Lovely is the correct work to describe this beautiful paintings series by David Renshaw from “Ted n’ Doris – A Northern Romance”. “Deep down I always knew what I wanted to do for a living and in my school years I remember my father teaching me some basic elements of drawing and I dreamed of one day becoming an artist. Being only really interested in art I left school and studied Graphic Design, after which I started work at a local art gallery as a picture framer. I continued to paint alongside my job, mainly developing techniques and ideas and in 2005 decided it was time to follow my dreams and dedicate myself to painting full time. I always try to make my work feel atmospheric, and I like to pay particular attention to sky and cloud formations as I consider this element of my work to be extremely important to the mood of the finished painting, whether it be a dramatic sunset or a misty moonlit night.”

A vendor (C) cuts slaughtered dogs for sale at his roadside stall in Duong Noi village, outside Hanoi December 16, 2011. While animal rights activists have condemned eating dog meat as cruel treatment of the animals, it is still an accepted popular delicacy for some Vietnamese, as well in some other Asian countries. Duong Noi is well-known as a dog-meat village, where hundreds of dogs are killed each day for sale as popular traditional food. Dog-eating as a custom is rooted in Vietnam and was developed as a result of poverty. One kilogram of dog meat costs about 130,000 dongs ($6.2). (Photo by Reuters/Kham)

The carcass of a fattened pig, winner of the “holy pig” contest, is attached to a metal frame during a sacrificial ceremony in Sanxia district, in New Taipei City, Taiwan February 1, 2017. The winner of Taiwan's “holy pig” ceremony on Thursday defended the lunar new year tradition against critics who argue the fattened animals are raised under cruel conditions. (Photo by Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

“Der Jen (Dezhen; 德珍繪館) has achieved fame in her homeland and that fame is now spreading to other parts of the world as more and more people become familiar with her beautiful paintings. This Taiwanese artist depicts these beautiful ladies in classic, traditional dress that would have been worn by members of the royal court or an empress herself. Traditional hair styles and jewelry depicted in her pieces are also considered authentic. Der Jens art can be found in Chinese advertising, childrens magazines, romance novels, tarot cards, and even on public transit tickets. Its also making its way to our pcs as desktop wallpaper”.

Photo: Der Jen (Dezhen; 德珍繪館) – “The beauty of Brocade” (please click to enlarge).

Rebelling against political propaganda, acclaimed photographer Antanas Sutkus embarked on a life-long journey to capture the everyday scenes around him. Antanas Sutkus, born in 1939, studied journalism at Vilnius University in the late 1950s before becoming disillusioned by the confines of the Soviet-controlled press. He began taking photographs instead, and soon co-founded the Lithuanian Association of Art Photographers. Here: The first Lithuanian bikers, 1974. (Photo by Antanas Sutkus)

Have you ever been interested in the sign language? Surely you’ve always wanted to learn the art of sending a message using just your hands. To help people achieve this goal, Alex Solis has taken a photo of a hand showing each letter of the alphabet. However, this has been done many times before, which is why Alex decided to make each of the photos more interesting by placing little drawn animals and creatures onto each photo. Thanks to these cute little drawings the pictures become very endearing and memorable. All the little creatures blend in seamlessly into the pictures thanks to their well-chosen poses. This project, created by Alex Solis, is very unique and useful, allowing anyone to quickly remember all the listed hand gestures. (Photo by Alex Solis)

“I was born in the United States in 1985. As early as I can remember I’ve been a “doodler”. From even the early days I’ve always loved strange, offbeat, beautiful, and slightly melancholy things. Something about the mixed grabbed me. My love for sketching carried on throughout my high school days. Which is when I took a small class on watercolor. Watercolor is what birthed my passion for mixing colors and how a color can tell a story. In year 2009 I discovered digital painting and my new found passion for the medium. It’s been the favored medium for the past years since. I’ve used online tutorials and videos to help me learn along the way and then in late 2011 I took a workshop called Becoming a Better Artist. The beginning of 2013 I won a class from The Art Department which will start this spring.”

As kids we have the natural desire to explore and to create. Whenever our parents would make for us a paper plane, we would become overjoyed seeing it fly across the room. However, planes are not the only thing that can be made from paper, and not only kids are fascinated by it. Some people master the art of origami and are able to create pretty much anything. You never know what’s going to come out when the artist twists and turns a piece of paper in meticulous ways. Finally, the figurine is complete, and you immediately see the striking resemblance of this piece of paper with an animal or some other creature. Ross Symons is one of those artists. He creates his figurines simply for the joy it brings him. Maybe, he uses this as a medium to enter his childhood, or maybe he has other motifs – we will never know. (Photo by Ross Symons)