Artist from tiny hamlets goes big on cities
Dunedin artist, Steve McDonald, has published his first book – Fantastic Cities: A Colouring Book of Amazing Places Real and Imagined.
An adult colouring book, it is filled with 48 pages of McDonald’s detailed cityscape drawings. From cities as diverse as Tokyo to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to Amsterdam and Creemore, the book offers detailed aerials, mandalas and streetscapes that represent the unique characteristics of each location. There are hundreds of nooks and crannies in which to lose both your pencil crayons and thoughts.
McDonald explains that he didn’t set out to create a colouring book when he started to focus his work on groups of buildings and aerial views of cityscapes.
“My daughters are always hovering in my studio, offering their thoughts and suggestions. Looking at my cityscapes, they thought it would be fun to colour in the lines and shapes themselves. This is what planted the seed to do the book.”
His timing is perfect and Fantastic Cities has dropped right into an international frenzy around adult colouring books. Part of what fuels the trend is what many tout as the therapeutic attributes of colouring, that it helps relieve stress and decrease anxiety.
McDonald points out, that for him it’s more about the art and his exposure as an artist.
“A colouring book is a great way for so many more people to see my drawings which I believe stand on their own. It’s a little bizarre to be part of the adult colouring craze, but it enhances my exposure. If the book helps to enable any sort of creativity for people and provides a way to decrease stress, then that’s a great feeling.”
Once McDonald is finished with all the press and interviews associated with this book, he will continue to draw and create, building his art into an evolving body of work. Some of the same drawings that are in the book will eventually end up on art gallery walls.
There are two more books in the works, coming out in Spring and Fall 2016. Fantastic Structures will be architectural and include buildings, monuments and bridges. The third book has a working title of Fantastic Collections and will feature drawings of things like toolboxes, medicine cabinets, piles of Lego and store shelves.
Published by Chronicle Books and with an initial print run of over 100,000 copies, Fantastic Cities has received a lot of positive attention. It’s been featured by Architectural Digest and The Atlantic’s web platform City Labs. Yahoo World News is working on an online spot that may also run on TV. It has been named one of the best books of the summer by both Indigo and Amazon. Pretty impressive for a book that didn’t even officially launch until mid-August.
Reflecting on the process of making a colouring book, McDonald says, “All the attention is unexpected and awesome. There is less pomp than I’m used to as an artist, I don’t have to play the game, discuss the work standing in a gallery. This doesn’t seem as serious a project and to see how it has unfolded has been a riot. I’m having a lot of fun.”
Locally, McDonald is planning an opening and launch in September at Curiosity House in Creemore. During the party, there will be one of the large printed drawings for everyone to colour together.
McDonald’s work will be on display at Curiosity House Books art gallery from Sept. 5 until Oct. 4.
The opening reception is Saturday, Sept. 5 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
The show closes with the Arts Festival where McDonald will be present for some fun interactive pieces. The show will include large limited edition prints from the book.
During the show a large format print from the book will be left out as a community colouring project. Kids and adults are welcome to drop by any time to help colour the print.
Curiosity House Books now has copies of the book for sale and signed copies will be available during the show.
