A few days in Cambridge

Last week Bobbie and I spent a few days in Cambridge MA where I was invited to speak at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. It was an honor to be invited by such a prestigious institution and the whole event was a delight. I spoke about my life and work and gave a slide show presentation.


The title of my talk was The Education of a Good Picture Writer. Afterward, there was a Q&A and students and teachers and children spoke and I tried to answer their questions. Then I signed books and enjoyed meeting some of the students and people who attended the talk. A few teachers brought beautiful collage art work their students had made. It was a lovely spring weekend in Cambridge, the trees were blooming and we had a chance to visit with friends and enjoy the season. Now we are back in Florida enjoying the quiet rhythm of our life at home.

Some of my friends

Here are some of my friends who recently came to visit. The egret is sitting on our fence; the pelican is resting on our dock.



And Whitey, a stray cat who has been paying us regular visits for some time now.

Red-flannel hash and shoo-fly pie

These are some of the illustrations I created before I started making my own picture books using tissue paper collage. An early assignment from my editor Ann Beneduce was to illustrate a cookbook, Red-flannel hash and shoo-fly pie. I was so eager to please that I came in with many more linoleum cut illustrations than she needed. But she liked them. And so began our long term relationship as editor and illustrator, writer and friend. I hope you will enjoy these linocuts. Linocuts are similar to woodcuts but are made with linoleum blocks rather than wood blocks. You might also be interested in visiting
The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art during the exhibit of the artrist Antonio Frasconi's woodcuts.

Mozart

I love to listen to Mozart, one of my favorite composers, while painting tissue papers in my studio. Sometimes I turn the music up so loud so that it surrounds me.

A number of years ago, I created scenery and costumes for a semi-staged production of The Magic Flute by The Springfield Symphony Orchestra. It was a very exciting project to be involved in and one of the most memorable things I have ever done. I painted panels of Tyvek (the material that houses are wrapped in during construction) on the floor of my studio.



There is a little video of me painting tyvek for a mural project on my web site.

In The Magic Flute production, long banners of various lengths and shapes were hung above the stage and unfurled like huge bolts of color during the performance. All of the costumes for this production were made from painted Tyvek as well!

The Very Busy Spider Turns 25!

Happy Birthday my very hard-working friend.

Despite the many diversions in life, we must do our work!

The spider in my book is busy spinning her web so she can catch the fly, which in the end she does. You may have noticed when you touch the pages of this book, that the spider, web and fly are raised. This is a design feature that is meant to draw your attention to the spider and her task at hand. I am still pleased by this quiet and word-less recognition of all of her efforts.

Migration

Bobbie and I have recently migrated south. We are enjoying the warmth and sun in Florida (even though it hasn't been as warm as previous years) and our life near the ocean. The view of the water, watching the birds and creatures who live here, time in my studio. It is good to be back and to feel relaxed in the way we have come to associate with our Florida home.

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!