Colour
Evolution of an Illustration Page
For our next children’s book “Bettina Creates a Garden”, we needed a creative page where some story text could go. Here’s the artistic evolution of this illustration page. Jean in art studio working on page for Bettina Creates a Garden 2022 We developed the idea of having a page with a collage of painted borders…
Read MoreFalcon & Pig Painted Box
Jean also paints wooden boxes. She first covers them with paper upon which she draws and then paints, creating three-dimensional pieces of artwork. This box is decorated with Leo the Falcon and Elliot the Pig, both characters from our children’s books. The roses and the Leo and Elliot Box painted by Jean Tori 2020 Here…
Read MoreYear of the Rat Pop-Up Card
This is how Jean created her Year of the Rat (2020) pop-up card. She started with an idea of a scholarly rat in a study surrounded by books, screen, chair and humorous rows of mice with a nearby cat. She then drew all images that she wanted to use in her design. 1. Jean’s paper…
Read MoreGouache and Tempera Paint
Jean uses gouache paint as her chosen medium, which is very similar to tempera. Often, gouache and tempera are interchanged and are even listed together on Jean’s paint tubes, however, they do differ. Work in progress wedding painting commission by Jean Tori 2019 Gouache is a watercolour consisting of a natural colour pigment, water and…
Read MoreArts & Crafts: Christmas Decorations
We have been experimenting and creating Christmas decorations using all the wrapping paper and cards that we saved from last year. You will need: any type of emulsion glue; something to glue the paper onto (we chose plastic baubles that had chocolate in them); scissors; and a brush to attach the glue and all the…
Read MoreThe Art of the Chair
The chair is a familiar and artistically inspiring every-day-object, found all over the world. Here is one of Jean’s chairs covered in fabric that she hand-painted. Jean has always been inspired to paint chairs as they remind her of past homes and journeys. Here’s an old photograph of a corner of our…
Read MoreArt and Paintbrushes
Jean has a vast collection of paintbrushes, many of which she bought while living in Hong Kong. Jean uses the majority of her paintbrushes, but others are part of her collection for their beauty and design. Umbrian Chaekori with Chicken Carpets by Jean Tori 2021 Some of these include specific paintbrushes utilised for different artistic…
Read MoreHong Kong Inspiration
Living in Hong Kong for two decades led to numerous creative discoveries that inspired Jean’s artwork. A favourite arts and crafts style was the Chinese blue and white batik textile designs that still fill our house as soft furnishings. Here’s an example of Jean’s batik patterns in a cushion-filled painting (and beloved dog). Angel on…
Read MoreColour Theory: Interview with Jean
Right after graduating from the College of Art of Portsmouth, Jean worked as a window display artist and she taught a class about Colour Theory at the College of Art night school. Water Ducks by Jean Tori 1984 Anthinula: What is Colour Theory? JEAN: It’s about how combining colours has an effect on our visual…
Read MoreTeapots and Bamboo
This is the design story of one of Jean’s paintings for our “The Wizards and the Whale” children’s book. Jean has always been inspired by the Asian designed cranes, especially those found in Japanese woodblock prints and paintings, in Korean folk art, and the cranes in many Chinese screens. Here is a decorative Japanese crane…
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