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Congratulations to Tory Lane, our lucky winner of The Secret Lives of Princesses giveaway. Tory Lane was selected by the random sequence generator at random.org and has won a copy of The Secret Lives of Princesses.
Tory Lane said: Show me an interesting princess and I’ll pass it along to an interesting girl!
Two special mentions for the following comments:
Kevin said: I just purchased the book. My prediction…it’s going to be a Caldecott selection or honor book. As a teacher, I’m always looking for new books to share with others. This went to the top of my list because of the artwork, text features, color, and of course, content. I’d love another copy for my daughter.
Sherry said: i flipped through this book! absolutely loved it! i was intrigued by the colors of the illustration, gorgeous! oh, i would be delighted if i get a chance win this book. it’s my love (atm)
Winners of TCBR giveaways are notified by email and have 72 hours to claim their prize. Unclaimed prizes are awarded to an alternate winner and the above list will be adjusted accordingly. Thank you to everyone who participated. Special thanks to Sterling Books for sponsoring the giveaway.
For those of you who were not so lucky, you can still add this book to your collection:The Secret Lives of Princesses by Philippe Lechermeier
Disclaimer: Books will be shipped directly from the author (sponsor), delivery of the giveaway item lies solely on the sponsor. Names, e-mail address and physical address of the winner will be shared with the sponsor for the purpose of fulfillment of the giveaway.
When I was growing up, I was given countless books full of fairy tales. I enjoyed the ones about dragons, monsters, ogres, witches, and wizards, but I really did not like the ones about princesses that much because the princesses in the stories were always so helpless and, to my mind, rather pathetic. These days there a quite a few books about princesses who are tough, brave, creative, and resourceful, and I am always on the lookout for princess stories with a twist. I was therefore delighted when the children's publicity manager at Sterling Books contacted me to tell me about Sterling's new princess book. Here is my review of the stunningly beautiful and very unique title.
Many of you are experts on princesses. You have read about Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and all those other princesses who fill fairy tale books. You know all about princess fashion sense, and you know that the best way to be sure that a girl is indeed a princess is to ask her sleep on a pile of mattresses that has a pea under the bottom one. In short you are absolutely sure that you know all there is to know about princesses.
Unfortunately, you are wrong. There are lots of princesses stories that you have never even heard of. There are essential princess facts that you don't know.Add a Comment
Okay. So I have to begin with an admission. I am not that into princesses. I was always more of a curled up in the corner with a mystery hanging out in the treehouse kind of gal. But here's the thing. You don't have to be into princesses to adore this absolutely stunning book by Lechermeier and Dautremer.
The Secret Lives of Princesses fits into that format of book that is set up as non-fiction, but is all fiction all the time. Topics are given their own pages, and are generally set up with one page of text paired with one exquisite illustration. Topics explored are familiar fairytale finds such as "The Cradle", "A Confidante", "The Garden", and "Royal Cuisine". Between the pages of topics are minibiographies of the princesses themselves. Will you find Cinderella here? Oh, no. But you will find such intriguing young women as Princess Anne Phibian, Princess Quartermoon, and this librarian's favourite, "Princess Paige".
Readers will delight in the fast facts that are provided in sidebars throughout the text. Did you know that the tears of a pricess are prized and "are used to compose the sweetest songs, the most beautiful poetry, and the most adoring love letters." (p.16) Did you also know that "the ruby heals dizziness, and the diamond helps avoid the brushing of teeth"? (p.30)
So what makes this a perfect picture book for tweens? First off, the gorgeous illustrations beg to be poured over. There is also an edge to the writing that may go unappreciated on the younger set. (The Practical Guide in the back of the book is a perfect example of this). These aren't your cookie cutter princesses, and readers are bound to find themselves in at least one of these fair ladies.
1 Comments on The Secret Lives of Princesses, by Philippe Lechermeier & illustrated by Rebecca Dautremer, last added: 6/3/2010
In my quest to find new and original stories with a good princess feel—less boy-meets-girl and more strength and self-discovery—the following books really struck a chord with me; each for their own reasons.
In between reading the different versions of The Magic Flute lots of playing involving dressing up ensued where we were either serpents or princesses (if you are unfamiliar with the story of The Magic Flute there is a detailed synopsis here from Glyndebourne Opera ). We also considered trying to make our own flutes – the ones on Vegetableinstruments.com looked like a lot of fun! But eventually, inspired by this post from Silly Eagle Books and this project at enchantedlearning.com, we then set about playing “Papageno” and catching our own birds.
1. I cut out some small bird templates which M and J decorated and added eyes to.
2. M folded coloured paper concertina style, cut it to about 10cm long and then inserted it into a slot I had cut in the birds’ tummies to create wings.
3. M and I made cages for the birds. Each cage required 9 long pipecleaners. First we took 5 pipecleaners and laid them like a star, just over lapping in the centre by a centimetre or two.
4. We folded over the ends of the pipecleaners to attach them to each other, creating a “knot”. We bent up the pipecleaners about 5 cm away from the “knot”.
5. We twisted the loose ends of all 5 pipecleaners together tightly and then gently pulled the pipecleaners to create a bit of a bell shape.
6. We used the remaining pipecleaners to weave around the bell creating a cage.
7. We hung up the birds i
3 Comments on Stories in tune – The Magic Flute Part 2, last added: 4/20/2010
vanessa@silly eagle books said, on 4/19/2010 6:41:00 PM
The picture of M flying off the table is priceless! Wow! I love that one. I”ll have to look for a magic flute book for Juliet. Sounds like something she would love.
Thanks for the book suggestions! I am also on the lookout for “preparing for the baby books!” Juliet and I have found a few good ones, but we have some more time to kill before the baby gets here!
Zoe said, on 4/19/2010 10:57:00 PM
Yes, thanks Vanessa – M just loves “flying” – slightly dangerous but clearly it feels very good! And so many congratulations on your wonderful news I left a book suggestion for Juliet on Silly Eagle Books – and I checked – here in the UK that book costs less than £2 (instead of $280!!!) so even with the extra shipping it still works out somewhat cheaper…
Ian Newbold said, on 4/20/2010 2:37:00 AM
Thanks for sharing Zoe, we need, or I need, to do more stuff with my son that relates to the books we are reading, or have read. Mind we read a Star Wars annual last night, and we are forever doing something linked to that.
Welcome to the second post in a new mini-series here on Playing by the book – Stories in tune – all about picture books inspired by classical music.
In the first Stories in tune post I talked about picture book versions of Peter and the Wolf. This time round we are looking at, reading and listening to The Magic Flute by Mozart – a story I thought would lend itself naturally to the format of children’s picture books given its fairy tale-like quest to rescue an imprisoned princess with plenty of magic and mayhem along the way.
What I found with introducing Peter and the Wolf was that in the beginning, before they became familiar with the music, both my girls most enjoyed listening to the music when it was the sound track to the wonderful animation by Susie Templeton. Listening to the music just happened naturally, almost without them noticing that they were listening. Once they were familiar with the music, they then enjoyed listening to it on its own.
This listening-by-stealth was much more successful than trying to sit them down to listen to a piece of music without any “warming up” or preparation and so I did something similar with The Magic Flute – before sitting down with a book or turning on our CD player we watched a BBC animated (and abridged) version of this opera by Mozart on YouTube. Here’s the first part:
Here’s part 2 and part 3. I think this is the same animation as is available on this DVD, which for some reason you can get in the States but not in the UK.
Now this video may not please all of you, especially if you know The Magic Flute well, as the version in the animation is only 30 minutes long and consequently a great deal of music from the original opera is left out, the story is adapted to fit the time frame, and it is sung in English. None of these things will sell the animation to an opera buff, but all of these things combined to make the animation compulsive viewing for both my kids – even J was transfixed for the full 30 minutes.
Having viewed the video several times I then started playing the music in the house whilst we were getting on with other stuff and both girls clearly recognised the arias and were excited to hear them again (you can’t imagine how pleased I was at this!). It was at this stage I introduced the picture book versions I had found of The Magic Flute, and here’s what we thought of them:
3 Comments on Stories in tune – The Magic Flute; Part 1, last added: 4/19/2010
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Maria said, on 4/18/2010 6:04:00 PM
The Magic Flute is absolutely my favorite opera. I heard it for the first time when I was a young kid and was completely entranced with the Queen of the Night (especially the song where she tells Pamina to kill Sarastro.) Her vocal range is amazing! I decided right then and there that I wanted to sing that song in my lifetime, and actually went on to study opera for a while in college because of this opera!
Thanks for this post!
Zoe said, on 4/18/2010 11:42:00 PM
Hi Maria,
What an amazing story – it’s lovely to hear how the opera really inspired you! Do you still sing?
So I’m at Walt Disney World, World Headquarters of princesses. There are many princess and princess-like characters on the prowl here. Little girls can sign up to attend special Princess dining events including Perfectly Princess Tea parties ($250 for two,) Princess Storybook dining and Cinderella’s Happily Ever After dinners.
Everywhere I turn, there are princesses in frilly yellow and pink and purple dresses with lace sleeves and flounces.
It’s tough to be a princess when the rains begin and you have to put a poncho over your gown.
I found a princess dancing in the rain to the British Invasion Beatles tribute band in the UK pavilion.
And I shared a story with a real fairytale princess here.
They even had pink and green camouflage princess caps.
Here’s the thing--I saw no princes at all. There are no prince luncheons—not even pirate beach parties or brigand barbecues, though you can dine with Mickey, Donald, and other Disney characters.
No wonder princesses have to hang with the rest of us—there does s
1 Comments on Princess Central, last added: 1/18/2010
So I’m at Walt Disney World, World Headquarters of princesses. There are many princess and princess-like characters on the prowl here. Little girls can sign up to attend special Princess dining events including Perfectly Princess Tea parties ($250 for two,) Princess Storybook dining and Cinderella’s Happily Ever After dinners.
Everywhere I turn, there are princesses in frilly yellow and pink and purple dresses with lace sleeves and flounces.
I find a princess dancing to the British Invasion Beatles tribute band in the UK pavilion.
It’s tough to be a princess when the rains begin and you have to put a poncho over your gown.
There are grown-up princesses here as well. I encountered this princess
And I shared a story with a real fairytale princess here.
They even had pink and green camouflage princess caps.
I’m ambivalent about princesses. When I was a girl, my mother made me a princess costume one year for Hallowe’en. I was a princess, and my sister was an angel (this likely represented some wishful thinking on my mother’s part.) My princess costume was tasteful gray satin with cathedral sleeves and a velvet bodice, and included a tall, conical princess hat with a scarf flying from the top. I almost immediately lost the hat, but I wore the dress all through winter and spring. I wore that dress until I could no longer shoehorn my growing self into it. In recent years I was a regular patron of medieval dinners. Did I dress as a serving girl, or even a member of the burgeoning middle class? Oh, no—why squander a perfectly good opportunity to wear princess bling? I mean, princesses rule. Or they should. But in traditional tales, princesses are too often passive creatures: waiting for rescue by someone else; held captive in towers, and enchanted by witches (and not in a good way). The archetypical princess is beautiful, kind-hearted, delicate and swoony. They spend a lot of time dreaming of their one true love, who miraculously turns out to be a prince—or at least a knight who can be polished up. When a knight wins a kingdom, a princess is thrown in to sweeten the deal. They are often the equivalent of the winner’s purse when it comes to valiant quests, witch hunts, etc. Sometimes I find myself rooting for the witch. Princesses should be powerful figures, yet so often they are not--in literature, drama, and film, anyway. These days we have fire fighters and police officers, not firemen and policemen. But there are no princepersons. Princess is one of the few jobs that have retained that gender-specific title—perhaps because princes and princesses have had very different roles. Princes make things happen; princesses have things happen to them. One of the viewpoint characters in the Seven Realms series is a princess. I almost cringe when I have to say that in my elevator speech. No, not that kind of princess, I want to say. Raisa is a kick-butt princess, frustrated with the expectations and restrictions of court life. She is the heir to the throne, and she intends to seize control of her future and create change in her queendom.
While she knows how to navigate a ballroom and salon, she spends much of her time in leggings and deerskin overshirt, hunting with her father’s clan relatives. This princess carries knives, and she knows how to use them. For example, Raisa is attacked in an alley by a drunken assailant. After disabling him with streetfighting techniques, she presses a knife to her attacker’s throat. “You touch me again, you arrogant Ardenine swine, and I swear on the blood of Hanalea the warrior, I will geld you. Do you understand?”
I LOVE Raisa! She is a bad-ass princess who knows how to take care of herself. She breaks the cycle of passive, wind-blown, delicate flower princesses that have become prototype. A great return to the powerful woman ruler!
Thanks June for helping me get on PBAA's blog! Here is the info for my PRINCESS PARTY! Hope people who are in the area will come by and say "Hi!" Hugs, Joy
Princess Hyacinth had a very distinct problem: she floated. Unless she was tethered to something, she would float up and up. So she wore a heavy crown with a strap to hold in on and had weights in her hems and socks. She was allowed to float indoors because they could get her back down, but she was never allowed to float outdoors. As she watched the children play outside, a boy who could fly his kite higher than anyone else came and said hello. Princess Hyacinth ventured outside with all of her heavy weights on and noticed a man selling balloons. Because she was the princess, her wish to be tethered in the bunch of balloons was granted. But when the string breaks, where does that leave the princess as she floats up and up into the sky?
The tone that this book is written in will have you smiling. It has a certain confidence and silliness that makes it irresistible. And it has obviously been written to read aloud to children. The book design itself is clever, as words float very high on the page when the Princess is floating. The size of text is played with as is the color, making reading it aloud that much more pleasurable. Heide’s writing is paired perfectly with Smith’s art. The illustrations match what is happening on the page with a heaviness to the art when the princess is tied down and a lightness when she is in the air. As with all of Smith’s art, there is a tongue-in-cheek aspect to many of the pictures which will be appreciated by adults and children alike.
Highly recommended, this is a wonderful read-aloud for classrooms or story times. This is a princess story that all children will enjoy, which you can’t say often! Appropriate for ages 4-7.
When we last left this matchup, we were deadlocked at 1 to 1 as the moderator cited the need for “further tests… to determine the range, power, and accuracy of Unicorn horn lightning bolts.”
After painstaking research, the matchup resumes thanks to this rare and telling photograph.
It seems that it is rainbows and not lightning bolts that unicorns shoot out of their horns. From this photo, we can also determine that the trajectory of the beam is straight and true (if one assumes that Robocop’s computer-guided targeting is accurate and, of course, we do).
As for the effects of this beam, the photo does not give evidence. However, we may infer that the unicorn’s position beside Robocop indicates a partnership between the two (note that the Unicorn, or UniCop, is protecting Robocop’s exposed backside from counter attack). Robocop’s acceptance of this arrangement suggests that Robocop values the unicorn’s effectiveness in battle: no small endorsement coming from such a decorated police officer.
The lions have charged that the photo tells another story: that the unicorn’s rainbow is a passive rather than aggressive spell, and the unicorn is protecting the object(s) of Robocop’s unwavering justice from harm and/or healing their wounds.
Both interpretations could be possible where it not for further evidence of the Robocop/Unicop partnership, captured by an amateur wildlife photographer equipped with a Nikon Watercolor2000 with a 15x zoom lens.
The moderator therefore declares that the category “One on One Battle” go to the Unicorns, making the final score: Unicorns 2, Lions 1.
Congratulations, Unicorns, you move on to Round 2… just as soon as we break the tie between Dinosaurs and Princesses.
he Vicereine picked her way down the gentle slope of the gully step by step. She stopped near where Cici had fallen and very slowly began to crouch down. Using her staff for support, she allowed her hands to slide down the smooth twisted wood bit by bit. She winced and groaned in pain several times before coming to rest on her knees. She sat hunched over for a moment as if exhausted, clutching her staff to the side of her head. Her cowl hung down, covering her face. A few locks of white hair were visible along her back and along the edge of the cowl. Cici tried again to stop crying, but her ankle was very swollen by now, and her shoe was beginning to hurt her foot.
After a few moments, Reina finally placed the staff flat on the ground next to her. Cici felt a hand under her own and turned her head. She gasped as she saw a grayish slender hand with jewel-encrusted rings on all four fingers reach down and take her by the wrist. Cici sniffled and looked up. The woman seemed to be busy concentrating on something.
“Do not pull against the tree trunk.” Reina said.
Cici sniffled again. She didn’t know what to think. She was sure the robed woman was really mean, but now she sounded different. Reina looked at Cici’s dirt-streaked and astonished face. The woman’s gold-colored eyes made Cici feel better.
“I am not your enemy,” Reina said. “Sit up.”
Cici realized she wasn’t really stuck. She was just snagged on the tree and had been pulling in the wrong direction. She stopped pushing against the ground and gradually crawled sideways far enough that she could push herself up. The moment she tried to move her foot, however, she was rewarded with a stab of pain from her ankle. Cici cried out and pulled her foot up to her hands.
“Will you help me cast a healing spell?” Reina asked. Cici looked down through the blur of tears at her right foot. Her ankle was swollen and the skin around it was darker. She sniffled and looked up at Reina, then nodded.
“Sit up slowly this time,” Reina said. “Place your foot flat against the Earth. Gently.” Cici gingerly pushed herself up with one hand as Reina reached over and retrieved the Chronicler’s Lantern lying sideways on the ground. The robed woman placed the shining gold lantern upright next to her staff. The light from the lantern illuminated the side of the gully nicely. By now Cici was sitting up and rubbing her face with her hand, only succeeding in adding another layer of dirt.
“I am called Reina. What is your name?”
“I’m Cici. How come you wear so many rings?” Cici asked quietly, pointing at Reina’s hand while still rubbing her nose. Then she sniffled again.
“Because I like to collect beautiful things,” Reina replied, impressed by Cici’s inquisitiveness. “Do you like this ring, Cecilia?” she asked. Cici nodded, eyes wide. Reina indicated a heavy gold ring on her right hand set with a nearly transparent delicately faceted blue stone and decorated with a dozen smaller white gems.
“This ring is called the Soaring Chime. It was given to me long ago by a scribe named Giho skilled in the arts of gemcutting. He lives on an island in a place called the Princesses Crowns far away in the eastern sea. There are men there who dig deep into the mountains to find raw stones such as this one. The scribe spends years cutting and shaping them into Chimes. Chime stones can make sounds with magical properties.”
“It means this stone can ring, and the sound from it can heal your ankle,” Reina replied. “Will you help me make the Soaring Chime ring?”
“Can I?” Cici asked.
“Look carefully at the stone,” Reina said, offering her hand so Cici could see. “Do you see the upper edge? Where the tiny symbol is carved into the gold?”
Cici looked carefully and saw that the edge of the setting just above the oval-shaped sky-blue stone had a tiny symbol carved into the polished gold. If Reina hadn’t mentioned it, Cici would never have noticed it.
“All you must do is tap that symbol with your finger as if you are trying to make a bell ring,” Reina said. “Then, listen for the sound.”
Cici peered at the stone and the tiny symbol, then slowly reached up with her hand and held her finger over the ring for a moment. Then she flicked her hand, tapping the edge of the ring with her finger as if testing something she had been told was very hot.
A very soft and faint glow appeared in the center of the stone and Cici began to hear the sounds of chimes and bells all around her. First one, then a second. They began to play cascades of three tones, then five. Then ten. It sounded like someone drawing a stick along a series of bells, each one larger than the one before it, making a luxurious sound like the playing of all the strings of a harp from smallest to largest.
Cici looked at her foot and was startled by the greenish swirl of energy around her ankle. She saw a pale blue glow along the outer edge of her hand where she had been cut, and a silver shower of sparkling energy around the bruise on her knee. Her ankle felt much better. The music was so beautiful that Cici didn’t want it to end. All of her wounds and bruises were healed, and the music faded peacefully along with the glow of the Soaring Chime.
“It’s magic just like my lantern! Are you a warrior like me?” Cici asked. Reina’s expression changed.
My best friend from high school (and the one friend from high school with whom I still keep in touch) is submitting a proposal to teach a course on fairy tales with a focus on Cinderella stories* and our society's fascination with princesses. In the closing to one of our emails, she wrote, "If you asked Lucia, 'Beside being pretty, what is it that is so special about princesses?' what would she
10 Comments on It's Good to Be a Princess, last added: 4/8/2008
Heh. Princesses don't glug juice, huh? Good to know, good to know...
Elizabeth said, on 3/25/2008 5:36:00 PM
I asked my daughter. She said "Princesses have princess stuff." "What kind of princess stuff?" "A gold crown, and a gold sword, and a gold shield." "And what do princesses do?" (She whispers) "They kill bad guys."
We were reading Bone recently. On a different day when we'd been reading something where the princesses are less well-armed, she might have had a different answer.
Lady K said, on 3/25/2008 5:48:00 PM
SH**!!!! You just reminded me of a phone call I HAVE to make. God BLESS you, girl.
Alkelda the Gleeful said, on 3/25/2008 11:20:00 PM
Lady K: Say what?!
Elizabeth: That's great! I forwarded your conversation with your daughter to my friend.
TadMack: Yeah, I'm still laughing about that one. I had no idea...
:: Suzanne :: said, on 3/26/2008 11:27:00 AM
What a great question. I think I'll interview my daughter today.
HipWriterMama said, on 3/26/2008 1:01:00 PM
That's so funny. I'm with Suzanne. I think I'll have to ask my girls these questions.
Alkelda the Gleeful said, on 3/26/2008 1:15:00 PM
Suzanne and HWM: If you do interview your daughters, I'd love to read what they have to say.
Lone Star Ma said, on 3/26/2008 8:09:00 PM
I was a princess. A super-hero one. Metal Girl. I knew I was destined to become queen one day, for the good of my people, but that I would first have to tragically marry the Incredible Hulk, which was going to be pretty tough, so I tried to put off becoming Queen for as long as possible. Interestingly, my husband spent his childhood obsessed with the Incredible Hulk...
I will interview my youngest later.
susan said, on 4/8/2008 8:02:00 AM
What a great interview! I had a ball listening to my daughter. I'm glad I discovered your blog (via Librarian Mom).
bookbk said, on 4/8/2008 6:30:00 PM
Yes, belated thanks for writing this post and for the shout-out addenda! I loved reading Lucia's responses, and it was pretty cool to hear what my daughter had to say on the topic. She sure does have some definite ideas about princesses-- and like you, I'm not sure where she got them all.
“Looks like this week’s Magical Treasure is our brand new Ajan Warrior of the Sunrise black t-shirt.”
“Ooh, nice design. I guess this means we’re going to have a new Sunrise page in the Hall of Warriors pretty soon.”
“Yeeeee! I can’t wait. The best part is Shannon-sama donates some of what the Gift Shop makes to benefit the Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls! We got lots more gifts in Shannon-sama’s shop too. See ya!”
“Konnichi-wa, minna-san! We gots a Varcarel Jade update today ’cause it’s Monday and that’s when we do one of our comic updates. We gots another comic that’s called Fury of the Venom Legion but that one is updated on Thursday. Did you know that there’s a site called The Web Comic List that tells aaaaaaaall about our comics? You can even vote for us and they gave us a number button too!”
“That’s our ranking out of almost 11,000 comics.”
“Yay for us! If you read comics on The Web Comic List be sure to add our comics to your favorites and visit us every week for new pages! Ja!”
“Hiiii everybody, it’s me Jessie! This week’s LadyStar Chapter of the Week is a real neat one. It’s from our first book, The Dreamspeaker, and it’s a chapter that’s called Swifty River. It’s about when Talitha found this real spooky forest where these little lights float around the trees and a pond. There’s this little bridge that’s real important later too. We hope you like our story! Be sure to visit us every week for a new best chapter! Ja!”
A unique fundraiser came to my attention earlier this month and I gathered some close artistic friends of mine to help out. The Bissell Centre in co-operation with Crank Pots on Whyte ave has allowed quite a few Edmonton artists to paint a piece of pottery to sell during a silent auction later this month (I'll update you exactly when this happens). Some of the pieces are so good you'll whip out your wallet in a jiffy to buy them up as Christmas gifts.
My piece, in progress.
Mermaid Teapot in progress (the piece will get darker once it's been "fired" in the kiln).
My sister in front along with some other friends painting away, creating masterpieces. Can't wait for the show! I'll post more pictures of the pieces after the auction for those of you who aren't from Alberta and can't make it out.
0 Comments on Bissell Centre & CrankPots fundraiser as of 9/6/2007 2:51:00 PM
My first day at the artwalk was much hotter than anticipated. I was ready for wind and rain but the heat seemed to go right through my umbrella onto what I now like to call my tomato face. Other than the sun, however, the day was amazing. People came from all around to visit and stopped by for a chat (thanks everyone!) and I met a wonderful group of artists living in the city (once again making me feel sure you can make a living doing what you love to do). My friend came and bought a group of us fruit smoothies which hit the spot like you'd never believe while another came and bought up a stack of cards... and retrieved some needed change for me.
The artwalk is so far about discovering the true bond of friendship and generosity among artists. We are not shy it seems to lend one another a hand or to tell our trade secrets to each other. With over 200 artists competing for business I could never feel more than the exact opposite about the experience. I am enriched by this experience already.
But the sad news is I didn't prebook a ticket to harry potter and so had to drive my sisters standard back to my house. Stalling, cursing and wondering which pedal was which (the clutch is on which side?) I'm just hoping I didn't give the poor little car a one way ticket to the garage...
Thanks everyone for coming to the artwalk thus far to visit! (I'll remember to bring my camera tomorrow so I can post pictures).
0 Comments on Sunburnt, Fabulous but certainly NOT a professional driver... as of 7/13/2007 8:59:00 PM
The last few days have been a blur. My sister has come home from living abroad for nearly a year and my best friend has also returned from New Zealand after living there for what she describes as "20 months". I've been wracking my brain in my latest role as "fine artist" rather than illustrator to complete paintings I think might sell at this years Artwalk put on by the Paint Spot on Whyte Ave. Sitting on my parents deck on the farm I grew up on I couldn't help thinking what a crazy great job I have to be able to paint wherever I want...
I have recieved my vendors permit and I'm going to be situated at the Varscona Theatre (or Walterdale??). The event runs from July 13-15 so stop by the farmers market and then come by for a chat (this is Edmonton for those of you who don't know where I live) as I'm right across from it. It'll be a one of a kind event for me because I've never actually sold my art before! This entire time I've been deeply involved in illustration where the client "borrows" the scanned image but I'm quaking in my boots to think of someone taking home one of my paintings! Oh I just hope they do. Otherwise my halls will be lined up like crazy with bright pictures of girls sipping wine.
0 Comments on Artwalk 2007 as of 6/28/2007 10:37:00 PM
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It sounds fascinating! thanks for the review.