Insipration From the Ranch

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I just finished another great book called Ranch of Dreams, the true story of Black Beauty Ranch - an animal sanctuary nearly 1,200 acres large - in Texas. In addition to making me want to book a flight to see this incredible operation in person ASAP, the book had me dreaming of ranch-inspired style... western wear, dusty desert scenes, utilitarian forms, you name it. Here are a few of my Ranch of Dreams themed picks.

That's one nice place to relax after a long day.

When I think ranch fare, I think chili, and where there's chili there should be cornbread!

I love the idea of desert labyrinth. Perfect for a dry space.


Detailed view of a beautiful print available on Etsy.

A handmade Giddy Up Cowboy print skirt, also from Etsy!

Artist Spotlight: Galen Rowell

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Prior to his death in 2002, photographer Galen Rowell spent his life exploring nature and attempting to capture the beauty of some of earth's most unforgiving peaks. I first learned about Rowell reading Three Cups of Tea - the true story of a mountain climber who builds a school in a small, impoverished village in Pakistan (I highly recommend the book) - and his photos of the famed K2 helped bring the story to life for me. I quickly discovered that his photography of national parks here in the US is also incredibly stunning and have me ready to plan a wilderness escape myself (well... as soon as things warm up anyways).

Much of Rowell's work embodies a sense of transcendence - there's something quite ethereal about it - which he addressed when he said, "If we limit our vision to the real world, we will forever be fighting on the minus side of things, working only to make our photographs equal to what we see out there, but no better". What a beautiful thought and one that speaks volumes outside of photography too.

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Artist Spotlight: Martin Amm

Photo by Martin Amm

If you could not tell from my previous posts, I love animal art and animal photography. So when I stumbled upon the insect close-up portfolio of Martin Amm, I knew I'd found my kind of photog. Originally from Kronach, Germany, Amm also has some stunning landscape work - those shown here are from Sweden. There isn't too much info about this young artist online, but you can check out a wider range of his work here, which is where all of these photos are found.

Photo by Martin Amm

Photo by Martin Amm

Photo by Martin Amm

Photo by Martin Amm

Photo by Martin Amm