Artwork of the Week: Unknown

As promised, my mom and I spent some time in the garden this past week while she was in town for a visit. She helped me identify the purple flowering shrub with the sweet smelling leaves planted just off the patio. And we built a little retaining wall out of old bricks to keep my front yard from invading our walkway every time it rains. She also informed me that the rose bushes just to the right of our house  have come down with a spotty leaf syndrome that I need to fix with a spray of milk and water. 

This drawing reminded me to add it to my list of things to do this week. And also that there can be such beauty in the way something destructive manifests itself. 

You can see more botanical drawings like this one (without attribution... maybe from A History of the Earth and Animated Nature?) on greyherbert's Flickr stream. 


- Cathleen 

Hanging Garden

Isn't this leafy mobile lovely? It reminds me a lot of the black and white plant drawings of Ellsworth Kelly. This particular balancing act, titled Jungalow, was created by Chuck Kubba in collaboration with designer Justina Blakeney. Chuck sells more mobiles through his Etsy shop, comometalworks where this black beauty is available for $190. 

- Cathleen 

Leave It To Me

These stunning silhouettes, created by paper cut artist Jenny Lee Fowler, are a fresh, new take on a classic heirloom. Based in Kingston, NY, Jenny cuts her custom portraits the old-fashioned way; freehand with close observation and a seriously sharp pair of scissors. Though her use of natural materials like leaves and bark is far from traditional (she mentions the leaves may "cure" with only slight shrinkage and color change over the years if kept pressed between the glass and out of the sun), her Etsy shop also features work made from more traditional black and colored paper, as well as some pretty pendants. Something like this could make a great Christmas gift for mom.

- Cathleen

[All photos from the artist's Etsy site]