If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that I’m a sucker for prints of animals as humans. Give me a cat in a suit or a dog driving a car or a bird reading a newspaper and I’ll laugh every time. Kevin Lucius of LuciusArt in Chicago is a master of the animal as human print and I love his work. Too many for just one post, so today I’ll just focus on the smartest animals in town. Uh huh.
Here is Tony, the Inquisitive River Otter. Tony was always asking questions. He had an irresistible thirst for knowledge.
Tony
And here is Marvin, the Book Smart Bear. Marvin took his studies very seriously.
Marvin
And here is Tiger (no name required). Some Tigers are cooler than others.
Tiger
Ah, Roger, the Studious Owl. As you can imagine, Roger was picked on more than anyone else in the 4th grade.
Roger
I know a monocle isn’t the same as spectacles, but here’s “Mr Fancy Cat”. Johnny was best dressed cat at the winter formal. Relive the memories of that night with this original print.
Johnny
If you’d like to see more, you can check out the LuciusArt shop on etsy here.
Yes, that caught my eye too. Bunny with a Toolbelt is the very cool name of Hilary Pfeifer’s business in Portland, Oregon, where the focus has been ‘making you smile since the late 20th century’. Hilary creates sculptures, animals and wedding cake toppers from recycled wood and other materials. And they are brightly coloured and very quirky. Hilary has also written a couple of books and sells t-shirts and mugs adorned with her work. This Bunny is busy.
(c) Bunny with a Toolbelt
I’ll start with my favourite. This dog is made of painted, upcycled wood and stands about 4 inches tall and 11 inches long. The piece is called ‘Oh Happy Day’. And with this brightly coloured piece of magic in your home or office or classroom or shop, I’m tipping you’ll have a very happy day indeed. If you’re a deep kinda person, you can probably read something into the placement of the clouds, or the fact that the dog is happily supporting three animals of another species, all of different colours. But I just like it because it’s bright and cute.
(c) Bunny with a Toolbelt
If you’re looking for a customised gift for that certain someone, you can help Hilary to design your own Mini Me. You send photos and thoughts about the subject to Hilary and she creates a mini version of them. In brightly coloured monster form. Uh huh.
And then there are the elephants that Hilary created to illustrate her first alphabet book – Elephabet. As you might expect, it’s no ordinary alphabet book. Y is for Yippie-ki-Yayiphant, S is for Sushiphant, R is for Radiophant. But my favourite is probably this guy: V is for Vice Versaphant.
(c) Bunny with a Toolbelt
Oh, and the wedding cake toppers – not normally even remotely my kind of thing, but these have a quirky style. Granted, they won’t suit every couple, but for some people, I think they’re probably just perfect…
Like that really tall couple that you know.
(c) Bunny with a Toolbelt
Or those two IT geeks who fell in love in the server room.
(c) Bunny with a Toolbelt
Or that couple that took forever to make it down the aisle.
(c) Bunny with a Toolbelt
And with more than 60 varieties, there’s plenty more where those came from! You can check out the Bunny with a Toolbelt website here and the etsy shop here. Love your work, Hilary!
When you first think of cardboard, you probably think of big boxes, childhood craft projects and high fibre cereal. You probably don’t think about fancy sculptures that arrive as a flat pack and click together (without an allen key). Based in Virginia in the USA, Chris and Luis from Cardboard Safari make “neat stuff for your home”. The boys are committed to designing “fun and fascinating products for your enjoyment” as they draw inspiration from nature, using sustainable materials.
Here’s Jack – a laser cut sort of guy for your home or office. Or, as Chris and Luis describe him far better than I can: in the tradition of art masks, Jack is a dramatic wall art piece with a stunning visual appearance. Not bad for a guy who was delivered to your house in something that looks like a pizza box.
Or you might prefer Vince, who is apparently the most detailed design that Cardboard Safari have ever made. I’m not a big fan of skulls, but find this one pretty impressive. Friendly, even.
According to the website, you can keep your cardboard in its natural colour, or you can pimp your sculpture with “paint, glitter, wrapping paper or other craft materials”. Alternatively, you could paint a wall in your house a really bright colour, add some cardboard deer heads and create a fancy-hunting-lodge-meets-Night-at-the-Museum kinda vibe.
And last but not least, here are a couple of cardboard rhinos, grazing on the living room floor. And confusing that poor dog, who is wondering why his companions are not even remotely interested in playing.
For more info and to shop online for a new flat pack friend, you can check out the cool range of designs at Cardboard Safari here.
Do you sometimes wonder what your little dog and cat friends are thinking? Well, Christopher Rozzi can tell you. Mr Rozzi is an artist, a writer, and comedian living in NYC. And his tiny confessions range combines comedy with art. He asks dogs, cats and even monsters and robots the big questions and paints their answers…
Confession of a French Bulldog [Christopher Rozzi]Confession of a Cat [Christopher Rozzi]Confession of a Wolfman [Christopher Rozzi]Confession of a German Shepherd [Christopher Rozzi]Confession of a Labrador [Christopher Rozzi]And even…
Confession of Darth Vader [Christopher Rozzi]These are just a sample of the very funny tiny confessions range, which you can check out on etsy.
Helena is the talent behind Tokyo Inspired – selling ‘lovingly handcrafted’ cases for your iphone, camera or pencils. They are very cute and more than a little bit quirky. And they remind me of Zippy from Rainbow. I discovered Tokyo Inspired on etsy and although I can’t claim to be down with the mysteries of the animal kingdom, I am really not sure about the photos that Helena has used to sell her wares…
Take this lovely image of a cute snoozing kitty. The cat looks so happy snuggled up against her soul mate there on the rug. Except – it’s not her soul mate, IT’S A PENCIL CASE. And it has a fairly maniacal-looking zippered smile on its face. And eyes that never sleep. But then, I think there’s probably no harm as long as the (real) cat is happy, right?
Then there’s this pic of a grey cat laughing with his arm tucked around his equally delighted companion. Oh, he’s so chuffed that his partner mirrors his wide smile when he tells his favourite joke about that time with the saucer of milk. They are so happy and in sync and meant to be together. Except – hang on, that’s not a smile, that’s AN OPENING TO STUFF PENCILS OR A SMART PHONE THROUGH. And I start to feel like this is getting a bit out of hand.
And these two grey cousins, caught in a never-ending battle to see who can ‘freeze’ the longest. It’s just not right.
I love your work, Tokyo Inspired – the cases are very cute and I can think of lots of people (myself included) who would like them. But I’m just not sure that it’s fair to the real cats to keep up this charade. Because one day, maybe a zipper will break, or a sequinned eye will drop off, or an ear will unthread, and there will be heartache in the litterbox.
You can check out these very cool cases (and cats) at the Tokyo Inspired shop here.
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