Guy Laramee carves these amazing landscapes out of books.
From a set of English and Chinese hardcover encyclopedias, he has created two series of stunning landscapes, named The Great Wall and Biblios.
Of the encyclopedias he uses in his art, he said, "So I carve landscapes out of books and I paint Romantic landscapes. Mountains of disused knowledge return to what they really are: mountains. They erode a bit more and they become hills. Then they flatten and become fields where apparently nothing is happening. Piles of obsolete encyclopedias return to that which does not need to say anything, that which simply IS. Fogs and clouds erase everything we know, everything we think we are."
"My work, in 3D as well as in painting, originates from the very idea that ultimate knowledge could very well be an erosion instead of an accumulation."
"After 30 years of practice, the only thing I still wish my art to do is this: to project us into this thick “cloud of unknowing.”
Check his website: http://www.guylaramee.com/
Images taken from here
Incredible Carved Book Landscapes by Guy Laramée
Amazing Mosaic Artworks
Mosaic is the art of creating patterns and images from small pieces of a certain material. Check these amazing mosaic artworks made of unusual materials.
Virgin Mary Easter Eggs by Oksana Mas
Ukrainian artist Oksana Mas created this Virgin Mary mosaic portrait using 15,000 painted Easter Eggs in Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
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The giant mosaic weighs 2.5 tons and is made out of 15,000 wooden Easter Eggs, measures 7×7 meters.
Source: odditycentral
Jesus Push Pins Portrait by Rob Surette
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Rob Surette created this mind-blowing portrait of Jesus Christ made out of 24,790 colored push pins. The amazing work of art measures 5.5 feet x 4 feet and worth $250,000. He spent six months to finish on this project, working on it for approximately one hour every day, seven days a week.
Source: theblaze
Van Gogh Polo Shirts
The giant reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s self-portrait, made out of polo shirts, is on display in the lobby of the Marunouchi Building, near Tokyo Station as a part of a campaign by Onward Kashiyama Co, a Tokyo-based apparel maker, to use painting colors into shirt designs.
The amazing work of art measures 10 x 10 meters and was created using 2070 polo shirts of 24 different colors.
Source: nipponnews
Leila Khaled Lipsticks Portrait by Amer Shomali
Palestinian artist Amer Shomali created a unique portrait of Leila Khaled, a woman revolutionary holding an AK-47 and wearing a kaffiyeh, made of 3,500 lipsticks of 14 different colors.
Source: odditycentral
Jimi Hendrix Guitar Picks by Ed Chapman
Artist Ed Chapman created a mosaic of the greatest electric guitarist in history, Jimi Hendrix, made from more than 5000 Fender guitar picks/plectrums, a brand commonly associated with Hendrix, as he often played their guitars at the peak of his career.
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It was auctioned for £23,000 raising money at the Cancer Research UK’s Sound & Vision event at London's Abbey Road Studios.
Source: bloodyloud
Jimi Hendrix Playing Cards by David Alvarez
Leavenworth artist and student David Alvarez creates this Jimi Hendrix portrait using more than 8,500 Bicycle playing cards. The 25 feet tall portrait taken from the album "Crash Landing".
[link]
Source & Images: edition.cnn.com
He first divided the picture into parts and map out where the colored playing cards should go. Then painstakingly placing each card on its right position, on a Styrofoam core board, with double-sided tape. It took him 21 hours to finish the project.
Largest Coffee Bean Mosaic by Arkady Kim
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Russian artist Arkady Kim and his 5 assistants spent 12 days working on this impressive coffee bean mosaic, entitled “The Awakening” set up in Gorky Park, Moscow.
This giant mosaic measures nearly 30 square meters, and made of 1 million coffee beans, weighing 180 kg (397 pounds) and was acknowledged as a new world record for the largest coffee bean mosaic by Russia’s Book of Records, beating the previous title holder.. artist Saimir Strati (We have covered his amazing mosaic art in the previous post).
Source: odditycentral
Muhammad Ali Punching Bags by Michael Kalish
Los Angeles-based artist Michael Kalish made a 22-foot high installation of Mohammad Ali’s portrait using 6.5 miles stainless steel cable, 1300 punching bags, and 2500 pounds of aluminum pipe.
[link]
The project took three whole years to finish and Muhammad Ali hang the final bag at the ceremony on LA’s Nokia Plaza.
You can only see his portrait from one side, not from any other angles.
Source: planetoddity
Beagle Sprinkles by Joel Brochu
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Canadian fine arts student Joel Brochu creates a 4 feet by 1 ½ foot image of a beagle getting a bath made of sprinkles (tiny colored balls of compressed sugar that are used in the decoration of confectioner’s items).
He used a unique combination of MS Paint and a software tool designed by his friend to break the image down into pixels. Then he used a pair of jewelry tweezers to place the sprinkles, one at a time, on a board with double-sided tape and glue.
A total of 221,184 sprinkles in six different colors were used and it took eight months to complete the project.
Source: odditycentral
Wine Corks Mosaic by Scott Gundersen
Chicago-based artist Scott Gundersen used 9,217 wine corks to create this detailed portrait titled 'Grace' over the course of 200 hours.
[link]
It is measures 66″ X 96″ and took over 50 hours to create.
Gundersen also made another piece titled 'Trisha' made of 3,621 recycled wine corks.
[link]
First he sketches out a drawing based on a photograph he takes of his subject. He collects the corks, then arranges them by tone and later fills in the different tones for the shading of his portraits.
Source: athenna
Virgin Mary Easter Eggs by Oksana Mas
Ukrainian artist Oksana Mas created this Virgin Mary mosaic portrait using 15,000 painted Easter Eggs in Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv.
[link]
[link]
[link]The giant mosaic weighs 2.5 tons and is made out of 15,000 wooden Easter Eggs, measures 7×7 meters.
Source: odditycentral
Jesus Push Pins Portrait by Rob Surette
[link]Rob Surette created this mind-blowing portrait of Jesus Christ made out of 24,790 colored push pins. The amazing work of art measures 5.5 feet x 4 feet and worth $250,000. He spent six months to finish on this project, working on it for approximately one hour every day, seven days a week.
Source: theblaze
Van Gogh Polo Shirts
The giant reproduction of Vincent Van Gogh’s self-portrait, made out of polo shirts, is on display in the lobby of the Marunouchi Building, near Tokyo Station as a part of a campaign by Onward Kashiyama Co, a Tokyo-based apparel maker, to use painting colors into shirt designs.
The amazing work of art measures 10 x 10 meters and was created using 2070 polo shirts of 24 different colors.
Source: nipponnews
Leila Khaled Lipsticks Portrait by Amer Shomali
Palestinian artist Amer Shomali created a unique portrait of Leila Khaled, a woman revolutionary holding an AK-47 and wearing a kaffiyeh, made of 3,500 lipsticks of 14 different colors.
Source: odditycentral
Jimi Hendrix Guitar Picks by Ed Chapman
Artist Ed Chapman created a mosaic of the greatest electric guitarist in history, Jimi Hendrix, made from more than 5000 Fender guitar picks/plectrums, a brand commonly associated with Hendrix, as he often played their guitars at the peak of his career.
[link]It was auctioned for £23,000 raising money at the Cancer Research UK’s Sound & Vision event at London's Abbey Road Studios.
Source: bloodyloud
Jimi Hendrix Playing Cards by David Alvarez
Leavenworth artist and student David Alvarez creates this Jimi Hendrix portrait using more than 8,500 Bicycle playing cards. The 25 feet tall portrait taken from the album "Crash Landing".
[link]Source & Images: edition.cnn.com
He first divided the picture into parts and map out where the colored playing cards should go. Then painstakingly placing each card on its right position, on a Styrofoam core board, with double-sided tape. It took him 21 hours to finish the project.
Largest Coffee Bean Mosaic by Arkady Kim
[link]Russian artist Arkady Kim and his 5 assistants spent 12 days working on this impressive coffee bean mosaic, entitled “The Awakening” set up in Gorky Park, Moscow.
This giant mosaic measures nearly 30 square meters, and made of 1 million coffee beans, weighing 180 kg (397 pounds) and was acknowledged as a new world record for the largest coffee bean mosaic by Russia’s Book of Records, beating the previous title holder.. artist Saimir Strati (We have covered his amazing mosaic art in the previous post).
Source: odditycentral
Muhammad Ali Punching Bags by Michael Kalish
Los Angeles-based artist Michael Kalish made a 22-foot high installation of Mohammad Ali’s portrait using 6.5 miles stainless steel cable, 1300 punching bags, and 2500 pounds of aluminum pipe.
[link]The project took three whole years to finish and Muhammad Ali hang the final bag at the ceremony on LA’s Nokia Plaza.
You can only see his portrait from one side, not from any other angles.
Source: planetoddity
Beagle Sprinkles by Joel Brochu
[link]Canadian fine arts student Joel Brochu creates a 4 feet by 1 ½ foot image of a beagle getting a bath made of sprinkles (tiny colored balls of compressed sugar that are used in the decoration of confectioner’s items).
He used a unique combination of MS Paint and a software tool designed by his friend to break the image down into pixels. Then he used a pair of jewelry tweezers to place the sprinkles, one at a time, on a board with double-sided tape and glue.
A total of 221,184 sprinkles in six different colors were used and it took eight months to complete the project.
Source: odditycentral
Wine Corks Mosaic by Scott Gundersen
Chicago-based artist Scott Gundersen used 9,217 wine corks to create this detailed portrait titled 'Grace' over the course of 200 hours.
[link]It is measures 66″ X 96″ and took over 50 hours to create.
Gundersen also made another piece titled 'Trisha' made of 3,621 recycled wine corks.
[link]First he sketches out a drawing based on a photograph he takes of his subject. He collects the corks, then arranges them by tone and later fills in the different tones for the shading of his portraits.
Source: athenna
Michelangelo's "Pieta" Pointillism by Kate Askegaard
Kate Askegaard from Dixon, Illinois has spent 1,500 hours to create "True Love" - a life sized stippling drawing of Michelangelo's "Pieta" - using pointillism technique, for the annual ArtPrize Contest.
This piece is entirely made of dots. Each dot is the size of the tip of a pin.
Here is a close up view so you can get an idea of the scale of the piece. Each point is drawn with a Steadler .05 Pigment liner on 100s Rag paper.
Kate referenced a 12in x 12in photo that she gridded out into over 10,000 squares.
She used a large master grid for each 19in x 24in sheet of paper. There are 9 total sheets of paper that are glued onto a 5ft x 5ft canvas. Then she painted black around the image.
Kate worked 70 hours a week, which meant missing out on family outings and spending time apart from her 2-year-old son.
One night a quote came over the radio that said "God will not tell you to start something and not be with you to finish it". She believes that God was the one that told her to work on her art. She rely solely on her faith to finish.
After over 1500 hours, she finished her artwork.
Although "True Love" did not win in ArtPrize 2011, it was sold to Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.
In her blog, she said, "I prayed that with every dot there would be a drop of God's glory to reach out to people. I hope my work was able to effect your life in someway. It was my "True Love" of art and Christ that kept me going to finish and it was God's "True Love" for you that He gave his only Son."
Check her blog: http://katecreating.blogspot.com/
Eggshell Sculptures by Christel Assante
French sculptor Christel Assante uses eggshells to create these wonderful pieces of art.
Assante creates custom designs for buyers, working in mostly quail and goose eggs. Each egg takes her about 3 to 4 days to sculpt. The eggs are lit from a small bulb placed inside through a hole in the bottom.
"I always use true egg shells, because I like the material and the magic of the result sometimes so fragile, that's the most interesting for me. I carve from the ostrich egg shell (the biggest) to emu egg shell, and also nandu, goose, pheasant, duck and quail egg shell. I do not work at all with chicken eggs !!"
"I tend to prefer nandu egg shell which is thick giving me more possibilities. The result is really worthwhile. Unfortunately, these eggs are difficult to find. I can also use the emu egg shell. The dark green color is beautifull but its shell is thinner, so less comfortable to carve."
"I find shells thanks to friends, neighbours. In the past, I also had geese and my mother had nandus and all sort of birds ... Sometimes, people also keep for me some eggs. For goose egg shells, I prefer the ones coming from Gers where they are large and thick!!"
"It is not necessary to have lot of material to start carving eggs, a knife and some vinegar are sufficient to begin with, then you can buy a mini drill. Those of good quality have good peformances and avoid most of vibrations (which remain the true problem). Then, don't forget to use diamond coated drill for the best result ..."
"I always bring my equipment with me when I exhibit to show people ... but, the best is to practise, at the beginning, sometimes I spent one week on one egg without being sure of the result !!! But, I am very stubborn and I remade the same model until I succeeded."
"The highest difficulty for carving egg is to respect the structure of the shell. The more holes you drill, the more difficult it is to keep homogenity. The less you keep, the more fragile are the remaining part, as for any other material... "
"I am often asked the time to create a work, now I am used to, I need 8 hours to carve a goose egg shell and one week for an ostrich egg shell ..."
The process start with a sketch made with a pencil on the egg shell, taking into account of the shell's curvature. Followed by engraving and carving. And finally, painting.
Source: art-et-artisanat-du-monde
Assante creates custom designs for buyers, working in mostly quail and goose eggs. Each egg takes her about 3 to 4 days to sculpt. The eggs are lit from a small bulb placed inside through a hole in the bottom.
"I always use true egg shells, because I like the material and the magic of the result sometimes so fragile, that's the most interesting for me. I carve from the ostrich egg shell (the biggest) to emu egg shell, and also nandu, goose, pheasant, duck and quail egg shell. I do not work at all with chicken eggs !!"
"I tend to prefer nandu egg shell which is thick giving me more possibilities. The result is really worthwhile. Unfortunately, these eggs are difficult to find. I can also use the emu egg shell. The dark green color is beautifull but its shell is thinner, so less comfortable to carve."
"I find shells thanks to friends, neighbours. In the past, I also had geese and my mother had nandus and all sort of birds ... Sometimes, people also keep for me some eggs. For goose egg shells, I prefer the ones coming from Gers where they are large and thick!!"
"It is not necessary to have lot of material to start carving eggs, a knife and some vinegar are sufficient to begin with, then you can buy a mini drill. Those of good quality have good peformances and avoid most of vibrations (which remain the true problem). Then, don't forget to use diamond coated drill for the best result ..."
"I always bring my equipment with me when I exhibit to show people ... but, the best is to practise, at the beginning, sometimes I spent one week on one egg without being sure of the result !!! But, I am very stubborn and I remade the same model until I succeeded."
"The highest difficulty for carving egg is to respect the structure of the shell. The more holes you drill, the more difficult it is to keep homogenity. The less you keep, the more fragile are the remaining part, as for any other material... "
"I am often asked the time to create a work, now I am used to, I need 8 hours to carve a goose egg shell and one week for an ostrich egg shell ..."
The process start with a sketch made with a pencil on the egg shell, taking into account of the shell's curvature. Followed by engraving and carving. And finally, painting.
Source: art-et-artisanat-du-monde
Embroidered Eggs
Aren’t these eggs gorgeous?
At first it looks like the embroidery was done separately and then applied to the egg with glue.
But look closely, you can see the holes for the embroidery on all the eggs.
If you want to make your own embroidered eggs, you can find the tutorial here :)
