Week 1 in PA

It is POURING today. Millions of nature's teardrops are playing a rhythmic tune on the red metal roof. Leonard Cohen is singing in the background, offering to be my man and next to my luminous screen, a cup of cherry tea sits steaming .

Wait a minute, isn't it supposed to be summer right now? I should be sitting by the pool with a watermelonade in my hand, squinting at my dark-looking screen. The crickets should be singing their summery serenade in the background.

But, to take a look on the bright side. We only have had two rainy days this last week, and the waterfall across the street will be wonderful tomorrow. And I am sending good weather vibes out there right now. Next week will be bright and sunny. I'll be sitting on the back porch with my computer and sewing machine, surrounded by art supplies. I will be making many a beautiful thing.

So far, the lawn is mowed, garden furniture pillows are being recovered, cookies have been baked, and a workspace has been carved out. I am ready for week two.

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Moving to the country...for 6 weeks.

It has been a crazy summer so far, driving back and forth between the country and the city, packing, unpacking, planning, driving, catching up on mail, emails, etc. Again and again. Consequently I haven't been able to get much else done. I want to work on my books! I want to make crafts! Blog! Tweet! We decided to try another way, so we found someone special to live at our place in the city for a while.

 
The big day has arrived: tonight we are driving to North Eastern PA and staying there until the beginning of September, except for a 7 day interlude, a trip to Los Angeles. So, here I am packing up half the house. No time to blog much longer, but I wanted to give you a warning. The next few blog posts might center around frogs, snakes, birds, a vegetable garden, the weather, cooking and baking cakes. Yum!

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The Lonely Moose by John Segal

Every night we pick three books to read. Both my husband and I love picture books, so we have a lot of them. Yet I find myself reaching for the same few books again and again, partly because my daughter enjoys them, but mostly because I like to read the books to her. The Lonely Moose, by John Segal is one of those. A reluctant loner moose rescues an injured bird. The bird follows the moose and ends up living on the big animal's antlers until it can fly again. When the bird finally takes off, the moose feels lonely. Suddenly, being alone is not that much fun anymore... 

Segal tells a simple, sweet story with an unlikely grumpy hero. The watercolor paintings convey the atmosphere of the story perfectly with their simple beauty.

When my husband came home with the book, I thought it looked a bit boring but it immediately grew on me. My daughter laughs out loud every time we read the part where the bird convinces the moose to eat a worm. I know we will keep reading this book often for years to come.

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Waldorf Doll

My daughter was in one of the local Waldorf parent-child classes this spring.  The program focussed on a slow separation process between parent and child. Towards the end of the school year, the parents could leave the children alone with the teachers, but had to stay close. That is how I happened upon a parent craft circle that was happening weekly in another room. Everyone was making Waldorf dolls. The basic pattern for each doll was the same and the technique very specific and meticulous. There were three different skin color fabrics, and after the head and body were done, everyone chose how to make their own hair texture, color and style. The clothes and accessories were also endless and much fun to explore.Here is the doll I ended up making. The mornings went by too fast. We all had a lot of fun, and I can't wait for school to start again in the fall.

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The Weaving of a Dream, Marilee Heyer

For this post I decided to review one of my favorite NOT new picture books. I have quite a few. When I looked some of the books up on Amazon, I saw that many of them were out of print. How disappointing. These are fantastic books; they should NEVER go out of print. Why do books go out of print that fast? Luckily, Marilee Heyer's The Weaving of a Dream, is still available, even though only in paperback. The book is a retelling of a Chinese folk tale. The water-color and color pencil art is breath takingly beautiful. Heyer's attention to detail is unbelievable and she is a master at painting fabrics, patterns and texture. I heard Marilee Heyer speak at an SCBWI conference years ago. She has a background in fashion illustration, and has a strong interest in history, antiques, and combining Eastern and Western themes. These interests are represented in her work in the most wonderful way.

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What Makes Us Happy?

I just came across this wonderful article on a study done by Dr. George Valliant.

He has been following the lives of a group of men for decades, hoping to find out what makes a happy life.

The article is fantastic, the embedded video is endearing, eye opening, and wonderful to see.

Enjoy, and be happy.

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Paper Flowers

Sorry for the hiatus. It’s been a busy two weeks. But I am back and it’s time to talk about Flower Girl. Where I grew up in Belgium, children exchange flowers for shells on the beach every summer. 

It’s been a tradition for as long as anyone can remember. The flowers are made with crepe paper, thin metal wire and plant sticks. The paper comes in all different colors and the sticks in many different lengths. The result is a colorful array of personal creations. I went back there not so long ago and there were bright little flower shops all over. My childhood beach memories washed over me like a big wave and I came up spitting bubbles and a new picture book idea. I did research, then started sketching and writing.  Here are a few images I want to share with you.   
I tried out a few different approaches. This image is watercolor and china ink. The image below is painted on newspaper covered wood.    

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The Story Blanket

I picked up a picture book at our local independent bookstore. The Story Blanket, written by Ferida Wolff and Harriet May Savitz, illustrated by Elena Odriozola. I am always on the lookout for new and fresh looking illustration styles and the cover of this book, immediately jumped out at me.

I leafed through my new find and was happy to see that the cover wasn't the only lovely illustration there. Believe me, it happens often that a book doesn't measure up to it's cover, but not this time. "You didn't read the story?" you ask me, "It's a picture book, a quick read!" I have to admit a little secret of mine, I didn't read the story, and it's certainly not the first time I buy a book just for the art. Last night I read The Story Blanket to my 3 year old daughter. Oh, what a nice tale. I loved it. The main character Baba Zarrah unravels her beautiful story blanket piece by piece to secretly knit warm clothes for the villagers. There is a lot of snow and no way to go to the town for new yarn. The story is sweet and warm and good. And, as I said before, the illustrations are great. Every single page is beautiful. Elena Odriozola, I am a big fan. The layouts and use of white space in masterful, the bright colors complement each other fabulously and the character design is original and fresh. A new favorite book in our picture book library.

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Knit Bella & Bean Hat

I know, it's been a while... What can I say. I have been knitting. After being asked a few times if the Bella & Bean hats were available somewhere, I decided to knit a couple of sample hats. You know Bella & Bean, from the book Rebecca Kai Dotlich wrote and I illustrated. The one that is at the top of your shopping list! Anyway, so here it is the hat as Bean sports it in our book, and below is the knit version.

It's a pretty tall hat!

I am planning to make some in different colored stripes. Maybe I will have to open that Etsy shop I've been thinking about, after all.

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Lovely Mayfest

In between rain showers, in a nearby park, we celebrated the coming of spring, with people from my daughter's school. Everybody brought flowers to share for making crowns, we danced around a Maypole holding ribbons and we shared a delicious picnic. We had a lovely time and I wanted to share some pictures with you on this dreary NY day.

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