Eric Carle Post Cards

Last fall Laurence and I packed up the Passat for a road trip through New England, experiencing ten states in ten days- from Knoxville to New England, via New York. One of the places on the top of my list to visit was Amherst, MA - home of the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. This wonderful museum celebrates the art of the great Eric Carle, a kindred spirit of sorts, along with many other children's book illustrators. There was an exhibit of Tomie dePaola up when we were there. The unique experience of viewing children's book illustration as a gallery exhibit is seeing the entire process, from sketches and story boards to the finalized format of a book. I love how engaging the experience is because each component evokes such a different response; holding a book in your hands and turning the pages filled with artwork is very different than standing a few feet away looking at a piece of work flat on a wall in front of you. Can you tell where my bias might be? Anyway, I loved the museum and hope to visit again soon. And, the museum store! I think I spent as much time there as I did viewing the exhibits. I was a little bit overwhelmed because there was just so much to see... so many beautiful books to pick up and flip through. I wanted to buy way too many books and couldn't decide on just one, and Laurence reminded me we had to get back on the road, eventually. I decided I would hold off on any big purchases and maybe order some of these nice books later online. I did buy a few postcards to send to people, another tough decision because I loved them all, however, here's what I ended up with... and kept for myself! I love Eric Carle's happy and colorful painted paper collage. Of course I love his beautiful stories that go along with his art, but it certainly can stand on it's own too, hanging on the wall of a museum or in the small format of a postcard. Even though I never got these in the mail, here's sending out some brightness from a dreary Knoxville...