September 13, 2009 by Designsquish

Biodegradable moss planter(organic carpet consisting of assortment of mosses) by Japan-based flower artist Makoto Azuma  

September 06, 2009 by Designsquish

Hummingbird




Humming bird, detail



Crimson necked bullfinch

by Designsquish

Brunonia Serica
Ferdinand Bauer
1760-1826
from Floral Illustrations of New Holland

Chicory (Cichorium intybus)
15th or 16th century
Gouache on vellum

From Vienna Dioscorides



From Vienna Dioscorides



Botanical Illustration from Codex Anicia Juliana, AD 512

From Vienna Dioscorides



Banksia coccinea (Scarlet Banksia)
Ferdinand Bauer
Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae
Early 19th century



Adele Morosini Rossetti (for Botanic Garden)
Rosa Abraham Darby
Watercolor , color pencil, tempera on paper




California flowering plant





California snow flower

Peruvian flowering cactus

September 05, 2009 by Designsquish

September 04, 2009 by Designsquish

I ♥  Mineo Mizuno sculptures. Mineo Mizuno was born in Japan and currently resides in Los angeles, CA.  Water-drop/pebble like large ceramic forms are covered in small holes in which mosses are planted.

July 18, 2009 by Designsquish

The High Line was built in the 1930s. It lifted freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan. No trains have run on the High Line since 1980. Friends of the High Line, a community-based non-profit group, formed in 1999 when the historic structure was under threat of demolition. Friends of the High Line works in partnership with the City of New York to preserve and maintain the structure as an elevated public park.

by Designsquish

This is wild strawberry or Woodland Strawberry (Fragaria Vesca)  growing in Brooklyn backyard. Mmmmm!

Wild strawberry is not like a regular strawberry at all. It has a different taste and smell.  It smells like forest. Red, juicy and fragrant wild strawberries are false fruits Berries are seeds hidden in a juicy pulp. Examples of berries - blueberry, cranberry, tomato and watermelon. The seeds of the wild strawberry sit on the surface of this false fruit that functions as a bait for the animals, who eat the seeds and help spread the seeds with their droppings.  Wild strawberries are so delicious and aromatic because they wants us to eat them (yes yes!), ha-ha!
Wild strawberries usually are found near trails, young forests and forest openings.

There is so much can be said about this amazing fruit. 

June 11, 2009 by Designsquish

The Horticultural Society of New York is awesome.  The Horticultural society of New York makes New York city better through horticultural programs, library resources and exhibitions. Below are some photos of the exhibitions held in HSNY:



Above: Sustainable fashion Show - Bodkin-  Eviana Hartman uses recycled tire rubber as buttons, boiled carob dyes, bamboo/organic cotton, organic wool,  recycled polyester fleece.


Above: The Artificial Kingdom - art exhibition by Rowena Dring and Jude Miller


Above: Awesome indoor green wall at HSNY

by Designsquish

Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh was founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants.  Nearly 34,000 plants are grown at the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh and its three smaller offshoots located in other parts of Scotland.  These represent nearly 17,000 different species from all over the world, or about 7% of all known plant species.  I was surprised to see so many species of plants at the same time!

May 29, 2009 by Designsquish

This drawing by Karin Uusikorpi of an owl is incredible.  I found it by accident by looking through flickr.  Karin writes about herself:  ” I am a prairie girl born in Saskatchewan and raised in Northern Alberta. I draw, paint and play with colour. I eventually will get back to making things out of clay. I have made art in some form or another since I was little & still do. I am always picking stuff off the ground and saving it for future use - I am a self proclaimed ‘packrat’ and ‘magpie’ that routinely tries to cull the collection of stuff”

by Designsquish

Osias Beert the Elder
Still-Life with Cherries and Strawberries in China Bowls
1608 Oil on panel
19 5/8” x 25 3/4”

One of my favorite Flemish vanitas paintings is “Still Life with wild Strawberries” by Osias Beert the Younger. Vanitas is a type of still life painting popular in Northern Europe in Flanders and the Netherlands in the 16th - 17th centuries. The word “vanitas” is Latin, meaning “emptiness” and loosely translated corresponds to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the transient nature of vanity. Paintings executed in the vanitas style are meant as a reminder of the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death.




Osias Beert the Younger
Still Life with Wild Raspberries
Oil on Panel
11.2” x 15.6”

STILL LIFES WITH FLOWERS

Pieter Brueghel the Younger
Still Life with Flowers
1601-1678





Jan the Elder Brueghel
1607 Oil on wood
98 x 73 cm





Brueghel Jan the Elder
Still Life with flowers in a Glass

May 26, 2009 by Designsquish

Scottish Highlands area is an amazing and magical place that is definitely not from this world.  Steep bare mountains,  strong winds, rainfall , swampy grasslands and many waterfalls, they hide one of the strangest animals -  Kyloe.

Kyloe or Highland Cow is an ancient Scottish breed of beef cattle with long horns and long wavy pelts.  ( They look a lot like mammoths or at least like giant,big headed, hairy cows)  Highland cows are known are a hardy breed due to the rugged nature of their native Scottish Highlands, they graze on plants many other cattle avoid.






Other inhabitants of the Highlands are lots and lots of sheep.  Sheep is everywhere. 

May 23, 2009 by Designsquish

May 09, 2009 by Designsquish

April 24, 2009 by Designsquish

Pando is a clonal colony of a single male Quaking Aspen located in the state of Utah, U.S.  All trees in Pando colony are determined to be part of a single living organism with same genetic material and one massive underground root system. The plant is estimated to weigh collectively 6,000 tonnes making it the heaviest known organism and with the oldest root system known in existence at ~80,000 years of age.

April 23, 2009 by Designsquish

Kusamono and shitakusa are a potted collection of plants. Plants used are typically moss, grass, lichen, small mountain flowers and plants, bonsai trees, bamboo, or bulbs, that may be arranged to heighten the beauty or reflect a certain season.  Usually a collection is displayed separately in special pots, driftwood, or even stones. Photos from beautiful blogs: Shitakusamono and Happy Hearts at Home.

April 22, 2009 by Designsquish

       

Terraskin,  Via Stone and Fiberstone are tree-free papers made of minerals.  Stone paper is similar to traditional papers only it has a lot of advantages. When it comes to printing Via Stone paper uses 20-30% less ink than conventional papers.  Stone paper can be water-resistant, tear-resistant, recyclable and biodegradable.  No water or bleach can be used in its production as well!

by Designsquish

April 21, 2009 by Designsquish

Two day hundred mile bike ride from New York to Lake Purdy and back.

by Designsquish

Love the idea!!

by Designsquish

Sycamore is one of the species of Platanus native to North America. It has been extensively planted in New York City as a shade tree. It can easily endure the big city environment, bears transplanting well and grows rapidly.

April 13, 2009 by Designsquish

*Above: Trees in Prospect Park

by Designsquish

Above: Interactive U.S population map showing the population density in America.

Above:
World population map by National Geographic

April 11, 2009 by Designsquish

Above:The Unicorn is Penned, the Unicorn Tapestries,
circa 1495–1505,
the Cloisters, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York City



Above: Woodpecker
1885
by William Morris

April 01, 2009 by Designsquish

Really cute tree and nature inspired stackable ceramic cups by Chris Koens!

March 21, 2009 by Designsquish

So it snowed a lot a couple of days ago in Brooklyn. Then, it became increasingly warm, snow melted and these first white flowers appeared. Photos are taken in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn.

March 15, 2009 by Designsquish

I love Charley Harper’s print, The Desert. 

by Designsquish

Beautiful ceramic plates inspired by Ernst Haeckel’s biological drawings (book named Art Forms in Nature) by Megha Patel.



*above:  Ernst Haeckel’s book “Art Forms in Nature”

March 07, 2009 by Designsquish

Benjamin Hemmendinger
Clouds
2009
Lithograph

Ben Hemmendinger graduated from the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. He is really good at painting clouds and his mom, Gail Kort, is a professional cloud painter.  I believe Benjamin painted only clouds for a year or two while studying at Cooper (although I could be wrong).
Now Benjamin resides in upstate New York.
(This posting is created by me, Anastasia Ugorskaya, watercolor/drawing artist and Cooper Union graduate)

March 05, 2009 by Designsquish