pinterest – Tales of Creative Compassion

Xi Pan

In my now extensive travels through the artwork on Pinterest, I’ve started an entire board just for pictures, paintings, and sculptures of embrace. I honestly can go to that board, look at the pictures, and feel loved. It’s gorgeous. One of my favorite pieces from that board (although it is hard to choose a favorite) is this delicate painting by Xi Pan.

This is one of those images that make me feel I’m not alone. This image is so utterly true to my life, I can feel my daughter’s baby cheek on my shoulder when I look at it. I love that it illustrates how mothers and children are built to fit together just so, and how peaceful and comforting that one fact can be.

Xi Pan is a very impressive painter, well worth spending a few minutes exploring. She does these really lovely, slightly surreal female nudes; the painting I’ve chosen is actually not very representative of her work. So you should go check out the rest, because it’s awesome.

Frank Tjepkema (Tjep)

These mechanical heart pendants by Frank Tjepkema are one of the more intricate pieces of art I’ve ever seen. I caught this gorgeous picture on Pinterest, and assumed this was a large (and very impressive) sculpture.

It wasn’t until I visited Tjepkema’s actual website that I realized this entire piece could nestle perfectly between my collar bones.

There is a whole series of these mechanical hearts, here is another one of my favorites.

Although I said that these pieces are by Frank Tjepkema, this is one of those annoying (to me) incidents when a successful artist has founded a company under their name (Tjep) and so it is impossible to tell if the pieces were created by the original artist or by a brilliant but invisible employee. If these pieces were made by someone other than Frank Tjepkema, I sincerely apologize for incorrectly crediting the work.

Koto Bolofo

I have finally submitted to Pinterest, and it is even more amazing than I’d heard. Usually when I hear someone reference Pinterest, it has to do with some super-perfect Martha Stewart-y creation that I wouldn’t have spent time or thought on. They are usually very cool super-perfect things, but still. No one told me that there are immeasurable stores of mind-blowing artwork on Pinterest (or if they did I didn’t believe them). It is phenomenal, and I may never do any actual work again. After spending almost my entire weekend on Pinterest, here is one of my favorite finds.

This is a photograph taken by Koto Bolofo, a self-trained photographer from South Africa. He has many stunning images, but this is my favorite. Every time I look at it I’m struck by something different about it, and I have spent outrageous spans of time just staring at it. Enjoy.