Exploring some of the most remote and hostile landscapes in the world, Townsend’s artwork presents a view of the world beyond the familiar, showcasing apparently desolate places that are almost entirely uninhabited.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

Each painting is the result of an expedition or a residency. “The work draws on journeys I have made to specific destinations around the world,” Townsend explained in an interview with Jackson’s Art. “They are places where the land is stark and exposed, unfertile, remote, and even hostile,” she adds.

Her work is gradual, producing first small works on-site using a collapsible easel, sketchbooks, and photographs, and then building up to larger canvases in her London studio. “I travel with a basic lightweight kit (oils or acrylics depending on practicality) and a small easel, pencils, charcoals, and a camera,” says Townsend. “Sometimes these small works succeed in their own right and sometimes they become the backbone of studio work.”

While her work strikes a chord with us, it’s also very much detached, creating a sense of foreignness and unexplored territories. See for yourself:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

The post Step Inside Polly Townsend’s Eerily Secluded Landscapes appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Her pieces, light-catching and luminous, take after natural forms, with her glass objects including butterflies and moths, as well as plants, each delicately made using the Tiffany technique. “When I began working independently, I started with small suspended pieces,” she recalled in an interview with the Etsy blog, “but I wanted to take the idea of hassle-free installation even further and create something where people wouldn’t need to worry about nails or drilling holes in walls.”

After a lot of musing, she came up with an idea for how to neatly attach a stained-glass piece to a brass bar. She then achieved an independent object that could easily be brought into peoples’ homes. Her work also requires special precision which Zaycman ties to her math studies at university. “I appreciate the precision and clarity of exact sciences, and I like how they require perseverance and intense concentration,” she notes. “Having an understanding of geometry is useful in calculating complex shapes.”

Working primarily with glass, it is important for Zaycman to judge the quality of her materials beforehand. “I measure the quality of the glass not only visually, checking for color and cleanliness—or the lack of any extra coating—but also by touching,” she says. “Glass should be pleasant and smooth. For some exotic colors, it’s challenging to find pieces that fit these requirements. I usually purchase glass and other materials in specialized shops in Saint Petersburg, but sometimes it’s necessary to go to Finland if it’s impossible to find something in my city.”

Take a look at some of her unique creations in the gallery below:

The post The Luminous Glass Sculptures of Elena Zaycman appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“I think I’m influenced the most when I go on vacation and travel to places of natural beauty,” she further relayed in an interview with Lake. “Most recently, one of my best friends and I explored Iceland and all the mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers that the country had to offer. It was all so wildly beautiful, and memorable adventures like those really inspire me to create when I come back home.”

Having launched her stationery brand Art + Soul Creative Co. in 2016, Kwok designs and illustrates for her own product line, her work consisting mostly of greeting cards and prints. “Many of my greeting cards feature punny phrases that I think of myself,” she explains. “The name of my company is no different. ‘Art + Soul’ is a play on words of ‘heart and soul’. I put everything into my art and I wanted my company name to reflect that.”

Aside from working with clients and creating commercial work, Kwok is passionate about pursuing her own large-scale art pieces and mural projects. “It’s definitely been a crazy roundabout journey for me but all my life experiences have been valuable and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she exclaims.

The post Laura Kwok’s Illustrations Are Immersed In Greenary appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Over the past five years, her fascination with the natural world, in general, has been redirected to an examination of the moon and its cycles. “The cycles this orb transits, and the myriad manifestations of its appearances embody the persistence of change, the agitation of energy that we live within,” she writes. “Communicating that within the staid parameters of plasticity seems a fool’s errand, yet for my work, my voice, it is a perfect fit.”

Her creative process includes thinning oil paint until it turns into a fluid form, then building up layers and producing a luminous, subtle, rich surface. The paint is added on top of a gilded surface. According to Fitzgerald, the gilded ground, whether copper, silver, 23k, 21k, or 12k gold provides a distinctly “other-worldly” space. “It evokes a universal space including our physical plane,” she writes poetically.

Her use of gilded ground reminds of how Renaissance artists used gold leaf to signify spiritual aspects. As such, her use of gold does not hold a decorative intention but, rather, a symbolic one. “I intend that the precious metals indicate something beyond our physical world, something metaphysical,” she explains.

Take a look at some of her metaphysical paintings:

The post This Painter Examins the Moon and Its Cycles appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“My work reflects on environmental concerns and addresses our (humankind’s) relationship to the natural world – as we perceive it and interact with it,” she writes on her website. According to Hinrichsen, modern society has become increasingly disconnected from nature.

“We have come to see our planet as a mine to extract the resources we need to maintain our extravagant life-styles, and as a dumping station for our toxic waste products,” she says. “I believe, however, to secure a “habitat” for future generations (of our own species as well as others) it is essential that we tune ourselves in with nature and re-gain greater awareness of our planet, understand it better and take better stewardship of it.”

Her art examines urban and natural environments through exploration and research. Her work process includes looking at indigenous as well as ancient cultures, whose life philosophies perceive mankind as an integrated part of nature, rather than attempting to dominate over it.

“I believe that through the means of art it is possible to point out the importance of environmental soundness – through speaking to emotion and passion for nature, and through unlocking an ancient sense of freedom and awe,” she explains.

The post These Drawings Were Created On Snow-Covered Landscapes appeared first on PlayJunkie.

It all started ‘hen she was still a kindergartener- her parents loved to travel, and she spent her early childhood in Nepal and Japan until her home was destroyed in an earthquake, and her family had to return to the States.

15 years later, after graduating from college, all she wanted to do was travel back to Japan, her early childhood home. She spent two years there is a prestigious job but was still unhappy.  

She decided to say goodbye to Japan and see the world. She spent the next couple of years as a nomad, moving from place to place, meeting new people, visiting incredible placed and eating exciting new food. Eventually, she decided to settle down, this time in Norway, where her mother had come from.

Today she’s working as a full-time blogger and living a simple life that is dedicated to celebrating the local culture, nature, and travel. It took a lot of courage to get to where she is today, but now she’s finally happy and at home.

The post This Traveller Has Visited over 80 Countries in Two Years appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Summer is a model, Youtuber, and environmentalist with a life-long love of plants, especially potted plants. Her goal in life is to celebrate nature and introduce it to our modern, urban lifestyle.

Summer (yes, that is the name her parents gave her) has always loved nature, and she even studied biology and botany in university. She wanted to continue her education and become a scientist, but she soon realized her real goal in life was to educate the general public. She’s been working with scientists, nursery owners, and activists to help spread the gospel of the urban jungle.

And the most insane detail is her own plants– Summer has over 1,000 of them in her small Brooklyn apartment! Talk about an urban jungle!

The post Activist Takes Her Love of Plants to a Whole New Level appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“A damaged butterfly, a broken twig, a bumblebee, some strangely grown weeds: I find all these unique discoveries in my path and then take them home to my studio,” she writes on her website. “Here, I take my time to explore the objects and try to work out how I can show each one to its best advantage.”

She collects her material from a variety of sources: the flowers she grows in her garden, second-hand picture books, and butterflies from the botanical garden in Utrecht. It’s these finds which inspire her work, allowing her to invent her own stories about their former existence. By protecting these pieces under glass, she gives the objects a second life, hoping to inspire people to make up their own stories about them.

“I hope it gives joy and that it inspires,” she said in an interview with Create Magazine. With more than 25k fans on Instagram, it’s clear that people are inspired.

The post Dutch Artist Brings Her Garden Inside appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Describing her aesthetic as “colorful and funky,” she likes to paint realistic things but also enjoys simplifying subjects into abstract shapes and colors. Using mainly Gouache, she hopes to bring more color into people’s lives through her art, as well as help people appreciate the world around us.

Amongst the many things that inspire her, she mentions “plants and the things they do/make.” “I’m in complete awe of the things that grow around us,” she told Ballpitmag. “Fruit, flowers, trees, all of it. Something simple like opening a blood orange from the store is a religious experience for me and makes me want to immediately get painting.”

But she’s also greatly inspired by people, and women specifically. “Women I work with, mainly the woman who owns the farm I work at part-time and the woman who runs a flower shop that I worked at after college,” she says. “They’re two people who work with plants in very different ways but respect them and see their potential for making people’s lives more joyful.”

Take a bite out of her colorful work:

The post Camille Shu Paints Fruit and Flowers appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Valesca van Waveren 

Based in Amsterdam, illustrator and ceramist Valesca van Waveren treats her house plants with kindness. They serve as sources of inspiration for her cheerful illustrations, through which she explores the many ways humans and nature interact with each other. “Without plants, we would be nowhere,” she relayed in an interview with Flow. “They purify the air that we breathe, and much of our food comes from their fruit, seeds, leaves, and roots. By taking good care of plants, we are also taking good care of the world and ourselves.”

Chloe Joyce

There are two main subjects that Chloe Joyce’s illustrations seem to wholly focus on: women and house plants. Situated in their home environments, her characters seem laid back, if a bit pensive. Based in Sydney, Joyce admits she’s most inspired when traveling. “Being around new cultures and landscapes is incredibly invigorating and can really shake up how you view your work,” she reflected in an interview with Twenty Something Humans.

Amy Lincoln

New York-based artist Amy Lincoln makes acrylic paintings that are wholly engulfed by plants. Though first attracted to portraits, as time passed she found herself more and more drawn to plants. “When I was in grad school I started keeping potted plants, and they occasionally made their way into my paintings,” she recalled in an interview with Maake Magazine. “In about 2009 I got more interested in painting plants and since about 2012 plants and landscape are pretty much the only thing I paint.”

The post These Artists are Clearly Inspired by Their House Plants appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Exploring some of the most remote and hostile landscapes in the world, Townsend’s artwork presents a view of the world beyond the familiar, showcasing apparently desolate places that are almost entirely uninhabited.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

Each painting is the result of an expedition or a residency. “The work draws on journeys I have made to specific destinations around the world,” Townsend explained in an interview with Jackson’s Art. “They are places where the land is stark and exposed, unfertile, remote, and even hostile,” she adds.

Her work is gradual, producing first small works on-site using a collapsible easel, sketchbooks, and photographs, and then building up to larger canvases in her London studio. “I travel with a basic lightweight kit (oils or acrylics depending on practicality) and a small easel, pencils, charcoals, and a camera,” says Townsend. “Sometimes these small works succeed in their own right and sometimes they become the backbone of studio work.”

While her work strikes a chord with us, it’s also very much detached, creating a sense of foreignness and unexplored territories. See for yourself:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Polly Townsend (@polly_townsend)

The post Step Inside Polly Townsend’s Eerily Secluded Landscapes appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Her pieces, light-catching and luminous, take after natural forms, with her glass objects including butterflies and moths, as well as plants, each delicately made using the Tiffany technique. “When I began working independently, I started with small suspended pieces,” she recalled in an interview with the Etsy blog, “but I wanted to take the idea of hassle-free installation even further and create something where people wouldn’t need to worry about nails or drilling holes in walls.”

After a lot of musing, she came up with an idea for how to neatly attach a stained-glass piece to a brass bar. She then achieved an independent object that could easily be brought into peoples’ homes. Her work also requires special precision which Zaycman ties to her math studies at university. “I appreciate the precision and clarity of exact sciences, and I like how they require perseverance and intense concentration,” she notes. “Having an understanding of geometry is useful in calculating complex shapes.”

Working primarily with glass, it is important for Zaycman to judge the quality of her materials beforehand. “I measure the quality of the glass not only visually, checking for color and cleanliness—or the lack of any extra coating—but also by touching,” she says. “Glass should be pleasant and smooth. For some exotic colors, it’s challenging to find pieces that fit these requirements. I usually purchase glass and other materials in specialized shops in Saint Petersburg, but sometimes it’s necessary to go to Finland if it’s impossible to find something in my city.”

Take a look at some of her unique creations in the gallery below:

The post The Luminous Glass Sculptures of Elena Zaycman appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“I think I’m influenced the most when I go on vacation and travel to places of natural beauty,” she further relayed in an interview with Lake. “Most recently, one of my best friends and I explored Iceland and all the mountains, waterfalls, and glaciers that the country had to offer. It was all so wildly beautiful, and memorable adventures like those really inspire me to create when I come back home.”

Having launched her stationery brand Art + Soul Creative Co. in 2016, Kwok designs and illustrates for her own product line, her work consisting mostly of greeting cards and prints. “Many of my greeting cards feature punny phrases that I think of myself,” she explains. “The name of my company is no different. ‘Art + Soul’ is a play on words of ‘heart and soul’. I put everything into my art and I wanted my company name to reflect that.”

Aside from working with clients and creating commercial work, Kwok is passionate about pursuing her own large-scale art pieces and mural projects. “It’s definitely been a crazy roundabout journey for me but all my life experiences have been valuable and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she exclaims.

The post Laura Kwok’s Illustrations Are Immersed In Greenary appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Over the past five years, her fascination with the natural world, in general, has been redirected to an examination of the moon and its cycles. “The cycles this orb transits, and the myriad manifestations of its appearances embody the persistence of change, the agitation of energy that we live within,” she writes. “Communicating that within the staid parameters of plasticity seems a fool’s errand, yet for my work, my voice, it is a perfect fit.”

Her creative process includes thinning oil paint until it turns into a fluid form, then building up layers and producing a luminous, subtle, rich surface. The paint is added on top of a gilded surface. According to Fitzgerald, the gilded ground, whether copper, silver, 23k, 21k, or 12k gold provides a distinctly “other-worldly” space. “It evokes a universal space including our physical plane,” she writes poetically.

Her use of gilded ground reminds of how Renaissance artists used gold leaf to signify spiritual aspects. As such, her use of gold does not hold a decorative intention but, rather, a symbolic one. “I intend that the precious metals indicate something beyond our physical world, something metaphysical,” she explains.

Take a look at some of her metaphysical paintings:

The post This Painter Examins the Moon and Its Cycles appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“My work reflects on environmental concerns and addresses our (humankind’s) relationship to the natural world – as we perceive it and interact with it,” she writes on her website. According to Hinrichsen, modern society has become increasingly disconnected from nature.

“We have come to see our planet as a mine to extract the resources we need to maintain our extravagant life-styles, and as a dumping station for our toxic waste products,” she says. “I believe, however, to secure a “habitat” for future generations (of our own species as well as others) it is essential that we tune ourselves in with nature and re-gain greater awareness of our planet, understand it better and take better stewardship of it.”

Her art examines urban and natural environments through exploration and research. Her work process includes looking at indigenous as well as ancient cultures, whose life philosophies perceive mankind as an integrated part of nature, rather than attempting to dominate over it.

“I believe that through the means of art it is possible to point out the importance of environmental soundness – through speaking to emotion and passion for nature, and through unlocking an ancient sense of freedom and awe,” she explains.

The post These Drawings Were Created On Snow-Covered Landscapes appeared first on PlayJunkie.

It all started ‘hen she was still a kindergartener- her parents loved to travel, and she spent her early childhood in Nepal and Japan until her home was destroyed in an earthquake, and her family had to return to the States.

15 years later, after graduating from college, all she wanted to do was travel back to Japan, her early childhood home. She spent two years there is a prestigious job but was still unhappy.  

She decided to say goodbye to Japan and see the world. She spent the next couple of years as a nomad, moving from place to place, meeting new people, visiting incredible placed and eating exciting new food. Eventually, she decided to settle down, this time in Norway, where her mother had come from.

Today she’s working as a full-time blogger and living a simple life that is dedicated to celebrating the local culture, nature, and travel. It took a lot of courage to get to where she is today, but now she’s finally happy and at home.

The post This Traveller Has Visited over 80 Countries in Two Years appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Summer is a model, Youtuber, and environmentalist with a life-long love of plants, especially potted plants. Her goal in life is to celebrate nature and introduce it to our modern, urban lifestyle.

Summer (yes, that is the name her parents gave her) has always loved nature, and she even studied biology and botany in university. She wanted to continue her education and become a scientist, but she soon realized her real goal in life was to educate the general public. She’s been working with scientists, nursery owners, and activists to help spread the gospel of the urban jungle.

And the most insane detail is her own plants– Summer has over 1,000 of them in her small Brooklyn apartment! Talk about an urban jungle!

The post Activist Takes Her Love of Plants to a Whole New Level appeared first on PlayJunkie.

“A damaged butterfly, a broken twig, a bumblebee, some strangely grown weeds: I find all these unique discoveries in my path and then take them home to my studio,” she writes on her website. “Here, I take my time to explore the objects and try to work out how I can show each one to its best advantage.”

She collects her material from a variety of sources: the flowers she grows in her garden, second-hand picture books, and butterflies from the botanical garden in Utrecht. It’s these finds which inspire her work, allowing her to invent her own stories about their former existence. By protecting these pieces under glass, she gives the objects a second life, hoping to inspire people to make up their own stories about them.

“I hope it gives joy and that it inspires,” she said in an interview with Create Magazine. With more than 25k fans on Instagram, it’s clear that people are inspired.

The post Dutch Artist Brings Her Garden Inside appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Describing her aesthetic as “colorful and funky,” she likes to paint realistic things but also enjoys simplifying subjects into abstract shapes and colors. Using mainly Gouache, she hopes to bring more color into people’s lives through her art, as well as help people appreciate the world around us.

Amongst the many things that inspire her, she mentions “plants and the things they do/make.” “I’m in complete awe of the things that grow around us,” she told Ballpitmag. “Fruit, flowers, trees, all of it. Something simple like opening a blood orange from the store is a religious experience for me and makes me want to immediately get painting.”

But she’s also greatly inspired by people, and women specifically. “Women I work with, mainly the woman who owns the farm I work at part-time and the woman who runs a flower shop that I worked at after college,” she says. “They’re two people who work with plants in very different ways but respect them and see their potential for making people’s lives more joyful.”

Take a bite out of her colorful work:

The post Camille Shu Paints Fruit and Flowers appeared first on PlayJunkie.

Valesca van Waveren 

Based in Amsterdam, illustrator and ceramist Valesca van Waveren treats her house plants with kindness. They serve as sources of inspiration for her cheerful illustrations, through which she explores the many ways humans and nature interact with each other. “Without plants, we would be nowhere,” she relayed in an interview with Flow. “They purify the air that we breathe, and much of our food comes from their fruit, seeds, leaves, and roots. By taking good care of plants, we are also taking good care of the world and ourselves.”

Chloe Joyce

There are two main subjects that Chloe Joyce’s illustrations seem to wholly focus on: women and house plants. Situated in their home environments, her characters seem laid back, if a bit pensive. Based in Sydney, Joyce admits she’s most inspired when traveling. “Being around new cultures and landscapes is incredibly invigorating and can really shake up how you view your work,” she reflected in an interview with Twenty Something Humans.

Amy Lincoln

New York-based artist Amy Lincoln makes acrylic paintings that are wholly engulfed by plants. Though first attracted to portraits, as time passed she found herself more and more drawn to plants. “When I was in grad school I started keeping potted plants, and they occasionally made their way into my paintings,” she recalled in an interview with Maake Magazine. “In about 2009 I got more interested in painting plants and since about 2012 plants and landscape are pretty much the only thing I paint.”

The post These Artists are Clearly Inspired by Their House Plants appeared first on PlayJunkie.