Right Brain? Or Left Brain?

I was going to tell you how right- or left-brained I am and why I have to sometimes force myself to let go when creating. But I got distracted learning about what characteristics come from which side of the brain. According to an "online" test, I discovered I am 52% right brain and 48% left brain. I find this all very amusing.

Nevertheless, the following photos show some of my latest watercolour monoprints. When I created these I really tried not to plan or overthink it. They were exercises in play. Which is good for my right brain. Or left brain?

This one welcomes some mixed media or collage.

Illustration Friday - Safari

This is a quick watercolour monoprint I did for this week's Illustration Friday. The vehicle, tree and giraffe were drawn in with watercolour pencil crayon after the based coats had dried. I think the composition would have accentuated the wide open space, and have been more effective, if I had a wider plate to use.

Emerging Group Art Show

The annual Emerging Group art show opened today at the MacKay Art Centre in Unionville. Three years ago this show was organized by Judy Livingston, an established watercolour and acrylics artist, as well as an enthusiastic art teacher. This year, with some guidance from Judy and her husband, Mike, the show was produced by a committee made up of five of the show's participants. So far so good.

The piece I entered into the exhibit is called Spring Returns. It is a watercolour monoprint with an additional ink drawing. At this time of the year we are waiting for the brown of winter to be replaced by squeaky, green, spring leaves. The inspiration for this piece is that spring will eventually return, and, even on the old, weathered trees will we soon see renewal of life and fresh, new leaves.

Illustration Friday - Journey

Travel from "here" to "there" with many stops in between. That is my idea of journey and I illustrated it with the above suitcase dotted with old-fashioned travel stickers.

Illustration Friday - Bottled

This is my contribution to this week's Illustration Friday challenge. I used my Baby Richeson Press to create this watercolour monoprint. I added some ink keylines around the bottles to highlight them a bit more.

This photograph shows the first "round" using masks to create the monoprint. Which version do you like better?

Here is a detail. I wish you could see it in person!

Too Intense: kaleidoscopes and ice

I have another app on my phone which brings me pure, intense visual joy. It is a kaleidoscope app which constructs endless combinations of colour and line.

It is amazing that I have only taken photos of about 20 and not more.

Looking at these images is undescribable to me. It is a physical experience. Maybe it is like walking into a chocolate shop with rows and rows of delicious chocolate available for you. Or, like visiting a bookstore, old or new, with books you have never seen before. Or, the view from the top of a mountain or inside a cathedral. See, even my examples are trite.

And, it is not only the bright, symmetrical, computer-generated images that can move me to tears. The photos of ice below, taken by my husband while he was skating on a natural pond, also put me in awe.

Illustration Friday - Layers

The subject LAYERS intrigues me. This is my contribution to Illustration Friday. I like the idea that things are not what they may seem. You need to dig through the layers to fully understand something. And, when you think you have hit the core another layer will surprise you.

Found: Brian Wildsmith books on my shelf

Detail of Brian Wildsmith illustration from Professor Noah's Spaceship

Every once and a while I remind myself to move away from my computer screen, and the world of beautiful, inspirational blogs, and go look at the books on my shelves.

Last week I found our (my husband's and my) copies of Brian Wildsmith books. We have each had these illustrated gems since we were children. The earliest one was published in 1970. According to his website he has illustrated over 80 books. Please visit the following links for wonderful interviews and more information about him. I could not do this prolific, British illustrator justice by giving small biographical details in this post.

Interview by Madelyn Travis here.

Interview by Susie Mesure here.

Turning the pages of these books I was awestruck with the intense and seemingly theatrical illustrations. The colours, the lines, the shapes, the textures. Wow! Below are a few detailed samples of his illustrations.

Detail of Brian Wildsmith illustration from The Circus

Detail of Brian Wildsmith illustration from The Circus

Detail of Brian Wildsmith illustration from Professor Noah's Spaceship

Detail of Brian Wildsmith illustration from The Rich Man and the Shoe-maker

Detail of Brian Wildsmith illustration from The Rich Man and the Shoe-maker

An Esty first for me...

It was a quiet Saturday morning.

A little newspaper reading with my cup of tea.

Some hemming and hawing going on here and there.

Then, "ding". Email.

Oh, what's that, I wonder.

Ahhhhhh, orange and blue items. I love orange with blue. Scroll, scroll.

"Oh, my gosh!! Oh, my gosh!!" My young daughter rushed to the scene thinking something was wrong with me.

"One of my pieces is in an Etsy Finds email!" Wow!

That changed the day.

Thanks for post, Etsy. Thanks for the visits, everyone.

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.

How MANY days ’til Christmas?

39?! It is serious list-making time!

One of the first traditions in our family is making our Christmas cards. The year when my daughter was born I wanted to somehow include our new addition in the card. I painted four cardinals in a wreath (two parents, a growing boy and a new baby daughter). This painting has since been framed and comes out of storage at Christmas to be hung in the front hall of our house. At this point I have only visions of this years’ card. Hopefully, this weekend will be the time to get those visions tested on paper!

This weekend the four of us will also be taking our annual trip “downtown”. This trip is, in our kids' eyes, primarily to get a new piece for our growing Christmas village. For my husband and I it officially starts the season. We will begin at the Eaton Centre, a large shopping mall in downtown Toronto. The glass-ceilinged mall is not what draws us there. We could get the Christmas village addition at any department store. But, it has now become a tradition to look at the decorations, watch the children sit with Santa, and take some photos of us at the fountain.

We make a stop next door at The Bay, an old, Canadian department store in a historic, red brick building. Every year they have windows along Queen Street decorated with Christmas scenes. From there we decide whether to go east or west to shop at some wonderful, independent shops that can only be found “downtown”. And, of course, we stop for tea/coffee and a sweet indulgence.

Once home, with our son's exuberance, we start to pull the Christmas decorations out of storage. By the end of the night he will have set up this year's Christmas village. Hopefully, by the end of the weekend, I will have Christmas card production well under way.