Lost & Found: Inspiration From Retro Illustrated Advertisements

I found a gem blog that I know you'll like too. Today's Inspiration features advertising illustrations from decades past, mostly beginning in the 1940's. It was so fun going through the pages and pages of fantastic drawings - ads from Time magazines, fashion drawings, oil company ads - we see many now that try to replicate what was created then, but these just have so much magnetism. From famous illustrators to not so famous ones.

Modern Wall Art to Soothe the Weariest of Souls

Super-soft delicious textures: are you in?

The portfolio of one of our contributing photographers, Florene, is modern, clean and super macro. The wall art created from her work fits in so eloquently to any space because of its organic motifs and natural colors. Her photos are mostly botanical - some boast golden bamboo forests, soothing rippling water, delicate veins of tropical plant leaves, unruly straw-like bark from palms and many other raw subjects inspired by her native Florida.

What makes Florene's work so uncommon is that she takes what is ordinary to her surroundings and creates modern wall art with rich luscious colors, soft textures and warm emotion that could soothe any weary soul. At the macro level the imagery becomes abstract enough for your mind to fill in the blanks but still creates a satisfying composition.

Among my personal favorites are:

Orange Angles (Art 2919): Very nice macro of flame colored palm leaves. Notice the sharp crisp edges of the leaves and the 3-d texture. The color makes it yummy. Looks especially good in 2-34"x18" rectangles and 24"x56" rectangle. Mesh of Gray (Art 2943): Interesting silver background with black mesh in the foreground. The uniformity of the lines are tranquilizing but the viewer still keeps interest due to the imperfections in the weave. Looks especially good in 6-18"x18" squares and 2-18"x34" rectangles. School's Out (Art 2956): Small silvery fish dart (mostly) vertically in whimsical play. I love the subdued colors of this piece, which at first appear to be warm grays with splashes of indigo dollops of paint. As you investigate more closely you catch the detail of eyes, spines and tails. Really cool photo. Looks especially good in the 56"x24" rectangle where we catch light reflecting off the fish which creates a shimmer at the bottom of the piece. World Up Close (Art 2973): macro of a tropical plant leaf. The title is fitting since the colors and shapes are reminiscent of a satellite image of Earth. We see lime colored veins running through the leaf and it's mesmerizing. This one is probably my favorite from Florene's collection. Looks especially good in the 8-18"x18" squares and the 34"x34" square. Many items ship free. Check out Florene's portfolio here and experience the clean gorgeous wall art from modernmural.com.

Best Selling Art of the Summer

It's difficult to pick up on seasonal trends when wall art will hang in your space year round. However, I'd like to feature some of the hottest selling art of the summer so far. Although we are seeing a liking for neutrals, some of the best sellers are pretty bold. The trends show everything from graffiti (Art 2665) by one of our French artists, Martine, to bold and bright photographs of flax and cherry colored Japanese umbrellas (Art 1587 & Art 1569) by another French photographer, Phinecoree. In an urban illustration titled "The Last Kiss" we see the just the legs and feet of two lovers stretched up to kiss one another good-bye in front of a subway train (love this one). There are many organic subjects, as well. Martine's piece "Automnal" is reminiscent of cracked glass, with gorgeous autumn colored leaves showing through. One of our photographers from Halifax, NS, Jewels, captures a lone tree capable of evoking even the faintest of memories.

The art is produced in most sizes on the modernmural.com, so check out the links to see availability!

As seen left to right, starting with top left corner: Art 2665, 1569, 1587, 166, 2550, 2053, 1015, 1935, 2378

Edward Tufte: Beautiful Evidence

One of the best ways to look at data is through fascinating visual ways. I was turned on to Edward Tufte's work a few years back. His design is clean, eloquent and simply put, beautiful. Tufte is a world famous statistician who also teaches political and computer science at Yale. He is most famous for his undertakings of Information Design, and very eloquently describes quantitative information through drawings, graphics and sculpture. In a world with innumerable data, Tufte finds ways to expose profound relationships through visual means. Interestingly enough, in March of this year he was appointed by President Obama to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act's Recovery and Independent Advisory Panel to reveal how recovery money was being spent.

Check out more on Tufte's website.