Fulvous Whistling Duck and other feathered friends

Well, hi blog. It’s been awhile. Design work has squeezed out painting and illustrating in the late spring months. Alas. I have been working on some small oil landscapes and hope to have one ready soon to post. But in the meantime, I thought perhaps posting another piece of art by one of my progeny might be nice.

Suitable that it be Oliver’s.... Oliver is away at camp this week, and we are missing him! Missing him in lots of ways, but as I sit here in my office, normally I can cast a glance over my left shoulder and see Oliver engaged in some of creative project at his desk which sits in the opposite corner from mine. But he’s not there now, and so in missing him I mosied over and saw many of his fairly recent bird drawings as part of his bird field guide project.

One of Oliver’s key attributes is dedication. When he begins something, he usually stays with it for a long time, and usually completes it. As may have been mentioned in other areas of my blog, Oliver has been working on the field guide since KINDERGARTEN. He is now a rising 8th grader. Not working on it every day mind you, but he picks it up here and there, when the time is right and other pulls on his little life have died down somewhat.

Now there are plenty of things Oliver can’t draw well. People, for instance, and it’s one of our summer goals to work on that together. But the kid can draw birds! He has been fascinated with them for so long and drawn them for so many years that he just instinctually knows how to draw every curve and turn of the line. It’s really something. And the patience to do all those feathers! It just kills me every time because it’s everything I’m not when it comes to creative endeavors—steadfast, faithful, willing to drill down and focus focus focus.

We were recently at Green Springs Farm Park here in Fairfax County just to do SOMETHING other than school (just out) and swim team (just started, fever pitch). While there we saw for the first time ever a beautiful brilliant orange Baltimore Oriole, a lovely soaring Great Blue Heron, and then some kind of hawk. I would have been content to say “Oh there’s a hawk”. But Oliver stopped, studied for a bit, and quickly pronounced it a broad winged hawk. “How do you know that?” said I, looking again at the bird a good bit above us in the trees. He quickly discussed it’s relative size to other hawks, the specific banding of brown across the front of the bird, and the broader wings.

So in honor of Oliver, I share his drawing of the “Fulvous Whistling Duck”, latin name Dendrocygna bicolor.

KFG interview

Nicole Lataif began a new website Kids Faith Garden last fall, full of great activity sheets for kids and resources for parents to “sow seeds of Christian virtue in kids.” Check it out! I began illustrating coloring pages for Kids Faith Garden when it launched.

There is currently an interview with yours truly posted there as well. Thanks Nicole for posting that, and blessings to you in your exciting new venture.

Go Harriet

We caught the first part of the excellent series “The Abolitionists”, an “American Experience” program on PBS. It’s very well done and I heartily recommend that all watch it. Above is my quick sketch of Harriet Beecher Stowe, one of the abolitionists featured in the program. She was part of a large, deeply religious and activist family (all fascinating in their own right to read about), and she was touched by the brutality of slavery as a young child. As a woman, she wrote “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” which stirred the conscience of many Americans on the horrors of the institution, bolstering the abolitionist cause.

Prior to writing the first installment, Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote “I feel now that the time is come when even a woman or a child who can speak a word for freedom and humanity is bound to speak....I hope every woman who can write will not be silent.”

And that’s what struck me the most, how could so many people then stay silent on slavery? At a time when our country was largely Christian—whether through personal conviction or just culturally Christian—it’s shocking to imagine that so many either stayed silent, or worse, worked to defend and perpetuate the crime of slavery. As a believer in Christ, it’s hard for me to fathom that it was such a small group that were part of the abolitionist movement at first.

In these gray winter days, this show has given me much to think about. The bravery and fortitude of the slaves, free blacks and whites who banded together to right a horrible wrong is humbling... and an inspiration.

My Dog Ate My Homework

My alarm clock didn’t go off.

Oh really officer? My speedometer must not be working.

Excuses, excuses.... I really don’t have an excellent excuse for why it’s been nearly a year since my last post. The holidays, then winter hibernation, than—whammo!—fix up the house!, paint the house!, build those stairs to the backdoor that we’ve been putting off for 4 years! Now, put the house on the market.... Sell the house. Now, look, look, look, look for a new house because you need to live somewhere! Look some more.... find a house! Compete for the house! Pay too much for the house! And don’t forget to drive your kids to soccer, piano, and finish out the school year. Now, pack! move! collapse like a bag of bones!

Ok, you get the idea. But still, shame on me! Life and design work did squeeze out illustration work for a time. And that’s no good. I’m less myself when I’m not drawing, painting, illustrating. So while I did pick back up the brush, the pen, the pencil after the move, the blog sat untended.

Today’s SCBWI conference was just the shot in the arm to help me start afresh at the various little disciplines that make up a creative life. Blogging can, and does, get in the way sometimes of creativity. But when held in check, it can be a great motivation to post something, even if it’s a silly little sketch of a small boy getting his toes nibbled by fish. (And just who is in that little submarine?)

I did the sketch for Illustration Friday’s theme of WATER two Fridays ago. It’s a start, not something I’ll carry to finished state. But still kind of like the guy.

Hammerhead

Recently my youngest child, Henry, had to stay home from school with a cold. Given the design and illustration work load facing me that day, this required a bit of a head adjustment on my part. Ok, so not going to get much done on projects today. Sigh.

But turns out Henry really wanted to spend his recuperative time drawing. Drawing sharks. Again, not my top choice. No “draw a shark” on my to do list.

But we pulled out some How To Draw books that would provide some references for him and allow him to work fairly independently. Maybe, I thought, I could still get some of my own work done. His excitement over his creations became so infectious though that in short order I found myself with him drawing shark after shark.

Since this wasn’t a sketch for any particular project, it was freeing just to sketch loosely and try new approaches. So lesson learned—best to greet those unexpected schedule changes as an opportunity to do something new and bring that experience back to the work.

Shivers Me Timbers

Well, I could have titled this one “I want to draw like this part II.” Henry’s artwork lately has been blowing me away. I recently led a drawing club at school, which Oliver and Henry participated in. And one table had several wonderful Ed Emberley drawing books for kids to use as a guide and inspiration. Henry took to them like a duck to water and went into near fever pitch every day combing through the pages and trying out some of the ideas.

Ed Emberley is such a cool cat. So design minded and witty. It’s no wonder kids gravitate to his books. Yet his simple “take a circle, add a line, then a square...” approach actually prepares kids for more serious drawing later on. All objects are made up of underlying geometric forms, and the sooner kids can “see” that, the easier it is draw everything around you.

Beyond those drawing elementals, Henry just has humor down pat. The head of the pirate came straight from the book, and it may have suggested the optional pirate hook arm too. But the body, hamburger bun hands, and skinny winny legs posted on the far extremes of the body is pure Henry. He is a funny guy that Henry.

Now to stop adoring my kids’ art and get drawing myself!

Euge!

If I ever did a strict accounting of what I read, the greater percentage of my reading life would probably be focused on children’s books—both times squirreled away with a favorite children’s picture book and time spent doing read-alouds of great children’s literature with my kids.

The other portion of my reading is spent almost entirely reading about various periods of history. I’m one of those people who spends inordinate amounts of time thinking about the past. Not just key dates, seminal events, or historical figures. But I like to ponder what it may have been like for ordinary people in, say, Tudor England, in the break-away American colonies, on Grecian war ships sailing for Troy.

Given this love for history, one area of children’s illustration that I hope to be engaged in are books on historical subjects or figures for young children. Books that make history come alive and serve as a springboard for life-long curiosity about the past. Books like the ones Jean Fritz wrote, or current works by Cheryl Harness or Diane Stanley.

So when I needed to prepare a piece of art for the SCBWI conference in New York City this past weekend, I looked to the Roman past for inspiration. Oliver and I are reading together the 12th book in Caroline Lawrence’s excellent “Roman Mysteries” series, and so roman life from a child’s point of view has been my recent preoccupation.

Although I did end up strapping a frame on this image (as seen above) for the conference’s art show, I consider this an unfinished work. There is more to be done in the area of light and shadow and adding back in some looser pencil work.

The post heading “Euge!” is “Hurray” in latin (and a frequent phrase of Flavia Gemina, one of the mystery solvers in the “Roman Mysteries”). This post serves also as my “Euge!” for the excellent SCBWI conference as well. The speakers and break-out sessions were all great—very informative and inspirational.

Paul Manship

On a recent trip to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, I was finally able to spend time with the numerous pieces of sculpture by Paul Manship on display there. His work is so inspiring! Most of us are familiar with his work but didn’t know it. He is the sculptor who created the “Prometheus” statue by the ice rink at Rockfeller Center.

There is a strong graphic quality to all his works, and biographies point to his work being a precursor to Art Deco. But most seminal works of the Art Deco period typically leave me cold—the figures don’t seem to really inhabit the space or move through a scene. Manship’s creations have a wonderful line and fluidity to them. You can sense the dense weightiness of his sculpted bears; you can feel the wind flowing through the banner being waved by Atalanta; you can imagine the swift flight of the Indian braves running alongside wolves.

When I behold how skillfully he portrays the human figure and animal forms, it makes me want to rush home and draw. Thanks Mr. Manship!

The New Kid in Class

I've said before that my kids’ artwork is a big source of inspiration to me. Oliver has had some coverage, as has Izzy. But I don’t believe I have included any of Henry’s treasures.

Over the Christmas break, I slogged through all their school papers to clear the decks and be ready for the onslaught of worksheets sure to come in 2011. To my surprise I discovered several of Henry’s papers were covered with doodles.

Sifting through, this green monster popped up on 3 pieces of paper. What a delight to behold his kindergarten doodlings—through each appearance of this green monster, you can discern ways he was busy revising the creature over time.

The green monster (have yet to ask if he has a name) inspired a recent illustration I did in preparation for the SCBWI conference in New York. My illustration may have zero application outside my own little world, but I like it. Several of the kids are modeled after kids who were preschool classmates of my kids through the years.

Fox and Gang hit the Water Hole

Recently, I worked on another illustration of my animal friends, flashing forward from their last Thanksgiving adventure to the summer months and long, leisurely days lolly-gagging at the local water hole. Many things I like in this one, but as always, I already see many things that I would change. How come it rarely feels like an illustration is done!?

Proud as Punch

(Big Cat by Oliver)

Ever since posting Isabel’s Birthday Troll, I’ve been thinking about how much each of my kid’s art inspires me too. My dear Oliver, now 10, has been diligently drawing ever since he plowed through the wonderful Ed Emberley books as a preschooler. Oliver is also a huge animal lover, and so has become an accomplished artist of birds and mammals.

His ability to see the underlying form in each animal he draws has it’s beginnings in the simple circles, squares and rectangles of Ed Emberley’s world. Now he has entered a new plane of deeper understanding of the intricacies of each form... a delightful thing for me to behold.

Beyond all that, Oliver inspires me through his dedication to his craft. Daily, he devotedly retreats to his art desk in the basement to work on his two magnum opuses: the Oliver bird field guide, and the Oliver field guide to mammals. He has been working on both for years now, consistently churning out several pages a month, all the while strengthening his ability to see form well and then execute it in great detail.

So thanks Oliver for the inspiration! May your dedication and focus begin to rub off on me! Love, Mom

The Silver Buckle

Hurray for me! After doing a stellar job of neglecting this blog, today I’m posting twice. Here is a piece I just finished, working off this text excerpt provided by my instructor:

“Then she cut the squash in the middle until she had two big half squashes. And inside, just like outside, it was rich yellow, spotted with spots of gold. And there was a shine of silver. And she wondered why silver should be in a squash.

“She picked and plunged with her fingers until she pulled it out. ‘It’s a buckle,’ she said, ‘a silver buckle, a Chinese silver slipper buckle!’ She ran with it to her father and said, ‘Look what I found when I cut open the golden yellow squash spotted with gold spots! It is a Chinese silver slipper buckle.’

“‘It means our luck is going to change,’ said her father.”

Dear Theo

(Illustration at left by Martin and Alice Provensen)

Many admirers of Vincent Van Gogh’s art have probably read or heard about his close relationship to his brother Theo. Theo looked out for Vincent and the two exchanged many letters during their too-short lives. Before Vincent devoted his life solely to painting, he (among other pursuits) worked somewhat neglectfully for Goupil and Co., a firm of art dealers. While at Goupil, in January 1864, Vincent wrote a letter to brother Theo (also an art dealer) with a list of his favorite painters. He listed fixty-six, and all were painters in the Realism school.

Like ole’ Vincent, I often find myself thinking about the artists and illustrators who both inspire and humble me. I am wondering as I type, will my list be fixty-six? Or will is soar beyond that number? Who knows! Here goes....

MY FAVORITE CHILDREN’S BOOK ILLUSTRATORS:

The classics: 1. Martin and 2. Alice Provensen (gee, given how much I love them I should probably include them 10 times each in the list—that’s their art posted in this entry), 3. Barbara Cooney, 4. Robert McCloskey, 5. Robert Lawson, 6. Helen Sewell, 7. Edward Ardizzone, 8. Garth Williams, 9. Peter Spier, 10. Eric Carle

The amazingly detailed work of : 11. Edwin Tunis, 12. Eric Sloane, 13. David Macauley

Illustrators whose work reflects the richness of the history of art: 14. John Speirs, 15. Gennady Spirin, 16. Roberto Innocenti, 17. Bagram Ibatoulline

These unique story tellers through written word and illustration: 18. Patricia Polacco, 19. Allen Say, 20. Jerry Pinkney, 21. Gabrielle Vincent

History queens: 22. Cheryl Harness, 23. Diane Stanley

The fun and spirited styles of: 24. D.B. Johnson, 25. Holly Berry, 26. Renata Liwska, 27. Jui Ishida, 28. Marjorie Priceman, 29. Sebastia Serra, 30. Jill McElmurry, 31. John Lawrence, 32. Stephen D’Amico, 33. Melissa Sweet, 34. Lizbeth Zwerger, 35. Charlotte Voake, 36. Emma Chichester Clark, 37. Flora McDonnell

The versatility and amazing character work by: 38. LeUyen Pham, 39. P.J. Lynch, 40. Jim LaMarche, 41. Shirley Hughes

The calligraphic and poetic beauty of the work by: 42. Kim, Dong-Seong

Other favorites: 43. Holly Hobbie, 44. Charles Fuge, 45. S.D. Schindler, 46. Christopher Denise, 47. Mark Buehner, 48. Brian Lies, 49. Mitsumasa Anno, 50. Nicola Bayley, 51. David Small, 52. Paul Zelinsky, 53. Peter Sis

And the oh-my-goodness, how could I almost have forgotten: 54. Aliki, 55. Leo and 56. Diane Dillon

Well, there you go... Fifty-six vastly talented people who keep me excited about illustrating and delight millions of readers with their work. And it’s a foregone conclusion that I’ve forgotten many names on this list!

I Want to Draw Like This

I awoke today to not only the 25+ inches of snow that the BLIZZARD of ’10 left on the ground, but a sweet breakfast tray with birthday cards from my children. How nice! (Although nothing like 3 months of strict bedrest to make one never want to eat breakfast or any meal for that matter in bed again... so downstairs I trotted with my tray. But, I digress.)

I write about this because if I had to pick a favorite card it would be Isabel’s spirited “Birthday Troll” card which sprung from her unique imagination. In addition to being in awe of her little artwork (as we all feel about our children’s artwork), it also leaves me wishing I could do something that fun, spontaneous, and uninhibited with my illustration work.

The purpose of this blog was to occasionally feature the illustrators who inspire me (and at times intimidate me). Alas, I haven’t quite gotten that part of the ground yet. But hurrah! for snow storms that afford me the space and time to work on random to-do list items that always fall prey to dinner prep and school duties. So I shall kick-off that part by featuring Isabel and her Birthday Troll as exhibit #1 in what inspires me.

Scene in Technicolor

This was a fun scene for me to do again in color for my assignment. These little animal characters are really starting to grow on me.

I hope to do more with this crew in the future! First, they are going to need some names and new adventures to go on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A sketch recently completed for an assignment. Somehow, everytime I sat down to compose a scene involving animal characters, they were always in school settings. Can’t possibly be because I feel like I’m living at my kid’s schools these days?

Bonjour, Pascal

Blaise Pascal. French mathematician, physicist and Christian philosopher from the 16o0s. Like so many of his time, he packed a great deal into his short life despite frequent debilitating illnesses and difficulties. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blaise_Pascal)

Alas, despite all that we can learn and gain from the study of his life, there are no books about Pascal for children. Tim Keehan, teacher at Lorien Wood School, saught to rectify that by writing a book for the 4th and 5th graders on Pascal’s life and work—designed to complement their study of Europe. As the illustrator of the book, it was great fun for me to research the fashions, styles, cityscapes, and industry of 17th century France.

Pascal’s final words, as he lay dying at age 39, “May God never abandon me.”