Picture This and a Compliment

Last Friday I had the privilege of being a guest speaker for a few third grade classes in South Knoxville. A neighbor invited me to share a little about my work after her class read a book entitled What Do Illustrators Do? Before I knew it, all of the third grade teachers were eager to have me visit their classrooms as well! I found out later that the principle even snuck into the back of one room to hear about my work. I'm glad I didn't know before hand, because I was already a little bit nervous about presenting to the third graders. However, they proved to be a much better audience than my community college students.

I started by talking about how pictures work. And, I have an amazing secret tool: a picture book about picture books, Picture This by Molly Bang. It's really one of my all time favorite books. It continues to inspire and astonish me every time I pull it out. I was introduced to this book when getting my MFA, and I taught it to several college level art appreciation classes, so I was very curious to know how third graders would respond to it.

The book tells the story of Little Red Ridding Hood using simple shapes and colors, emphasizing the use of composition. I let the students guess the best possible shape, color, size, and placement for the varying elements in the story. It was great to hear the younger students' very raw unfiltered responses to changing up these simple visual elements. For example, when the trees are tilted instead of standing vertically... ooooh, when Little Red Ridding Hood, a red triangle, shrinks in size in the midst of the now very scary tilted black rectangles, the woods... ahhhh, and when the wolf's teeth are changed from black to white, popping off of the background even more dramatically.... squeals and laughter. It was great fun! What a testament to how powerfully pictures evoke emotion. Even if unable to explain what specifically they were moved by, even if it was subconscious, each student had a strong response to the changing four colors and very basic shapes.

After this exercise I read my "dummy" book, which is a mock-up book sent to publishing companies. The students were very curious about my work, and it was so much fun to explain the process of writing and illustrating my book, If Peaches Grew on Peachtree Street. I got lots of great questions, heard lots of their own ideas for books, and had several very encouraging compliments. However, there was one little girl sitting in the front row a little bit timid about the question she was about to ask me. With eyes wide and her mouth open in disbelief, she raised her hand and asked in a very soft wisper, "Did you illustrate all of the Dr. Seuss books?!?" I smiled and chuckled a little bit, and then said, "No. Did my book remind you of those books?" She nodded. Best compliment ever.

If Peaches Grew on Peachtree Street

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...

Picture This: That's Love

"I can name the leaves and even the trees, describe what I see in the clouds on the breeze.... I can feel the air and taste the sea.... I can count to a million and sing do-re-me.... but I can't name the look that I see on your face. It isn't a color, it isn't a place...."

There's a short sampling of the first part of one of my favorite picture books, since the images included are from the second half of the book. It's rare to find a book that combines words and images with such powerful simplicity. That's Love by Sam Williams, with illustrations by Mique Moriuchi, does just that. The simplicity of the poem, vibrant colors, and textures show a surprisingly complex understanding of this idea, or feeling, called love. After stating that it cannot be defined or named, the author and illustrator go on to describe this thing called love, with layers and depths exploring the "muddles... and cuddles." There is a certain understood consistency throughout their description, maybe steadfastness is the appropriate word? It does a beautiful job of taking a long quite look at something as simple and certain, and maybe complex, as the sky. It's easy to forget that children understand these concepts immediately. Thankfully, as adults we get to read these books too and be reminded there may be more to it than reason or romance... "and all the while, that's love."

See more of Mique Moriuchi's illustration here: www.miquemoriuchi.com

Williams, Sam. That's Love. Illus. Mique Moriuchi. New York: Holiday House, Inc. 2006. Print.