Mini kaleidoscopic creations

For someone like me, who loves pattern and repetition and collects kaleidoscopes, the iPhone app SpiraSketch is pure pleasure.

I get giddy when, with a few strokes on the screen, I can create a symmetrical design with up to 24 reflections. Do I "draw" a straight line? curly line? Which direction do I go? What colour palette should I choose?

Here are some of my favourite designs I have saved.

What's Awesome?

First, my family, friends and my health are awesome.

Another awesome thing is that I received The Book of Awesome from a dear friend at a late Christmas gift exchange. It was wonderful to get the book, but the awesomeness was because my friend didn't even know it was on my wish list! More treats were received including an art magazine from another friend who would never find herself in the art section of the magazine racks.

Creative iPhone/iPod apps are also awesome. When not getting to the next level of Angry Birds I am "doodling" with various apps like SpiraSketch, Meritum Paint and Brushes. Did you see David Hockney's New Yorker cover illustration last fall (Oct 2010)? It was created using the Brushes app. Fleurs Fraiches, his recent exhibition in Paris, is juicy, digital art created and displayed on iPhones and iPads. Read more about it here and here.

My true list of awesome does not end here, but the last mention for this post is: I feel it is awesome that my husband reads my blog. Last September I posted about a typewriter I painted for Illustration Friday. In the post I had commented that I would love to actually have a shiny, black, antique typewriter. To my delightful surprise I received such a typewriter from my husband for Christmas. He secretly found it through an independent seller online. It was made in Canada in 1938. And, it types beautifully.

High-tech, low-tech and thoughtfulness are awesome.