My new “Dream Wall” series is still in the very early stages of development. Here is a sneak peak into my creative process in developing this theme and my style of creating. Creating a theme and uniform art style is a process that involves lots of creative play and experimentation.

My love of creative play: Experimenting with art materials and paints to develop my “Dream Wall” series.

My “Fluffaluff’s Dream Tree” started as an experimental piece to see what materials I want to keep using and how I want my art for children’s decor to look.

I love painting my imaginary animals with the digital paint program Corel Painter and Wacom art tablet to give it that sharp, detailed illustration look and feel. Corel Painter is also great for creating fun and whimsical patterns that I enjoy using as collage or image transfers in my art.

Combining high quality prints of my character on high quality paper with traditional art materials, paints, soft pastels and acrylic gels allows me to enjoy the tactile process, feel and creative play that comes with working with them. The “Fluffaluff” animal was part of my small “Dream Garden” series (visit my gallery page).

The birth of “Snorf” (It all starts with a doodle).

This is an early sketch of my Snorf animal.

“Snorf” is the first in my “Dream Wall” series. It will have a softer look and feel to my previous paintings. I will be using collage soft pastel and lots of whimsical patterns that I create in Corel Painter.

First, the way I come up with the ideas for my animals and creatures is by doodling in my sketchbook. I just let the pencil wander to come up with quirky doodles in order to quiet my inner critic. It feels more organic to create this way. It is relaxing in a similar way it is to colour in those popular adult colouring books. From there, I brainstorm by re-drawing my animal a few times until I finalize how I want my animal to look. Also, the names I give my creatures are from the first quirky word or words that come to mind as I draw. Somehow “Snorf” just looks to me like a snorf. I encourage you to pick up a pencil or some crayons with your child and just doodle. See what you create. Be playful!

This is my first sketch towards developing my next imaginary animal. I still have to doodle out a body and fit them together. Sometimes I draw the whole thing at once. In this case I started with the head.

Inspiring imagination with the “Dream Wall” series.

I’m calling this new series “Dream Wall” because each mixed media art piece will have the look of worn wallpaper patterns. The creatures and animals will look like they are appearing out of the wall, something like a fantasy porthole. This is to represent a child’s imagination. The bodies of my characters will have the same patterns that I will use on the “wall” part of my artwork. I am planning on doing some sub-categories with this series as well. Some ideas I have are dragon-like creatures and/or imaginary insect-like creatures. I hope this series will inspire your own child’s imagination and possibly for them to invent their own animals and creatures.

“Snorf” is still a work in progress which you can follow on my Instagram and Facebook . Please see my Instagram and Facebook links and feeds on the sidebar to the right. I will be posting a photo of my “Snorf” animal piece on here and on social media once it is completed. The dimensions will be 30”x24” (mixed media with collage, mounted on wood gallery board approximately 1 1/2 inches deep).

This photo of two blended sketches from my sketchbook is an example of how I will put each piece of art in this series together.

These screen shots are of my work in progress of “Snorf” in the Corel Painter program. I love creating my own patterns to apply to my art. His body is adorned with patterns I created with digital paint. More process photos and video coming soon on Instagram and Facebook.

This image is a close-up of Snorf’s head to show you his quilt-like patterns.

What inspires me now

The “Dream Wall” series is inspired by the variety of patterns and fabrics of quilts and by wallpaper designs and patterns. I like to blend a variety of patterns for a more painterly or whimsical feel. I love the freedom of childhood imagination especially with imaginative play, and I think children need to be inspired and encouraged to be free to explore and express their imaginations without any direction or messages about right or wrong ways to create or draw. It is my hope that as parents or guardians you can take time out of the rat race of life and just sit down with your children to paint, doodle and just create. Tap into your inner child and see where your imaginations take you.

I look forward to connecting with you here and on social media as I share all my characters and creatures coming to life in my art. I hope my art will inspire you and your children.