BonFX

Typography & Graphic Design Blog

Edward Gorey’s…Cat?

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Edward Gorey was a very popular illustrator known for his distinctive pen and ink work and quirky dark topics, all with a sense of humor. Perhaps you remember the animated pen and ink style animated opening to PBS’s “Mystery” back in the day? He was also known for having a bunch of cats, and for drawing lots of them in his artwork and books. Gorey passed in 1999. We visited the Edward Gorey museum last week out on the Cape in Port Yarmouth. The museum is basically his old house without much modification from how he left it. His famous fur coat is on display. Even the kitchen is as he left it when he died.

But this post is about a cat.

The upstairs where his studio was located, which I really wanted to see, was not open to the public. But as we passed the stairwell to the upstairs, this is what we saw (see below). Which, of course, is exactly what one would expect to see in Edward Gorey’s house. It is the house caretaker’s cat obviously. But this cat knows the roll he’s playing.

I added a little Gorey drawing of a cat looking through a window that was very oddly similar to the photo I took…of a cat looking through a window. I can’t imagine Gorey would have had it any other way!

Visit Edward Gorey House  website to see his work and find out museum hours/exhibition schedule. It’s absolutely worth a trip if you are in the western area of Cape Code.

And if you can’t make it to the Cape, check out Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot, which Gorey illustrated, to get your pen and ink cat fix.

Three secrets to ignite inspiration

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The Starry Night, Vincent Van Gogh.

Surely the propensity to “fall asleep” as we function is more common than anyone would care to admit. How easy it is to catch ourselves mechanically slogging through the motions from time to time – left unchecked and our work turns dismal. For this reason I offer a gentle injection, a nudge of sorts, and pass on a few “secrets” to ignite artistic inspiration in your journey as an artist.

Actually, the following are less secrets than gems hidden in plain sight –often overlooked by aspiring artists, while indispensable among the accomplished.

So, what are these gems?

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How to “Draw Out” Your Creativity

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How to "Draw Out" Your Creativity

Illustration – Douglas Bonneville

Although advice on fostering creativity is not hard find, it often falls short to dig deep into the reservoir where creativity germinates.

In her book, The Artist Within, Betty Edwards explores a force that propels creativity. She stresses the need to recognize and develop this force, or mode, to enhance creativity and solve every day problems…. [Read More]

Finding Your Voice as an Artist: The Paradox of Originality

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How to find your voice as an artist

Illustration – Douglas Bonneville

One of the greatest challenges for any developing artist is not only painstakingly discovering their own voice, but then courageously taking the risk of stepping into the unknown to share it with the world.

Numerous studies, books and workshops on the topic of finding a distinct voice reveal this raw nerve has always existed. Do we find our own voice by going it alone and striving heroically to be original? Or do we simply copy someone else?

Well, both.

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Artist Frederick Franck on Seeing

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As an artist, Frederick Franck is concerned with more than drawing solely for the sake of pleasure. He views it is as powerful tool in learning to truly see. Seeing, he believes, correlates to being deeply present in everyday life experiences. He writes about awakening through the practice of drawing directly what the eyes perceive, and no more. As a by-product, he finds inexplicable aliveness in all things, and the capacity to communicate that aliveness to others.

seeing_drawing

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How to Move Beyond Creative Blocks

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ILLUSTRATION – DOUGLAS BONNEVILLE

 

Anyone who is engaged in creative work has inevitably experienced the ebbs and flows that come with it. But like weather, even the most turbulent spells eventually pass, and though we can’t will them away, we can work with and through them until sunny skies return. So what can we do when the clouds that darken our eyes are Creative blocks, the common culprits that keep us from taking pleasure in our work?

While there are probably hundreds of ways to tackle the age-old issue, the following are a few possible approaches. They are bite-size and practical since overcomplicating things can sometimes reinforce what keeps us stuck.

It’s about removing clutter, both external and internal so creativity can resurface and blossom. We can do this through creating space while becoming vulnerable, still, gentle and self-forgiving. 

Let’s start with the obvious:

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Ornate Leaf Sculpture and Crochet Art by Susanna Bauer

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Beautiful work worth sharing. Susanna Bauer creates these works of art from sticks, leaves and pieces of wood together with crochet woven ornately and with delicate balance.

There is a fine balance in my work between fragility and strength; literally, when it comes to pulling a fine thread through a brittle leaf or thin dry piece of wood, but also in a wider context – the tenderness and tension in human connections, the transient yet enduring beauty of nature that can be found in the smallest detail, vulnerability and resilience that could be transferred to nature as a whole or the stories of individual beings.

You can find more of Bauer’s works on her website and Instagram.

Negative Space: Saying A Lot With Nothing

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Read more on “how artists use negative space to say a lot with nothing.”