Framing Nature – Anne Ten Donkelaar

Thankfully for those of us in the southern hemisphere Spring has finally arrived and with it the flowers and little buds of new life…. Hooray.  And to celebrate the best that nature has to offer I wanted to share a couple of creative works which should hopefully get you in the spirit…. and for those of you who are up in the Northern side of this little planet of ours, hopefully it will give you a little cheer as you enjoy the last of the summer…………

Using a combination of  pressed flowers and paper cut outs, Dutch artist Anne Ten Donkelaar has designed these stunningly detailed floral collages which stemmed from her childhood obsession with flowers.  Perhaps the perfect little way to add a little bit of floral nature to your home. Here is a little taste Anne’s work from her “Floral Construction” collection…. I love the fact that Anne has shown the whole part of the flowers roots and all……let me know your thoughts…

This is just a little taster of Anne’s work for more images you can visit her website...

If Butterflies are more your thing then you have to have a look at Anne’s “Broken Butterfly Range”…they are made from parts of real broken butterflies…. so they may not appeal to all but I think they are stunning and take this current trend of framed mounted butterflies that you see in all the magazines to a new level… It is kind of the upcycling of taxidermy don’t you think!!!

Where the butterfly or moth’s wing is damaged, Anne painstakingly repairs them with embroidery, gold leaf and even includes maps from the location that the butterfly originated… Now that must take a steady hand and much patience…..

The two upper wings have been replaced with embroidered wings to complete the butterfly.

The broken wings are patched with gold leaf.

The broken wings are patched up with the map of the moth’s origin

And for those of you who would like to hang a little bit of nature around your neck then how about Anne’s “Wittenoord” range

So are you floral or butterfly? …….on with the colourful journey..

#art #Nature #design #AnneTenDonkelaar #Flowers #Butterflies #Travel #TheNetherlands #InteriorDesign