Imagine a Day

My grandson discovered surrealism and is excited to have a second book in this series.

This series of books is very thought provoking and full of wonder. I have given them as a baby gift several times and it always evokes positive comments!

"Imagine a Day" with text by Sarah L. Thomson and paintings by Rob Gonsalves is a perfect partnership. Intricate paintings of everyday scenes made mystical are matched with Thomson's simple and beautiful prose.Each written page begins with "Imagine a day" followed by actions that could be taken to free the imagination, strengthen the spirit, or change the world.If I were still teaching, I would share this book as an opening to the semester with all my classes, from AP Literature (cynics) to the squirrely too cool for school freshmen. They would love it and borrow the title throughout the year.Since I am now retired from teaching, I am contacting my friends and relatives and the Amazon audience: buy this book whether you have little ones or not. Beauty can be held in your hand and will live in your heart.The final pages are a tribute to the joy of books. This book is a joy.

Large-sized book allows for imagery to be fully realized. The story is wonder-filled. Highly recommend.

It is rare to find such a perfect combination of poetry and picture. Rob Gonsalves, a Canadian artist whose art evokes Escher and David Wiesner, pairs up with Sarah Thomson to create imaginative worlds of astonishing beauty and optimism. Gonsalves' painting of children walking across narrow wooden planks from skyscrapers to a picket fence in the garden are encapsulated in Thomson's "Imagine a day/...when you forget/ how to fall." And the last painting sums up the entire book: a library in which the books on the shelves are doors that open onto other worlds: "Imagine a day.../when a book swings open/ on silent hinges/ and a place you're never seen before/ welcomes you home." Truly a book for all ages.

I LOVE this artist. His imagination is so surreal and beautifully creative. He draws you into this incredible world. I have been fortunate enough to view some of his original paintings at a gallery in South Lake Tahoe and they are even better in person. I have purchased all of his books and admire the thought-provoking prose that accompanies each piece. These books make an excellent gift, even if someone is not an art enthusiast. One can't help but be in awe of this amazing talent.

This book consists of a wonderful collection of beautiful and creative drawings by Robert Gonslaves interspersed with poetic musings by Sarah Thompson. While most books listing an author and illustrator are mainly text, in this case the writing is superfluous at best, and annoying at worst. The sense of wonder inspired by the pictures needs no commentary, especially of the vacuous and meaningless stock thoughts written here. Don't get me wrong, the book is well worth the purchase price and can be looked at and enjoyed time and time again. Just next time, Gonslaves should strike out on his own with the art and perhaps some technical explanations of how he did what he did.

Same as my response to "Imagine a Night", this book has beautiful words that read like poetry and pair well with wonderful pictures... Truly sparks your imagination.

"Imagine a Day" is one of a set of four books which showcase the art of Robert Gonsalves, a surrealist artist whose work is very easy on the eye and which, like the work of Maurice Escher, tricks the eye by including in different parts of a picture things which could not exist at the same time.The others are Imagine a Night Imagine a World , and Imagine a Place If you imagine a cross between a more colourful version of the works of Escher (link:  M.C. Escher : The Graphic Work ) and those of the subtler later surrealists such as Tito Salomoni (link  Surrealistic world of Tito Salomoni ) you may have an idea of what the art of Rob Gonsalves is like..Gonsalves' imagery shows the art of transformation as shifts in perspective cause one thing to become another - as bird houses, tree houses or doll's houses become real houses, mirrors become water, water becomes sky, rivers, sandcastles become real castles, dolls or figures become life size and start to animate, trees become rivers, people become waterfalls, clouds or shadows (or vice versa); or in one of his most popular themes, ships become kites or shadows. The picture used as the cover for this book. for instance shows what appears on the left hand side of the image to be a real castle perched above a cliff and on the right hand side to be a sandcastle or model being finished by two children.This is unusual for a Rob Gonsalves painting in that it is just possible that it could be seen in the real world, because it is possible that by a trick perspective a large model of, say, a castle could appear to the eye like a full-size one. Most of his pictures carry the same sort of trick much further.Many pictures by Rob Gonsalves are designed to appear in one way if you look at the top half of the image, you will see something else if you look at the bottom half, something else again if you look at the right side or left side, and it is only when you look at the whole picture that you realise that the image as a whole shows something which could not exist: it might show, for instance, someone climbing onto the reflection of a tree branch in a river as though it were an actual branch.The titles of the paintings featured are not given in this book - instead each is accompanied by a few lines of relevant poetry - but pictures which I recognise include "The sun sets sail," "Climbing ashore," "Acrobatic Engineering," "Tree House in Autumn," "High park pickets," "Still waters" "On the upswing," "Autumn cycling," "Table top towers," "Tributaries," "Unfinished puzzle," "Flight Plan" and "Written worlds."In total this book contains seventeen Gonsalves pictures.Besides the four books in this series Rob Gonsalves' work has also appeared in ten annual calendars, the most recent at the time of posting this review being for the current year, 2018 (Link:  Master of Illusion 2018 Calendar  ) He also has a substantial section in the book  Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali and the Artists of Optical Illusion . That book permits the reader to compare Gonsalves' work with that of other similar surrealists and illusionists such as Escher, but if you might be tempted to buy both that book and this one, be aware that there is a substantial overlap of material; most of the pictures in this book also appear in "Masters of Deception" although the reproductions in "Imagine a Day" are usually larger.If you enjoy the sort of art which tricks the brain and eye into seeing something impossible, you will enjoy Rob Gonsalves' art and both this and the other three books in this beautiful series. Imagine a NightImagine a WorldImagine a PlaceM.C. Escher : The Graphic WorkSurrealistic world of Tito SalomoniMaster of Illusion 2018 CalendarMasters of Deception: Escher, Dali and the Artists of Optical Illusion

This book is a classic favourite of mine, as is the whole series by this author and illustrator. He provides a surrealist style of artwork with mesmerizing images that bring you into a world of what ifs...... If you like looking at art like I do, this is basically an art gallery in a book that the author compliments with thought out words. Anything in the series is highly recommended to help children actively use their imagination.

If you are looking to encourage a childs imagination, then this is the book! The illustrations are stunning and have you thinking about what else is in the picture. I work with children and this book has been amazing! I would recommend this book.

I recently purchased a limited signed edition of this painting and loved the thought provoking nature of Rob Gonsalves' work. This prompted me to purchase all three of these volumes so that I can enjoy and ponder a wider selection of his work. Each painting is a delight and a marvellous tool to help shift our perceptions and perceive the world from a different angle.

Je suis ravie de mon achat. Il y a des années j'avais trouvé une image de l'un de ces tableaux, celui avec le pont de voiliers mais je n'arrivais pas à en trouver l'auteur ni d'autres trompe l'oeil de ce style. A présent j'ai identifié l'auteur et ses tableaux sont un pur plaisir à regarder et à re-regarder. Et pour ce qui est du livre, je l'ai acheté pour moi mais je le recommanderais à tous.