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).
