Ele Willoughby
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minouette.bsky.social
Ele Willoughby
@minouette.bsky.social
13K followers 4.9K following 11K posts
Artist/marine geophysicist (PhD Physics)
Printmaker
Find/contact me at:
minouette.Etsy.com
minouette.blogspot.ca
Instagram.com/the.minouette
https://cara.app/minouette
I post art, science, #sciart and stuff with typos. She/her, Settler in Tkaronto 🇨🇦
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minouette.bsky.social
A throwback for World Walrus Day - this limited edition walrus #linocut. Rapid climate change and loss of sea ice in the arctic is a challenge for these extraordinary mammals.

#walrus #WorldWalrusDay #printmaking #sciart #arctic #mammal 🧪
My 8” x 10” linocut print “Winter Walrus” from 2008 shows a large purplish brown walrus emerging from water surrounded by ice printed in blue.The walrus faces the viewer.
November 24, 2025 at 12:48 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Today is Fibonacci Day. 🧪🐡🧮November 23 if written in MM/DD format recalls the #mathematician Leonardo Bonaccio of Pisa (c. 1170 - c. 1240 or 50) aka Fibonacci’s sequence (1,1,2,3…) where each number is the sum of the previous two. He used it to describe rabbit populations, but the sequence is 🧵
mono print with my handprint in fuchsia at an angle, over printed with a vertical golden rectangle with golden spiral in black, such that it appears to trace the shape of my palm and spiral down to the fleshy part below my thumb
November 23, 2025 at 6:26 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Somehow we’ve made in to the end of #FolktaleWeek2025! Here’s a roundup thread of the 7 new #linocut prints I made of folklore, folktales and fairytales:
minouette.bsky.social Ele Willoughby @minouette.bsky.social · 8d
I’m almost ready… #FolktaleWeek2025 starts tomorrow! I’ve only got a sketch for the last prompt. I’m going to do my best to complete a print for the final day and I am excited to post my #folktale & #fairytale inspired new work & see all the gorgeous illustrations from everyone!

#illustration #art
This image shows my framed circular artwork with text. The artwork shows a hand painted polar bear in Renaissance garb with a large white coat made from multiple collaged white patterned Japanese papers and a silver ruff on a snowy landscape made with collaged papers on a nautical chart of the Arctic Ocean. Above is the Aurora made with flowing cut translucent washi. In curved blue text it reads “Folktale Week 2025”. Surrounding the pale gold frame is a circle of silver text reading: 1. Night 2. Echo 3. Rain 4. Book 5. Charm 6. Storm 7. Dawn
November 23, 2025 at 4:58 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Here is The Maiden of the Dawn & the Firebird for the 7th #FolktaleWeek2025 prompt dawn.

A Prince is prophesied to fly away on the Firebird on his 15th birthday & marry the Maiden of the Dawn. So the King imprisons him in a luxurious tower prison & holds an elaborate 15th birthday, without him.
🧵
My linocut print “The Maiden of the Dawn and the Firebird” on 11” x 14” Japanese paper shows the Maiden in dress and headdress on the flaming red bird (reminiscent of a peacock) against a cloud-spotted dawn sky in swathes of pink and cream. The Maiden’s Slavic style headdress is shaped in tiered teardrops and outlined in gold with radiating lines like the sun. Here dress in a gradient of orange through red is decorated with golden suns. She has yellow, pink and red ribbons in her hair.
November 23, 2025 at 2:22 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Math art 🧪🐡🧮
Every Artist Has a Favorite Subject. For Some, That’s Math.
www.nytimes.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:27 PM
minouette.bsky.social
For Day 6 of #FolktaleWeek2025 prompt #FolktaleWeekStorm:

In the Gaelic mythology of Ireland, Scotland & the Isle of Man, the divine old woman, or hag, created the landscape itself and the storms and weather of winter. Known by many names, she is the Cailleach (literally the old woman or hag) or 🧵
My Lino block print on 8” x 10” Japanese paper shows a blue-black frame with Celtic knot in each corner with the words “The Cailleach” at the top and “Beira Queen of Winter” at the bottom in lettering inspired by Gothic Celtic letters. Inside the frame is my illustration of the Old Hag, the Cailleach marching across the rocky, hilly landscape in a winter storm in two shades of blue. She wears a cloak and great plaid and has her staff in her right hand and her hammer in the left. She has blue skin and copper coloured teeth and grimaces in the wind indicated by swirling lines. There is snow falling and the land behind her is inspired by the Hag’s Head geologic feature named for her.
November 22, 2025 at 2:34 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Day 5 of @folktaleWeek #FolktaleWeek2025 prompt is charm. My lino block print illustration of the beloved fairytale East of the Sun, West of the Moon shows the bewitched polar bear prince holding the charm, a magic silver bell along with his bride with the aurora in the night sky beyond them.
🧵
My 8” x 10” Lino block print ‘East of the Sun, West of the Moon.’ It shows a standing polar bear facing forward with one arm around a girl with braids in a dress and a bell between his paws. It’s printed in a dark blue-black. The girl has round pink cheeks. There’s a hint of silver for the bell. Behind the bear the aurora glows green.
November 21, 2025 at 2:08 PM
minouette.bsky.social
For Day 4 #FolktaleWeek2025 #FolktaleWeekBook my hand-tinted #linocut illustrates the English #fairytale ‘The Master & His Pupil.’

A learned man of the north lands who knew all the languages of the world & mysteries of creation, had a big black book with iron lock chained to a table & forbidden 🧵
My 8” x 10” hand-tinted linocut on watercolour paper in black ink shows a brown-haired boy looking scared reading a large black book chained (with silver lock and chain) to a beige wooden table on which there is a wizard’s hat and crystal ball. Behind him in an archway is a hairy red demon with wings and horns breathing fire while pouring a wooden barrel of water onto a red geranium. The flood is covered with blue water. On the wall by the boy are shelves of books, glassware, a balance scale, jars with alchemical symbols, a skull, mushrooms and drying mandrake, rosemary and tansy.
November 20, 2025 at 1:55 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Husband, scrolling on his phone: Oh, a printmaker showed up on my feed. You may like it…

Husband: Oh, it’s you…

Husband: You probably like it then
November 19, 2025 at 11:36 PM
Reposted by Ele Willoughby
denisillustrates.bsky.social
Folktale Week day 3: rain

where the Moon is missing its friend

#folktaleweek #folktaleweek2025 #kidlitart #illustration
Illustration of an anthromorphic moon and a bat sitting on a rain cloud
November 19, 2025 at 1:29 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Day 3 of #FolktaleWeek25 prompt is rain. My hand-carved, hand-printed lino block print of the well-known, ancient Chinese folktale of the magpie bridge linking the lovers, The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, separated by a great river, which is the Milky Way, is printed on lovely Japanese paper. 🧵
My black and white linocut the Chinese folktale of The Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, shows the Cowherd at the bottom right, reaching up towards the weeping Weaver Girl at the top left. Each stands on a stylized raining cloud. There are 6 magpies in flight, flying over raining waves of the river between them. As you look from the bottom left of the river up towards the top right the waves transform into the simple dots of the stars in the Milky Way.
November 19, 2025 at 2:14 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Me: I have to put my coffee down where the cat can’t get it

Cinnamon (the cat):

Me: I’m sorry. I am not trying to besmirch your reputation

11yo: Besmirch?!
November 19, 2025 at 12:51 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Apparently it’s #FlyDay or #DrosophilaDay in honour of the day Drosophila melanogaster, the common fruit fly or vinegar fly line w1118 (the first variant with the white eyes) was isolated, so enjoy some drosophila #sciart! This print highlights the model organism with a ring of 5 of the different 🧵🧪
My linocut print highlights the Drosophila fruit fly model organism with a hand-printed ring of 5 of the different eye colour genetic mutations on lovely handmade Japanese washi paper with flecks of bark inclusions.
November 18, 2025 at 1:57 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Day 2 #folktaleWeek2025 prompt is Echo.

Seeking less well-known folklore about echoes I found this Japanese echo yōkai.

This hand-carved & hand-printed lino block print illustrates the mythical Yama orabi (山おらび) or "mountain shouter," a small, tree-dwelling, birdlike yōkai or spirit who shouts 🧵
my 8”x10” linocut shows a Yama orabi, a mythical bird like creature with an exceptionally large head and sharp pointy teeth hopping off a brown branch with green leaves in front of a grey and blue-grey mountain at sunset in a gradient of orange, yellow and green sky. The Yama orabi is yellow with an umber beak, red mouth and red plumage on its head.
November 18, 2025 at 1:32 PM
minouette.bsky.social
For #FolktaleWeek2025 I wanted to once again make sure I included some Canadian #folklore. So for the Day 1 prompt Night I knew what to illustrate!

This lino block print illustrates the famous French Canadian folktale of the Chasse-galerie, or the Flying Canoe. The tale tells of some hardworking 🧵
My Lino block print shows a night sky with moon and clouds and flying canoe full of paddling voyageurs over rolling countryside with fields and trees covered in snow and a church steeple in the foreground. The moon is covered with grey craters and shadows. The sky with scattered clouds is in a range of golden-green near the moon to minty bluish-green away from the moon. The foreground, canoe and its occupants are in black. The numbered 11”x14” print is titled “La Chasse-galerie” and signed Ele Willoughby 2025.
November 17, 2025 at 2:28 PM
minouette.bsky.social
I’m almost ready… #FolktaleWeek2025 starts tomorrow! I’ve only got a sketch for the last prompt. I’m going to do my best to complete a print for the final day and I am excited to post my #folktale & #fairytale inspired new work & see all the gorgeous illustrations from everyone!

#illustration #art
This image shows my framed circular artwork with text. The artwork shows a hand painted polar bear in Renaissance garb with a large white coat made from multiple collaged white patterned Japanese papers and a silver ruff on a snowy landscape made with collaged papers on a nautical chart of the Arctic Ocean. Above is the Aurora made with flowing cut translucent washi. In curved blue text it reads “Folktale Week 2025”. Surrounding the pale gold frame is a circle of silver text reading: 1. Night 2. Echo 3. Rain 4. Book 5. Charm 6. Storm 7. Dawn
November 16, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Reposted by Ele Willoughby
minouette.bsky.social
I look forward to it every year! I’ll be I’ll be joining #FolktaleWeek2025 again this year. On October 20, hosts will be posting their 7 prompts for artists and/or writers to create illustrations or tell stories on these themes inspired by folktales, folklore, fables, myth and fairytales! Read more:
My illustration announcing “I’m joining Folktale Week 2025 November 17-23” shows my linocut print of three fanciful sailing ships from the age of exploration along with waves printed in silver against a dark blue background. Each ship is collaged with wooden areas and sails and flags in various brightly coloured and patterned Japanese washi papers.
October 8, 2025 at 1:54 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Time for more blue orchard mason bees on blueberry flowers!

#linocut #printmaking #pollinators #masonBee #blueberry #nativeBees
My linocut prints on cream coloured washi paper, drying on a tabletop. 6 are visible. Each shows a bunch of white blueberry flowers and leaves printed in pale green with hints of red on buds and a blue orchard mason bees on the lowest flower.
November 15, 2025 at 1:00 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Happy birthday to geologist Charles Lyell (1797-1875) who in his famous ‘Principles of Geology,’ wrote that to avoid some sources of prejudice in understanding #geology would require an Amphibious Being, who could, say, compare processes happening today on land & those happening below 🧵 #histsci 🧪🐡⚒️
My linocut print with text “Lyell’s Amphibious” above and “Being” below of a Victorian anthropomorphic frog-geologist in a gradient of blue at the bottom to brown at the top. The geologist wears a suit with his frog shins and feet bare, waistcoat, bow tie, shirt, jacket and magnifying lens on a ribbon around his neck. His frog limbs and head are green with blue spots. He carries a satchel, pick ax, geological hammer and rock sample and is kneeling down. Behind him is an on- and offshore geological section from Lyell’s book with an onshore volcano at the ocean shore. In the top left corner is a fossil plant in brown and grey. In the top right corner is a fossil ammonite shell in gold and brown.
November 14, 2025 at 12:50 PM
minouette.bsky.social
And here we are: more Selkies!

In Celtic, Norse, Faroese and Icelandic mythology, selkies (also spelled silkies, sylkies, selchies) or
selkie folk, meaning ‘seal folk’ can change from seal to human form by shedding their skin. The legends tell of seal fairies or elves who choose to come ashore 🧵
Several of my 11” x 14” selkie linocuts on cream coloured Japanese washi paper with speckled bark inclusions are laid out on the table to dry. Each print shows a red-headed selkie shedding her seal skin in a rock in the dark blue sea surrounded by grey spotted harbour seals. The light blue sky behind has grey clouds.
November 13, 2025 at 1:35 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Needed some more selkies! This is the background sea and sky layer.
#linocut #printmaking #wip #selkie #folklore #seal
Ten of my 11”x14” linocut prints on cream coloured washi paper with bark inclusions are laid out on a table to dry. They are in their first state, with the sea and sky background printed. The outline of sea faces is unprinted in the dark blue sea below the as-of-yet-unprinted Selkie on a rock and the blue sky.
November 12, 2025 at 1:48 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Years ago middle brother was engaged to a girl from a military family. It didn’t work out but they are still friends and we got to know her family well.

A formative memory of hers was an incident that brought about a change in how Canada reports military casualties. Her father was wrongly reported
November 11, 2025 at 2:39 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Lest we forget

#RemembranceDay #poppy #linocut #printmaking #ArmisticeDay
My linocut poppies print on 9.25” x 12.5” in black in on white Japanese kozo paper with red chine collé blooms shows three large flowers and several buds and pods on black stems.
November 11, 2025 at 1:50 PM
minouette.bsky.social
Happy birthday to Millie Dresselhaus (née Spiewak; 1930 – 2017). 🧪🐡👩🏼‍🔬🎢 #histsci She was a professor of physics and electrical engineering at MIT, known as the Queen of Carbon Science.

In this #linocut I’ve shown her in front of a carbon nanotube. She was recognized for her work on graphite, 🧵
My linocut portrait of Millie Dresselhaus in white sweater, red blazer, and C for carbon necklace, with the structure of a carbon nanotube behind her, in red, silver and black ink.
November 11, 2025 at 1:30 PM