Jules Verne: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

My illustrator, has made me this fantastic toy theatre, but with a difference.

Instead of the usual paper, it is constructed with a wooden base, and then the rest is made up of card.
I am posting this as it is, that is without any of my 'altering' of it, just so people can see a before and after look. I know I may slightly alter it and with those who are more purists than myself (well I ain't one), it may look better in these pictures than the ones I will post later when I have had my 'play'.

So thank you Mr Illustrator for all your  hard work, don't get too upset once I've finished with it though. Actually I prefer the term transform, I'm going to make it something more than what it is; and it will be slightly messed up (not overly).

So come and check out inside the Nautilus, meet Captain Nemo, check out the shipwreck, the divers and wow they even spot a mermaid (artistic licence, that was not in the story), and of course the pink scary sea creature.

There are a number of other scenes which will be coming, but in the meantime I am posting these up, as I can't wait to show them to my readers; and I can't wait to start playing and do what I do best - 'altering'.

So this is all my illustrator's work, nothing of me added to it yet (so don't thank me). And don't like it too much in this state, because it is going to have an 'altered state' (pardon my lame attempts at humour).

Art Journalling/Journaling: Session 16 - Making Learning Enjoyable

My daughter wanted me to teach her algebra, and that is one of the most boring subjects I can think of. So, to help make it a little more enjoyable I journalled a page focusing on vintage school children.

The page then becomes visually appealing, making a child more inclined to learn as he/she uses (for my daughter) a more dominant process of learning (which is visual for my daughter). On that page I've added the formula, which was BEDMAS (giving the order of how to work out an algebraic equation: Brackets first, then Exponents, then Division, then Multiplication, then Addition and then Subtraction).

I've also included some easy examples, that way it is easier for a child to move onto more complex examples.

Well, it worked a treat with my daughter, who now usually, fully understands how to do her algebra.

In Celebration of Rossetti

Rossetti is a favourite artist of mine, and here I have framed some more of his paintings (from a double up of a book I had on him).

I often find it hard to use typography in my art work, so this time I've just sprayed the pages with Glimmer Mist and then cut out and glued onto edge.

Added this cute little birdcage, may not look that right, but I'm not trying to get perfection here.

The wording around the edge:

Most of the critics who have written on Rossetti deplore the fact that he did not learn to paint, but to artists one of the greatest charms of his pictures (especially the early ones) is the unexpectedness of their composition. We owe that charm in a great measure to the fact that happily he had not been spoiled by the sophisticated teaching of Academic Schools, but had kept the bloom of his poetical inspiration. We must thank the instinct of the young man, which made him avoid a teaching which is bound to be fatal to both realism and romanticism. It may be that he himself deplored the lack of training at certain moments of discouragement in his life, but the kind of training available at the time of his debut would not have added much to his achievement. He managed to say what he had to say, and in many cases to say it well. He saved himself the loss of time necessary to forget certain of the artistic prejudges then in vogue, they would have been very much in his way, even if he had quite succeeded in getting rid of them. The rather amateurish side to Rossetti's art is vastly compensated for by the precious qualities he has been able to preserve.

Japanese Sumo Proposes

I'm not very much into oriental scenes, but I thought I'd give it a go with these delightful articulated dolls that I had made up last week.

Here the sumo wrestler is proposing to his geisha.

Oh the sumo has a peanut for his body, the geisha on left a fan, and the geisha on the right a bottle of wine.

This also another scene happening behind in the shadows.

Clowns just Clowning Around

Just got a thing for clowns at the moment ... a passing phase ... cause the joke is not on me! Ha.

They are happy to keep me entertained, plus free admittance (what a bonus). If I'm lucky they will sing for me and perform, even throw me the ball. Then it's whether I catch it or not. Darn thing I usually drop. Dream on.

Oh the circus token has got resin on top of it giving it that nice glossy look.

Fashion Disasters

These pictures say it all .... my fashion disasters of semi-Goth and scruffy hippy ... only experimentation in looks, not lifestyle folks, so stay tuned. It's what we do in our early twenties right? Just say participate, don't assimilate.

I'm by a river and I'm going to take a swim, hence bikini pants on underneath (I feel I need to explain myself on that account). Marie was practising her photography and I somehow became the 'willing' victim. Yay fashion victim. And all that hair, yikes it just would not know when to stop growing.

Angelic Stringed Instrument Articulated Paper Dolls

No major creative sparks here, but when one has young daughters one tends to 'play' a bit, so here we go arms and legs and faces have been added to inanimate objects with brads.

I have ended up making a ton of these articulated paper dolls, now I am going to have to source some appropriate backgrounds for them all.

Rossetti's Daydream

So here's to the young painter Rossetti. One of my favourite artists, part of the brotherhood of the pre-Raphaelite movement. They painted with true authentic aesthetics, when artists were artists.

Ah yes, take me back to the omnicompetence of the artists, when their art was their legacy. Where are the Rossetti's, Michelangelo's, and Giulio's today? I guess just waiting for a benefactor to own their 'hand and soul':P