Why are you going to buy 20 cans of shaving foam?

                                    (Above and below) James Dorward's silhouette.

I like 'surrealist drawing techniques', methods of creating unintentional magic, surprises and inspiration. When you are jaded, or in this case it is drawing to the end of the academic year and everyone has been bogged down in preparing portfolios and completing course work, these techniques give a fresh breath of creativity and fun.
It has been a while since I shared a lesson with you as well, so here goes.

For this activity which is great for all ages you need:

A tray,
A can of shaving foam,
Three small containers of runny paint (different colours)
A scraper.
A stick or pointed object.
Paper

Cover the tray in a layer of shaving foam (I then smoothed this like icing a cake or smoothing meringue).
Then scatter splashes or spots of paint over the surface.
Take your stick, handle of paintbrush etc and draw swirls and patterns through the paint.
Lay the paper gently on top and pat down, you can see when it makes contact with the paint.
Peel it away from foam then scrape the foam from the paper to reveal a marbled effect.
You can use your tray of foam again and again, adding more paint and drawing patterns through it each time, until it becomes too muddy for you. We used the resulting marble effects to look and draw into, for collage, or to create silhouettes over like my student James Dorward's example above. Enjoy yourselves it's fun!

Andrea D'Aquino I

"Excited" is too small a word to describe my feelings about this project that miraculously found me. For the last few months, I've been working on a freshly-illustrated version of Lewis Carroll's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". (An almost preposterous concept, for any artist - I'll be the first to say). It'll be published in Sept. 2015, this is simply a sneak peak at the dummy copy. I'll say much more about it, later in the year." Andrea D'Aquino 

A tiny glimpse of Andrea D'Aquino's version of Alice in Wonderland, to be published in September by Rockport books. I really love the 'surprise' statement excerpts on the page ends and the loose, abstract, splashy style of the illustrations in paint, combined with Andrea's characteristic use of collage. I'm really looking forward to seeing more.

Roger Chouinard

It seems to be all about mouths so far this week and so I would like to introduce the work of graphic designer and artist Roger Chouinard who likes to create incidental illustrations using found objects. Roger's work reminds me of the creativity of Serg Bloch and Saul Steinberg.

Alessandro Sanna

Italian illustrator Alessandro Sanna's ABC of the mouth is a fun book where letters form the lips or mouth of the people, to guide you through the alphabet.

Sabine Timm III

I am sorry I am late today and flustered by the amount of work I have to do in the next few days.
Hopefully I can make it up to you with this beautiful collage by Sabine Timm, her work always makes me happy and the pink cat looks very sorry.

Tetsuhiro Wakabayashi

Last week was about a paper boat this week we have 'Wishing upon a night sky' by 若林哲博イラストレーションTetsuhiro Wakabayashi, everything is about fragile dreams, hopes and wishes and working to make them come true.

Suzy Lee

A surreal and quite scary monochrome interpretation of 'Alice in Wonderland' by Suzy Lee was originally published in Italy in 2002. This book has a dramatic, theatrical feeling created using a combination of photographs, collage and illustration. Masks, mirrors and smoke screens, it looks like a magic show where the audience will be persuaded to believing many strange things. This book reminds me of Sarah Moon's haunting interpretation of Little Red Riding Hood in it's frightening altered reality.

"The book 'Alice in Wonderland' was made when I was staying in London few years ago. During my staying in London, I happened to see Lewis Carroll’s manuscript of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ and John Tenniel’s original illustrations at the British Library, and this made me reread this all-time favorite classic. Rereading the Alice book as a grown-up reader was very intriguing: the nightmarish atmosphere and eccentric characters of the story fascinated me. Lewis Carroll’s Alice book is such an abundant resource, which evokes many issues in multifarious ways."

 "I tried to produce a book that reflects upon subject matters like constructed illusions and realities and the dream-within-a-dream structure, which contains a circular regression and self-reflexivity. Like the epitaph of Lewis Carroll, Is all our life, then, but a dream?, these themes have been one of the eternal pending questions for us, and especially for the artists, who, in my opinion, are dealing with visual matters. I may say that Lewis Caroll’s book appealed to me in terms of illuminating the relationship between illusion and reality." Suzie Lee

Ana Pez

It is strange to me how one book can stay in my mind so much from Bologna, but Ana Pez's 'Mon petit frère invisible' has done just that. It is just such a clever book and such good fun watching how a picture and meaning can be hidden, and pictures become changed so dramatically when you put on the magic red glasses that accompany this book. My Invisible Little Brother is printed in just two colours and these bicolour illustrations manage to make two simultaneous stories by using the special glasses that conceal the orange ink, as demonstrated in the Ana's gif.

Beatriz Martin Terceño II

Ethereal illustrations of Guia Risari's book 'El regalo de la Giganta' by Spanish illustrator Beatriz Martin Terceño are like whispers on the page.

'In a corner of the world there lives a woman, a giantess. Nobody knows exactly where she is, but there is no doubt she exists. When she is sad, she moans and the wind’s howling shake the woods and enter the houses. The giantess represents the nature, its beauty, strength, delicacy, power, rage and –most of all– her consolation ability.' 

Beatriz Martin Terceño I

Spanish illustrator Beatriz Martin Terceño's sleepy dream like pencil, wash and collage illustrations of Alice In Wonderland. 
I keep thinking I have finished with 'Alice In Wonderland' but in this books birthday year it keeps coming back.

Katrin Coetzer

There are images and names that I save on scraps of paper, in links and in photo albums, a chaos of beauty and inspiration waiting to be put into some semblance of order here.
This image by Katrin Coetzer reminds me of looking through a port hole, or a polar bear swimming in an ice hole. I have chosen it, because it is for me also about emerging from winter. Katrin Coetzer is an illustrator from Cape Town her work is very delicate with translucent layers of watercolour and fine pen work.

Time for Magic

I have had just a few days in the West of Scotland which have been quite magical. The weather has been incredible blue sky's and no wind at a time of year when we are free of midges. The wildlife in the ocean is just incredible and I have learnt lots about sea hares and sea potatoes in this rich and fragile environment.

Margaret Simpson's Dog's of Portobello

Margaret Simpson's 'Dog's of Portobello'  bought a smile of nostalgia and memory as when I first moved to Scotland I lived in Portobello and had a black dog called Tilla with whom I spent many many happy hours playing on the beach with. Margaret Simpsons collaged illustration development sketches are on display at ECA.

The Real Boat

"A story of a courageous little paper boat, that is not satisfied with life in a puddle, and dreams of going to the ocean. Despite all the naysayers, she launches on a perilous journey, and with the help of many ships she meets along the way realizes her dream." 

This is a magical international creative project, with story written by Marina Aromshtan, illustrated by Victoria Antolini, with animation by Studio Poink and technical development by Cucumber Ink needs your support to reach completion.

Andreja Peklar

Andreja Peklar is a Slovenian illustrator whose work 'The Giant Bird' was exhibited at the Silent Book Contest in Bologna. A beautifully expressive work about a bird who in working hard gets very thirsty and drinks the river dry, on realising his mistake he tries to make amends.

Emanuele Luzzati II

Emanuele Luzzati's (1921-2007) Alice in Wonderland is the last of my Alice's from Bologna. Emanuele was a Painter, illustrator, animator and theatre designer. His Alice in Wonderland illustrations are loose and colourful with interesting use of collage and print.