Sue W.’s Weekly Photo Challenge this week is Work of Art.  Works of art are everywhere – an artist’s painting, a mural on a wall, a beautiful building, or natural works of art – a sunset, a rainbow, blooming flowers, animals – and animals creating their own works of art!  A work of art doesn’t have to be spectacular – it can be quite “ordinary” as long as it is aesthetically pleasing. Here are but a few samples of works of art I have photographed.

Man-made:
Artwork at the Art Institute of Chicago:

John Singer Sargent (American, 1856-1925), La Carmencita, 1890, oil on canvas

Charles White (American, 1918-?), Abraham Lincoln, 1952, Wolff crayon and charcoal on paperboard

Colorful mural on a wall in Des Moines, Iowa

Political art in a café, Des Moines, Iowa

Modern sculpture, Mason City, Iowa

Stockman House, designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, Mason City, Iowa

Nature’s works of art:
An arrangement of orchids at a supermarket

Lotus flower, Chicago Botanic Garden

Wild sunflowers in my neighbor’s garden – she looked at this scene and said she had a natural work of art right in her backyard!

Sunrise, Des Moines, Iowa (seen from our hotel room window)

Trees bending over and reflected in a creek, Sabino Canyon, Tucson, Arizona

Yellow-breasted weaver making a nest to attract a mate (not only is the bird a work of art, but he has created his own work of art in this intricate, tightly woven nest), Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

Works of art can also be heard, rather than seen – here is violinist Joshua Bell playing “The Swan” by composer Camille Saint-Saens.