This elegant collection of self-portraits by London-based
photographer Mariell Amélie is filled with soft color palettes
and strong lighting that lend to the haunting aura throughout
each image. Amélie captures ethereal emotion which quickly
consumes the viewer and creates a quiet, meditative
visual experience.
Beautiful Thought To Ponder
“You will have bad times,
but they will always wake you up
to the stuff you weren’t paying attention to”
Robin Williams – RIP
Beautiful Architecture
Santiago Calatrava’s innovation, science and technology
building for Florida Polytechnic University makes me
want to study there just to be able to experience this
building. The design is characterized by a skeletal
form with a latticed envelope across a series of arched
ribs. The crowning feature is its rising operable roof
that can regulate the desired amount of direct light.
Simply beautiful.
Beautiful Dog Friends
Just hanging out…and perhaps
looking for a bit of trouble or anything.
Beautiful Historic Architecture
Meandering around Pioneer Square
one of my favorite neighborhoods
in Seattle.
Historic Lucknow building. The building mixes
moderate-income residential apartments with
retail space on the ground floor, adjacent to
Waterfall Garden. It was the first housing
demonstration project in the Pioneer Square
Preservation District.
Historic Smith Tower
Beautiful Nature
How amazing can a tree be?
(or shrub, or vine or even a grass?)
Laying eyes upon these amazing, huge,
beautiful creations of by nature makes
me want to hug a tree and say thank you.
If there truly is a God, it’s nature. Enjoy!
125+ year old Rhododendron in Canada
Read more about it here reddit
144 year old Wisteria in Japan
At 1,990 sq. meters (about half acre), this huge
wisteria is the largest of its kind in Japan.
This gorgeous giant is located at Ashikaga Flower
Park. After looking at these photos I’m ready to
book the next flight to Japan!
Read more about it here
![slope-point-6[2]](https://beautifulmusings.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/slope-point-62.jpg)
![slope-point-8[2]](https://beautifulmusings.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/slope-point-82.jpg)
Wind Swept Tress of Slope New Zealand
Slope Point is the most southern point of New
Zealand’s South Island. The region is consistently
lashed with fierce winds that blow up from
Antarctica. The wind here is so intense and
relentless, that the trees are twisted, warped and
forever bent along the direction the wind blows.
Read more about it here.
Antarctic Beech Tree Draped in Hanging Moss
The antarctic beech tree is native to Chile and
Argentina but specimen is from the NW Pacific
region. Image by Drew Hopper
Blooming Cherry Tree Explosion
Bonn, Germany
Waltz through a magical tunnel fo
pink in the lovely city of Bonn,
where the cherry blossoms go
positively bonkers for two to
three precious weeks per year.
Read more about it here
Angel’s Oak on John’s Island, South Carolina
The Angel oak stands 66.5 ft (20 m) and is
estimated between 400-500 years old.
Read more about here
Flamboyant Tree, Brazil
The flamboyant tree is native to Madagascar but
grows in tropical regions around the world.
Image by Salete T. Silva
Read more about it here
Dragon blood Trees, Yemen
The Dragon blood tree earns its name from the
crimson red sap used as a dye, in violin varnish,
alchemical ingredient and folk remedy for
various ailments.
Read more about it here
The President, the
Third Largest Giant
Sequoia in the World,
California
Located in Sequoia
National Park, CA,
it’s 241 ft (73 m) tall
and has ground
circumference 93 ft.
Photo by Michael Nichols
Read more about it here
Maple Tree Tunnel, Oregon
Read more about it here
Rainbow Eucalyptus, Kauai, Hawaii
Possibly one of the coolest trees on earth.
These eucalyptus trees grow along the
Hana Highway on Kauai. The tree is a huge
evergreen and can grow 8 feet a year,
reaching a height of 197 – 246 feet
(60 – 75 meters).
Read more about it here
Jacarandas in Cullinan, South Africa
Beautiful Jacarandas with their violet
flowers, grow in South Africa.
Read more about here
Avenue of Oaks at Dixie Plantation, South Carolina
Avenue of Oaks was planted around 1790
Read more about it here
Baobab Trees, Madagascar
Water is stored in the trunks of these trees to use
during a drought. They can grow for up to 5000
years making them one of the oldest living things
on the planet.
Read more about it here
The Dark Hedges in Northern Ireland
The Dark Hedges were planted in the 18th Century.
More recently, this stunning beech tree tunnel was
featured in the Game of Thrones.
Read more about it here
Beautiful Bungalow
This beautiful Bungalow house designed by architect
Athelstan Whaley as a part Edgcumbe Park resort was
for years owned by a David Weston & Scott Mycock
and used as a home and studio. The house has been
nicely renovated and its design is spot on – classical
modernist posters, iconic mid century modern furniture
like Eames Lounge chair, Noguchi Butterfly stool,
Jacobsen Egg chair and many others are present.
Interesting fact is that it was also used as a location
for the 1966 film Fahrenheit 451.
Beautiful Architect
The Invisible Architect of Invisible Architecture
At the height of his popularity, R. Buckminster Fuller,
the visionary inventor best known as the father of the
geodesic dome, was on a mission. Fuller repeatedly
referred to his great friend, the architect Knud Lonberg-Holm
—a “really great architect of the Nysky (New York skyscraper)
age”—whom Fuller said “has been completely unrecognized
and unsung,” and whose “scientific foresight and design
competence are largely responsible for the present world
around the state of advancement of the building arts.”
Knud Lonberg-Holm (1895-1972),
an overlooked but highly influential
Modernist architect, photographer,
and pioneer of information design,
is the subject of an exhibition at the
Ubu Gallery in New York City,
through August 1, 2014.
I stumbled upon a fascinating article about
the architect Lonberg-Holm. He is one of the
most overlooked yet influential architects
of the 20th century. Knud Lonberg-Holm
told Buckminster Fuller that “the really great
architect will be the architect who produces
the invisible house where you don’t see roofs
or walls,” Fuller explained in House & Garden.
“I’ve thought about this, thought about it a lot,
the ultimately invisible house—doing more with
less and finally coming to nothingness.”
Lonberg-Holm’s modernity and exquisite
techniques were well ahead of his time.
Read the fascinating article here.
Chicago Tribune Tower
This design of a side elevation for the 1922 Chicago
Tribune Tower competition, by Lonberg-Holm,
favored a functional composition that was devoid
of historical styles. It featured an abstract,
black-and-white pattern to articulate its frame and a
vertical sign spelling “Tribune” in large block letters,
flanked by two round lamps reminiscent of automobile
headlights. Lonberg-Holm never submitted his entry
for the competition, but it was published in a number
of books by avant-garde architects like Le Corbusier,
Walter Gropius, and J.P.P. Oud.
Radio Broadcasting Station, Detroit
This design, ca. 1925, was included in the landmark
1927 Machine Age exhibition—advertised as “the
first International Exposition of Architecture to be
held in America.” The New Yorker critic Muriel Draper
reviewed the project and wrote: “The delicacy and
exquisite technique of execution shown in the plans may
have much to do with it, but a glass tower with a visibly
spiralling staircase took me straight up in the air while
the simple, solid proportions of the building itself kept
my feet on the earth. Pleasant sensation.”
Beautiful Blue
I’m a total fan of blue lately, the deeper and more saturated the better.
I especially like the playful nature of this kitchen back splash.
Beautiful People
This family, inspired by a TED talk by graphic designer
Stefan Sagmeister, made the ultimate escape: throwing
all the baggage of civilization away and taking off to live
on a remote island north of the Arctic Circle for a year.
Fabulous indeed, read about their inspiring story here. Enjoy.
All images are by Winston Chen
Beautiful Nature
Lounging in the grass, not doing much of
anything except enjoying the moment
with an iPhone and a cluster of random
daisies. They grow everywhere in the wild.
I couldn’t resist taking these shots on a
lazy summer day and searching for the
perfect poem.
Daisy Time
See, the grass is full of stars,
Fallen in their brightness;
Hearts they have of shining gold,
Rays of shining whiteness.
Buttercups have honeyed hearts,
Bees they love the clover,
But I love the daisies’ dance
All the meadow over.
Blow, O blow, you happy winds,
Singing summer’s praises,
Up the field and down the field
A-dancing with the daisies.
By Marjorie Pickthall
Beautiful Musings 
