My wife Bobbie and I are sending our best wishes to all who are celebrating the 40th Anniversary of The Very Hungry Caterpillar today and our heartfelt gratitude for all of the messages from readers from around the world.
We have heard of celebrations taking place in Japan, the Netherlands, Germany, England, Puerto Rico, New York, California, Hawaii, Wisconsin, Singapore and in other cities and countries around the world.
A group of kindergarten students from Michigan visited my web site recently and watched how I painted a mural on a large piece of Tyvek that I rolled out on the floor of my studio. They were wondering how I could step on the painting while the paint was still wet. While I tried not to step on the wet paint when I was creating the mural, you can see from the photo here that I do sometimes get paint on my shoes when I am working. Making pictures and creating art can sometimes be a messy job. But that’s ok. I’ve grown to enjoy the spots and dots that my work sometimes leaves behind and occasionally, without even realizing it, the inadvertent mess or the “mistakes” I make, end up seeming more interesting than I ever would have expected. I have even made art out of the materials I use to create my pictures such as these yogurt container lids saved from my lunch that served as my paint tray.
But a good smock or apron can help keep your clothes clean while you use paints or glue or colored chalk.
The Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of the more than 70 picture books that I have written and/or illustrated. I was born in the U.S. and was raised in Germany. My background is in graphic design but since the late 1960's when I illustrated Bill Martin Jr's Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I have been creating books for children. My illustrations are collages made with my own hand-painted tissue papers, a technique many children have replicated and enjoyed in their classrooms and at home. With my late wife Barbara, I am also the cofounder of The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, MA.
