Jeane's addition to Lydia's flipbook

Jeane's entry in Jemina's book

I was trying to integrate two ideas into one, so "it depends on how you look at it".  And like the other entries in Jemina's book, you can look at the pages starting at the front, middle or end as well as looking at it sideways, from the front or back, and folded in unconventional ways.

Jemina's entry into Eric's book.

Jeane's Pattern book/Annika's entry

I had been thinking of this pattern book a couple of times before it even arrived to me. I always imagined doing something with my black-and-white pattern photos in it. Opening it, I saw that it already had a very lovely entry with photos and my original idea did not seem so appealing anymore. I found inspiration in african designs for this one instead.

Hey, at least I kept it black-and-white!

Angela, on folklore

In the end I did about 15 hours of research before actually beginning this entry, and learned some neat stuff along the way. 

1. I began with googling folklore and was fascinated by a Bolivian legend about how the armadillo (charango) learned to sing.  http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/the_armadillos_song.html Originally, the body of the instrument was made of an gutted armadillo body! The sound is quite like a ukulele. There are lovely samples of the music online, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQizCn0cp2A though I can no longer find my favorite, recorded live, impromptu at a cafe/bar by a tourist somewhere in Bolivia.   Ok, back to the sketchbook. Sadly, when I sat down to sketch out ideas,  I couldn't follow through and had some sort of creative block. It was too cutsie, so, after several different attempts, I decided to start over 

2. and I found myself researching Dia de los Muertos. I found the brightly painted skulls inspiring and especially liked stuff related to the Godess Mictecacihuatl, like this cameo and this guy's drawing. But once again, pencil to paper resulted in nada, so I began again. 

3. My third and final journey was into animal symbolism and I was fascinated to read all the different symbolic stories related to animals, from Celtic myths to Buddism, it's a treasure trove of inspiration. I've never been a fan of the sugary, over-commercialized butterfly image, but the stories were intriguing, poetic and sometimes contradictory (can represent spiritual evolution/transcendance -or-  an inconsistent, unfaithful partner). So, in the end, I went with this.. .  I think that listening to the audiobook of Alice in Wonderland flavored the resulting style as well.  

:) Thanks everyone!

Lisa's Folklore theme and first entry

Stacey's Book / Petr's Entry

Since early childhood my imagination has been greatly influenced by Jules Verne's novels and the original illustrations to his amazing adventures in particular. 

I also grew up on watching films by a Czech legendary and visionary director Karel Zeman. He filmed a couple adaptations of Jules Verne's novels and managed to beautifully capture the atmosphere and beauty of Verne's worlds. Karel Zeman also filmed some original scores (including "Cesta do praveku" - a Jurassic Park of a sort except filmed in early 30s).

This piece is an attempt to tribute these pioneers of adventure and imagination who so much and lastingly shaped my sense of aesthetics! Ink drawing, Photoshop brushes & 2 layers of tracing paper.

Stacey's book's got a great flow so far!

dreams in the coloring book

YO! I'm a bit ashamed it took me so long to complete this entry, especially since I knew what I wanted to put in it since the first day I had it (over 3 weeks ago!). It's called the Coloring Book, but so far, there was a dearth of color in it. So, you know me and my bag of tricks, stencil, sprays, splatters, glitter and collaged bits of old silkscreen prints.

Bring on the next book, pleeze!

Petr's book/ Lydia's entry

The space in between one's eyes can be problematic for some, but perhaps a furry patch nestled between our expressive friends could soften a stare?

I haven't had access to a sewing machine for a long time, but have recently invested in a new one and really enjoyed using it to revisit my bag of fabric scraps.  It has been nice to use a textural palette again.  This book is becoming very tactile!

Jemina's book/Lydia's entry

A short trip to Majorca during the spring break inspired this work.  As we drove from the airport to our hotel through country lanes at night, the trees along the roadside shone up in the car headlights.  In contrast with the black sky the trunks looked stark, their open arms streched out and welcomed us to a warm new land.  The next day things looked different of course, the shapes, patterns and textures of the foliage became more significant - it depends how/when you look it?  Fresh eyes to a new place - always an inspiration.

Annika's Book / Petr's Entry

I'm a great fan of comics, graphic novels, any kind of sequential art really. The most intriguing concept within the world of sequential art is that the reader determines the story not through "reading" the various frames but through "reading", filling in what happens in the empty space between 2 frames.

And similar yet quite opposite rules the world of magic. We so much desire to see what happens next that we miss the in between - the trick, the illusion.

And so here's my piece (an ink drawing) for Annika's book of Illusions.