Title: The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse
Author/Illustrator: Eric Carle
Publisher: New York: Penguin/Philomel, 2011
Genre: Picture book, fiction, homage to artist Franz Marc
The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse — Perfect Picture Book Friday
May 18, 2012 by 18 Comments
Robin King, Artist — Wednesday Worthy
May 16, 2012 by 42 Comments
I am delighted to welcome my dear friend Robin King to the Wednesday Worthy Interview chair today. Robin and I became friends on the same now-defunct blogging platform where I met Stephanissima (interviewed in April) and Aubrey (interviewed in February). We recognized each other as kindred spirits immediately. My apologies to Robin that due to a typo in my scheduling time, this wasn’t up at the usual time this morning.
Robin is multi-faceted and multi-talented, a writer, a musician, an incredibly funny person, and an artist in many different media. It is her art we’ll focus on today. I have some of her art hanging on my walls, and as I look through the art she has available for sale, I realize I may have to add to my Robin King collection. (Note: The image to the left is a licensed stock image from Fotolia, as are nearly all the images I post on my site, it isn’t one of Robin’s paintings.)
Encouraging the Artist Within
May 14, 2012 by 20 Comments
This post could be subtitled “A Cautionary Tale.” Last Monday, I blogged about the joy inherent in the artistic expression of children. I remember feeling that joy myself. I liked my art big and bold and life-size, if possible. Mum used to tell of going into the spare bedroom where she’d covered the bed with a clean flat sheet, to find that toddler me had drawn a mural over the entire sheet. She kept that sheet until it faded beyond recognition. I remember standing on a chair in first grade, so that I could draw huge pictures on the blackboard at recess time. My grandmother used to save shopping bags for me (at that time, shopping bags were made of paper, with stiff cord handles). I would cut the bag down the sides so that it would lie flat, then draw a person and color and cut it out, leaving one handle sticking out the head of my person. I could then carry the person around by the handle, making her “walk.” I wonder how many such people I made over the years?
There came a point, however, when I became aware that other kids in my class could draw much more realistically than I could. Other kids were “artistic.” I began to feel I was not. I don’t know now if it was just the comparison of my own art to theirs, if there were careless remarks that added up to me thinking I wasn’t good at art — however it happened, it happened. It’s all too easy to squelch that joy in artistic expression that we saw last week, and that I felt in my early years.
Are you familiar with Harry Chapin’s song “Flowers are Red?” It illustrates this perfectly. It’s available on iTunes (or Youtube). I’d urge you to give it a listen before clicking on “read more.”
The Art Collector — Perfect Picture Book Friday
May 11, 2012 by 26 Comments
Title: The Art Collector
Author: Jan Wahl
Illustrator: Rosalinde Bonnet
Publisher: Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2011
Youth Tube!
May 10, 2012 by Leave a Comment
If you’re unaware of Youth Tube, it’s a relatively new venture by Plum Tree Books to encourage children’s literacy and art, and to give kids a place to share their “art, videos, stories, reviews, songs, feature books and a whole lot more,” quoting from the website.
Erik and Josie mentioned in their interview here yesterday that they would be submitting their self-portraits to Youth Tube, and Niamh Clune left a comment on that blog post this morning to say that Josie’s and Erik’s pictures are up and viewable. Thank you, Niamh! She also wanted to encourage other kids to send in their pictures, so if you know of kids who’d like to participate, they can find the information at the link I’ll provide below.
I am delighted that Erik has chosen to portray himself as Awesome Man, and that Josie sees herself as a Garden Fairy Princess. You can view their pictures by clicking on the arrows in the display/slideshow to find theirs, then click on the picture itself to read what they’ve said about it.
(Note: Image is from fotolia.com, and is not a representation of any kid I know, just in case you’re wondering.)
Interviewing Erik and Josie — Wednesday Worthy Kids!
May 9, 2012 by 46 Comments
For people who haven’t yet met Erik and his sister, Josie, they are both bloggers who are also very creative and inspiring people.
Erik’s blog can be found at This Kid Reviews Books, and that’s what the blog focuses on for the most part, his book reviews. Erik, aka “This Kid” is 10 years old, and writes excellent reviews of picture books, chapter books and middle grade novels from a kid’s perspective. He has a monthly book review column in his local newspaper.
I got to know Erik through PiBoIdMo in November 2011, where participants were challenged to come up with one picture book idea per day for the month. Erik and I were both successful in meeting that challenge. Our association has continued through the 12 x 12 in 2012 picture book writing challenge. Erik is also an active participant in Perfect Picture Book Fridays. I am honored to know Erik and to introduce him to those of you who don’t already know him.
His sister, Josie, is 8 years old, and is a talented artist. I’m especially partial to her dragons! Josie blogs at Animals and Art. She does all sorts of different types of arts and crafts … it’s great to see her at work on her projects.
Erik has a feature on his blog called Creative Kids, and that feature and Josie’s art will be our focus today. Because (drum roll here) I’m interviewing both of them today! (Note: Josie finds language expression and writing a bit of a challenge, so there are times when her Mom has added a few words in bracketed italics, to provide explanation or clarification.)
