I met Kendall Bohn the other day at the California Arts Building where he has his studio. My attention was grabbed by his paintings displayed in the hallway, which reminded me a lot of Henri Rousseau's. Kendall's paintings have that same dreamlike quality with vivid colors and undulating shapes. But he doesn't only paint, sculptures and ceramics are also part of his repertoire. And he's a graphic designer on top of that. That's what you call a jack of all trades!
What I really want to share with you is Kendall's series of coloring books, Kaleidoscopia. So many coloring books these days are overtly simplified and dumbed down, as if publishers think kids can't focus enough to color in even the most basic shapes. If your child loves to color and gets bored with the typical fare available, the Kaleidoscopia series is for them. There is no way you can finish these pictures in just a few minutes. The Abstract books caught my eye the most, but there's also dinosaur and fantasy titles available. There's a free coloring page from each Kaleidoscopia title available for download.
You can buy the books online at the Kaleidoscopia site, and they're available at a number of retailers, like Creative Kidstuff, as well.
You can also visit Kendall's studio in the California Arts Building during the open studios event every second Saturday of the month. He showed me some of the original drawings he did for the coloring books, which was pretty cool. I also got to see the work for the next Abstract coloring book coming out this summer, which is going to have twice as many pages as previous titles.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm inspired to go doodle in my sketchbook.
