From Saint George and the Dragon to Puff the Magic Dragon and Cressida Cowell’s modern-day book series, How to Train a Dragon, the lore of dragons passes from one generation to the next. Fearsome, magical and majestic they still have the power to thrill us, scare us and entertain us.
At Whimsical Publishing, Micheline and I are really excited to breath new life into the iconic dragon with our new colouring book, Whimsical’s World of Dragons.
Designed to delight and inspire, artists Micheline Ryckman and newcomer, Hayden Wolf, will also include a step-by-step guide to budding artists and dragon enthusiasts everywhere to create and colour their own magical creatures.
We’ve included a sneak peek inside the book below. Details of how you can win a copy of our new colouring book – due out this fall – will follow soon.
Did you ever get in trouble for doodling on your school work when you were a kid? I certainly did! The funny thing is that no matter how many times I was reprimanded I couldn’t give it up. And today, I doodle just as much.
According to Wikipedia the definition of doodling is this:
“A doodle is an unfocused or unconcious drawing made while a person’s attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes.”If I am at meeting or required to do any form of auditory learning, my compulsion to doodle is irresistible. My childhood impressed upon me that doodling was bad but recently I discovered otherwise:
According to a study published in the scientific journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, doodling can aid a person’s memory by expending just enough energy to keep one from daydreaming, which demands a lot of the brain’s processing power, as well as from not paying attention. Thus, it acts as a mediator between the spectrum of thinking too much or thinking too little and helps focus on the current situation. The study was done by Professor Jackie Andrade, of the School of Psychology at the University of Plymouth, who reported that doodlers in her experiment recalled 7.5 pieces of information (out of 16 total) on average, 29% more than the average of 5.8 recalled by the control group made of non-doodlers. (Thanks again Wikipedia!)In light of those statistics I say > DOODLE ON!!!
On June 15th the Kootenay Child Development Center held it’s grand opening! Although I didn’t get the chance to be there in person I was there supporting it in spirit. I totally believe this place is an indispensable addition to the East Kootenays – it is going to be a such blessing to families and children around the region. If you don’t know much about the benefits of this center please DO check out this link to read more >>> KCDC Project Details.
‘Unspeakable Joy’ – 18″ x 24″ – acrylic on canvas. Please click on image to see enlarged version.
My partner, Trina, did attend the grand opening with her son, Thom. She admitted that Thom had so much fun eating goodies, playing in the bouncy tent and doing projects at the craft table that they were actually some of the last people to leave – ha ha! Trina also told me that approximately 50 folks (in her estimate) attended the opening including Cranbrook’s mayor, Wayne Stetski, the Cranbrook city council members, Sharon Cross and Diana J. Scott. When I asked Trina what she thought about everything afterwards she said, “It was amazing to actually see this center come to fruition as I have been watching these dedicated women work so hard for the last few years.”
The women that Trina is referring to are Patricia Whalen, Gail Brown and Gwen Noble. Although I’m sure many folks were involved in making this center a reality I understand that these women have been the front runners. (Great job ladies!!! 🙂 )
So you still might be wondering where exactly do I come into all this and what does my newest painting have to do with it? Well, Gail Brown is actually retiring soon and as a memento of all her efforts and dedication I was commissioned to do a painting in her honour that will hang in the center. The painting is titled, ‘Unspeakable Joy’ and it was presented to Gail at the opening. It was a serious privilege to do this piece and my heart is that it reflects the untainted joy that we see daily in our children.
You can check out more of my paintings at my other blog – MISH MASH,
Micheline 🙂
PLEASE NOTE: Shop is all in USD, any currency exchange will be processed automatically by Paypal. Artist watermarks will not be present on final printed products. Dismiss
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