I dare you to “look away” – you can’t, can you?! Nope, me either. Oooh, I love this installation, text-based light work by American artist Steve Lambert. I want all of it… I would have the artsiest, most well-lit home on the block!

{ps. check out my “ART GOES HERE” post on sfgirlbybay to see my absolute favorite piece of his!}

Gah! I saw one of these on Pinterest yesterday, and I desperately wanted to know who the artist was… but I’m not sure that I’ll ever know. A few clicks on that pin, and I found this entire treasure trove of vintage geological illustrations! They are part of a collection on Vintage Printable, under the category of Gems and Minerals. Pages and pages from old textbooks, that are now part of the public domain. All of you collage artists out there know what that means… yep, you can use these images for whatever you like! Time to get the scissors out people.

{Thanks to American artist Shannon Rankin for pinning one of these to her ‘rocks’ board… love!}

Whoa. I am completely in awe of this fantastic installation work by American artist Anne Lindberg. Thousands and thousands of strands of thread, anchored from one wall to another, that seem to glow from within… I said whoa already, right? I wish I could see this work in person… well, if I lived in Omaha Nebraska I could! This work is part of a group show, titled Placemakers, currently on at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts from January 13 – March 31, 2012. Please go, and report back! Count how many times you say, whoa. Thank you!

I am always awe-struck when I come across this kind of work. The patience and control required to create cut-paper installations is truly beyond me. American artist Sharon Arnold, on the other hand, has completely mastered this art. These pieces are from a series called “nixe, chimaera, muff” {the very first piece in the post is titled Nixe 2010, and is made from an 8′ roll of Strathmore drawing paper!}

{… thanks to Mudchicken for the link to Sharon’s work.}

I found this work in the ‘drawing’ section of American artist Liz Miller‘s portfolio. Um, my drawings do not look like this. At all. I guess she considers these incredibly beautiful/complex pieces to be very simple sketches… you’ll see what I mean when you see her main body of work:

Yep. Crazy!

{Thanks to Carolyn at  SOO Visual Arts Center for the link to Liz’s work.}

Now these are the kind of jewels that I hope to get on Valentine’s Day! ♥

I so badly want American artist Kirsten Hassenfeld to hang one of these gorgeous installations from my ceiling! Delicate, light-infused, paper-based mixed media jewels… yes please.

{via Sycamore Street Press}

Trees, wrapped in white and perfectly aligned with the horizon… hence the title of this beautiful work by Zander Olsen, Tree Line.

“This is an ongoing series of constructed photographs rooted in the forest. These works, carried out in Surrey, Hampshire, and Wales, involve site specific interventions in the landscape, ‘wrapping’ trees with white material to construct a visual relationship between tree, not-tree and the line of horizon according to the camera’s viewpoint.”

Sigh. That first one kills me.

{via Booooooom}

Whoa.

I used to go amethyst hunting with my dad when I was little. We’d look long and hard for just the right kind of rock {a tricky task at age 7}, crack it in half, and voila… purple crystals! It’s quite safe to say that I would have lost my mind if I had found one of Jim Hodges‘ rocks! This insanely beautiful work was recently displayed at Gladstone Gallery in New York {where Jim is based}. I’m sure you’re already totally amazed, but let me add just one more small detail… scale:

Well, ok, that puts all of my amethyst to shame.

{via Design for Mankind}

Wait… what are we looking at here? Yes, it’s a metal garden, by London based artist Zadok Ben David, made up of 12,000 cut steel flowers & plants. The vintage, text-book looking botanical specimens are black, hence the title Blackfield, but hold on a second… if you walk around to the other side of this lovely ‘field’… YES, the opposite side of this breath-taking installation is painted in stunning color! Gorgeous.

{via Colossal – check out the 360 degree view video of the installation posted on Colossal – amazing!}

Sigh… I would love to follow this grassy path through the lovely town of Jaujac France! This installation is titled Tapis Rouge, and was created by Marseille based artist Gaëlle Villedary. Here’s what Google Translate has to tell us about this gorgeous project:

In the heart of the village of Jaujac, the in situ installation Red Carpet! Celebrates the 10 years of trail Art and Nature, on my path a Artist past … Deploy the symbolic of the tribute, through the village to link the natural spaces on both sides, a link, a path, a trail, connecting the heart of the village and its inhabitants with the valley. The incarnation of the thread which crosses the eras in Jaujac is a sprig of nature, a communion between nature and man, through art.

Sigh {yes, we needed another one}… I hope your new year {and mine!} is filled with lovely walks on grassy paths through France! Happy New Year ~ see you in 2012!