Trees

Currently I am obsessed with drawing trees. I've been sitting on this for a few months, letting it gel in my head and waiting to see how it would manifest. Meanwhile I've been collecting a few photographic specimens on my springtime walks, and now these abstract trees, studies in shape and form and texture are all I've worked on for days.

Yesterday I spent my day on a marker-acrylic-colored pencil piece and started on some sketches for future trees. I'm filling my sketchbook with all sorts of trees and playing with them in a variety of mediums and really enjoying the process.

I've spent some time at the library looking at other illustrators' takes on abstract trees and drawn a lot of inspiration from their beautiful work. I've spent time paying attention to trees I meet on my outings about the city and continue to collect inspiring photos of unique trunks, limb and canopy shapes, and leaves and blossoms. It's divine.

Is there any better kind of research than to study the gorgeous work of others and of nature - the ultimate source - herself?

The Whispering Rabbit

One of my all-time favorite stories is "The Whispering Rabbit." It's the first story in "The Sleepy Book," by Margaret Wise Brown. The book is a lovely collection of sleepytime stories, poems and songs. It's a peaceful quiet book.

In the story, the sleepy bunny faces the unusual problem of yawning so much that a bee flies into his mouth and then falls asleep in his throat! The bunny seeks advice from the other animals and then has to problem-solve how to best put that advice into practice! I never tire of this darling story. The writing is so beautiful.

This bunny (and the whole of the book) is beautifully illustrated by Garth Williams. In addition to illustrating eleven books for Margaret Wise Brown, he is well known for his illustrations in Stuart Little, Charlotte's Web, and The Little House on the Prairie books.

Learning From Others

One way I practice my drawing is by copying work from my favorite illustrator: Gyo Fujikawa. It helps me see things differently and to try to imagine things as she saw them. I particularly love her pen and ink drawings and flip through them when I'm looking for inspiration for my practice.

Here's a few I did a while back. The acorns and ice cream cone are replicas of her ink work and the sundae is a pen and pencil rendering of one of her painted illustrations. All three of the originals are found in Gyo Fujikawa's A to Z Picture Book.

My Very Favorite Illustrator

Before March gives way to April, I have to share some about Gyo Fujikawa, my very favorite illustrator. In honor of Women's History Month, I'd like to share some brief highlights from her life that are an inspiration to me.

Fujikawa achieved great success as an artist despite the barriers she faced as a Japanese-American woman in the 1930s. While she was able to continue her work as an artist in New York during WW2, her family was interred in Arkansas.

She published her first two children's books (as both writer and illustrator) in 1963 and they became quick bestsellers. In the next 20 years she produced 40 different titles. Her work has been translated into many languages. She was one of the first children's authors to command author's royalties instead of a flat fee and she was among the first to include racial diversity in her illustrations of children.

All of this talent, achievement, beauty, and progressive art from an unmarried, Japanese-American woman during decades that were especially un-friendly to someone like herself.

This spread is from "Our Best Friends" (1977) and it's my earliest childhood memory of her work. This is the spread that made me fall so much in love with her art. Only later did I learn of her strength and brilliance. 💛
 

(Bio info from "The Great Unknown: Japanese American Sketches" by Greg Robinson)

Brave Snail

This lovely critter was hanging out in the blackberry thicket. Luckily Benjamin stumbled across her and caught her on camera. I’ve always loved snails. This one seems particularly brave for moving so adeptly in amongst all those thorns! She’s absolutely luminescent in her outstretched form, isn’t she?

Time-Worn Memories

In going through old photos today to find a photo for a new blog post I came across this beauty from 1991 that I shot on a family trip to the Grand Canyon. I’ve been snapping photos most of my life. And in an era of dramatic filters and perfect post-processing, it felt really good to see a time-worn, color-aged film photo that matches the time-worn and aged memories I have to go with it.