Passing the time as a child studying the clouds as they billowed down, under, across, and over in the daytime sky to see what shapes of animated animals I could see in them is my earliest recollection of using my brain and sensory perceptions to create what it is I do for children through my art for the very young.
This led to hours of drawing and coloring with watercolor, tempera, pastels, and later creating with more sophisticated mediums of pen and inks, collage, gouache, and the fine papers that enhance these. Some art lessons later and nearing the completion of high school, I abandoned my interest to study art to become a teacher of art and completed my BS in favor of a strand that enabled me to complete a career teaching grades 1-8. This included teaching during the whole language movement. My interest in children's literature and especially the illustrations was more as a parent of my two children, Darcy and Abraham and from the vantage point as a teacher. Throughout this period of time, I became familiar with the Caldecot champions of the visual with their own distinct styles. Studying these and others that appealed to me continued to wet my appetite. In between reading to Darcy and Abraham and using literature to teach in the classroom, I managed to find some time to draw and paint some pictures. In December of 1988, I produced a set of original Christmas ornaments depicting the literary characters familiar to my children. These included Strega Nona, James with his giant peach, Max from where the Wild Things Are, Karina, survivor of the Island of the Blue Dolphins, Cornelius and Frederick from Leo Lionni's collages, and a Polar Express Bear and special gift. In the 1970's following my move with my husband, Michael, to Belmont, I often passed through Cambridge, the location of my subway connection to my frequent trips to Boston, I would stop and walk around Harvard Yard and visit the Harvard Coop to study the prints of the masters there. Nearby was a delightful shop that sold good quality cards. It was in that shop that I became familiar with the different mediums of pen and ink, sketches and drawings in charcoal, batik,silkscreen, woodblock, linoleum prints, watercolor,etc. These trips are what sparked my interest in learning more about the process of these mediums.
Throughout the following years up until the birth of our first child, Darcy, I worked on mastery of technique. Most of my art for children was done in pen and ink highlighted with natural colors used in my baking. This work began to reflect a more professional look. |
||||
