{Illustration} experiments with pencil shavings...

What do you do with your pencil shavings? Marta Altes experiments with them! I kept seeing these fun & clever illustrations pop up on pinterest & I finally looked up her website. It appears that she has a cool picture book coming out in February called, "I am an artist". I'm interested in seeing more of her work- I like her style. How about you? 

Hope you had a creative weekend!

Marta Altes Illustration: here

{Maurice Sendak} Sayer's Book Corner #11

When I read in the NY Times this morning about Maurice Sendak passing away at age 83, there was a pang in my heart. Anyone that knows me or has been reading this blog, knows my love for this man. I think his contribution to children's literature, among other things, is incredible & his artistic voice will be sorely missed. I'm only happy to pass it on to Sayer though his books & my memories of first reading them.

{Maurice & Jack Sendak 1956 - from the jacket of Circus Girl}

While I've loved his books & illustrations for a long time, it wasn't until I saw the 2010 documentary, Tell Them Anything You Want, that I became just as interested in him as a person. I learned that Higglety Pigglety Pop! was inspired by his own dog (& his favorite book along with The Night Kitchen) who also makes an appearance in Where the Wild Things Are. He also looked up to his older brother Jack. They wrote stories, drew, & made toys together. Ever since watching this documentary (which I now own & watch from time to time)  I've been on a mission to collect his books & learn more. Writing a post about Maurice Sendak is exercising every editing bone in my body right now. I could go on a scanning binge that would keep me occupied for days. But with restraint, here are a few illustrations & thoughts. 

{Illustration from Higglety Pigglety Pop!}

{Illustration from Where the Wild Things Are}

{Sendak illustration from A Kiss for Little Bear by Else Holmelund}

{Self Portrait - LA Times }

My favorite Maurice Sendak discovery/memory was when I was a kid (I'm thinking around middle school). It was a tradition to go to the Pacific Northwest Ballet's, Nutcracker with my mom & grandma. I remember so vividly the first year that Maurice Sendak did the sets for the ballet. His interpretation is truly stunning & how I will always remember the Nutcracker. My mom bought me the book that year for Christmas. (The nutcracker looks a lot like Sendak's self portrait don't you think?)

{Illustration from Nutcracker - story by E.T.A. Hoffman 1984}

I had this idea to have a bit of a Maurice Sendak reading marathon today with Sayer. I explained that it was a nice way to pay tribute to the man who wrote & illustrated so many of our favorite books. When I asked him what book we should start with, the answer was, The Night Kitchen. While we didn't "read" all of them, we poured through them. Sayer ended the night listening to Carol King's, Really Rosey cd as he fell asleep.

"Hello,   

As you probably noticed, I went away forever. I am very experienced now and very famous. I'm even a star. everyday I eat a mop, twice on Saturday. It's made of salami and that is my favorite. I get plenty to drink too, so don't worry. I can't tell you how to get to Castle Yonder because I don't know where it is. But if you ever come this way, look for me.   

Jennie"  

- Epilogue from Higgley Pigglety Pop

!

Thanks for years of inspiration Maurice...

Some more Sendak love:

NPR - Fresh Air - interview with Sendak here 

Sayer's Book Corner #1 - The Nutshell Library - La Petite Magazine - here

{music monday} cool illustration...

I was drawn to the illustration by Celeste Potter in this Sarah Blasko video first  - but find that all of it stuck with me.  Happy Music Monday!  I'm heading into the studio on this rainy Monday. What are you up to?

{Inspiration} Mary Blair...

Mary Blair's art has inspired me for a really long time, but I didn't always know it. Whether it was through my Golden Books that she had illustrated or Disney's,  Alice in Wonderland, I was aware of her illustrations & way with color at an early age. 

It was visiting Disneyland as a 4th grader & getting to see, It's a Small World  that made the biggest impact me artistically though. This is actually a photo that I recently found - I had taken it on one of my Disneyland visits as a kid (I only went a few times). I'm not really sure what year- but in the 80's. It's a Small World really knocked my socks off & I often thought about how I could try to reconstruct it (while listening to the Disney record of course). 

As an adult I still enjoy her illustrations & creative vision- along with appreciating It's a Small World even more. Happy 100th Birthday Mary Blair!  


Another inspiring Mary Blair video link
www.magicofmaryblair.com


Have a great weekend!

{Good Read} Anorak + Alain Gree = LOVE

What happens when a new & innovative children's magazine & press pairs up with a favorite children's book illustrator? Perfection, that's what. 

"PLOC Magazine is the happy mag for little ones (kiddos from 3yrs-8yrs old) that contains tons of games & coloring stories for budding readers - & published by the gorgeous Anorak Press & illustrated exclusively by Alain Gree. 

I've been a fan of Alain Gree's illustrations for awhile now & have even have found a few lovely vintage Gree books for Sayer over the years.  I just learned about the children's magazine, Anorak this summer & was delighted with the 2 issues that I purchased. You can imagine how excited I was to hear about PLOC!

 

It definitely passed the Sayer test. These were his favorite 4 features on first read. They couldn't be more perfect for his interests right now. While this is a UK publication, the world wide web allows all of us to partake in the fun. Definitely a favorite find & good read. Hope you are finding time to relax & curl up with a good magazine or book this weekend!


Visit Anorak here.
{new l/s rabbit tee here}

{Paper} Gemeo Luis paper illustrations...

I really miss living in NYC sometimes. Particularly when it comes to being able to visit art galleries & museums on a regular basis. However, the wonderful thing about the internet is that I  can travel every day & visit all sorts of interesting exhibits all over the world- with one click. I just learned about an illustrator named Gemeo Luis {via the art room plant} who makes incredible paper cut images. While looking though his website I found that I was really interested in the variety of his  exhibition category. The way "Cutting Dreams" was hung & presented was really intriguing. I would love to see it in person. I'm sure the shadows were really cool. He seems very aware of playing off of them (which is one of my favorite things about an installation exhibition). 

He seems to very much like the viewer to interact with his work (which I'm also a big fan of). I love the idea of having the book that the framed original illustration is from, underneath for the viewer to enjoy. This appears to be an exhibit  called "Drawings" in an art center.  I think I would sit in that corner & flip through his lovely books for a long time. How about you? 

{all photos www.gemeoluis.com}

{Good Read} Tomi Ungerer...

{Tomi Ungerer}

I had a chance to pop into one of my favorite shops called IDEAL a few weekends ago. (Last October, I had a trunk show at IDEAL & posted about it here if you would like a peek into the shop.) I was actually meeting up with one of the two owners, Lisa to hang out & chat about design, books & motherhood that day. But, I fit in a browse through the shop before we left & ended up purchasing two books, Moon Man & The Three Robbers. Lisa is a lover of children's books too & recommended them, plus I was immediately drawn to the illustrations. When I got home, I realized that I had another book illustrated by Tomi Ungerer called, Snail, where are you?, that I got for Sayer a long time ago. Lisa had also reminded me about another one of his books, Crictor, that I remembered really liking as a kid. So it appears that I've enjoyed his work for a some time now.

{The Three Robbers}

{Moon Man}

{Snail, where are you?}

{Crictor}

A few days after I bought those cool Tomi Ungerer books at IDEAL, I stumbled on this post  when I was cruising through my favorite blogs. Not only did I  become even more enchanted with this artist & writer, but I discovered that I had just bought a book that he had illustrated (but didn't write) in the $1 bin at the thrift store a week prior called, Seeds and More Seeds. The illustrations are more like Crictor & I also liked the style of  typography.

I always enjoy learning about artists & writers and finding little interviews like this one. I can officially say that I'm a Tomi Ungerer fan. Are you? 

*Click here to see who the winner of the 5 Creative Bundle Competition is. Due to the interest in this competition, I posted on Wednesday rather than waiting for Fabric Friday. 


Hope you have a great weekend! Do you have anything fun planned?

{Good Read} vintage books & la petite issue #3 ...

It's finally out - the much anticipated 3rd issue of la petite magazine launched this morning and it's just beautiful! I'm particularly excited to share that I contributed an article about my love of vintage books & illustrations.  I can't wait to sit down, take a break, & read it cover to cover because there are so many wonderful contributors in this issue like: Florence Rolando (Pirouette blog), Karine Candice Kong (Bodie and Fou), Molly Meg, Jennifer Arndt (Style Milk) and Holly Becker (Decor 8 ) -to name a few. 

Diving into my collection of books to write this article was so much fun. But taking the pictures for it was my favorite part of the process. Thanks to Rachelle for including me among some truly inspirational contributors. 

If you stopped by for Fabric Friday, don't worry- you can get your textile fix for the week here. 

*I also wanted to mention that the very cute hat that Sayer is wearing in the photos is handmade by Armelle for Pure Pixie. 

{Fabric Friday} new discovery...moomin

Last week I read a blog post that started me on a research tangent that was quite fun. Thanks to my blog friend Carmel, I now know who Tove Jansson is. I really enjoyed reading about her and hope to a research a little more. Here is a quick description from the Moomin website for those that don't know who she is.

Tove Marika Jansson 1914-2001

A Swedish-speaking Finn who enjoyed a diverse career as an author, painter, graphic artist, caricaturist and comic strip artist. She was the creator of the much-loved Moomin books.

{first two photos via here}

I admit that I was unaware of what Moomin was, but now I do & am a little smitten with the comic strip, the woman who drew it, & the fabric that came from it...

I know I would've eventually learned about Moomin through my never ending quest for  Marimekko fabric & love of Finnish design. I've seen some of these images and been intrigued before. So, I'm glad my introduction was from Carmel's blog. (She was also the woman who tipped me off on the vintage Marimekko Bo Boo comforter I bought for Sayer recently). I was excited when I found a Moomin textile shop (that specializes in vintage Moomin) on Etsy called Tillukka.  All of these fabrics & photos are from this shop as well. What do you think? Are you a Moomin fan?  Happy first Fabric Friday of 2011!   

{Good Read} The Snowy Day...

When I found out about the event today called, Read for the Record, I definitely wanted to participate with Sayer. The organization hopes to set a new world record for the greatest number of people reading the same book on the same day. The Snowy Day is their choice and it's one of my all time favorite books. I still have my copy that was given to me in 1976. My hope was for us to go to our local Children's Museum for one of their 2 readings today. However, Sayer has a bit of a cold & we decided to stay at home, close to the tissue box.  We thought we would hold our own reading and wondered if you would like to read along. 

This book had such a big impact on me artistically. I remember vividly, being really smitten by the illustrations and becoming quite interested in collage after seeing them. I can also remember trying to copy some of them in grade school. My favorite image as a child, was the bathtub. I loved the the shape, the tiled floor, the bubbles, and the colors. If you click on to this Read for the Record link, you can also watch a reading of the story. Thanks for reading with us. I hope you enjoyed this book!