Tag Archives: children’s book

2010 The Year to Finish Projects

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I plan this year to finish the five major writing or writing related projects that I’ve been working on.
One: complete the editing of my biography about the life and times of Maria Sybilla Merian, a woman who captured my heart because she played with caterpillars all of her life, was a very important part of the development of the field of entomology, did her own meticulous research, and became famous. She persevered and did all of this even though everything was stacked against her. What a gal!
Two: finish the illustrations for a children’s book written by Beverly Crandall.
Three: complete the last bit needed for my picture book about Maria Sybilla Merian, and send the dummy book out searching for a publisher.
Four: send out a children’s book I have written about a ghost’s discovery that he is a ghost.
Five: complete the writing of a 50,000 word mystery novel during the month of January, even though I have a slow start right now. : )

March Exhibit at the Creamery

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This month’s art exhibit at the Creamery, Springfield, MO, will kick off at the First Friday Artwalk. It will feature works created by members of the Artists’s Way groups. I have two items in the show. One is a watercolor I painted that embodies Amelia Island for me with its sand dunes, birds, and lighthouse. The second is a print from a pen and ink illustration done for a children’s book that was published in Holland in 2008.

The Magic of Illustration

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I’ve had two vacations this summer, each one working its own magic of relaxation a bit differently.   But  the most magical time of this summer washed over me and engulfed me completely  while I was totally absorbed in a delightful new children’s book.  It began in Honderdland with a little boy named Matthijs.

I read it once for the story itself, enjoying and appreciating the author’s imagination.  Then I read it again with an eye for what would make a good illustration….

My hand reached for the mechanical pencil I use for sketching.  It seemed a bit slow at first–it always does–as I  sketched  a variety of faces for possible use.   Then an idea for an illustration came.  As I worked on that one, another  idea crowded in followed by others.   Soon I was very busy.

The creative process took over.  I am constantly amazed by it.  I start out with an idea; I’m in control of that idea…well, for awhile anyway.  Then suddenly the drawing, the illustration, the painting, demands to be changed.  It doesn’t want that bush, cloud, or color there, or it wants darker trees in the foreground; or it won’t stay just a small drawing, it refuses to be complete without more added to it.  Or it says no to all the color I had planned, or it cries out for more color than I had planned.  The details I worked so hard on just don’t fit or draw attention away from where it should be and have to be taken out.  The passage of time means nothing.   My whole focus is this emerging creation.  It’s an enjoyable challenge.  It’s my  high.

This particular project is now complete; it’s at the publisher.  Matthijs in Honderdland, by Inge de Graaf, illustrated by Nancy Dailey, will be out soon.   😀      Woohoo!