Golden Birds

I was gifted with this book yesterday, the little Golden Book of Birds. It's illustrated by Feodor Rojankovsky, one of my favorite illustrators of this era. The text by Hazel Lockwood is a cheerful, 1940's style conversation to the reader.

Rojankovsky had a lovely sense of composition and he does with birds what I strive to do as well. Render each bird with personality without tipping it into caricature. These are tweets to inspire!

I do love the whole history of Golden Books and you can read more about Rojankovsky, a frequent contributer to these gems, in a book I highly recommend called "Golden Legacy" by Leonard Marcus. It's "how Golden Books won children's hearts, changed publishing forever, and became an American Icon along the way".

Thank you Jennifer, my fellow Illustrative One!

Stop and smell the...

No time to smell the flowers! Summer schedule is in full swing, with every day a little different from the other. Just like in the garden. One thing blooms while another finishes. I wish I could scratch out this beautiful hollyhock- what a color. "Jane Austen Pink", I would call it. Don't know where I picked this plant up. Hollyhocks are those weird biannual bloomers, plant one year, get a bloom the next. Who has the patience for that??! But I must have done this, for here it is. Like one of those tissue paper roses we all made in grade school. Back to summer. Summer first, art second, but gardens always.

A Prairie Poem

I am Prairie, hear me sing,
Through the wind and on the wing.
My summer tune's a bright affair;
Winter's song is low and spare.
I am Prairie, green on stone,
grass and flower, earth to bone.

A Poet's Garden Observed in Chicago

I love to visit the Art Institute in Chicago. Nothing fills me with inspiration faster than an afternoon stroll around my favorite wings. You would think seeing all the displayed perfection from the Masters may be daunting to an artist, but on the contrary; I am empowered to go home and do my best in my own studio.

This month, along with the Van Goghs, I was strangely attracted to the fellow on-lookers of art. There is an invisible force about a collection of art. You don't have to be absorbed in one particular piece to feel it. No comment, gush, judgement or utterance is required. Just "to be" in the collection's presence is enough.

Mockingbird and Magnolia

The south has seen its share of weather hardship this spring. May the mockingbird amongst the magnolia be there to lift some spirits.

Little board book is here!

The little baptism book is now "in the House" at Augsburg Fortress Publishing! I was sent a sample a couple weeks ago and I'm happy with the end results. I grew to love this project, from the beautiful spare text that my friend Anne Ylvisaker wrote, to how the art looks on such sturdy pages. The book size (about 6 x 7) is so cute, too! "Small books for small hands", was Beatrix Potter's motto, and it fits.

Check it out in detail on the Augsburg Fortress site-

http://www.augsburgfortress.org

Back in Black

The neighborhood black squirrel population continues to grow this spring. A couple babies come around our feeder and I see other adults up the street. Only one in a thousand common squirrels are in this melanistic subgroup. During the summer months, they blend beautifully with the dense midwest woodland. In the winter, man, if you're a black squirrel in the snowy landscape, keep an extra watch out for owls!

Here's a little scratch of one. I'm planning to frame a few for my friend Patti's garden themed art show starting this weekend at Modela in Iowa City.