We have had a blast monkeying around supporting and enriching one another in this crazy drawing game. However, the time has come for the Side Bars to take a break. We would like to thank each and every monkey that participated in our creative antics. Please e-mail us at monkeysidebars@gmail.com with any questions or queries. Feel free to tag #monkeysidebars with your posting masterpieces. Good luck to you all and we shall see you around the jungle!
I am absolutely titillated for this week’s theme Titillate! You see my monkey friends, titillate is to excite, arouse, maybe even stimulate in that warm and fuzzy kinda way. Allow titillate to tickle your fancy, tease and entice, or just intoxicate you with lovely imagery.
Lets all take a little titillation elixir and enjoy everything titillate has to offer.
Explore the depths of your imaginations with this week’s sea-animal theme. Hold hands with the otters, slip-n-slide with the seals, and bark along side the sea lions. We could even ride blue whales or surf with dolphins. Turtle around with the sea horses or just get your toes wet with the pink-tastic flamingos. The sea can also be quiet luminous and daunting. Feel free to delve into the oceanic dark side as well. Creepy sea-animals are the best!
We recommend all monkeys go to the beach for hands on inspiration… We can also give you a note, but it is guaranteed to not hold up with any employers or court of law.
To become a monkey at the Side Bars is a total doddle. It’s like eating cake without the guilt and calories. Doddle represents anything that is simple or easy to achieve for most of us primates. We refer to these events as child’s play, a walk in the park, or a picnic. How about the lovely slang doddle… pushover, walkover, and cakewalk. A doddle can be over in a snap, light as a breeze, creates no sweat, and a cinch to do in a pinch.
Now the hard part, what shall we create for doddle. How many delightful little things will be doddle for you? We want to see all your easy undertakings, or maybe even a feat that would in no way be a doddle, like getting me on a ladder. Doodle your doddle my monkeys and we will see you in the Side Bars!
The Zodiac is an elaborate circular coordinate system which follows the positioning and path of the sun and moon. The circle has twelve divisions that are called signs and today are most associated with horoscopic astrology. Thus, each division has a sign, symbol, date, and characteristics. What does your zodiac sign say about you? Have fun creating and representing your zodiac symbol for this week’s zodiac theme!
Sagittarius (22 NOV-21 DEC)
When faced with choices this month push the limits, take a leap of faith. Then stand back and beat your chest, yeah, you deserve it monkey man/woman! Practice proper ape noises in the privacy of your own bathroom, not at the office.
Capricorn (22 DEC-19 JAN)
Don’t shake the tree as they say in the jungle. Everything is working in perfect unison and the rhythm is absolutely enchanting. Stop holding your breath and enjoy the moment.
Aquarius (20 JAN-19 FEB)
Chores are done, projects wrapped up, apes away, and now time for the rest of us to play. Have fun learning a triple somersault dismount from the highest limb or re-arranging the fur-nature in the tree top canopy. Find “Born to be Wild” soundtrack.
Pisces (20 FEB-20 MAR)
You may have doubted yourself and second guessed your actions in the past, but it’s time to turn over a new leaf. I want you to look in the mirror and repeat after me “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and gosh darn it monkeys like me”. DVR Saturday Night Live.
Aries (21 MAR-19 APR)
Monkey’s: be wary of spreading yourself too thin, stop and enjoy a banana or two. Everything worth waiting for will be there as the dew welcomes in the new day. Pick up banana daiquiri mix with those little paper umbrellas
Taurus (20 APRIL – 20 MAY)
Tarzan doesn’t have anything on you, except maybe upper body strength… You are raring to go so take advantage of the energy surge this month. Temptations loom behind every tree don’t get caught monkeying around. Note to self: Stay away from trees.
Gemini (21 MAY-20 JUN)
Busy, busy, busy! So much to do, hammocks need mending, and those bananas are not going to peel themselves. Go on, off you go, out the door, second left, follow the road south, just past the fountain, you can’t miss it.
Cancer (21 JUN-22 JUL)
Now is not the time to procrastinate. If you are pondering, when is a good time to procrastinate… you are procrastinating! Get your little, fuzzy, chimp butt in gear and take advantage of the current cosmic support! Shave fuzzy chimp butt.
Leo (23 JUL-22 AUG)
Please use caution conducting your monkey business this month, now is not the time to speculate. A little monkey perfume/cologne may prove beneficial as chemistry ensues from a chance meeting. Note to self: Buy some monkey perfume/cologne.
Virgo (23 AUG-22 SEP)
Wow, is it just me or are you looking good this month! Monkey mood is at an all-time high! Time to secure the elusive mate you’ve had your eye on with your inner “macho, macho, man” or “I am women hear me roar”. Carry compact mirror for constant pick-me-ups.
Libra (23 SEP-23 OCT)
Vegas Baby! You’re rolling snake eyes and betting on red! Now is not the time for reluctance or second guessing, that’s for those other primates. Locate gambling anonymous hotline.
Scorpio (24 OCT-21 NOV)
Your monkey mind combined with your monkey agility is a lethal force this month. The two have never come together so nicely. “Who’s the awkward one now?” you find yourself asking. Stop singing Kung-Fu Monkey.
Disclaimer: All Readings subject to change, in the event you found yourself ill-advised please remember to sling ink, not stink!
Punk could refer to a youngster that lacks experience. A punk is sometimes synonymous with a hoodlum, trouble maker, or rebel. Even Ashton Kutcher made a little pocket change ‘punking’ or tricking celebrities for MTV, on the show called Punk’d. The 1970’s gave us the punk fashion, or should we say anti-fashion that aligned with the street culture of the youth. Punk rock followed with bands like the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, and the Ramones. These punks were anti-establishment, stylishly unisex, and pierced in all the wrong places.
If this doesn’t get your creativity flowing, you could always throw a little steam at it! Steampunk combines science fiction and fantasy in all the right ways. Industrialized steam powered aesthetics in an alternate reality.
If your a monkey of the Side Bars, we implore you to get ‘punked out’ for this week’s theme!
Avalon, a legendary island with many pseudo-historical accounts and featured in the Arthurian legend. King Author’s sword Excalibur, was said to be forged here and he himself recovered from his battle wounds on this mystical island. And according to our friends at Wikipedia, Isidore’s description reads:
“The name of the Isles of the Fortunate signifies that they bear all good things, as if happy and blessed in the abundance of their fruits. Serviceable by nature, they bring forth fruits of valuable forests (Sua enim aptae natura pretiosarum poma silvarum parturiunt); their hilltops are clothed with vines growing by chance; in place of grasses, there is commonly vegetable and grain. Pagan error and the songs of the secular poets have held that these islands to be Paradise because of the fecundity of the soil. Situated in the Ocean to the left of Mauretania, very near the west, they are separated by the sea flowing between them.”
May your escape to Avalon be as enchanting as you!
Hope is a feeling, an attitude that things will improve, that all things are possible. Hope is the best part of being optimistic and keeps many of us in this game we call life. We contemplate outcomes and hope for the best.
So for this week’s theme you could go wild with everything you have once hoped for or maybe what you are hoping for now. And for all those folks lucky enough to be named Hope, well maybe a self portrait is in store for you… Where ever your hope resides enjoy the creative process so that we may revel in your hope.
What is the meaning of optical you ask? Well it’s basically vision or sight enabled by light. Light is colour. Colour is light. Black is the absence of colour or light. Simple yes ?
Remember that crappy dress where everyone argued its colour and nobody wanted to be wrong? this one…
well whether you said it was blue and black, white and gold, you would have been right. There is no real wrong in the colour world. It is most certainly in the eye of the beholder. Light certainly can play tricks with ones perception. Optical illusions can be achieved with the most subtle change in background contrast. I often giggle when I read fellow artists complaining of colour limitations or colour matching in art apps. With the right approach, its amazing what can be achieved just using contrast techniques and visual illusions.
The above image looks as though the horizontal bar is fading from dark grey to light grey from right to left yes? Or is it just the fact the background is in fact fading from dark to light grey from left to right. The horizontal bar is the same shade of grey left to right.
Our minds are just easily fooled.
Here’s another. It kind of looks like the general colour with in the borders is a faded yellow. Or is it the fact the image’s blue and yellow border has tricked our brain into believing the image is a pale yellow when it is in fact plain old white.
The word ‘optical’ can really be associated with anything to do with light and colour and general visual perception. It’s what you see. You can only see with the light on. No one can see in the dark, in the black, the absence of light, the absence of colour.
I’d suggest any artist not aware of these optical illusions spend a little time to understand how to play tricks with colour. It certainly helps if you are using apps with colour limitations. Learn the colour wheel and work out how to blend your own colours. Never forget the background colours and contrast. It ultimately amplifies your foreground to be visually interpreted however you want it to be.
So what kind of optical artworks can you monkeys create. All will be employing the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum. They will all be optical unless someone paints minimalistic black canvas… but that wouldn’t be any fun now would it?
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