Franco Matticchio

High Tea

Dasha Gerasimova, thanks to Russian Season Kid's Books

Having been a US resident for nine years, I always follow American politics 

with great interest, which often turns to concern. Now that the election is over, 

I can finally relax and celebrate with a proper Tea Party!

Eugen Osswald, Ball der Tiere (The Animals' Ball), 1917,

via the International Children's Digital Library

Richard Scarry, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse, 1961, thanks to julielion

John Burningham, thanks to A Polar Bear's Tale

Svetozar Ostrov, cover for Have you ever listened to the silence, hedgehog?, 
1987, written by the author of Hedgehog in the Fog Sergei Kozlov

(thanks to Mark Kats for the correction)

O. Zotor, Little Fly So Sprightly, 1977

Judith Kerr, The Tiger Who Came for Tea, 1968

Eric Barclay 

Omar Rayyan, Tea Party

Lisa Evans

Ester Garcia Cortes

Gabriella Barouch

Benjamin Mills

Jennifer A. Bell

Emilia Dziubak

Fancy another cup of tea?

Franco Matticchio

Monday Matticchio - Fruit Flies

From the Field

Yellow Warblers

Holly Ward Bimba, the artist behind Golly Bard, paints lovely watercolors inspired

by the nature surrounding her cottage in the rural village of Upperville, VIrginia.

After learning how to work with watercolor from her high school art teacher, 

she studied printmaking, papermaking, and book arts at Syracuse University. 

Watercolor still remains her favorite medium, and she uses it to create 

delicate portraits of wild animals, plants, and other tiny wonders.

Wild Hare and Honey Bees

Web Weaver no. 5

Ant Hill

I love the way she combines her methodic, science–oriented approach to observing and recording

details and patterns, with a spontaneous, whimsical style and wonderful feeling for color. 

Frolic in the Fernwood

Wild Hare and Honey Bees

Black Swan and Water Lily Bog

RIng Necked Pheasant no. 2

Bard is fascinated by natural history, repetition, and cataloguing. She often creates

artworks featuring series of animals, or series of artworks with the same subject. 

Swarm of Empresses

Migration

Fanciful Feather Collection no. 1

Beetles, Weevils and Flies no. 8

You can view the rest of the series on Bard's Flickr gallery. 

Bard has recently designed the Woodland Collection of fabrics. These charming works can be bought 

from Spoonflower, a company that allows artists to print their own designs using digital textile printers 

and eco-friendly inks on natural fiber fabrics.

Fly with a fly

Two very different animated rides featuring flies.

Realistic and melancholy or surreal and sardonic?
Or maybe both, you decide.

This unique rendering of a fly's point of view by Hungarian director Ferenc Rofusz 

won the 1981 Academy Award for Animated Short Film.

This music video was directed by Russian painter, animator, film director, designer,

teacher (and so on) Andrey Zakirzyanov for the seven piece band The Artems in 2004.

Sunday Safari - Sartorialarium

Michael Sowa, Fowl with pearls

L.H.Jungnickel, from Wiener Werkstatte postcard series

Ann Wood, scrap birds

Leontine Greenberg, Long neck bird reachs the edge

Alvaro Arteaga, Ready for first class

Natasha Fadeeva, thanks to La vie est belle

 Waldemar Swierzy, Cyrk poster, 1974

 Bruce McCall, Catwalk cover for the  New Yorker

 Ronald Searle, Lottie the Hottie, from Beastly Feasts

 Stanislav Kolibal, 1961, thanks to flamenconut

two illustrations from a 1978 Russian children's book (artist unknown), 

thanks to letslookupandsmile

Vyaceslav Legkobit, Fowl with pearls, thanks to Kickcan and Conkers

Donald Brun, Tuch AG, 1955

Sunday Safari - Summer Buzz

John Alcorn, from The Fireside Book of Children's Songs, 1966

thanks to Where the Lovely Things Are on flickr

Let's face it, it's their time in the sun, and we are seriously outnumbered.

Here in Florence, it's fly and mosquito party time!

Wilhelm Staehle, Insect 1

Leonard Baskin, Bee Fly

Francisco Toledo, Plato del Mosquito

Okata Satono

William Kentridge

James Corbett, The Fly

Cornelia Hesse-Honegger, Thschernobyl 1

Housefly by Richard Mantel, from Push Pin Graphics

Magnus Moor, thanks to Share Some Candy

Michael Sowa, Fly

Golly Bard, Giant Damsel Fly and Mosquito