Many people have seen feathers as decorative items before. Today, ostrich, peacock and bird of paradise feathers can be seen in haute couture and in the costumes of indigenous peoples. They can be colorful and spectacular in their own right, but how much more stunning might they be when used as canvases for artists, eager to demonstrate their talent for the unusual? Alaskan-born and -bred artist Julie Thompson is an astounding exponent of this incredible art form.

Karl Templer styles Katy Perry as icon of Hollywood glamour Elizabeth Taylor for the March cover editorial of Interview Magazine. Mikael Jansson captures the newly-divorced, almost unrecognizable pop star in a visually stunning set of marvelous images. (Photo by Mikael Jansson)

These stunning photographs really do show a land of fire and ice! The frozen landscape of the Olkhon Islands, Russia, appears to be ablaze in some of these pictures as the icy sheets of the glaciers reflect the early morning suns rays. (Photo by Vladimir Ryabkov/Caters News Agency)

A thrill-seeking photographer risked life and limb as he swam alongside a ten-foot-long American crocodile near Belize. Stunning pictures show Mexican underwater photographer Rodrigo Friscione getting up close and personal with the two-hundred-pound predator. (Photo by Rodrigo Friscione/Mediadrumwor.com)

These stunning images capture some of America's most intense storms from an extraordinarily close perspective. Here: A tornado storm is rolling over the town of Stratford, Texas on May 17, 2016. (Photo by Maximilian Conrad/Caters News)

“The Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856) was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire. Most of the conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, but there were smaller campaigns in western Anatolia, Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, the Pacific Ocean and the White Sea”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A vivandiere, a female soldier selling provisions and spirits, with the Allied forces during the Crimean War. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Workers adjust rails at the bed of a drained area of a lake used for the production of salt at the Sasyk-Sivash lake near the city of Yevpatoria, Crimea, September 25, 2015. The area has a long tradition of salt production, prepared from salt flats flooded with water from the Black Sea. (Photo by Pavel Rebrov/Reuters)

A Muslim woman takes a picture of a man in the water of the Mediterranean sea in Tel Aviv during Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan July 19, 2015. Thousands of Palestinians used permits given by the Israeli authorities allowing many to enjoy the beaches along Israel's Mediterranean shoreline during the Eid al-Fitr holiday. (Photo by Baz Ratner/Reuters)