A Pretzel Story

I recently read an article about pretzels in the New York Times that mentions a number of bakeries in New York City where one can buy fresh baked soft pretzels and a wonderful bakery in Northampton, MA called Bakery Normand. I have been a fan of good bread for a long time and I often enjoyed Normand's pretzel rolls among other treats in their shop when I lived in the small city in western Massachusetts. I like all kinds of breads and pastries and have baked some of my own in the past. I even wrote a book about a baker.

The NYT pretzel piece described the style of pretzels that come from the Baden-Württemberg region in Germany where I grew up in this way: "the pretzels are known for their fat 'bellies' and skinny, intertwined arms." My pretzel story, which also includes a little pretzel history, is called Walter the Baker. The story is based on the tale of how the pretzel was invented, which was told to me by my Grandmother when I was a boy. But I truly had an uncle named Walter who was a baker and who baked, along with all kinds of bread, cookies, cakes and rolls; pretzels!

Creative Crisis

Writer's block or any kind of "creative crisis" is part of being creative; it will never disappear. I have suffered from this "creative crisis" many times, and this is what I do.

I always start working on a book with my best intentions, but then, sometimes I encounter unsurmountable mental resistance. Early in my career I despaired when this occurred, but later on I discovered how to overcome this anguish.

The first step is simply to give in. I’d tell myself that, "Yes, it is true that I am not talented, that I cannot do it, that my brain has died and my sense of color is off."

After sleepless nights, and days of raving against my destiny, I may call my editor and tell her that I have “lost it” and will never do a book again. I surrender to my fate. And that is exactly the point where recovery happens and creativity starts to flow again!

The Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg

This spring, I was very honored to learn that I was one of 23 recipients to be awarded the Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg in Germany. On May 8, my sister Christa accepted this award on my behalf from the Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg which is the state in Germany where I lived as a child in the city of Stuttgart. The ceremony was held at the beautiful Ludwigsburg Schloss (castle) in a suite at the castle called "Order Saal", which means literally "Medal suite".


Here is Christa at the award ceremony earlier this month. The award is the highest medal for outstanding services in "political, social, cultural and economic fields" from the minister of the state of Wuerttemberg. I was truly humbled to receive this award and I would have very much liked to have been there in person. I am delighted by these photos.

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!