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Number 5 in the History of my Archive in 10 Objects, is this triple set of bird studies from early 1977.

Buzzard, Kingfisher, Long-Eared Owl. Watercolour on paper, 1977

I was 17,  I was about to leave school and start a foundation course at the now-gone and much lamented Bournville School of Art, I was full steam ahead for a career in illustration, the world of graphic art, experimentation and adventure awaited.

But all that was in the future - in the meantime I was generating some income from selling these kinds of traditional studies in a local giftshop/framing gallery in Mere Green. The owner, Mrs Gameson, was extremely supportive of my work and gave me wall space to display and sell pictures of wildlife and familiar scenes of Sutton Coldfield, in watercolour (as here) or pen and ink. Gameson Gallery also  managed me as an artist on commission - word of mouth recommendations led me to draw many of the big houses on the private estate in Four Oaks, I'd cycle with sketchpad and ink bottle to anywhere that wanted a drawing - unfortunately this came to an end when one customer returned their house sketch, upset that I'd included the washing on her line in the drawing.

Virtually everything I painted at that time was sold by the gallery, but these three studies survived because they were a birthday gift to my mum in January 1977. I believe they were amongst my first attempts to paint in pure watercolour (that is, just paint, no pen lines).

 I carried on working with the Gameson Gallery even after I started my Foundation course, right up until I left for Manchester, Mrs Gameson gave me my first ever one-man (or one kid!) exhibition, mostly wildlife paintings. My parents were particularly proud of this and my father was disappointed when I drifted away from such work. Being an artist in the eyes of my father was to paint attractive pictures, exhibit them, sell them and put them on the wall. He could never really get to grips with my choice to be an illustrator rather than a gallery fine artist, there was a suspicion I was under-selling my talents. I'll always remember him saying "when are you going to paint a proper picture I can put on the wall?" By "proper", he meant a landscape, seascape or genre oil painting. But eventually he did come round to understanding my creative path.

The fact remains though, of all the work I created and showed my parents over all these years, the one thing that never left their walls, on display without a break for nearly forty years from 1977 until 2016, were these three bird studies.

I always wonder what became of Mrs Gameson...

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This afternoon I'm framing and prepping using my favorite lost and found frames.

There's a wonderful event happening tomorrow night, and I am so happy to say that this year I will be a part of it. A fundraiser for a local library using art, music, and of course food and drinks. This event highlights local talent while raising funds for the library, I'm so excited! AND it's happening right as autumn begins, awesome kick off to the holidays right around the corner!

If you are in the central Iowa area, may I suggest a date night or social gathering with friends at this annual event. Hope to see you there!

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Tonight is the opening of the WB Animation show, hosted by Fan Alley and @Dennis Salvatier in Anaheim CA. My Dodo piece can been seen there- I’m super excited for this show, and wish I could be there for the opening. If you can make it, the details are here:http://shopfanalley.com/events/2015/6/16/wb-animation-tribute-gallery-artist-signing

There are a bunch of awesome artists, and from what I’ve seen so far, the artists involved have made some beautiful work!

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From the Toy Box, Ltd Gallery 

I’m so excited to announce that I’ll be participating in Ltd Art Gallery Seattle’s show “From the Toy Box”. It’s my first piece in a gallery and I was lucky enough for Ltd to choose my illustration for the poster representing some really, really, REALLY awesome talent! I’m so honoured to be in this show amongst these fantastic artists. You can see the event here:http://www.facebook.com/events/769836919741028 and if you’re in Seattle and happen to go, I’d love to hear about it!

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As one of my most artistically satisfying comic strips over the past several years, Bearnica seemed to cry out for a larger format. In the waning days of summer, I finally made the leap, and you can see it now (in 3' x 6' format) as one of several new pieces hanging in Winthrop's Rocking Horse Bakery. Grrrace, Grrrit, and Grrrattitude, people. The wolverine way!

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The post Plunge deep into African culture at bedtime. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

These days educating children about other cultures is left to the school teachers, and unfortunately due to the mountains of red tape of public schooling, children, or young adults, can come out of the other side of their schooling with little or no knowledge of the world outside of their own little bubble. How do we combat this problem? The best solution is to teach children from a young age about the importance and fascination of other cultures, and what better way to do this than at bedtime?

If you’ve ever needed any story ideas for your kids, then you’ve come to the right place. Reading it to themselves, or listening to it at bedtime, your children will love hearing  about adventures that take place in the mesmerising land of Africa. While the most popular story books might feature fairy tales and even lessons for children to learn, many of these ideas come from life within the Western culture to which children are already accustomed.

Books such as  The Sky Party feature folktales for children that draw  heavily on African culture and who better to teach children about African folktales than author Bosede Docemo? Bose, as she is known, grew up in West Africa and is able to bring her own personal experience to her writing. Having spent her early years surrounded by fascinating and influential African folktales, Bose found her passion  in creating funny stories for kids which, while entertaining, also educate children.

The ideal story for bedtime, teach your children about African culture without them even realising it, The Sky Party will not only make your child laugh and cry, but they will be mesmerised by the pure innovation of the story, as well as the fantastic illustrations!  Children’s folktales really are the ideal way to immerse yourself, both adult and child, in the rich culture of Africa.

Once you start reading it will become clear to you that there  is a lot to learn  from African folktales and thus your pre-bed story time will be something that you and your child both look forward to! Short bedtime stories that teach children are sometimes hard to come by, but thanks to our fantastic author, your children will find these folktales exciting and interesting and they will learn without even knowing it. Available in both hard cover and eBook format, The Sky Party, along with the other books in the series, is available through Amazon.

So celebrate bedtime with world  folktales, and you might even find that your kids are begging to go to bed early.

 

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The post Exposing Children to Books From Other Cultures appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

Some children are avid readers, burning through books both at school and at home. But even the biggest book-loving kids are often exposed only to books from within their own culture and perhaps from some relatively similar cultures like USA.

There are a number of reasons that it might be a good idea to encourage children to read books from other cultures, whether translated children’s literature from other European countries, folktales from the many countries of Africa, or traditional stories from Asian nations.

Broader Cultural Awareness: Reading literature from other cultures  will help to increase a child’s understanding of that culture. This will give them a much broader sense of cultural awareness and greater sense of the different types of people they are likely to meet in the world. Exposing children to stories from other cultures such as African folktales will encourage tolerance and inclusiveness, and help them get on well with all kinds of people from a range of backgrounds in the future. It will also help them to develop an idea of what other cultures are like and what traditions they have, which could be useful if they choose to travel in the future, do business with people from other cultures, or simply meet some foreign friends.

Fire Their Imaginations: Reading is well-recognised as a way to fire a child’s imagination and encourage them to be creative. However, if you only expose a child to literature from a particular culture, this may have a limiting effect. Encouraging children to read books from other cultures will open them up to a whole new world of themes and ideas, and a much wider range of literary traditions, genres and styles. The result is a much broader variety of stimuli for their imaginations. If children want to exercise their creativity and come up with their own ideas, they will have a much bigger selection of concepts and influences to draw from.

Fascinating Literature: Another, much simpler reason to encourage children to read books, stories and literature from other cultures is simply that it provides a huge pool of fascinating and entertaining tales to draw from. For most children, this massive pool remains completely untapped. Sources of literature such as African folktales and other traditional tales from around the world are rich varied, well-told and have often been refined over centuries. Any child who loves reading will find plenty of fine literature among the stories of other cultures and are unlikely  to enjoy them any less because they come from further afield than the books they usually read. In fact, they may well enjoy reading books from other cultures more. When an avid reader bookworm has read a huge range of English and American literature by the time they hit their teenage years, expanding their reading list into other cultures might be one of the few ways to find something new, exciting, and truly different from anything they have read before.

Why don’t you visit www.moontalespublishing.co.uk to find out more.

 

 

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The post WHY NAMING CEREMONIES ARE CELEBRATED IN AFRICA appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

Africans welcome the birth of a new child with a lot of relish and expectations. Relish because they see the child as a good gift from their creator and expectations because  the child presents a source of hope for a new and better generation that would ensure continuity of a lineage. Except in very rare cases of extreme poverty or family dysfunction, the arrival of the new being is celebrated within the household and even in the community.
In communal settings, the child does not only belong in its family, it belongs to the general community such that the entire community is infused with excitement because of the  new arrival.
Africans thrive on relationships and therefore love to celebrate with one another, which is another reason why they have ceremonies for different events, particularly those signifying a rite of passage. Giving names to children is a rite of passage which is celebrated at different levels of pomp and pageantry based on the economic status of the parents where friends and family members come together to witness the rite.

The post WHY NAMING CEREMONIES ARE CELEBRATED IN AFRICA appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

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The post The Greeting Culture in Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

Many African countries have their own, unique traditions surrounding the act of greeting. A lot of countries in Africa have a friendly and unhurried approach to social interactions, and that taking the time for a polite, formal greeting that properly follows the local customs is expected. Whether you are doing business in Africa or just taking a holiday there, understanding the various types of greeting culture in Africa will be essential to properly building relationships.

Handshakes : Africa is a large continent made up of many different countries. As such, there are many different types of greeting culture in Africa, but most of these involve handshakes, kneeling down or prostrating. The handshakes are similar to the type of handshakes that Westerners will be familiar with, though sometimes a little longer- lasting.  However there are some local types of greeting culture in Africa that involve a slightly different handshake. For example, in Nigeria, many men may place their left hand on the other person’s shoulder while shaking hands or prostrate to an older person and women may kneel  down for an older person as a sign of respect. When greeting a woman in Africa, it is best to wait and see if she extends her hand.

Social Status: In many African greeting cultures, it is important to afford people a degree of respect while greeting them. For example, you will usually be expected to give respect to those older than you. In Nigeria, bowing your head in deference to elders is expected. Local authority figures are another example.

However, there are times when the unique nature of certain greeting cultures in Africa will override ideas of status. For example, in Ghana, when greeting multiple people, you will always work from the right to the left. this is because your hand will always be facing the correct way.

While other African greeting cultures may require you to greet the most socially important or oldest  people  first, in Ghana you proceed from the right to the left regardless of each person’s status. Many African greeting cultures also require you to initiate the greeting when entering a room. This means that you will not wait for the other person to greet you even if they are somebody who requires respect or younger to you.

Spoken Greetings: There are many types of greeting culture in Africa, but in many of them the handshakes will usually be accompanied by an exchange of pleasantries, sometimes questions about the person’s health an family are also asked. It may be worth learning to conduct these pleasantries in the local language. However, bear in mind that many countries in Africa are home to people from a number of different tribes and, as such, there may be more than one language. For example Zambia has six main languages. Nigeria has about 527 languages, Egypt has about 12 and south Africa has 11 official languages.

Giving Gifts: In some African greeting cultures, such as Nigeria, and South Africa, if you  are visiting somebody’s home it is polite to have a small gift ready to present when greeting them.  In many Africa countries gifts should be given with the right hand or both hands but never the left hand.

Generally in all African countries, the act of greeting each other is very important.

 

 

 

 

The post The Greeting Culture in Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

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The post Traditional Marriage Ceremonies in Africa. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

 

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The post The African Family. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

One of the most colourful and exciting cultural values of African society all over the world is the unique family structure. A true African family is modelled around the concept of communalism and togetherness. That is, we live for each other in a closely-related community. This family is called an extended family. A family that consists of not only the father, mother and children, but relatives, distant or close, all living together in the same house or compound.

In Africa, it’s not just you and your nuclear family set-up; every blood related members of the same family group live in close proximity of each other and in some cases, under the same roof.   In Africa, under the extended family system, we all live for each other. Your things belongs to others. There is no clear-cut difference or sense of real ownership.  What you own belongs to everyone, this way Africans find it easy to live with contentment and maximise their resources.

Also there is a great sense of belonging in African extended family structure. From the first time you draw your first breath, you instantly become a member of the whole extension. An adopted child of everyone. Your biological parents are not your only provider. Love, attention, and care are passed around.

Imagine the level of security, support and protection that such a child will receive.  A child relates, not with strangers but with their family.  He /she learns quickly more about his immediate environment, his cultural values, virtues, norms and acceptable way of life even before he began schooling.

In Africa, expect your grannies, uncles, aunties and other siblings to discipline and guide you.  But be rest assured that it all comes from a genuine heart, flowing with love and attention. An African child that is brought up in an extended family setting radiates love, because she knows real love is.

If you want to know more about Africa, why don’t you pay us a visit at www.moontalespublishing.co.uk?  

 

 

The post The African Family. appeared first on Moontales Publishing UK Ltd..

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Honored to have this book cover I did selected for the Society of Illustrators Annual 55 (whoo-hoo!)
The opening reception was last Friday and runs until March 2nd 2013.

Unfortunately my work schedule means that I won't be able to check out the show in person, but if you do go, please drop me a line (and maybe a photo?)

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We’re excited to announce more updates to the Media Manager, which makes it even easier to upload and manage media on your site.

Insert a Slideshow in the Media Manager

You can now enable a slideshow in the Media Manager. In Edit Gallery mode, you’ll see a list of options on the right under “Gallery Settings.” Click on the dropdown menu next to “Type” to see a new list of gallery types, including a Slideshow option at the bottom:

Similar to the gallery feature, the slideshow option allows you to include specific images. You can reorder the images by dragging and dropping thumbnails, randomize the order by checkmarking the box next to “Random Order,” and reverse the order of images by clicking the “Reverse Order” button at the top. You can also insert multiple slideshows into a post or page, just as you’re able to do with galleries.

Note that the “Link To” and “Columns” options do not apply to slideshows.

The old [slideshow] shortcode will continue to work, but to access all these new features — such as ordering, excluding certain images, etc. — you would need to update your shortcode to use the new [gallery type="slideshow"] format.

Select Gallery Layouts Easily

You’ll also notice you can now set the type of gallery in the Media Manager, in the same dropdown menu mentioned above. In addition to Slideshow, you’ll see a list of gallery layout options: Default, Tiles, Square Tiles, and Circles. Note that Tiles is the option for the rectangular layout, and Square Tiles is the option for the square layout. (As mentioned in our recent galleries post, the  thumbnail grid layout is the default option for all sites.)

Using the various gallery shortcodes to display your galleries still works as well.

These latest updates make it even easier for you to manage your media — all in one place! For further information, please visit our slideshow and gallery support pages.

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Awesomeness is happening the world of Diana Levin Art.Here are a list of new stuff going on:

Designer Con 2012-  is an annual art and design convention that smashes together collectible toys and designer apparel with urban, underground and pop art. Saturday November, 3, 2012. @ Pasadena Convention Center , 300 East Green Street. Pasadena, CA 91101

Bats Day-in the fun park. A show for all you Gothic ghouls out there. Sunday, November, 4, 2012. @ DoubleTree Guest Suites Anaheim 2085 South Harbor Blvd Anaheim CA, 92802

Co-op 28 Handmade-My wearable art jewelry will be displayed there. Stop by the store and check out some cute handmade items. @ 1728 N. Vermont Ave. Los Angeles, California 90027

Hive Gallery- I will have wall featuring my original art at this amazing gallery starting November. Woohoo…Can’t wait.

 

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¡Hola Buenos Aires! ¿Qué está haciendo el próximo sábado, el 17 de marzo, por la tarde? Voy a ver el trabajo de Cristian Turdera y María Elina Méndez en la Galería Mar Dulce en Palermo (17h a 20h): 

Los ilustradores Cristian Turdera y María Elina Méndez inaugurarán la muestra “Amos del Jardín” el próximo 17 de marzo en la Galería Mar Dulce, en Uriarte 1490. (via DGCV)

Hey Buenos Aires! What are you doing next Saturday March 17th in the evening? Me, I will be checking out Cristian Turdera and María Elina Méndez’s “Masters of the Garden” show at La Galería Mar Dulce in Palermo. 

Come support their work, and say hello! 

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The Sun Gallery has posted some great photographs from the Children’s Book Illustrator exhibition that my work is a part of (currently showing in California.) Click the image below to visit the Sun Gallery blog for the whole post! Also, if you’re in the area, be sure to come for the artist reception and book signing next Saturday, March 17 from 1-4 pm. Unfortunately I have obligations that prevent me from making it to California next weekend, but I’m sure it will be a good time! Click here to find out more about the event.

 

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This just in… “Good Fortune” has been chosen as a 2012 NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies book! I hope this means that it will end up in even more school libraries for kids to read (like me in the Loma Linda Elementary School library, back in the day.) Congrats to Renee and Joan and everyone else who made this book happen! It has been such fun watching the project come to life.

In other news, I’m excited to be exhibiting some of the paintings from Good Fortune in the 2012 Children’s Book Illustrators Exhibit at the Sun Gallery in Hayward, CA from February 15-April 7. Here’s the cool postcard they put together for the show:

If you’re nearby, be sure to check it out! I think it will be a great show, with a good variety of artists. The full list of participating illustrators and other event details are on the back of the card below. (Click for a larger version.)

The Sun Gallery
1015 E Street
Hayward, CA 94541
510.581.4050
www.sungallery.org

 

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Hey fellow SFGers!

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By the influence and inspiration of nature, I give you: cute bugs!

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Another work-in-progress from WHO HAS THIS TAIL? I'm wrapping this book up early next week and it'll be VERY nice to kick off the official start of summer by shipping off the art!
If you happen to visit Winthrop this summer you can find an assortment of Harts Pass comics and a few acrylic painting on display (and for sale) at Boulder Creek Deli. While you're at it, you can't go wrong with the Single Tracker sandwich for lunch. Yum :)

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Next is my a group show I will be participating in called Ladies Night in Oxnard. I will also have a booth set up selling my Whimsical Fantasy jewelry and art.

Arts for Action & Pistol Productions Presents:

LADIES NIGHT ART SHOW!!!!
JUNE 18TH 2011

Exhibit will run for a month, from June 18th- July 18th 2011

Join us for a night commemorating the Female Artists. The Exhibit will consist of over 20 female artists displaying new works for 2011 and will be held at Arts for Action.

LIVE PAINTING
VENDORS
SNACKS & GOODIES

and Live music by RESIDUO & AFTERGLOAM!!!

 

 

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