THE BLOG
Authorpaloozas and School Vists
Sherry Meidell, Matthew Kirby, Christine Graha
It’s been a busy week. I met students from Rowland Hall at the Sugarhouse Barnes and Nobles Authorpalooza. There were 19 authors and illustrators. I sat with Matthew Kirby and Christine Graham. I signed “Emma Jo’s Song” and “The Centaur”. Matthew signed “The Clockwork Three” and Christine Graham singed her “Peter Peter Picks a Pumpkin House” The students were very polite and it was fun to do a sketch in their autograph books.
I was also able to do a school visit at West Bountiful Elementary Literacy Night on Thursday. I read from “Full Steam Ahead” by Faye Gibbons and demonstrated sketching. We had one minor faceplant which caused one bloody nose. You never know what a school visit will bring. It looked something like this:
Authorpalooza
Where: Barnes and Nobles Sugarhouse Book Store, 1104 E. 2100 S., Sugarhouse, Utah
Monday, October 18
3:30-6:00
1104 East 2100 South
Nineteen Utah authors are coming. I will be signing two of my Picture books, “The Centaur” by May Swenson and “Emma Jo’s Song” by Faye Gibbons
We also will have an “authorgraph book” for each child to fill with signatures. Those kids who get a completed book will receive a prize. It sounds like a party. Come and join the fun.
Sherry Meidell
Death of the Picture Book
The New York Times had an article on “Picture Books No Longer a Staple for Children” by Julie Bosman. The gist of the article was that picture books languish as parents push big kid books. This seems to be the death of the picture book and as a picture book illustrator I could not be happier. I have been illustrating books long enough to have lived through the death of Young Adult Literature. Young adults were reading adult books and there never, ever, again, in the history of the earth would ever be YA books and don’t even think about submitting them because we are not looking at “those” books. Now look what has happened to Young Adult Literature. The market is hot and every editor is looking for the next YA manuscript and they keep coming.
That gives me hope for the picture book. Since they have “died”, maybe a resurgence is in the near future. The picture book brings something to a child that no other book can bring. It is the combining of words and pictures in a way that can get a child thinking about his or her world. They can see the beauty in a Lion and a Mouse on the African Serengeti and see things in the pictures that the words do not tell. They can raise the biggest bear and live through the problems that can happen when a bear gets into the bacon and hams in the Pennell’s smoke house. They can have trouble with their friend rabbit and get into trouble taking a bawth on the 18th floor of the Plaza Hotel. Not all learning can be measured by a test. There is a lot to be learned by sitting in a loving parent’s lap and traveling to far off places in a picture book. There is a joy from hearing the rhythm and rhyme of words tripping off the tongue of the reader. There is a warmth that comes from sharing the pictures and words with another. There is a broadening of imagination when the brain takes off on a journey that the words and pictures began. So let’s hear it for the picture book and lets take the time to share them with those little critters that we love. Some of us have never out grown our love of the picture book.
www.sherrymeidell.com
“The Lion & The Mouse” by Jerry Pinkney
“The Biggest Bear” story and pictures by Lynd Ward
“My Friend Rabbit” by Eric Rohmann
“Eloise Takes A Bawth” drawings by Hilary Knight
Warming Up
When I played catcher for a fast pitch softball team, the pitcher always had to warm up before the game. The first pitches could be pretty wild and over my head but the more she pitched the more she burned them right into my mitt. I’ve notices when I sketch, the same thing happens. The first few sketches are not quite there but the more I sketch, the more my eye and hand and brain seem to work together. So I guess it’s also a good idea to warm up a bit when you are sketching. You can sketch from real life which gets your observation skills working. You can sketch from your imagination which is a great way to warm up your creativity. Illustrations end up being a combination of both reality and what is in your head. We shouldn’t be afraid of the sketches that are made before we warm up because they lead us to where we want to be. The sketch book becomes a great place to preserve both types of sketches for future use in an illustration. Was the above illustration from reality or my imagination? Or was it a combination of memory, reality and imagination? No matter where it began, I discovered it in my sketch book.
Line
In his book “Drawing with Your Artist’s Brain” , Carl Purcell says, “But apart from its role in describing edges, the line has character of its own. It can be bold or delicate, energetic or graceful.” The artist chooses the line and what it says but the line also reveals things about the artist. Is the artist confident? Does the artist know how to draw or is he copying? Does the line come from within the artist or is it coming from the fingertips? Is the artist worried about messing up this drawing and having to start all over again? Line can define our drawings but it also defines the creator of the line.
Trumpet
Well I’m trying my first Illustration Friday. I guess the proverb shouId read, “A bear is at his tallest, when he stoops to help his cub.
I was riding my bike down the local trail a while back when something caught my eye. My brain switched from the bike ride to writing a picture book. It’s amazing what will trigger an idea. So I’ve been working on writing and making pictures for the book. Now it’s time to send the little book dummy off and see if I get any nibbles. You can see a book trailer at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMeKfNmCNw