Fireworks of Glass at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis

An impressive 43 foot tower of glass is now on exhibit at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis.  Dale Chihuly is the artist.  Here is a picture:

It is placed above a glass ceiling.  1,600 pieces of glass compose this 18,000 pound exhibit. What a sight that must be!

Insect Art

Daughter Julie gave us the book Pheromone. (2008, Pomegranate Communications, Inc., CA)


The Insect Artwork of Christopher Marley in photographs is an amazing array of botanical images. 

From the bookplate:

Christopher Marley's graceful arrangements of jewel-like anthropods and delicate betterflies transform the hitherto creepy world of insects into stunning works of art.  His keen eye for design combines with his entomological passion to produce mesmerizing kaleidoscopic bug mandalas and striking up-close-and personal single insect portraits....

Here are a couple of photos I took from the pages of this book:

These images will be fun, but challenging, to paint in oils.

Angels Used in Embroidery

This site, Checkered Houses, displays artwork from over thirty artists.  Many are folk artists. 

Paul Flack drew the angel shown above. 

Paul began to look for that sense of fulfillment in painting, inspired by the likes of visionary artists. He had painted earlier in his life for a short time. As his spiritual quest grew, he became intrigued with the concept of angels. Angels are spiritual in nature, not religious and span time and appeal to all ages.

His angels are colorful, eye-catching, and unique in their forms. They appeal to everyone whether you believe in them or not and encourage the imagination to wonder in terms of what the painting means to each individual. It is in this, that Paul finds his fulfillment.

This will make an interesting outline for embroidery work on the back of a work shirt.  The lines are simple, and can easily be drawn from the photo onto paper or cloth for further embellishment.

Here is one similar angel embroidered from a kit, and sewn onto cloth, then appliqued on the backing of a woman's vest:

We need all the angels available to surround us, so why not on our clothing?