10 MOST BEAUTIFUL FINE ART GIFTS

Art is always a gift. So it always deserves a place your gift lists. Whether it’s an original piece, a limited edition, or a fine reproduction, a gift of art adds beauty on every level.

The BN Team has been busy reviewing our beautiful art and design stories to select a few favorites that we’d love to give or receive this holiday season.

Fine art, design and craft pieces bring enduring beauty, less subject to trend or whim, more likely to earn permanent places in hearts and spaces.

Check out hyper-real paper flower sculptures, by Kate Alarcón;  dreamy impressionist landscape paintings by Scott Naismith and Sally West; fine art masks by Erik’s Inspiration, repurposed wood vessels by Richard Haining and Joey Richardson; incredible wave prints, by Lloyd Meudell; paperweights by Paul Stankard, glass wave sculptures by Rick Eggert, rich black & white wildlife photo prints by David Yarrow.

1. FINE CRAFT PAPER FLOWERS --  KATE ALARCÓN

Fine paper gets transformed into magnificent flowers in artist Kate Alarcón’s circle of life. It is a wondrous process, full of miracles. And the results are nothing short of breathtaking.

Check out her offerings -- everything from roses to lichen to cacti -- on her website, The Cobra Lily. The site is named for “Darlingtonia californica,” a beautiful carnivorous plant that is native to northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

To see even more paper flower beauties, follow her on Instagram.

2. SCOTTISH LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS -- SCOTT NAISMITH

Scott Naismith’s vibrant and expressive landscape paintings of his native Scotland are multi-layered melodies of color, re-interpreting and abstracting the glens, lochs, and countrysides of its west coast.

Naismith uses thick brushes and palette knives to create texture and capture fast-changing natural light. The result is a heightened sense of atmosphere with a dream-like feel. Scotland may not be this vivid in reality, but Naismith believes it’s the job of an artist to make viewers see things in a new way.

Naismith describes the magnificent skies of his landscapes, changing from dark to light, as metaphors for optimism and hope.

Naismith’s abstractions feature dramatic clouds. This artist is fascinated by the way light combines with color as it filters through a cloud’s opaque and translucent properties.

Naismith’s work has been exhibited in galleries throughout Scotland, England and the United States.

Gift ideas: Check out Naismith’s book, “Scottish Skies.” Many of his paintings are available as limited edition prints on his website and can also be purchased here.

3. FINE ART MASKS - ERIK’S INSPIRATION

A surreal fantasy bird is a dramatic play of baroque color and form. The Peacock Debonair Beaked Mask, designed by Erik’s Inspiration, bears a shock of coque and peacock feathers. The mask is burnished and embellished with turquenite, goldstone, pyrite, metal, and Swarovski crystals.

4. STACKED WOOD VESSELS -- RICHARD HAINING

For Richard Haining, there’s beauty in the defects. The Brooklyn-based studio furniture maker and artist was inspired to create “Stacked,” a stunning collection of one-of-a-kind vessels and furniture, crafted from reclaimed wood, after witnessing the incredible amount of waste and scrap wood being discarded all around New York City.

Haining embraces the knots, old nail holes, mineral stains, and nature-made imperfections in wood that has been reclaimed from building demolitions — including decommissioned water towers—and gives it a second life in the form of gorgeous housewares.

To inquire about custom work or to purchase a vessel or piece of furniture from Haining’s collection, visit his website.

5. CARVED WOOD LACE VESSELS -- JOEY RICHARDSON

The spirit of a magical woodland fantasy is captured beautifully in Joey Richardson’s gorgeous fine craft works. This internationally acclaimed wood-turner carves delicate fantasy vessels, working with organic and floral motifs.  

Richardson’s pieces are infused with movement and grace. Intricate piercings and carvings make solid wood look like lace. They are further embellished with hand-painted accents.

Richardson has been recognized with the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) Award of Excellence, and was made a Liveryman by the 400 year-old Worshipful Company of Turners. Her award-winning crafts have been on exhibition around the world.

See more of Richardson’s fine craft works here.

6. SURREAL WAVE PHOTO PRINTS -- LLOYD MEUDELL

An important key to Meudell’s magic is the early morning lighting he works. He has a daily routine, checking out the waves at the crack of dawn.

There’s a surreal quality to Meudell’s photo’s. It’s no surprise that Salvador Dali and Rene Magritte were his creative heroes.

Time appears to be frozen. Yet timing is so serendipitous. The timing has to be just right, to align the tides, the swell, the wind, and the light to make the waves look like monumental mountains.

Most of Meudell’s photographs are taken near where he lives on the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, where he delights in a diverse range of different waves.

Beyond his wave photography, Meudell works as a painter and decorator. See and learn more about Meudell’s work and purchase prints here. And check out more on Instagram.

7. BEACH LANDSCAPE PAINTINGS -- SALLY WEST

Thick impasto strokes of paint deposit carefree pastel color and texture to Sally West’s beach landscape paintings

The Sydney-based artist’s oil painting series, entitled “Beach Studies,” depict the beaches and seascapes near her home.

West loves to fully immerse herself into the landscape by painting in plein air.

West’s award-winning paintings are found in private collections around the world. You can purchase Sally West’s beach studies online at KAB Gallery.

8. GLASS WAVE SCULPTURE -- RICK EGGERT

Waves, frozen as they crest, are clearly beautiful sculptures by glass artist Rick Eggert. Capturing motion in fluid tendrils, the blown-glass sculptures are often displayed as groups, playing across a gradation of color and complementary form.

Eggert is inspired by organic shapes and natural elements, leveraging their shapes to give a kinetic illusion -- like fire and water moving. He creates within series, including Waves, Grass, Flames, and Dew Drops.

You can see more of Eggert’s glass sculptures on his portfolio site.

9. GLASS PAPERWEIGHTS - PAUL STANKARD

The beauty of clear glass is mainly that it lets us see clear through to the beauty that lies beyond.

Artist Paul Stankard encases extremely delicate glass sculptures of flowers and insects in globes or cubes of clear glass. He is considered the father of modern glass paperweights.

Part of what makes Stankard’s works so extraordinary and fascinating is the incredible botanical accuracy of his flowers and insects. Many people at first perceive them to be real and are astonished to learn that they are made of glass.

Stankard is the author of 3 books; an autobiography No Green Berries or Leaves: The Creative Journey of an Artist in Glass, an educational resource Spark the Creative Flame: Making the Journey from Craft to Art and most recently Studio Craft as Career: A Guide to Achieving Excellence in Art-making. Also see Paul J. Stankard: Homage to Nature,by Ulysses Grant Dietz.

See and learn more about the clearly beautiful works of Paul Stankard and other artists in The Universe in an Orb of Glass Now.

10. WILDLIFE PHOTO PRINTS & BOOK -- DAVID YARROW

With new pressures bearing down on wildlife every day, from climate, to encroachment, from poachers, to politicians, we have the urge to both rise up and take action to try to save these beautiful creatures and the urge to capture their magnificence for posterity.

David Yarrow’s spectacular black & white wildlife portraits are breathtaking. Rich greys and contrasts, shadowed textures and depth, form epic images.

Yarrow is one of the top wildlife photographers in the world goes to extreme measures he takes to capture the most unusual and extreme shots, traveling to remote locations to photograph the most dramatic landscapes, indigenous cultures, and endangered animals.