I didn’t plan to do this page really, but instead, I was going to do one large dendrite with lots of branches off.  I was playing around with my inks and compressed air and decided to do lots of interconnections like those in the brain (hence the grey background).  I did think that if I just tried to go vertical and horizontal only then it would not look as messy as if I had blown the ink in all directions. Everything is interconnected in some way or other.

I drew the left side onto some coloured background paper using a black pen and water soluble graphite pencils then scanned it into my computer and mucked a round with the image in photoshop for the right hand side.  Concentric rings turn up all the time.

Inspiration for this double page is Spirals.  You can find spiral formations everywhere in nature be it in flora, fauna, weather patterns, rock formations etc.  I have chosen an Ammonite to show a logarithmic spiral (Fibonacci or Golden spiral).  I used mostly acrylic paint for this page and a touch of oil pastels and a sepia pen.

Inspired by the book CHAOS making a new science by James Gleick; another good read.  The Butterfly effect (sensitive dependence on initial conditions).  Tiny changes can have large consequences following a chain of events. (this is only a small portion of what the book is about – he explores randomness, patterns, science and maths and other theories).  Again this double page has watercolour pencils, inktense pencils, black Pitt pen and some butterfly stamps.

This double page spread is about some of the things that go into making life. Water and chemicals, chromosomes, DNA etc.  But what gave life that vital spark?

I used acrylic paints, water soluble graphite, white Prisma pencil, a doily, letter mask, and handmade chromosome stamp (wool glued onto foam).

The first pages of my little book.  I used the verse from The Big Bang Theory (by the Barenaked ladies) to get the book started then  the first page depicts Daisy world from the Gaia theory of James Lovelock.  He describes a kind of planetary feedback mechanism to maintain Earth’s homeostasis.  In one very simple model he talks about black daisies and white daisies bringing this about and this is what I imagined as I read it.  I used acrylic paints, black pen, Prisma pencils with sansador and some sequin waste as a stencil.