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Once again it's the glorious month of June, and the roses in my garden are at their glorious best. Here are a few photos.
This tree is a styrzx obassia... and I have an old rosebush climbing through it, to give our chickadees pleasant surroundings.
A mighty New Dawn climbing rose bush covers our garage roof. It is impenetrable and thorn-filled .
Here, the New Dawn climber watches over my garden.
A painting of the class in action done by student, Susan Klare.
I had a grand time with 13 fabulous students last weekend. They were all ready to spend a weekend learning more about watercolor. After a full day of exercises on Saturday, they painted their own pieces on Sunday. Here is one of the student paintings, a class portrait.
Below are pictures of most of the students, with their work in progress.
Susan and Whitney came for some artistic mom-daughter together time.
Here is an early version of Susan's class portrait.
Whitney is building up courage to add layers of paint.
Anna came with an amazing array of supplies, and she added energy to the weekend!
Jane expanded her color knowledge by working on color swatches.
Cheryl did a lovely scene of rocks, water and flowers.
Birch used resist techniques, and mixed red and green (complementary colors) to get his dark background.
The students had a wide range of backgrounds... from total beginners, to people who had some experience with watercolor but wanted to learn more, to experienced artists who were looking to learn another media.
Ben (how did I miss getting a picture of Ben!) drove up from DC for the weekend. He experimented with wet-on-wet and Yupo paper, and Miyoung created textured backgrounds with salt. Anne did a floral still life from a blooming kalanchoe. Lois worked on letterforms with delicate colors that she later planned to layer, overpaint, and even stitch into art pieces.
Several of the students enjoyed Waterfires after class on Saturday evening.
We had a photographer spend a few hours with us, so pictures of the class will probably show up in future RISD CE catalogs.
Thanks to all of the students for your creativity and enthusiasm! It was an exciting and fun weekend for me!
Lowry originally hoped for an absolutely flat sky, but her delicate clouds turned out even better.
Lynn did a painting of her grandparent's farm. She came all the way from Colorado to take summer classes at RISD-CE!
Alessandra took a break from law school to do several paintings.
© Cheryl Kirk Noll "Time Passes"
Warmest wishes to all during this "Polar Vortex." May your 2014 be productive, healthy and filled with peace and love.
A Happy and Joyous New Year to All!
This week's Illustration Friday has the prompt word: "TIME." How appropriate for a new year.
I'm floating on the automatic high of "starting fresh," as I do every January. Still, I'm posting an old piece... "Time Passes." Although it's remains one of my favorites, it is 13 years old! Perhaps I'll do an update in a decade or two!
I love teaching "The Book Dummy" at RISD CE. Every class is as exciting as the last, with students bringing in their own manuscripts and creating prototypes of their own children's book, called a "dummy" in the industry.
We begin with storyboards, small thumbnail sketches that help to create the design and pace of the book. Manuscripts are reworked (ie: slashed, revised, honed, refined, and on and on and on!!!)
Anne worked on a story written by her mother.
Alison's story was about Queen Elizabeth II's coronation.
Alison shared a quote she'd heard that summarized the class for her.
Twelve weeks passes quickly when you are turning a story into reality, with character development, color studies, layout, design, manuscript revision, and finished art.
It was a joy for me to watch each student bring their ideas into reality.
Roya and her husband Luc collaborated on a book about Colors.
Karen rewrote a Grimm's folktale.
Marcela's "Sisters" reflects her own experience of living in two different countries.
Jessica dummied up a poem by Peter S. Beagle, with the author's permission.
Sarita wrote her original manuscript in Marlo Garnsworthy's Children's Book writing class through RISD CE.
Rebecca's story was about growth and the cycle of life.
Illustration I and Book Dummy classes get together.
Lori Surdat Weinberg's Illustration I class joined us, and I look forward to
seeing many of them in a future Book Dummy class.
... and I brought my own dummy.
Illustrator Judith Moffatt and I traveled to New York to brunch with fellow illustrators and two Highlights for Children editors at the Society of Illustrators at 128 East 63rd Street in New York.
Founded in 1901, the Society's mission is to promote the art of illustration, to appreciate its history and evolving nature through exhibitions, lectures and education, and to contribute the service of its members to the welfare of the community in large.
photo from http://www.societyillustrators.org
Rose Mary Berlin arranged for a group to attend an elegant brunch buffet. My favorite part was the fellow who cooked a made-to-order omlette right at the buffet table. Of course, the buffet couldn't hold a candle to Highlights brunch!!
We then went to the "The Original Art" exhibit, which runs through December 21, 2013. It's an annual exhibit (founded by Dilys Evans in 1980) celebrating the fine art of children's book illustration. (How appropriate!)
This years show features 125 books selected by a jury of illustrators, art directors, and editors. This year’s Silver Medal winners are
Jon Klassen for The Dark
(Hachette Book Group / Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) and
Simona Mulazzani for I Wish I Had...
(Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. / Eerdmans Books for Young Readers). The Gold Medal winner is
Jennifer Yerkes
for A Funny Little Bird
(Sourcebooks / Jabberwocky).
Some of my favorite art was by Melissa Sweet, Molly Idle, Jill McElmurry, and Jason Chin.
I have a connection to Jason's family... one of those "red thread" stories, where you find yourself with ties to certain people throughout your life.
Jason's mother, Mary was a high-school friend in Delaware. His father, Ray was a grad student when I attended RISD, and taught one workshop in my illustration class. I've always credited Ray for teaching me how to do watercolor washes, and I use his lesson to this day to teach my students.
Ray and Mary's younger son, Michael was born on the same day as my son, Phil. The Chins moved to Lyme, NH, where another friend of mine lived, as well as Trina Schart Hyman.
Jason went to Syracuse, and I've followed his soaring career ever since. His art from "Island: A Story of the Galapogos" is stunning.
It was exciting to pore over the art of display. From oils to watercolor, cut paper to digital, all of the work is beautifully designed.
PS. Thanks to Judith Moffatt for all of the group shots.
Judith Moffatt at the Society of Illustrators
Cheryl Kirk Noll, Sharon Vargo, Mary, Ellen Appleby
Jennifer Yerkes
Upper: Peter Brown, Lower: Molly Idle
front, L to R: Kelley Cunningham, Judith Moffatt, Dolores Motichka
middle: Cheryl Kirk Noll, Mary Wilshire Magnusson, Barbara Lanza, Paige Billin-Frye,
back: Ellen Appleby, Rebecca Thornburgh, Mike Moran, Sharon Vargo, Rose Mary Berlin
The lion at NYPL, thanks to Wickipedia Commons
Last weekend, I took a magical trip to New York City. My thanks begin with Rose Mary Berlin, who contacted illustrators who had met at past Highlights for Children Illustrator's parties. She arranged for us to meet at the Society of Illustrator's on 63rd Street in New York City.
Fellow illustrator, Judith Moffatt and I bussed down to the city and stayed in the East Village with her friend Ellen. We had a terrific weekend of friends, food, sightseeing, and children's book exhibits.
We began at the New York Public library... the Schwartzman Building where the famous lion protects the front entrance at 42nd and 5th. An exhibit called
"The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter,"
curated by Leonard Marcus, was showing.
The stunning ceiling at the NYPLibrary
Goodnight Moon exhibit
Judith Moffat and me at the
The exhibit started with the oldest known copy of the New-England Primer, where children were taught about the Bible. ("In Adam's Fall, we Sinned All.")
It finished with comics and graphic novels, from Shaun Tan's
Arrival
to Art Spiegleman's
Maus
.
In between were original handwritten manuscripts from Frances Hodgson Burnett's
The Secret Garden
, an original edition of William Blake's
Songs of Innocence
, which he wrote, illustrated, and printed himself in 1789.
We saw original Pooh stuffed animals, and a Japanese woodblock- printed book from 1720 known as
Aka hon
, or "red books." These
kusa zosh
i were especially earmarked for children. Original John Tenniel drawings from "Alice in Wonderland" are also included.
Original Winnie the Pooh toys
I found this book of interest... perhaps an original "pop-up" book? It included a real example for teaching workhouse children how to sew.
Since the exhibit is in the city, a section focused on modern books about New York City, and by New York author/illustrators (of which there are many!)
A docent leads a tour weekdays at 12:30 and 2:30, and there is no charge. This fine show runs through March 23, 201.
An
excellent article from HornBook
explains the process of the curator, Leonard S. Marcus.
Soon, Judy and I were racing off to our brunch at the Society of Illustrators, and more adventures in our Phantom Tollbooth auto. More to come in my next post.
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