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Urban Jungle Bloggers: Plants and Art

After a relaxing summer vacation hiatus the Urban Jungle Bloggers are back and ready to start a new year of creative green posts from around the world. This month’s theme Plants and Art is one that has produced some amazing images so far. The combination of house plants with beautiful art just makes so much sense and can be interpreted in so many creative ways.
I decided to shoot a few of my favourite paintings with some thriving succulents that I bought a few months ago (they quadrupled in size this summer!).

These paintings are by American artist Larry Catanzaro. I first saw his work at an exhibition in Merida, Mexico years ago (in the 90s!). It was the first vacation that my now husband and I took together and the day after seeing the exhibition we actually got engaged. To make a long sappy story short, I eventually hunted down the artist in New York and bought a huge painting of his to give my husband as a wedding gift. It was pretty romantic if I do say so myself.

I love Catanzaro’s naive style and use of contrasting patterns and bright colours. We bought these three little paintings a few years after we got married and they’ve been hanging in our kitchens in various houses since then. They just make me happy and I have yet to see any other painting of a bunch of beets anywhere.I planted a bunch of miniature succulent plants in this old brass pot that I found at a second hand shop ages ago. I hung it from a tree in my garden all summer and somehow they thrived in the extreme heat we had. Even despite the neglect due to the fact that we were away for almost 2 months. Take a look at how small they were when I first planted them here.

*Urban Jungle Bloggers is a monthly series initiated by 2 bloggers: Igor (Happy Interior Blog) and Judith (JOELIX.com). Every month they share ideas to create an urban jungle through styling ideas, DIYs and green tips & tricks. You can find additional inspiration on their Urban Jungle Bloggers Pinterest board and keep up-to-date on our website and Facebook page. Want to join? Use #urbanjunglebloggers on Twitter and Instagram. Or let them know and they’ll share the badge and upcoming topics with you. Let’s bring some green into our homes and blogs!

**Some really talented and inspiring Urban Jungle Bloggers were featured in the new issue of Dutch magazine VT Wonen (blogazine edition). Take a peek and you’ll even see one of my UJB images and a photo of me hiding behind my lens (as usual).

Tags: art, green, larry catanzaro, photography, plants, plants and art, urban jungle bloggers

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Categories Creative, daily life, photography, urban jungle bloggers

Urban Jungle Bloggers

25 Sep

After a summer hiatus Urban Jungle Bloggers is back online today and I couldn’t be happier. I love seeing my FB and Pinterest feeds inundated with fresh green-inspired images full of lush plant life.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not an expert plant keeper. My heart is in the right place but my mind is, as usual, elsewhere. I love all the green loveliness that fills the rooms of my home but for some reason I just sometimes forget that they need care and water. Luckily, I’m not like this with my three kids.

So after a summer of coming and going my poor plants were all looking a little….brown. And dry. But I’ve made a promise to myself and the plants to take better care of them. Play them music. Dust their leaves. Oh, and maybe give the a little something to drink more often. In any case, even after a few days of love they’re already starting to look a lot livelier and happy.

Today’s UJB theme is Back To School: Plants on the Workplace. I shot a few images of where I’ve been working lately. Whether it be on the computer writing or editing photos, sewing or crafting with my girls.

I don’t have any succulents or house plants per se where I work but I love having fresh herbs surrounding me. It’s amazing what a brush of a hand over a rosemary or thyme plant can do to your concentration and energy levels. The smell is like a jolt of caffeine (for me at least).

I also always make sure to have a fresh mint plant. Sometimes I throw a few leaves in my teapot or rub them in between my fingers. The smell of fresh mint is one of my all time favourite scents and, again, so energizing.

And because I’m a colour lover I always include a little vase of fresh flowers. Usually in my coveted Gokuri Peach Juice can that I got out of a vending machine at a train station in Kyoto, Japan. Oh and tea. There’s always tea on my workplace. As you can see in the photo on this particlur day I was in a detox tea mood (to counteract an overdose of sugar the day before).

When I break out the sewing machine things start to get a little messy and crowded on my workspace. Which I have to admit I kind of love (except the little pieces of thread that get wedged in my computer keyboard).

Can’t wait to check out the other UJB images for this month. If you’re interested you can visit their brand new website, their FB page and their Pinterest page. Many thanks to Judith and Igor for such a cool initiative.

backtoschoolUJB