Posts Tagged ‘painting’
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 MoreMedieval Italian City Inspirations
The Medieval cityscapes painted by extraordinary Italian artists have always been a great inspiration to Jean’s architectural paintings. Here’s a detail of Giotto’s fresco of “St Francis Renounces His Inheritance”. Giotto Fresco of St Francis renounces inheritance Inspired by the complex Medieval cities, Jean combined her architectural designs with very different cultural subjects such as…
Read MoreHiroshige Woodblock Inspiration
Ando Hiroshige was a remarkable Japanese artist (1797-1858) who created beautiful woodblock prints. One of his most iconic series of prints was “One Hundred Famous Views of Edo”. Here is “View from Massaki of Suijin Shrine, Uchigawa Inlet, and Sekiya”, 1857. Hiroshige Woodblock Print View from Massaki of Suijin Shrine Jean has always appreciated Hiroshige’s…
Read MoreJean’s Painted Wooden Animals
During a trip to Myanmar (Burma) back in the 70s, Jean bought a set of artisanally crafted, wooden, hand-painted farm animals at a market in Yangon (Rangoon). Burmese dog, cow and horse wooden animals 2021 Back in Seoul, South Korea, where we lived at the time, Jean had the Burmese wooden horse, cow and dog copied…
Read MoreTeapot Designs
Jean’s many teapot designs are often inspired by her teapot collection, each one different, depending on the type of tea brewing – from Chinese jasmine to English Breakfast to Japanese green tea. Blue teapot III by Jean Tori 2019 There is an art to teapot design and, much like combining the right amount of tea…
Read MoreEvolution of ‘Castle and Olive Trees’ Painting
Jean was commissioned to paint an Umbrian landscape with Antognolla Castle. Using a series of photographs of the castle Jean drew various sketches, which finally resulted in the following drawing. Jean then began to paint the paper canvas creating complex olive tree patterns. Above the olive trees, woods and castle, Jean continued to paint her…
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…
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