I’ve been reworking my website and portfolio the past few weeks and came across this piece I made a little while back for Land Gallery’s 10-year anniversary. Stare at it for a little bit... can you imagine yourself entering this picture, getting through the front door, then stepping into deeper and deeper levels of this building?
In desperate times like we're in now, art and imagination are often the first things to go. We start to limit, conserve, and let fear run our decisions. In the first year of the pandemic, or during the wild fires, all I could focus on was on survival and it was very hard to be creative. But that's when we need imagination the most, I'm realizing.
When we use imagination, the world gets bigger. "Fantasy is what takes you away from reality, but imagination is the only chance you have of entering reality" (more on that in this inspiring talk). Imagination is how we find unexpected solutions to problems. And what we can imagine, has a chance of becoming reality.
How can you cultivate imagination? Be curious, observe, stay open to what's possible rather than what's not possible, play, spend time in nature... And if you need a reminder from time to time, there's a small print of my painting in my shop you can get to keep by your desk or hang on your wall.
In other news, some patterns of mine– my little flying rams, crocuses, and a blue/green net– are featured in Uppercase's Pattern Guide 2025 which comes with the latest issue, just out now.
Speaking of imagination and entering the ground of reality, the idea for my blue and green pattern came indeed by playing. I cut a bunch of geometric shapes from a sheet of rubber and noticed a small piece of scrap that had an interesting shape.
Instead of aligning the straight edge always in the same direction, I turned it around several times then filled the holes in Photoshop to create these kinds of stretched diamonds, all slightly different, then distorted the tile with the warp tool.
The result is an organic grid pulsating with life. I renamed it Indra's Net, after the Hindu god's net of gems, where the gems all reflect one another at infinity.
That pattern was also chosen by Janine to be one of eight designs printed on double-sided sheets included with the issue,which is pretty exciting!
the four patterns below (clockwise) are by me, @heartellpress, @ouss_mezher, and @uppercasemag. @iamsarahmatthews did the front cover for the magazine.
After receiving my copy I went online and found a site with very fun origami templates. How cute is that armchair! The hardest part was folding the little boxes for the base, but it's all very doable. The pieces for the arms, cushion, and back were a little too small so I would suggest making the boxes first and then cutting the other pieces to match the dimensions of the chair. I hope you make one, it's really fun.
If you don’t get Uppercase already, now is a good time to subscribe or renew. All subscriptions and renewals are 10% off with discount code SPDG6, valid until the end of June.
Last week I went walking with a friend around Woodland Hills. The landscape there right now is so surreal! It's like walking inside a Microsoft desktop computer. I wish I had taken more pictures. Bright green grass over rolling hills all around. If not for a few blackened shrubs here and there you could never tell that this area had all burned three months earlier. How quickly nature bounces back!
I'm an artist, blogger, and maker combining stories and nature to create meaningful images and designs that can make good gifts for yourself or loved ones. Subscribe to my newsletter for insights, illustrations, and offerings from my shop.
