Good News!

For those of you who don't know yet, Bella & Bean has won the Golden Kite Honor for text!

Yeaaay!

Also, the original art show we had in honor of Women's History Month @ Superfine, was great. Sadly, it's over, already. 

Last but not least, the last Women's History Month group event will take place this coming Sunday at PS Bookshop from 4-5PM we are all reading from our books.

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John Bauer

Today, after the author/illustrator's panel discussion at BookCourt, someone approached me and asked who my influences were. I looked around for a couple of chairs for us to get comfortable while I pondered that question. Then, I realized that he wanted the short answer, two or three names at most. I defaulted to Toulouse Lautrec, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt. 

On the way home, I realized that I only became familiar with those artists in high school and that I had been drawing since I could hold a crayon. Then John Bauer popped into my head. A swedish illustrator who illustrated my favorite fairy tale book ever, The Fairy Tale world of John Bauer. Bauer was born in 1882, and was best known for his illustrations of Trolls, Tomten and Gnomes. He died at the early age of 36 together with his wife and child in a shipwreck. I want to share some of his art here with you.

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Amazing Paper Animation

This is the best animated short I have seen in a long time!

Miss Blum - A Fabric Heroine

I hereby introduce to you, Miss Blum, my newest creation.

Miss Blum, a little uptight and very vain, was a school teacher for 155 years. Nowadays, she spends her time in front of the mirror, getting ready to find the right partner in crime.

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Of Seashells and Sandcastles

We just had to get out of the cold. Midwinter break was a perfect time to go visit our dear friends Doris and Jimmy in Florida. What a treat!We spent lots of time at the beach. 

Off course when you have busy hands, you have to keep them busy.

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Women's History Month Book Events

To celebrate women's history month six author-illustrators, three bookstores and a gallery, are hosting and organizing book readings, signings and an exhibition. 

Melanie Hope Greenberg, a wonderful author illustrator and the organizer for these events, has put together a great program.

Participating Author Illustrators

Selina Alko

Miriam Cohen

Pat Cummings

Melanie Hope Greenberg

Aileen Leijten

Meghan McCarthy

Calendar

*Thursday March 4th. 6-8PM

Superfine, 126 Front Street, Brookly

Opening Reception, Picture Book Art

 

Saturday March 6th, 10:30AM

Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn

Book reading, Selina Alko & Aileen Leijten.

 

Saturday March 13th, 10:30AM

Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn

Book reading, Melanie Hope Greenberg & Miriam Cohen

 

Sunday March 14th, 11:00AM

Book Court, 163 Court Street, Brooklyn

Group panel. 

 

Saturday March 20th, 10:30AM

Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn

Book reading, Meghan McCarthy

 

Sunday March 21, 4-6PM

PS Bookshop, 147A Front Street

Group Story Time

 

Saturday March 27th, 10:30AM

Greenlight Bookstore, 686 Fulton Street, Brooklyn

Book reading, Pat Cummings.

Stop by to say hi!

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Anton Pieck

I fell in love with Anton Pieck's work when I was 6 years old, and I still am very much in love with it today. Anton Pieck is a Dutch painter, artist and graphic designer, born in the Netherlands in 1895 and died in 1987. His rich imagination was very fairy tale like, and his playful line reminiscent of Albrecht Durer. He was incredibly prolific. In addition to the hundreds of fairytale inspired paintings, woodcuts, and etchings, he designed the first and most important theme park in Europe, The Efteling. I don't come across his work very often here in the states and wanted to share some of his paintings with you.

So beautiful.

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My Brooklyn Studio

I just read an fascinating article about artist's and writer's work spaces. The article came with pictures and I couldn't get enough of them. Some people work in tiny messy spaces, or large sprawled out places. Others work in organized minimal looking rooms. Everyone is so different. It made me look at my own space. My studio is on our home. I initially carved out a small section for myself, but my stuff keeps spilling over into other areas. I have many interests and thus need and use many different supplies. There are paints, pencils, paper, pastels, clay, beads, felt, fabric, wool, thread, ribbon, spread out everywhere. I like to have an overview of what I am working with and I'm always running out of table surface space. Here are some pictures. I did clean up a bit...

btw, it is national hugging day today! 

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Winter Sculpture

I am in the very early development stages of a series of sculptures based on the seasons. 

For some cold  reason, it made sense for me right now to start with winter. This might evolve into a book, it might not. We will see.

The initial research and sketches for the first sculpture are mostly done.

 

I made and armature and filed it up with aluminum foil, next I took wood paste and started sculpting. 

I still have a lot of sculpting to do and the wood paste is much harder to manipulate than I imagined. I am worried about the hands because I want them very long and slender, almost skeleton like. And the face!? Another concern is if the armature is strong enough to hold up the weight of the entire sculpture. I guess I will find out soon!

Stay warm.

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Gris Grimly

Gris Grimly's art work is dark, whimsical, fun, cool and inspiring. His pen and ink line work in particular is stunning. If you like Edward Gorey, Tim Burton and Henry Sellick, you will love Grimly's illustrations. 

He both illustrated and wrote quite a few children's books over the past few years, among which many picture books. Be sure to check them out. Be warned though, they are not for the very young or the faint at heart.

Here are a few of my favorite Grimly illustrations. 

Enjoy!

These are 3 of the 9 Freakatorium prints.

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