poetic imagery

When I was away in Auckland I came across a very special book. It's called ''Beautiful Solitude" and eventhough I cannot make heads or tails of the Chinese phrases, I can of the miraculous illustrations done by Jimmy Liao.

There is something very touching about his work. I absolutely love the book.

I guess the simplicity and black and white just grabbed me! Below are some more pictures of illustrations of other books:

 Jimmy Liao is a professional illustrator. From wiki: "Jimmy Liao (Chinese Name: Lao Fu-Bin, born November 15, 1958) is a well-known Taiwanese illustrator as well as a picture book writer. The name Jimmy is his English first name which brought about his (phonetic) Chinese pen name.


After graduating from Chinese Culture University in which he majored in art, Jimmy worked in an advertising company for twelve years, and then he worked as an illustrator for newspapers and magazines. In 1998 his picture books Secrets In The Forest and A Fish With A Smile were published in Taiwan.

 

Jimmy’s books have been translated into dozens of languages and sold around the world. His books have also been adapted for theater, movie, television, and animation.

His pictures are characterized by their use of striking, bold colours and depict central figures that often appear small in the foreground, suggesting the viewpoint of a child in the wide, sometimes sinister, world, or to hint at loneliness."

I like how he manages to include both large spaces in his work and make the characters so personable in it. His work seems cute but has a lot more to it which makes it very compelling I think.

Now I hope he doesn't mind, but I have started scribbling poetry work of my own in this book choosing his images carefully to accompany it, or is it mine that accompanies his? It somehow seemed the right thing to do.

Oodlies time

Recently I have mentioned "the whimsy". Someone who is excellent at creating some serious Whimsy Art is Joi. I thought I'd share some of her work with you today as I'm a BIG fan. Make that HUGE fan. She is about to release a book no less with co-creator Bambi Gordon: "If a smile should lose its mouth". 

Read more about the world of Oodlies and how to get their children's book here. I have pre ordered two and golly ms Molly there will be more to follow.


Every day Joi draws away and oodlies appear. It's a funny thing. She's been making oodlies for about 10 years! She can draw them anywhere but usually at a small work station at home.

I find them hypnotic! There is so much to see and surprises around every corner. So who is the mysterious Joi? Read all about her (hilarious interview) here.

She recently made this design into a montage for a professional photographer friend. Joi has her own web design business: Joidesign. They specialize in branding for small businesses. Her clientèle is internationally based and her workload is huge. Of course! Being such a talented creative it's no wonder she is so sought after. Kudos!

A while ago Joi has been kind to also make one about me being the goat and farm beasties lady. I love it! Should you wish a commissioned piece too: send her an email via her website here and enter in the subject text: commissioned oodlie request. See what she says. Just try to not catch her at a PMS time that is hardcore ok. And if you want to send her something nice: send her Toblerone.

Joi of Design

Now and again, when I'm very fortunate, I meet likeminded creatives that are slightly off the wall too. Joi Murugavell is a Designer Extraordinaire and works as an Art Director for her own business Joi Design, which she owns with Casper Buchanan. She works both in Melbourne - Australia, as well as in Auckand - New Zealand, and San Diego - US.

Last weekend I was very humbled to find on Twitter that Joi had done her "Oodlies" inspired by 4 people, 3 stars: @lewisbostock @simonmainwaring @audaciousgloop (Simon Young) and then also this Dutch chick she had met recently @QualityLMiriam... (read her posterous-post here)

I find her illustrations truly wonderful, Joi's style reminds me a bit of the artist Miro, who's work I'm still very fond of. Joi's "Oodlies" excude such a flirtatious wonder of life. They Zing Zang and go POPPPPPP!!!!!!

I also follow Simon Mainwaring. Simon is an advertising creative director, branding consultant, speaker and author based in Los Angeles US. Check out his website here.

The truth is there are many very active and intelligent cookies to discover beyond the usual realmness of our daily lives... Lewis Bostock (website here)  is a Public Speaker, Video Blogger, Citizen Journalist, Independent Filmmaker, Film Critic, Social Media Consultant. Another Kiwi, Simon Young has just started branching out in #SY (website here). Simon is a social media consultant, entrepreneur, writer and speaker.

 

So what did I want to touch on with this post? That unexpected things happen; that the wonderousness of people can still touch and amaze us.

That this week I'm very happy to catch up regularly with Joi -she is working on a snazzy project which involves my humble bovine-, but also with another Miriam I have met this week who is as cookie nerdy as me and then there's the lovely Shauntelle, who's finishing off an interview with me for her website. More about that very soon! Keeping you woockily doodly posted.....