I couldn’t ignore the powerful online presence of artist Sally King Benedict. She is a favorite among bloggers and you can’t do an art round-up without one of her paintings or works on paper. As I lean toward abstract paintings anyway, I am particularly drawn to her work, especially the paintings. They are full of movement and blocks of colors in interesting palettes. Most of these I’m featuring are sold, but I’ve heard that you can find some of her work in shops and galleries in the South, where this Southern Belle lives and paints. Also visit her site to browse her works on paper, which are also beautiful.

First up for Artist of the Month is painter Aaron Collier.

I love how colorful his work is and how lively. Do you have a favorite?

I’m drooling over these unique terrariums found on Score and Solder. What an amazing display for a console table or even on your dining table! I can imagine them even as wedding centerpieces. The prices are a little high if you think you’ll tire of them soon, but if you love them, it’s an investment, right? wink, wink

In a similar vein (but without the gem-inspired faceting) you can get the soldered glass look for less at Crate and Barrel (for a more traditional terrarium styling) and at West Elm (for a higher glass-to-seam ratio).

And for a little blast from the past, here is me my senior year of high school, showing off my pieces as they come out of the kiln from their first firing.

Until we own our dream house with my pottery studio, anyone know where I can throw and fire as a hobbyist?

All photos except the last by Jennifer Causey for The Makers Project.

Of course art is totally subjective and personal, but I love Ms. Sanchez’s work. The mix of colors and the movement in the paint is striking to me. I could look at them for hours.

I love the symmetry, the fact that the pictures make the tv less of a sore thumb, and that the arrangement adds a ton of depth and texture to the wall.

Mrs. Limestone custom-ordered the frames from PictureFrames.com (I’ve ordered custom matting from them before and can also vouch for the quality) but you could recreate the look with cheaper frames from Ikea or the craft store if you wanted to spend less. She used black and white photo prints from her (envy-inducing!) travels. You could do something similar even with shots of plants, trees, or architecture in your neighborhood.

Kudos on an amazing job! See more pictures (and an animated gif of the hanging process!) on Brooklyn Limestone.

Someone had to remind me that she was the original beastie in the room.

For an 8×10 painting (not prints!), the $25 price tag is reasonable enough that you could start a small collection. For just $35 you can have a painting customized to your pet from a photograph.

We LOVE our new artwork. Grazie mille, Irene!

I didn’t like the weird variety of sizes, or how far apart everything was spaced.

So we recently ended up with this:

And yes, there is a little space by that horse that I meant to fill.

But friends, I just wasn’t feeling it. I liked the arrangement SO much more than the old, but I think that I’d outgrown this concept for the dining room wall. Most of the pieces I’ve been collecting since before we moved here, always with the intention that I would arrange them as a group. But I’m just kind of…. done with it.

So after all that (and this wasn’t the first time I’d made over the arrangment), we now have an empty wall and some nail holes that are waiting to be patched.

What will I hang there instead? I don’t have a clue. But I guess I’d better figure out at least a temporary solution before my photo shoot!

To this:

…which left a big empty wall at the landing.

Luckily, I won a giveaway over at Brooklyn Limestone – I got to pick one of her beautiful photos to have printed, even at poster size. When presented with “poster size” as an option, I always take it. Voila:

In fact, it was so big that I couldn’t get a proper picture of it (the glare from the window didn’t help). The photo is from Mrs. Limestone’s trip to Kenya. It has the most beautiful muted shades of lavender, gray, pink, and yellow. I just love it. Thank you Brooklyn Limestone! Mrs. Limestone sells her travel and art prints here, so you can get your very own.

I can’t wait to choose and purchase a print for myself – the 8×10′s are a reasonable $30-$35 while the larger sizes run in the hundreds. Maybe a little Valentine to myself? Would last much longer than the real thing!