Tag: natural

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Art from Nature: Inspiration and Links

prickly pear cactus

Nature is inside art as its content, not outside as its model.

–Northrop Frye

prickly pear cactus
Find inspiration on your knees

Nature is the source and content of most of my artistic and creative work and it’s right outside our home. In Helena, it literally takes just a couple of minutes to get from “town” out into a more natural environment. But even right in town, all I have to do is get down on my hands and knees with my eyes, my camera, my sketchbook, my sense of wonder… to find something inspiring and worth using in my artwork. Not only am I inspired to draw/paint/photography and write when I take in Nature’s sweetness — I also know when I look closely and pay attention, that I am part of Nature. Try it! It feels so good.

I also love discovering other artists whose inspirations are obviously directly from nature. Danish ceramic artist, Lotte Glob fits that category. I came across her work during the winter of 2006 and since then she has built an incredible home and studio on her land.  It’s really one of the coolest houses I’ve ever seen.

Ceramic bowl by Lotte Glob
Geyser Pool by Danish ceramic artist, Lotte Glob

Glob’s ceramic vessels make me swoon! Her work is intimately inspired by natural forms she finds, especially around the “Ultimate Rock Garden,” as she calls her studio and home on the shore of Loch Eriboll in Scotland.

Glob has a beautiful online portfolio exhibiting her ceramic sculptures, books, fountains, tiles and bowls. These are incredibly beautiful pieces — if you are at all attracted to artwork based on natural colors, shapes and textures, check out her portfolio.

Sculpture of floating stones by Lotte Glob
Two of Glob’s environmental installations, ceramic floating stones photographed in place. She often places her sculptures in nature to take photos of them before delivering them to the buyers.
Bubble on water surface
Photo from Glob’s book of inspiration reminds me of her floating stones

Some Links to Art from Nature

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Ocean Mandalas Use Found Natural Materials

Ocean Mandala with natural objects
Ocean Mandala with natural objects
Making mandalas from natural objects you find on-site can be a playful or a quiet meditative activity.

At our family reunion on Vancouver Island this past weekend, some of us made mandalas of shore materials we found in the forest and on the beach. Natural object mandalas are– by their very nature — ephemeral, and will be destroyed by the tides, wind, wildlife and time. Yet the making of these circular designs gives so much pleasure it doesn’t really matter that they won’t last long.

Mandala of Natural Objects
Tom and Kat made this mandala using a barnacle-covered cinder block monolith, red seaweed, driftwood sticks, oyster shells on-edge, and some wild mustard.
Ocean Mandala of natural objects
Martina’s mandala has bilateral symmetry, and includes a border of seaweed, and in the center, she used driftwood, grasses and shells

As the evening cooled, we walked around admiring the mandalas … then later watched as Tom and Kat’s mandala was washed away by the incoming tide. I love thinking of beach-walkers stumbling across our mandalas and wondering about the makers. I hope these photos inspire you to make your own mandalas, no matter where you are.

Ocean Mandala of natural objects
Amy and her family made this sweet circle filled with offerings from the sea… tiny crabs, shore plants, seed pods, flower petals, shells and little bits of driftwood.
Ocean Mandala of natural objects
Margie and daughters created this wonderful mandala with concentric rings of seashells, plus driftwood, stone towers, flowers and leaves.
Ocean Mandala of natural objects
Tim and Maureen created their mandala with oyster shells, douglas fir cones, ivy leaves, foxglove, yarrow, driftwood, fir and cedar boughs.
Ocean mandala of natural objects
Moira and Brian worked side by side to creaste this stony mandala on a bed of beach stones… they chose lighter colored stones to contrast with the dark shore, and added shells, seed pods, and grasses tied in bundles as a circular boundary.
Ocean Mandala of natural objects
Marybeth and Sons …. played and worked together to create the most subtle of all the mandalas. They used stones, driftwood, shells, yarrow and shoreline grasses.