My name is Grace Divine. I created the art and poetic ideas in this book. And ALL OF IT, came from my IMAGINATION. Please note, these paintings, were NOT meant to be exercises in representational or realistic art. These paintings came from an exercise in the IMAGINATION AND VISUALIZATION. The idea this book expounds upon is one of DECONSTRUCTION. What does that mean in this book? Mostly, I am a self taught artist. And I have learned to paint in multiple styles by deconstructing other artists' work. That is, looking at art, and taking it apart piece by piece, brushstroke by brushstroke to try to understand how the piece was created step by step. But for this book to work, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT. This book is an experiment in the growing of the IMAGINATION. This of is this way, for purposes of this book, YOUR MIND IS THE CANVAS. This is what I suggest you try: First, relax and breath deeply at least 3 times. Fill your body with air deep into your abdomen. Then, starting with an image, look at it for as long as you are comfortable. Third, close your eyes and try to re-create it in your mind. Start by re-creating the colors, one by one. Then the textures. Then the lines and shapes. And also, become aware of your feelings, memories and thoughts that may arise as you do this, so you become more aware. I believe that by exercising your mind in this way, you will grow those areas in your brain that relate to the IMAGINATION. And why will these images work? This is just my theory, but because these images started out in the imagination I believe they will work to grow the imagination as well. And here is another tip, in art, there is no perfection but just acceptance of how things are. For purposes of this exercise, we use these paintings because of their figurative and abstract character. Expressed in a scientific way, it is my opinion as a lay person who is not a scientist or doctor, that the brain becomes stimulated in different ways when it is creating different kinds of art. I remember for instance, painting a series of paintings that were representational and exact. Sometime unlike the paintings here that are abstract and figurative. Strangely, when I was engaged in painting the representational art, I remember feeling that the corpus callosum of my brain was being stimulated. And assuming that that was happening, why would that happen. I theorize that in focusing in extreme details the brain hemispheres need to communicate more. After all, a great deal of information is needed for the body to react with exactness. These paintings that are more abstract I believe will impact the brain differently resulting a more broader brain interaction. What I mean by this, is that there will be more of a widespread stimulation including many areas of the brain specially in the exterior parts or the cortex. Some day, I am hoping to be able to conduct an MRI study to prove this theory. But at this time, this is just a theory and I added the explanation here to further support the use of these style of paintings for purposes of stimulating the mind and those areas of the brain that may be related to the imagination. May this book bring you pleasure as you advance in this journey to grow and develop your IMAGINATION. Grace Divine