Västervik town had three big street art festivals 2019-2021. We went there for a couple of days to enjoy the beautiful town and its art. The weather was not the best, but good enough. Some works from the festivals collected here. In the header we have an Ollio/Curtis Hylton.
Ketones 6000 – Australia
Curtis Hylton – England
Telmomiel – Holland. This one was my favourite.
Amy is hosting Every Little Thing this week, please visit her lovely site for more inspiration! We invite you to share every little thing that makes you smile. Amy says:
”Small things around us have interesting stories to tell if we only take the time to stop, look, and listen.” With this little mixed gallery, I hope to send you some smiles from me!
The important little ones around us, are both necessary for our survival – and beautiful. Not only spring flowers and Yoko Ono art, but animals, insects (even flies)…
And how about a little sun of your own?
Many thanks to John, and for your special contributions to his Mechanical/Industrial theme. I have had a trying week without my PC, but now I am here! Hope you will participate in Amy’s beautiful theme, and don’t forget your Lens-Artists tag and link to Amy’s original post!
Next week it is my turn, Leya, to be your host. May the sun shine on you – and inside you, until then!
I wanted [photography] to be more than a document, to be something that is as close as you could possibly be to the subject. – Chris Killip
A famous quote from Robert Capa goes: If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough. And
surely you win some things by getting closer – but at the same time you lose things too… For LAPC #190, Patti’s challenge is about moving closer to your subject. Post one photo or a series of photos showing what happened when you got closer to your subject!
So, get closer by moving your feet, by using a zoom or macro lens, or by cropping the photo. In my images I have zoomed in or cropped – no macro lens in these.
My inspiration was an interesting design museum in Gothenburg, which made our stay last weekend really worth while. The museum grew from a family with deep interest in oriental art into a versatile collection. We spent some hours enjoying and learning some really new things to us.
A netsuke is an artistically carved button-like toggle that was used to fasten cases for medicine and tobacco onto the belt of a kimono. From originally having been a simple piece of wood, the designs, motifs and materials changed and developed over the centuries. Ivory and wood, but also metal, horn and porcelain was used by the skilled artists.
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. – Frank Lloyd Wright
The motifs are from Japanese and Chinese mythology, and from the plant and animal worlds. Clearly it wasn’t enough with overall pictures – you had to get closer. An average sized netsuke is not bigger than 2-4 cm. The details are exquisite.
The word ”netsuke” means ”root to hang from”. Notice the opener with a snake in the pumpkin (?).
One of the rooms contained beautiful tapestries – this one from our famous Swedish artist, Märta Måås Fjetterström.
Her Swedish forest is a gem – and if you crop the image you will get either the canopy in cooler colours, or the forest floor in golden light. I find them all beautiful. Three artworks in one! Not all art will tolerate a good cropping, but this one does.
Finally, a hydrangea in winter costume – I had to have a flower too of course… The soft colours and the close-up make the skeleton petals a special treat.
Thank you, Patti, for helping us discover new things in our images! Do visit her site for more inspiration!
A special thanks to Tina for encouraging us to post our wonderful, odd, and eclectic photos. Next week, it’s my turn to inspire, so hopefully we will soon meet again!
I am sending you a gallery of interesting artwork in wood, bronze, sand and more, from an outdoor exhibition in Denmark. You might recognize some fantasy figures, and Erik Röde, HC Andersen and The Pied Piper of Hamelin. The exhibition was really nice, and we were allowed to watch the skilled artists at work. Earplugs were handed out!
The beautiful painted wall was indoors, and decorated for a party. In the header, another hall decorated for a wedding.
Patti is our host this week, and we are asked to think about symmetry. As she explains in her instructive and beautiful post, symmetry is, and have always been, pleasing to the human eye.
The header, as well as most of these images, are from Spain. Art and architecture here has its origin from many cultures including the Moorish. A fantastic blend.
Thanks to all of you in our creative community for your support, enthusiasm, and creativity. Let’s keep inspiring each other ! Next challenge, LAPC #117 will be hosted by Amy instead of me, October 3, 2020, so don’t forget to stop by her site and join the fun.
Until then, I wish you all a wonderful, creative week – and stay safe.
This week, Tina’s challenge is all about inspiration. What inspires you in life? Go to Tina’s fabulous post for more inspiration – and I am sure you will be lingering there for a while…
I am a nature person and an animal person. I prefer walking in nature and being together with animals instead of people. Nature is all inspiring and the foundation of my thoughts and choices in life. Nature is real, animals are honest and straight forward. Humans can seldom measure up to that.
When I was a child there were always cats in my home. As an adult, always dogs. They listen, they do not judge you, and they are faithfully loving till the end. I believe it is essential for a child to grow up with animals around, to watch them and to learn from them how life and death works. They teach you how you should treat everything living. Furthermore – it is a scientific truth that people feel more calm and stable with animals around. In Sweden we have specially trained dogs to go visit elderly people regularly. Some homes for the elderly have a ”house cat”.
To me, reading and books always mean inspiration, film and photography as well. There are so many things to be inspired of…what is inspiring for you?
Thank you as always for your support of, and commitment to, our challenge. We hope you’ll join us next week when Patti brings us challenge #116 on her Pilotfish blog.
”For this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge #111, we’re taking a fresh look at ordinary, everyday objects–things that you see and use in your daily life.”
Patti is our host for the challenge, and we are looking forward to seeing your creative response!
My start is the old silver box from my husband’s mother. I haven’t changed its position for the image, but, inspired by Patti, I put my garnets there, to pick up the colours of the faded rose. In the header it stands in late evening light – here in ordinary daylight. Quite a change – light and the photographer’s position sets the mood.
If you read my blog now and then, you know I have two real dogs, but also some other dogs and cats, hiding among my house plants…
These are my two favourites – both left to me by Anita, a beloved friend who passed away some years ago.
They are hiding in different places depending on what plants I have for them. The lovely blue cat was one of Anita’s special favourites – and yesterday she was hiding behind a Medinilla Magnifica. I think she loved it!
Finally, my scary friends in the blue box – always hiding – seemingly frightened – put there and painted by Lena, a very good friend of mine. Can you see just how scared they are? I even helped them look a bit shaky…
A special thanks to Tina for hosting last week’s Creativity in the Time of Covid challenge. A great theme, that really showed us many creative ideas on how to cope with and manage these difficult times. I think we all learned something new and picked up more tricks to stay creative throughout! Well done All of us – together we will meet the future, stronger!
Next challenge, #112, I (Ann-Christine/Leya) will be your host. Stay creative and stay well – and be kind, also to yourself.
A beauty indeed – Merlin’s Laboratory!
Thank you all for sharing your interesting photo crops for Patti’s challenge last week – so many good pieces of advice! As usual we can learn much from each other. Now we are happy to welcome our guest host this week – Sue (Mac’s Girl) of The Nature of Things.
Sue inspires us to post about our pastimes, old or new. ”Pastimes. It could be something that you are trying for the first time or a hobby or interest that you have enjoyed for many years.” Please visit her site for more inspiration!
Leaving my jigsaw puzzle for some hours, I have chosen to post my newly found (some weeks ago…) pastime, sparkled by ”Swirls and Twirls” at the World according to Dina.
These are some of my first attempts. I started with the little house (in the header) from a spring walk for Thursday Thoughts. Find the house here.
After making a couple of images, I realized that roads were good starters, leading straight into the swirl. This one is from Iceland, original photo here.
A lonely house on a hill, a cold, cold evening in Jämtland, Sweden. Windows are helpful to get the feeling of ”wind and light” running through.
The cherry blossom path. See the original photo here. As usual, click to enlarge.
Finally, this colourful library in Warsaw, where the original photo can be found here.
What did I learn from some hours of fun creating? Some things that felt right for me, were:
Another thing is how much time flies when you get absorbed in this – but that was of course part of the intention. If you want to try it, for guidelines, please go to Dina’s site (Link above), and/or to Youtube.
We look forward to seeing your interpretation of the Pastime theme. Please be sure to link your response to Sues post (use the original post link, NOT the one from the WP reader) and use the Lens-Artists TAG so we can all find you.
On May 23, challenge #98, we will be back on schedule, and I (Leya) will be your host. Until then – take care and stay well.
Leya 