I really love her work, and so I was tickled to come across this very sweet little video about the making of her book What is a Child. Worth a peek, especially if you are an illustrator and love to see how others do it! True inspiration.
Moody Pachyderms
Every now and then I find my way to the printmaking studio of my friend Wendy Orville, and I spend my time making stuff like this. Cathartic messy wonderful monotype printmaking! A small collection of my moody pachyderms will be on display at the Bainbridge Arts and Crafts Gallery during the month of March, along with the work of several other talented printmakers, including my talented friends Karen Cornell and Tracy Lang. Opening festivities are this coming Friday March 7, 6-8. Stop by and have a look!
How to Use Shrek As a Model for a Laughing Teacher
Okay, this will be quick. But it's good lesson.
A few minutes ago, I was working on a drawing that features a lot of laughing people, including a teacher. I was really unhappy with the way the teacher's body language looked. (I find adult body language somewhat harder to capture than kids'.) So, on a whim, I grabbed my copy of William Steig's Shrek, flipped through the many pages of expressive body language that Shrek uses, and voila! I found a laughing Shrek. Just what I needed to improve my own sketch of a laughing teacher. Better, yes?
Keep your mentors at your side at all times, people!
Birthday Party for a Birthday Party Book!
My picture book Two Speckled Eggs, a story about a friendship discovered at a birthday party, is going to have a couple of birthday parties of it's own!
Join me if you can to celebrate the launch of my very first picture book on Tuesday April 22, 7 pm at Secret Garden Books in Seattle, and/or on Sunday April 27 at 3 pm at Eagle Harbor Books on Bainbridge Island.
Spend a Little, Get a Lot
Sometimes you have to spend a little to get a lot. That is what I tell myself every time I fork over the dough to attend another children's literature conference or a retreat. And the investment is always worth it, although the return is often completely unmeasurable. A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be a part of a warm and wonderful retreat for published authors and illustrators, and yes, I did have to fork over a little dough to attend, AND, I spent my birthday weekend away from my loving family.
And it was worth every penny, and almost every loving complaint about my absence. Over that far too short weekend, I gained camraderie, insight, pounds (yes-the food was excellent), new titles for my to-be-read list, friends, contacts, resources, skills, and confidence. Some of these gains are measurable (unfortunately in the case of pounds) and some are not. But I am richer for all of them. And grateful. And inspired. And freshly aware of what makes my writer engine hum-which is probably the most valuable insight I could have gained.
I also came home with a few small but HUGE new skills in photoshop and wonderful insights into digital painting, as taught to us by the very talented Christopher Denise. Just a few clicks of the mouse on his big monitor, and whole new worlds opened up to we who were watching.
Anyway, here's a little sketch experiment using one of my simple and almost dumb new photoshop skills.
And here is the wonderful book recommended to me by a wacky Brit that I know, Hazel Mitchell. I am not an absolute beginner, but I have taught myself what I know, and that is not much. So it is wonderful to have incredibly useful new vocabulary and tools at my finger tips! Feels almost like it was written just for me, not quite a luddite, but a sort of reluctant adopter. Now less reluctant!
New Website-a work in progress!
If you have visited here in the past, you can see now that I have switched things up a little! A little spring cleaning, I guess. I consider this website a work in progress, especially as I learn to use squarespace.com. If you've got tips and hints for me, I'd love to hear them. Meanwhile, have a look around, and check back from time to time to see things improve!
Happy New Year's Birds
Not sure what my ongoing fascination with birds is all about.
My perceptive son made the comment that perhaps I should channel this fascination into a picture book project. Just might try that on for size.
Usually these are tiny advent birds, for my own children's advent calendar. This year they are bigger New Year's birds. (I did still make tiny advent paintings, just not birds.)
Great Blue Heron
Quail (and yes she is wearing pearls, because they go with her hat)
Sandpiper
Merganser
And here are some of the little tiny paintings I made to fit into the tiny little pockets of my children's advent calendar. These are just about 1 1/4" by 1 1/4". My children are now teenagers, and they still love these little surprises.
Happy New Year, all!
XO
Jen
Here is a book I love.
It is called Jane, the fox & me, written by Fanny Britt, and illustrated by Isabelle Arsenault.
WOOT! WOOT!
Book launch!
Finally, a blog post.
Hello! And welcome back to The Blog That Time Forgot.
Or that Jen forgot.
I really haven't forgotten. I've just been feeling really shy! It's funny how when you finally get a chance to toot your horn because your efforts have resulted in something worth tooting about, you (I) get all tongue tied and pigeon toed. Hands behind your back, toe in the dirt. Nothing to write about. Nothing to report on. It's tough to be a horn-tooter! I know you know what I mean.
But toot my horn I must. Because it would be a shame to hide the fact that I have finally realized a long held dream! And because it would be a shame to keep the end result of the hard work and the long hours, and the blood, sweat and tears, a secret.
Biggest and most exciting on my horizon is my very first ever book launch party with George Shannon for our picture book, Turkey Tot! George and I will be celebrating on November 3, at 3 pm at Eagle Harbor Books. If you are in the area, stop by for some blackberry treats, and maybe you will even learn how to make your very own blackberry picking stilts!
Kirkus Reviews had some nice things to say about Turkey Tot, which is a picture book for the preschool set:
"A determined turkey gets the sweet, juicy, high-hanging berries.
Turkey Tot is wandering about the bucolic farmstead—the reader winningly transported there via Mann’s easy-handed, dark-lined, watercolor-washed artwork—where he lives with his friends Chick, Pig and Hen, in search of something to eat. Blackberries beckon, but they are too high to reach. So Turkey Tot looks about for some way to access the berries. His friends think all his ideas are cockamamie—and repeatedly so in Shannon’s polyphonic refrain: “You’re talking silly talk.” “We can’t reach the berries, and that is that.” “He’s been different since the day he hatched.” They decide to take a nap by the pond. But Turkey Tot will not be discouraged. Perhaps his first few ideas are a little off note—one has him finding a ball of string to which, he figures, he will tie a balloon and float Pig up to berryland—but he finally manages to wire all his different schemes together and snag the berries. Then he shares them with his uninspired comrades, which is more than the Little Red Hen would have done. Good for Turkey Tot: freethinking, resolved, generous.
And School Library Journal had some great things to say as well:
And I am daydreaming and doodling on a few other things as well. Stay tuned! I'll try to be less shy from now on.
It's a book!
These are my illustrator's copies of TURKEY TOT! What better incentive to finally clean up my dreadfully messy studio, than to make room for copies of one's VERY FIRST published book! And now I think I can safely share the cute cover of the book, because we are very close to the official pub date of October 15! (and if you just can't wait, you can order TURKEY TOT by George Shannon from amazon.com now). Inside you will find a cheerful undaunted Turkey Tot, and his silly, doubting companions, Hen, Pig and Chick.
Meanwhile, TWO SPECKLED EGGS is busy transforming itself into pages and covers, somewhere far away in another part of the world...
Tomorrow I head south to L.A. for the SCBWI International Conference. I am now the Illustrator Coordinator for our Western Washington chapter of SCBWI, so I will be diving headfirst into a day packed with meetings for people like me! I can endure a day of meetings when they are with my tribe! Then workshops and keynote speeches for three days, all about everything related to making books for kids. Then a day of Illustrator Intensive, which is just as it sounds. Then home.
And then summer is nearly over, and I have a few more fun things to do with my kids before they head back to school. Then I head back to the studio to power through the final art for the next picture book in line: I DEFINITELY WILL NEVER GET A STAR ON MRS BENSON'S BLACKBOARD.
And just because I can't resist, here's a peek at the camping, swimming (...well, floating), and campfire paella of last week. YUM!
Hey Ho!
This is the real deal: Turkey Tot, written by George Shannon, illustrated by me!! My very first published work as an illustrator! I am tickled pink, proud to be George Shannon's friend, and giddy with the feeling of a very significant FIRST! And, so mindful of how lucky I am to have this wonderful job. I couldn't love what I do more.
Tell me your birthday party stories!
As ever, I am so so tickled to be in such good company among the many awesome Pips.
Head on over there, and have a read! And then come back here, and tell me your birthday party stories!
The Next Big Thing Global Blog Tour!
The Next Big Thing is a global blog tour that got started in Australia to bring awareness to authors and illustrators and their current work. All kinds of cool people have participated--many of my friends have already been tagged! I was fortunate to be tagged by Anik McGrory to contribute this week. Others who have recently participated are Liza Woodruff, Michelle Edwards, and Dana Sullivan.
Each of us is asked to answer ten questions about a recent or upcoming book. So, I am going to tell you a bit about Two Speckled Eggs, which is coming out in the Spring of 2014.
Here goes:
1) What is the working title of your next book? Two Speckled Eggs
2) Where did the idea come from for the book? I got one of the ideas for this book when I came across a photo that my mom had taken of my own seven-year birthday party. So many memories, and questions, came to mind when I looked at that photo.
3) What genre does your book fall under? It is a picture book.
4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? I think maybe Cate Blanchett could be Ginger, and Sandra Bullock could be Lyla.
5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? Ginger’s not-so-happy-birthday party is made perfect with odd-girl-out-Lyla’s special gifts, including a bit of chocolate. (Whew! That is hard to do in one sentence!)
7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? I probably wrote the first draft in a day. But the final draft doesn’t really resemble the first draft, and getting to that took a while! Thank goodness for critique groups—I wouldn’t have a final draft or be here on this blog tour without mine!
8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? I like to think that this is sort of like Kevin Henkes books about Lily, or Owen, or Wemberly.
9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? Every children’s book author and illustrator whose work I have ever admired has inspired me to write this book. Some of my favorites are John Burningham, Oliver Jeffers, G.Brian Karas, Polly Dunbar, and William Steig.
10) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? This is my debut picture book as an author/illustrator and I am very, very excited about that!
Pinching Myself
Needless to say, just feeling the buzz at the ALA Mid-Winter conference was thrilling! I toured the exhibits with critique pals Margaret Nevinski and Dawn Simon. Fun to go with friends! Saw lots of other kidlit pals there too, including Paul Schmid, and Deb Lund, among many others.
Here is a photo of me, the book mock-up, and editor Grace Maccarone of Holiday House, on the floor at the ALA Mid Winter 2013 Exhibition and Conference:
In other news, tonight I am taking a red-eye to Vermont, where I will attend the Kindling Words East retreat for authors and illustrators! I am very excited about this--and I am lucky enough to go because I am a (soon-to-be) published author/illustrator of children's books (and I made it through the lottery)! The retreat is held at the The Essex/Vermont Culinary Institute, I wonder if food and merriment might be part of the alchemy! I heard a rumor that the oatmeal is outstanding. I think that this is a kidlit retreat tradition.
Kindling Words East happens to coincide with my birthday. Another author/illustrator-retreat-attendee Jennifer Goldfinger will be celebrating the exact same birthday there too. This is a milestone birthday for us, so we may be raising hot toddies in the pub to celebrate!!
And, best of all, I also get to spend a little time on the front end with my dear brother who lives near Essex, VT, and on the back end with my dear dad and step-mom who live in Western Massachusetts. And with my dear little boy (not so little at almost 12!) who is travelling with me to play in the snow for the weekend with his uncle. Hope there is snow!
And finally, I am nearing completion of the artwork for the first picture book written and illustrated by me. It is called TWO SPECKLED EGGS, and will be published by Candlewick Press in the spring of 2014. Here is a sneak peak at that art (which some of you may have seen in an earlier incarnation):
More tiny birds, some less tiny than others
For those who wonder, I do collage little bits of stuff in behind the paintings, because it helps me not to be so afraid of the "blank page." The "blank page" sounds like a funny thing to be afraid of, but it is like other unknowns that make us gulp and back away at first. Collaged bits of humor, love, hope, joy, light, color, and courage make the unknown approachable, not so fearsome, and maybe knowable.
At least that is how I feel after I paint these little tiny birds.
Wee Advent and New Year Birds
Dog, or Colonel Sanders?
Habits and Standards, who needs em?
Can I just tell you that this is not the easiest thing for me? I have spent years developing myself as an artist who proudly shuns standards and habits and describable processes!! My lack of discipline is--I tell myself--what sets my art apart!! (and creates such a mess in my studio)
Well, so, now the trick is to develop habits and standards that don't LOOK like habits and standards, that allow my art to retain the freshness of flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants spontaneity, that allow it to feel lively and layered and sort of organic or even unplanned. It's actually a fun new challenge, and I like that! I just wish I had a bigger studio, north facing skylights, a live-in photoshop coach, a color consultant, a techy sidekick who could make my printer and scanner and computer work perfectly, and an art supply store closer than an hour away.
Yeah. Life is really really good. But there is always something that could be better, isn't there? I don't ask for much.
This image is a little monotype/collage thingy I created of a Sandpiper. I didn't plan the process, but I think I could recreate this one. Maybe my habits and standards are more defined than I think.