Inspiration

Somehow my vacations always seem to end up as working vacations. My husband could never understand why I didn’t consider camping a vacation. For some reason, cooking for all seven of us over an open fire or on a small cookstove while keeping an eye on smallfry who each ran in different directions, washing dishes under a pump, and spending the night on a slowly deflating air mattresses while being kicked in the ribs, head, and stomach by various sleeping offspring, never topped my list of summer fun. I usually went home more tired than rested, not to mention bug-bitten, sunburned, and sore.

So this summer I planned a different type of working vacation. I agreed to help teach writing sessions at an out-of-state university. I was expecting to come home exhausted and drained. Instead, I came back excited, energized, and eager to dive into my own creative work.

It probably helped that my destination was the Mazza Summer Institute in Findlay, Ohio. For those who aren’t familiar with it, Findlay University holds a fabulous weeklong conference featuring picture book authors and illustrators. The University is home to the famous Mazza Museum, which houses the world’s largest collection of original picture book art.  From the early works of Randolph Caldecott to many of the latest award-winning picture book artists, Mazza has it all. Watercolors, oils, prints, collage, pen and ink, pastels, and every medium in between. Each piece of art hangs above a shelf with the picture book it’s printed in. For anyone who loves picture books the way I do, it’s an inspiration. So much so, that someday I hope to see my own work hanging on their walls.

So I spent a week co-teaching breakout sessions in between listening to famous illustrators give visual presentations on their artistic processes and tell about their lives. Even more fun was being around an audience of teachers, librarians, writers, and art lovers who enjoy reading picture books even when there isn’t a toddler within hearing distance. I felt right at home.

More Monkey Business?

As a follow-up to the previous post, thank you to all the kind people who thought I was the cute little girl on the bottom step.  Unfortunately, that’s my younger sister. So I guess that makes a monkey out of me. At least that’s what my sister always told people.

So I’m planning my revenge…

I’ve been working on art for the African Animals book, and have a partially completed painting of a monkey. I think I’ll do one similar to this, but paint me into the picture with the baby monkey. Then we can each have a picture called “My Sister and Me.”

 

© Laurie J. Edwards 2011

 

African Animals

As long as I’m on the subject of art, I thought I’d post one more picture I finished recently for a book on African Animals. Because the series of stories and folktales are from West Africa, I wanted a mudcloth border for the pictures.

© Laurie J. Edwards 2011

Anyone who knows me, knows I love drawing jungle animals, so this book was a treat. Perhaps my love of the jungle comes from living in West Africa when I was young and impressionable. Which reminds me of a story… which I’ll save for another post.

Hidden Pictures

I loved hidden pictures when I was younger. OK, so I still do. When I saw these lemurs, they reminded me of raccoons. Sort of. Maybe it’s the striped tails. Or maybe it’s because I’ve been staring cross-eyed at the computer screen for hours tweaking my art to get it sent off.

Whatever the reason, I thought I’d share some art I did recently for a book. And if you look closely you’ll see the two raccoons.

© Laurie J. Edwards 2011

Bawwwk, Bawwwk…

Couldn’t resist this picture. Perhaps because I just finished some book illustrations, one of which was of chickens (see below).

My favorite part of this illo is the rooster strutting to the right. Reminds me so much of someone I know. He’s just got that attitude…

© Laurie Edwards 2011

Here’s the full scene…

© Laurie Edwards 2011

Exploring Your Creative Gifts

As I said in a previous post, I’ve heard that the number 11 symbolizes creativity. If that is so, then this year is a year for exploration and creativity. I’d like to focus on ways to open up the creative mind. And what better day to start than 1-11-11? I’ve done a great deal of reading on creativity — my master’s thesis was on stimulating creativity in art education. My premise was that everyone was born an artist (and I believe that applies to music, writing, art, and all other creative endeavors), but that early experiences stunt creativity. In addition to ways to improve art education for school students, a portion of my thesis focused on helping adult regain their creativity.

As a writer and an artist, I surround myself with creative, talented people. And one thing I find is that most of them do not lose their childlike engagement with the world. That, I believe, is one of the most important elements in stimulating creativity—a sense of wonder. A willingness to suspend disbelief, to explore with an open mind.

That is the gift I’d love to give everyone this year.

Now I’ve seen everything…

I’d heard of dresses made of duct tape, of paper, and of trash bags, but this blog takes things to a new level. Among their selection of the top 10 most unusual dresses is a dress made out of porcelain. Yep, and it looks as if most of the plates are broken, so not only would it be extremely heavy to wear, you’d also also have to be careful not to cut yourself on the broken pottery. The dress itself is gorgeous, BTW, but practical, it isn’t.

It would make a great “break-up” dress, though. Wear this while you’re slow dancing and… your date will get the picture that you’re unavailable. The body armor and leaving him bloodied ought to do the trick. And no need to worry about him staining the dress. The blood will just wash off. But who wants to do all those dishes???

Why Do Artists Live Longer than Politicians?

Recently, I’ve been working on an assignment that requires a series of bios of famous and semi-famous people from around the world throughout history, and I discovered something interesting. Almost invariably, the artists, composers, moviemakers, and writers lived well into their 90s; an amazing number even made it past 100. Many politicians, kings, and government leaders died young.  Of course, coups and assassinations cut some of their lives short, but even those who died of natural causes lived a much shorter time than those who were involved in the arts. Even during eras when living to 40 was considered normal, artists generally outlived their contemporaries by 20-30 years. When artists died young, it was often because they took their own lives, so it’s hard to know how long they would have lived, if they’d given themselves a chance.

So what it is about the arts that leads to longeviety? I’ve pondered this and wonder if it’s because artists approach life differently. Politicians often have driving needs to compete, to be first, to get to the top of the heap. Once there, they have additional stresses heaped on them. Artists spend their time creating more often than competing. That’s not to say there isn’t competition in the arts, but given a choice between winning or creating, most artists choose the latter.

I suspect, too, that artists’ angst and stress often get expressed through creative work, so although many artists struggle to make a living, they transform their problems into something outside themselves. When they lose themselves in their work, many of those stresses disappear, even if only temporarily.

Creativity may also give artists an edge in solving problems; they’re usually willing to think outside the box. And the act of creation is life-giving and energetic, so perhaps artists benefit internally as they share their gifts.  Art renews the mind and the spirit. So every day artists may be renewing themselves as they work.

But I think the real secret is the childlike wonder and unique approach to life that many artists have. Most keep their youthful and innocent eye as they age, so their internal age is much younger and more vibrant than their external age. Have you ever noticed that many artists have an aliveness and a sparkle to their eyes, their features? They think and speak excitedly about their next projects. Perhaps they’re less likely to give up on life because they have another project they’re just dying  to do. (or maybe not…perhaps it’s a project they’re just living to do.)

Creative Commons

In keeping with the theme I’ve been discussing of free intellectual property, I thought I’d mention Creative Commons. Their slogan is:

Share, Remix, Reuse — Legally

Here’s what their website says about this nonprofit organization:

“We work to increase the amount of creativity (cultural, educational, and scientific content) in “the commons” — the body of work that is available to the public for free and legal sharing, use, repurposing, and remixing.”

They provide “tools give everyone from individual creators to large companies and institutions a simple, standardized way to grant copyright permissions to their creative work. The Creative Commons licenses enable people to easily change their copyright terms from the default of ‘all rights reserved’ to ‘some rights reserved.’”

If you’re into sharing, it’s a great place to go. You can get a license (or should I say a licence, which is the British spelling for the noun?) for your work to allow others to use it and share it. Not only can you donate work, but they have many things available to use. Check it out. Best of all it’s global.

Creative Commons licenses are available in the following languages:

Afrikaans Castellano Castellano (AR) Castellano (CO) Castellano (MX) Castellano (PE) Català Dansk Deutsch English English (CA) English (GB) English (Hong Kong) English (Singapore) English (US) Español (CL) Español (Ecuador) Español (Guatemala) Esperanto Euskara français français (CA) Galego hrvatski isiZulu Italiano Macedonian Magyar Melayu Nederlands Người Việt/Tiếng Việt Norsk polski Português Português (BR) română Sesotho sa Leboa slovenski jezik srpski (latinica) Suomeksi svenska čeština Ελληνικά български српски עברית ไทย 中文 中文（香港） 日本語 華語 (台灣) 한국어

Grammar Grrrs…

Hate seeing misspelled words? Misused expressions? Poor grammar?

You’re not alone. Some of us grammar geeks have been enjoying the wisdom and humor of Hyperbole and a Half. Not only does it contain rants on subjects dear to my heart, but Allie Brosh, the author, also draws pics.

Ever wonder what an Alot looks like? Check out her blog to find out.

BTW, if you’re not a grammar geek like me, put need help with that part of your writing, her pictures will help you remember what words to use when.