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.