French video artist Thomas Blanchard makes what he calls soothing video art. Most recently, the videographer spent four months getting up close and personal with carnivorous plants and insects. The resulting super-close-up time-lapse video is mellow and calming, but it’s also very, very interesting. Blanchard is fascinated with birth and death, and enjoys juxtaposing the two events in plants, in insects, and even in humans.

Blanchard likes to play with texture and color, exploring these elements using slow motion and macro photography. The resulting videos are lush and fascinating, and yes, soothing. The artist’s creative vision has attracted big-name clients, including Apple, Sony, Dolby Labs, LG, and Samsung. He really is that good.

You can see all of Thomas Blanchard’s thought-provoking videos on his website, and on YouTube, Vimeo, and on Instagram.

And here are a couple of his experimental videos. They’re very different from his nature-based work, but I quite enjoyed them! I especially love this first one. It was show without special effects. Just ink and paints interacting with oil, liquid soap, honey, and each other, beautifully shot and spectacularly edited together.