Tag Archives: Monkey

Mimetic Acrylic on Text on Canvas, 6″ x 6″

Acrylic painting by Leah Palmer Preiss depicting two circus monkeys forming the letter M for Mimetic

Step right up, folks! Don’t miss this year’s week of illustrated A.Word.A.Day words with Wordsmith Ringmaster Anu Garg!

The show opens with a pair of mischievous monkeys, illustrating our first word, “Mimetic: Copying the behavior, appearance, or characteristics of others.”

With the initial “M” in mind, my first thought was the classic Marx Brothers’ mirror scene, but once the phrase “monkey see, monkey do” came to mind I was off to the circus instead!

There, two marvelously mobile monkeys mirrored each other to make a mutual “M” (& more “M”s appeared in the background, for good measure.) It was a fun one to paint & a merry diversion from the maddening political circus going on this year. (Unlike the next illustration! Come back tomorrow if you dare to enter that sideshow!)

This painting & prints are available in my Etsy Shop, Curious Art Lab.

Infinite Monkey Acrylic painting on text collage on canvas, 6"x6"

Infinite Monkey, acrylic painting by Leah Palmer Preiss of Shakespearean monkey with typewriter

Happy Year of the Monkey! In honor of the 2016 Chinese New Year, Shakespeare, the infinite monkey theorem, & antique typewriters, here’s the Infinite Monkey himself, complete with a background text from Henry IV Part 2: “Ah, you sweet little rogue, you. Alas, poor ape, how thou sweatest!” (Yes, I know the theorem usually refers to Hamlet, but who could resist that line?)

I happen to have been born in a year of the monkey (never mind which), & even though I don’t put much stock in horoscopes, I can’t help but find it delightful that nearly every description of the monkey personality includes the word “curious!”

This particular monkey is available in my Etsy shop, & also makes a fitting companion to last year’s Counting Sheep!

By the way, the typewriter in this painting was modeled on one that came with our house (which was built in 1927.) One of the many reasons I knew it was the right house for us!