Introducing Wally Whale

Wally Whale has an amazing ability to shoot water out of his blowhole. Most whales can do this but he has a special talent. When he feels a strong emotion, the water that comes out will resemble a very recognizable pattern! He doesn't know us too well yet so he is still feeling a little shy but maybe when he becomes more comfortable...



(painted with love by Lesley Wong on 20 March 2009 in acrylics on canvas)

Introducing Seal Puppy

This painting was inspired by my stuffed seal puppy from the Royal Ontario Museum. Seal Puppy is an entertainer. He loves to make people laugh so he is always doing silly things. In this painting, he is balancing a beach ball on his nose. I wonder what he'll do next?



(painted with love by Lesley Wong on 15 March 2009 in acrylics on canvas)

Introducing Blinky Blowfish

Blinky Blowfish is very courageous when there is nothing scary around. He swims about and smiles at everyone. However, when something frightens him, he changes colour, squeezes his eyes shut, and puffs up even more. Let's hope he doesn't get scared too often... but the big blue ocean is a huge mysterious place.



(painted with love by Lesley Wong on 15 March 2009 in acrylics on canvas)

Introducing Tippy Turtle

My first painting (ever!) is of Tippy Turtle. I've always loved turtles and I had a few as pets when I was growing up. I used to create obstacle courses for them out of dominos. Despite lots of concern in the media at the time, I never got salmonella poisoning from playing with my turtles.

Tippy has a big head so he often teeters off balance. Some people wonder how his head can fit in his shell. I guess this is one of the mysteries of nature. Tippy is very courageous so you won't often see him with his head in his shell anyway. In this painting, he has wandered out to introduce himself to us in the dead of night. What a brave little guy!



(painted with love by Lesley Wong on 14 March 2009 in acrylics on canvas)

So It Begins...

After many years of attending business school and working 9 to 5, I have finally rediscovered my creativity.

I had lots of hobbies when I was little (and I mean LOTS!). One of them was cartooning - I especially enjoyed drawing Garfield and Odie. I've tried a few times over the years to begin drawing again but I found that it took me forever to get things "just so" - I was always overthinking things.

Then my designer friend asked me to join her at some life drawing classes. She wanted to improve her sketching skills and I like trying new things so I thought, "why not?" First lesson learned at the very first class - perfection was not going to be achieved. In our first set of one minute rapid sketches, I only managed to draw a torso, some legs, and a circle for a head. I knew I had to speed things up. Eventually, my sketches looked like this (not a one minute sketch though!):



Soon I filled my sketchbook that I had started in 2000 and I felt so accomplished. However, after an entire summer of attending weekly drop-in classes, I knew that life drawing wasn't really my thing so I put down my pencils and concentrated on my career.

In January of this year, I joined a Habitat for Humanity trip to Chile and I was so inspired by everything I experienced there. This prompted me to start making jewellery (a passion from my early teens) and open a little Etsy shop. The whole creative process, along with browsing all the other amazing Etsy shops, really kickstarted the right side of my brain again. There are so many things I want to do, so many things yet to learn.

My mother used to paint and perhaps that's where the seed was planted. However, I've always been daunted by the idea. Being used to sketching in pencil, paint seemed so much more permanent. One of my other good friends thought it would be fun to create a couple of paintings together. It was such a relaxing process and the end product turned out well so I recently bought some paints of my own. I've had them for a week or two now but I haven't picked up a paint brush except to put some on my face for some creative photos of myself.

Things changed this weekend. Deeply inspired by a variety of sources, I wanted a set of my own beautiful paintings. As a result, I dreamed up a group of Courageous Creatures. These adorable creatures remind me of what it means to have the courage to confront your fears and try something new. They are hand painted in acrylics with a lot of care and love.