Viewing on-line photo tours of other people’s travels provides me with an amazing suitcase-free, passport-free, ticket-free way to see the world. The traveler’s blog usually includes views of local artisans making their sculptures, fabrics, paintings, or other such craft from local materials, such as in the blog bigBang studio—Hindustan textiles, food and painting, or in Blogchucuto–Spanish mosaic tiles. Most feature the use of organic materials + the artist’s ingenuity to make a log into a sculpture, clay into a vase, or fabric into a garment. They give a glimpse of the wide variety and unique design aesthetics and motifs from cultures @ the globe.
I am still surprised by my enjoyment of items made from organic materials found close at hand. For example, my husband made me a meditation bench for along our driveway using a split log. It is not merely a natural piece of art that I appreciate, but after getting the mail I can also stop, sit, and read, pausing to take-in the woods @ me–the ferns in the shade along the stream and the sounds of nature. 
When walking by in a hurry, I do not always pause, observe, and listen. Walking for many years in the town where we lived, I came to know specific trees, certain flowers and plants in gardens and yards, places different groundhogs had homes, and unique views of the mountains. While riding along in a car, that is not always possible. As you walk, you are more a part of the environment vs. speeding past and through it.
So I guess today I am rambling a bit…but I’d say this article is about how people all over the world use their ingenuity (and creativity) to make works of art by using the natural materials @ them. Plus, while travelling, one can observe and take notice of the worlds @ them to gain inspiration and renewal…
Just like a trip up the driveway for the mail and back…
with a pause on a log bench.
Where do you sit to observe the world?
Joni Beach 