These poignant portraits look to shine awareness on the plight of some of the world’s most endangered ecosystems and species of wildlife. The images combine animals, art and celebrity, with Asia's top models posing with the likes of rhinos, giraffes, leopards and marine life. Here: Mikki Yao with an Asian Elephant. (Photo by Sean Lee-Davies/Caters News)

A talented nail artist has created manicure works of art with stunning detail. Alice Bartlett visited a craft and hobby shop in London to get the idea for her most intricate and flamboyant finger sculptures yet. She saw tiny figures used for model railway scenery displays and decided to use them to create rural scenes. (Photo by Alice Bartlett/Flickr)

Maine-based Robert Dowling Jr. creates wonderfully whimsical stories with a slightly surreal touch. The self-taught artist, who works primarily in acrylics and oils, often paints characters with their faces covered or turned away. Love art like this that both children and adults can enjoy in their own unique way.

Burning Man 2013. The federal government issued a permit for 68,000 people from all over the world to gather at the sold out festival, which is celebrating its 27th year, to spend a week in the remote desert cut off from much of the outside world to experience art, music and the unique community that develops. (Photo by Neil Girling)

French art director Alexis Persani has collaborated with french photographer Leo Caillard to create a series of in vogue sculptures, entitled “street stone”. The ensembles are achieved through image manipulation, using photoshop to digitally dress the statues in the latest fashion trends. Persani and Caillard created the project as a humorous take on the contrast between contemporary and classic culture, demonstrating the vast metamorphose society has undergone, and continues to.

I would like to tell you why many artists, who like me, have painted portraits and landscapes in oils on canvas, worked with acrylics, watercolors, and pen and ink drawings, have turned to the art of gourd carving.

Since its unveiling in 2006 this masterpiece created by Frank Gehry to house the Hotel Marqués de Riscal has become a highly sought after contemporary, luxury retreat. Design, art, gastronomy, wine and the lush landscape all combine to create a memorable sojourn.