Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category

Happy Monday!

We’re back from  another vacation visiting family. This time to my back East home right outside of DC as well as to the beach. A perfect getaway right before summer’s end! So we are getting (slowly) back into the swing of things, but all the while missing all the extra hugs and kisses and wonderful company of parents and siblings.

Taking a time-out to be with family always gives me a chance to reflect on how happy I am. I adore my husband, my children, my home, my church….my life!  And yesterday, as I was teaching Sunday School to our group of 13 year old’s somewhere along the topic of “It’s All About Your Attitude” and “You Can Choose to be Happy” we watched this clip and this clip which always get me in that grateful mood. There is so  much to be grateful for!

And I made these little bumper sticker reminders, which I have had on my fridge for years. Sometimes you need a good reminder when you’re grabbing that glass of milk.

But, if you have a baby Ella, you get the reminder every day. I guess I just keep the sticker up for when I can’t see her charming face…which actually is this sunshin-y every day. Man, I love her!

Oh, and feel free to download the sticker and print it for your own personal use.

Well….happy Monday! Hope you are having a joyful day!

We moved into our new house in April, but something about it being a major fixer-upper (like we’re talkin’ floor to ceiling fixer uppper) mixed with spending the year learning how to illustrate a picture book and getting used to life with 3 kids, has translated into a whole lot of non-decorating. Ugh. How I can’t wait to get my hands onto some vintage furniture to paint and some curtains to sew. We’re getting there. But in the mean time, I’ve been collecting things to help me get ready for when I have a few free hours (or dare I say it…an entire Saturday?) to get our place some personality of it’s own.

As much as I love dreaming up the Master bedroom and living room, the kid’s room always gets me most excited. Here’s some great finds I can’t wait to get my hands on:

New favorite maps from These are Things. Letterpress and Gorgeous!

My favorite designer, Rie Elise Larsen.  I love these hanging lamps. Too bad I don’t speak Danish.

Loving the pop of these pillows. Image here.

A nice way to enter a room.

Inspired by yellow.

It’s gonna be a while till I can buckle down and create some fun spaces. But I can’t help boiling ideas in my head!

There are really old people in my life who really aren’t old.

They love learning. They are constantly curious. They keep developing new skills. They love to read. They are still making new friends. They still love watching the sunset. They have to create.  They love to serve people.

I want to be one of those people. I am aging another year next week and I have been rather contemplative of my aging body. 31 is getting up there!

But this year, my motto is Create and Learn and Play more!

Feel free to download this here and print it out. Happy creating!

I found this book last week. And it changed me.

Sounds of Color, written and illustrated by Jimmy Liao a very different picture book than you’ve ever seen. It’s about a girl who goes blind, and is on a journey to find her home of light and color. She takes these subway trains from station to station and we get to see what she imagines her journey to look like. It’s breathtaking. Each page is filled with the possibilities of what could be, since she can’t see what is in front of her.  This book will capture your heart. Jimmy Liao, the author and illustrator, paints with his soul. He taught me this week as I discovered this book, that color and light bring so much joy and comfort to us each day, and he illustrates that with all he has.

I haven’t yet read this to my children. It’s long at 80 pages, although it’s mostly pictures and the text is very brief. But I have been so moved by it that I have to recommend it. It would be a wonderful way to help your children understand their gift of sight.

The book was originally written in Chinese and published in Taiwan. The english translation is beautiful, but I can only imagine how gorgeous it must be in it’s native language. According to the end credits of the book, SOUNDS OF COLOR has been adapted into a stage play as well as a motion picture.

Just listen to the text.

It begins:

“A year ago
I began to notice
that my sight was slipping away.
I sat at home alone
and felt the darkness settle around me.
But today I walked outside
into the thin gray rain
and made my way to the subway.
I have a journey to go on.
There are some things
I need to find.”

“I have forgotten how blue the sky can be. But in my mind I still watch the clouds change shape.”

“Sometimes the streets twist themselves into a maze.”

“I never know if this station is the same as it was yesterday. Did it change overnight? Grow into something new?”

“Now I listen for the sound of the colors I can’t see. I try to smell the shapes, taste the light and dark.”

“There must be someone who’ll sit beside me, sip tea, tell me her hopes for the future, and listen to mine.”

This week, I have been reminded of the incredible gift of sight. As an artist, it’s my favorite sensory experience. This sweet story will inspire you to see all that you can and look deeper into the gift of color and light.

Enjoy!

So, I need to tell you where I am at the moment. Well, I am here, at my computer of course. But I am in the middle of the FOR YOUNG READERS writing and illustrating week long course in Salt Lake City, Utah. Which basically translates to: I’m in heaven and I don’t want to come back. My last post about having to balance family and creativity? This is one of those weeks where I get to feast on days mostly full of creativity, and I hope the meal lasts a long time!

I’ll share more about the experience soon, but before I do, I wanted to share some of the books I have come to love this week.

Kevin Hawkes is the illustration instructor that I have been so fortunate to spend 20 hours with this week, along with 12 other talented students who are just as hungry as I am for learning.He is a brilliant artist, father of 5, loyal New Englander and has a great sense of humor. It is really delightful to spend the week with someone who has spent over 20 years painting at home (in an open studio by the way….with kids around and all) who not only loves what he does, but is wonderfully successful.

So, if you are at the library or bookstore this week, you will LOVE THESE:

You may know him from this New York Best Seller. One of our family’s favorites.

He wrote and illustrated these “Toddlah” books about a baby in Maine who is exceptionally large and all the funny ways to deal with raising him. My kids love it. They even say it with the accent, and it’s delightful.

And, the sequel (which I was able to see in class, but won’t come out until April 2011) is even more delightful:

Other books of his you will LOVE:

This is perfect for spring time and summer with all the butterflies out. My daughter slept with this book last night, she loved it so much.

This is  a wordless picture book which is really fun to spend time looking at. I love the colors!

You’ll love the whimsicality in his illustrations and his attention to really fun details. Happy reading!

Thanks for all your comments on the up and coming book! It really is odd to be working on a project that I can’t really talk about for a while….the process of creating a children’s book is so collaborative and involves so many layers of production. It’s a truly amazing industry! So as hard as I am working now, it won’t even hit the stores for a year and a half. And I’ve actually been working on this for a year! I have a whole new level of appreciation when I browse the children’s book section at the bookstore. Honestly….these people dedicate whole chunks of life to those pages! It’s wonderful and amazing.

Really, though. Thanks for all your kinds words and support. It means so much to me. I’ll share more as soon as I can!

In the mean time though, isn’t this room darling? Amy sent it to me after she framed the SUMMER TEA PARTY print in her daughter’s room. She is an amazing quilter too, and sells her quilting kits on ETSY. I have one of her quilt kits sitting in a bag. I bought it for Ella when I was pregnant (you know how you get so excited about projects when you are nesting and pregnant, and then you’re too tired and fat to do them? And then when you have the baby you are too exhausted and deleriously sleep deprived to do them? Ya. That was me. Ella is 11 months, and her baby quilt is sitting in a bag.) Anyways….if you are unlike me, and actually finish the projects you intend to do, you’ll be so happy with her kits. And if you are like me, and don’t finish, thankfully she sells her quilts too. Don’t you love her colors?

Hope your all having a great week! The snow here thankfully subsided and there might be hope of sunny weather soon. Might being the key word.

Flowers in her hair has become her new thing. We moved into a yard with all sorts of magical wild flowers and ‘weeds’ that we continue to discover. Good thing we enjoyed them yesterday before today’s snow storm. Yes….snow storm. Please send your condolences.

-Butter and Milk-

-royal bouquet-

-she stands-

-bedtime artwork-

-my favorite smell-

-true love-

-toes feel everything-

-always together-

I’m in final art mode for A Christmas Goodnight (Fall 2011) and I thought I’d share with you some images I have in my studio to get the juices going. The book is full of wonderful color and texture, and though the characters in these images have nothing to do with the subject I am working with, the line and color inspires me.  It’s so important for me to have visual inspiration for the projects I work on. It gets me right in the mood!

Image via Bibliodyssey

Image via Bibliodyssey

Mauric Sendak from “The Art of Maurice Sendak”

This has been in my files forever….can’t find the reference! Let me know if you know!

EDIT: William Joyce from MY FIRST BOOK OF NURSERY TALES

Image from Kevin Henkes upcoming book via Greenwillow Press Blog.

Maurice Sendak, Moon Jumpers

Rosemary Wells, Original Art

And a little Van Gogh, Starry Night