By: Tanya,
on 8/20/2015
The Tree House that Jack Built by Bonnie Verburg, with fantastic illustrations by Mark Teague, takes the old nursery rhyme south of the equator for this very fun twist. The Tree House that Jack Built begins by following the pattern of the nursery rhyme ("Here is the lizard that snaps at the fly that buzzes by the tree house that Jack built) and escalates until a bell rings - it's
By: Tanya,
on 8/19/2015
I love tree houses. Who doesn't? For me, tree houses, along with window seats, are those things from my childhood that seemed like magical places where a kid could go to get away from the world. They were magical to me because, growing up in a city and living in an apartment, they seemed largely unattainable. Yet, they posses the transformative power of an enchanted wardrobe or mirror.
By: [email protected],
on 10/12/2014
Five something-year-olds can be delightfully brutal and unsparing with their observations and subsequent proclamations on life. Audrey is one such five year-old. She may be younger or slightly older; but one thing’s for certain, she does look bigger than she did yesterday, which is why she announces to her father that, ‘your house is getting […]
Add a Comment
By: Nina Mata,
on 3/20/2012
Last month the good people at the Montana Skatepark Association invited me to create work on a skate deck for their annual fundraising gallery show called ON DECK 7.
The money raised will go towards construction and maintenance of Missoula’s MOBASH skatepark. The art decks will be displayed on May 4th, at the Brink Gallery in Missoula, MT where they will also begin the silent/online auction. So lookout for that come May! Visit the MSA website for more information.
Anything that keeps us active and off the streets is A-OK with me!
I was super psyched to be given the opportunity to create work on a skate deck since I’ve never worked on a surface like this before. Prior to receiving the skate deck I had a few ideas in mind but nothing sounded as fun as creating a tree house and possibly a place where Animal Chin lives! (Special thanks to the BF, for telling me the Legend of Animal Chin.)
Here’s the fun process of finding Animal Chins House:
Step 1: I started out with a quick sketch of the tree and a faint mapping of where I’d like to see the leaves.
Step 2: I painted a thin layer of gesso on top of the sketch.
Step 3: Laid out some color for the grass and painted layer of green as an underpainting for the tree.
Step 4: Started to lay in some actual color for the tree trunk..There goes my boss…micromanaging.
Step 5: Once I got the trunk texture down, I worked on the house, and added a thin layer of gesso on the stairs for later.
Step 6: I started to work on the stairs, and the little look out point on the middle left making sure to use a slightly different wood tones for the stairs so the tree and wood wouldn’t blend.
Step 7: I was really planning to keep the natural wood exposed for the finish but it was looking too brown and very monochromatic. (Boo.) So I placed some contact paper on the tree hou
Posted on 7/12/2011
The Fire
So I'm at home just before a late dinner last night, typing away, when my hubby returns from working out and says, all out of breath, there's a fire very close to us. He called 911 when he reached the scene on his drive home and got out to knock on doors and warn people. I'm like "Do we need to pack up and get out of here?" He's like, IDK. We hop in the car and drive the windy road down from our house to see what's what and stop when firetrucks block our path. It's smokier now. And scarier. We can't see flames and we are so incredibly happy to see firetrucks. They were there late into the night and are here today traveling up and down the road, keeping watch. Where we live there are watchtowers for wildfires. I can see one now as I type pearched on the peaks of the Ventana Wilderness. We've lived through some horrible fires. Here are some photos. I even blogged a little bit for latimes.com for the Basin-Complex fire in Big Sur. It's amazing how smoke can bring it all back. We were very lucky last night because the typical on-shore winds we get here we not blowing. All was still. I shudder to think what would have happened if they weren't. So I guess it shouldn't surprise that Ginny gets caught up in a wildfire on her way to Winnemuccca.
The Teaser:
The prologue of Winnemucca:
PROLOGUE: The Ripening
The truth of how the music and I came into the world may never be known. Shaped in blood, and over vast journeys, conquerors passed the instrument to the conquered as easily as they all had a hand in fashioning its name. Sehtar. Citar. Kithara. Chitarra. Guiterne. Guiterre. Guittarre. Guitarra. Guitar. Named by the world, it can bubble up the world inside. A person’s fears and dreams. Alegría. And so it found me, one in an ancient line.
Some say the music took its name from the honored virgin, María H [mah-ree-ah AH-chay]. Others say it was named during the rule of the French Emperor of Mexico and comes from the French word for marriage. Scholars believe the music was named after the kind of wood used to make the platform where the performers danced to the music. From the very start, it was music to be danced.
Those closest to me say my road blood ripened in spite of what they thought was my nature. Others insist the ripening was some sort of tonic. But there was only one reason why the ripening visited me. And what surprised me most about the whole deal was how far I’d go.
Posted on 6/29/2011
Posted on 6/20/2011
It's been quite a week for us. We took it very slow over the weekend. Since we travel so much, staying close to home is our idea of a vacation. Because our daughters are big travelers too, we were lucky to have one home to celebrate with us last Saturday. On Sunday, on my hubby's day, we took a wonderful walk down Carmel Beach. It's one of our favorite things to do because its not just beautiful, but dogs run wild and Oso loves it.
So we were walking down the beach behind two guys in their twenties and they were carrying some pretty substantial driftwood planks. When they took a breather, we chatted. They found the planks on the beach and wanted to make benches out of them. I tried to lift one and I couldn't even lift it an inch off the sand. So much for the power pump classes I'm taking. It's pretty amazing to look at pieces of wood that have been tossed around in the sea, a combination of rough and worn. The guys told us they are in a band and that they just played in Monterey the night before. They were supposed to have a gig in Oceanside on Sunday but decided to chill instead [its a long drive from Monterey to Oceanside, in So Cal] They said they have a gig at The Whiskey a Go Go in Hollywood on an upcoming Saturday night, their set starts at 10:45PM. The name of their band is AquaJones. [They said it's easy to remember if you think of the opposite of Aerosmith].
Anyway, they were fun to talk to and it's always great to hear about folks who are following their dreams. The guys are from Austin and we shook their hands and wished them well. One of the guys is named Cody. When I shook his hand and he talked about their gig in Oceanside, which is by Camp Pendleton where Cody did his basic, it gave me chills.
Image via Wikipedia
What’s the best tree house you’ve ever been in?*
*Dude! Where have I been? On vaca. Sorry there was a break in the questions. I guess I’ll have to add a week on to my year of questions challenge! I’m very, very thankful for any inspiration this has brought to my readers. Hope you had a wonderful holiday! Thank you for your comments and inspiration. Here we go again!
By: Aline Pereira,
on 2/25/2008
(Click on event name for more information)
Shanghai International Literacy Festival~ Mar 1 - 15, Shanghai, China
The Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival~ Mar 2 - 12, Hong Kong
Adelaide Festival Awards For Literature Winners Announced~ Mar 2, Adelaide, Australia
Growing Up Asian in America Art & Essay Contest for Youth~ entry deadline Mar 6, San Francisco, CA, USA
World Book Day~ Mar 6, United Kingdom and Ireland
The 12th Annual Charlotte S. Huck Children’s Literature Festival~ Mar 7 - 8, Redlands, CA, USA
Masak-Masak: A Potluck of Delectable Stories from Around the World~ Mar 8, Singapore
Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award Winner Announced~ Mar 12, Vimmerby, Sweden
World Storytelling Day~ Mar 20
World Poetry Day~ Mar 21
Harmony Day~ Mar 21, Australia
Bangkok International Book Fair~ Mar 26 - Apr 7, Bangkok, Thailand
The Toronto Festival of Storytelling~ Mar 28 - Apr 6, Toronto, ON, Canada
Storylines Margaret Mahy Award Lecture~ Mar 29, Pakuranga, New Zealand
Tom Fitzgibbon Award and Joy Cowley Award Winners Announced~ Mar 29, Pakuranga, New Zealand
Bologna Children’s Book Fair~ Mar 31 - Apr 3, Bologna, Italy
Hans Christian Anderson Awards Announced~ Mar 31, Bologna, Italy
