A talented artist has created breathtaking intimate portraits by using detailed maps of the world as his canvas. Cardiff-based illustrator, Ed Fairburn, combines the patchwork of roads, terrains and rivers to for his unique sketches. Photo: Ink on a 1977 road map of Germany. (Photo by Ed Fairburn/Rex Features)

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.

Steve McCurry has been a one of the most iconic voices in contemporary photography for more than 30 years, with scores of magazine and book covers, over a dozen books, and countless exhibitions around the world to his name.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper shows off his socks--one with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and the other with Republican candidate Donald Trump – before entering his former brewpub for a book signing event to mark the release of his autobiography Thursday, May 26, 2016, in Denver. Hickenlooper, who is term-limited, is doing book talk rounds this week, reviving speculation that he is positioning himself to join Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign ticket. (Photo by David Zalubowski/AP Photo)

Very impressive, the RGB Colorspace Atlas is a beautiful picture book by American artist Tauba Auerbach. The book displays the full RGB gradient in 3,632 pages.

Grand Rapids (Michigan) based illustrator and artist Scott Gundersen creates his portraits from thousands of used and recycled corks. Starting with a large photograph that’s transferred to a drawing, Gundersen pins each cork to the canvas, creating a correlation between the hues of the wine-stained corks and the value of light or shadow in the portrait. Scott Gundersen has made these incredible portraits, one using 3,621, 3,842 and the other using 9,217 natural wine corks.