Artist Thea Nordal Vågan from Trondheim, Norway is bringing her incredible individualistic technique that's unlike anything you've ever seen before! Her art is purely inspired through the beauty in nature and the way she sketches animals and people will leave you speechless. Take a look at her some of her masterpieces online and experience a true artist on the rise.
1. The artist
Once you check out some of her spellbinding work, which you can buy here, you'll fall in love with it.
If you look at the detail on the hair, she literally draws each one as one continuous line without stroking over it multiple times, giving each of her pieces an unparalleled sense of definition.
If you look at the shadow and the level of shading behind her face and on top of it, this drawing is so close to almost looking like legit photography.
Noticing the micro-strokes to complete the fur allows for the expansive eye for detail truly come to light. Check out #9 for another amazing piece that uses micro-strokes.
This image almost looks as if it was derived from a stencil rather than being sketched, which is unbelievable when you consider the shape on her nose and the way her hair flows.
There are some 'comfort food' that might bring back warm memories of childhood and brighten up your mood instantly. And there are some which might hit you with a wave of cultural shock. Letting out a fair warning, this belongs to the second category. Definitely not for the weak hearted.Respecting everyone's food choice, here is a list of some unusual food from Asia,
1. Turtle jelly
One of China's favourite summertime desserts also believed to reduce internal heat and give you a smooth skin, turtle jelly is made by boiling powdered turtle shell with herbs and letting it evaporate. Turtle, yes.
Also known as Shirako in Japan, it essentially is a cod’s sperm. Known to have a super soft and rich creamy texture, it is quite a celebrated delicacy in Japan. It is generally served steamed or deep fried.
To be fair, they are not 'alive'. But they aren't fully cooked either. It is cooked in such a way that the limbs are alive and kicking and squiggly just before you are about to eat it. They are put to rest only after the sauce is poured over the dish.
After a round of using raw fish for sushi in Japan, it was time to give raw horse meat a try! Cherry blossom meat or raw horse meat is served either on its own or as a part of sushi. It’s said to be low in calories and low in fat. For all the right health reasons and otherwise, will you give it a try?
Being a unique dish in itself, chicken testicles make an appearance in almost all Hong Kong foodlets. The testicles are boiled or fried to reach a perfect soft interior and are served with rice, or noodles and broth.
It is impossible to imagine eating a ball full of thorns. But if you're in the mood for some tasty urchin nuts, just break it open and gulp the gonads down. Oh yes, with the urchin very much alive, this is a dish that will squirm its way right down your goddamned throat.
7. Century eggs - Eggs preserved and buried in a clay mix
Eggs of duck, quail or chicken are preserved in a clay mixture for months together until the yolk turns black. This mixture is meant to add flavor to the egg white which loses its colour over time.
Known for a fine texture and extremely high nutritional value, this is eaten quite often in Japan. A high protein source and a favourite among the locals, this makes for a thoughtful try!
Japanese winemakers release snakes in bottles of wine and let them release their venoms in the wine bottle. This special drink which is created from this technique is said to enhance male libido. Wonder who thought of it first!
Like I prefer choco chips in my crackers, people in Japan prefer wasps in theirs. Apparently the digger wasp, which the biscuit contains, has a pretty mean sting. Good luck, dearest tongue!
Quite a controversial dish given the environmental concerns, the soup itself is mostly prized for its premium price tag and is a must-have on wedding and graduation dinner menus. Save the sharks maybe someone?
Cambodians from Skuon are said to have begun eating tarantulas during their years of food shortage. Even as shortage was made up for, tarantulas didn't leave the menu card. Being crispy on the outside with white meat in the head and body, tasting almost like chicken or cod, this is a hot favourite among Cambodians.
If you think drinking raw hearts of animals were a part of fancy fiction only, it is true people in Vietnam eat cobra heart and drink its blood. It started off as a ritual. If or not you have the heart to eat the heart, you decide!
If you think they are shrimps cooked in some liquor, you're dead wrong. These shrimps are thrown in a bowl of strong liquor where they swim languidly. The alcohol slows down the movement of the shrimp. You can then pop the wriggling body down your throat. If this is not crazy, what is?
One of the most notorious dishes of Japan, Fugu can be lethal. It demands a careful and experienced removal of toxic parts. The restaurant preparation of fugu is strictly controlled by law in Japan, and only chefs who have qualified after three or more years of rigorous training are allowed to prepare the fish.
Baluts are half-fertilized eggs, where, instead of finding the yolk, you find partially developed fetus of a duck or chicken. It is believed to be an aphrodisiac. In certain cases, there is death before life, yes.
White ant's egg is generally consumed as a quick snack by people in Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. There is also a version of white ant eggs soup, a mixture of eggs, partial embryos and baby ants. Complex formula indeed!
18. Ying yang fish - Half dead and half alive fish
A speciality from Taiwan, it is a deep fried fish with its head still twitching while being fried. Cruel and crazy, this is a dish going extinct for all the right reasons.
Famous for its health benefits, Bird's Nest Soup is a gelatinous mix of chicken broth and the swiftlet (bird) saliva. Swiftlets make their nest out of salivas and after they leave the nest, it becomes an ingredient for the soup. Bird's spit it is!
The monkey is forcibly pulled to the dining table and held with hoops over its hands and legs. A hammer is then used to knock on the monkey's head for it to crack open, after which, an iron rod is put through it and the monkey's brain is extracted and served while the monkey literally screams to death. Let us just not talk about it anymore.
According to this report in The Seoul Times, the Chinese eat babies in a special soup to improve their health, stamina and sexual performance. It is a delicacy in which expensive herbs are added to boil the baby with chicken meat for eight hours. The dish is very expensive (around 3 lakhs in INR) and for people who cannot afford so much, placentas come as a cheap substitute. So much for sexual powers and health!
If you wish to locate the geographical centre of India, all you need to do is visit Nagpur and ask for the Zero Mile Stone. A sandstone pillar and statues of four horses mark the spot. It is said this monument marks the geographical centre of colonial India. It was constructed during the time of the Raj and the British used it as a starting point to measure the distance of many states and towns from Nagpur.
Located to the southeast of the Vidhan Bhavan building, the monument has distances to some major cities engraved on it.
The British considered Nagpur to be the centre of India from the time when the country was divided into different provinces and Nagpur was the capital of Central Provinces and Berar. They also planned to make Nagpur the second capital city. When the states were created later, Nagpur became a part of Maharashtra; it was given the status of the second capital of Maharashtra.
According to a visitor, the inscription on the vertical face of the monument’s pillar reads G.T.S STANDARD BENCH MARK. 1907, and the inscription on the horizontal stone reads “The height of the top of this pillar is 1020.171 feet above the mean level of the sea.”
Here, G.T.S refers to the Great Trigonometrical Survey, which was a project carried out by the Survey of India throughout most of the 19th century. The Survey of India is an agency in charge of mapping and surveying. A GTS benchmark refers to the fixed reference points with known elevation above the mean sea level.
However, there is some controversy now about whether this monument is the true geographical centre of India any more. According to some reports, after the partition of undivided India into India and Pakistan, the centre of the country shifted from Nagpur to a small village in Madhya Pradesh. It is now supposed to be in Karaundi, located about 40 km from Sihora in Jabalpur district.
