go ahead!"

You can find Marina's framed and unframed artwork in her online store.