Cape Town, South Africa-based artist Lorraine Loots has an incredible eye for detail. In her series, called 365 Postcards for Ants, Loots plans to produce a miniature painting every day for an entire year. She uses a small, round stencil to establish the boundaries of the work and then, with a very thin paintbrush or finely tipped pencil and a magnifying glass, she creates a variety of intricate plants, animals, landscapes, and objects on a very small scale.
To select the content, Loots found that an interactive process was more enjoyable than simply choosing subject matter by herself. “At first it was just me doing my thing, doing my paintings, but then people started booking [sentimental] dates [for paintings to be done on that day],” she explained. “I think that the pressure became more and I wanted to create something that people loved as opposed to just creating something for the sake of making something.”
This series is the second phase of her personal challenge, initially completed in 2013, to make a piece of art every single day. She loved the process so much that she decided to continue beyond the planned 365 days. For this second year, every painting is intended to celebrate Cape Town’s designation as World Design Capital 2014. All of the paintings have and will feature themes, places, or ideas directly related to Cape Town.
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