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Last Thursday I had a pleasure of visiting the fabulously decorated  boutique of designer Michele Varian (in SoHo) for the Creative Inc. book signing event where I got to meet and greet with the wonderful authors of such a resourceful book (and might I add so well designed), Meg Mateo Ilasco and Joy Deangdeelert Cho! It was quite a turn out! It was so great to see such an overwhelming amount of people who came out to show their love and support to these two very talented and inspiring women. I wish them and this book much success!

HAPPY MONDAY!

My father gave me my mother's recipe book when she passed away. It wasn't her only recipe book—not by a long shot—but it was the three-ring vinyl notebook she'd assembled: cut-outs from magazines, handwritten instructions to self, note cards with which she helped my brother memorize multiplication tables in between the stirring and testing and waiting. Water has since washed away much of the ink, as have oil splots and tracks of dark chocolate, and so it's only by experimenting that I can estimate measurements or temperatures; nothing ever turns out quite the same. But when something emerges reminiscent of her, I christen it My Mother's xxxx. Making these My Mother's Brownies, as finally perfected a few days ago.

He never went to sleep to easily. Wolfie was always afraid of falling out of bed.

One night he did just that. He fell into a land of strange little houses, tiny flattened people and rushing rivers.


Wolfgang fell into that land of dreams. Ah ha, I see him. Do you?



And fell





And fell





But before he had a chance to reach the river, he woke up. He always did.

You may have noticed that he dreams in black and white. Maybe next week his dream will be in color!

Welcome to our house! Winter is still here in New Hampshire.


Even though we try to keep up with it, Snow has a way of piling up!


If you check out the red circle on the rhododendron bush you can see where the deer ate away the lower shoots and leaves.



This is the forest behind our home. The deer gracefully make their way through here.
In the spring we will most likely see big old Mr. Bear again.

We still have more digging out to do!

The space I carved out for myself in our small office suits me fine. I have a neat drawing table that fits nicely next to my desk and computer and it is on wheels so that I can easily move it away from the printer or extra bookshelves. It was on sale at almost half price and I like that it is lightweight, has an adjustable drawing board and cupholders. The cupholders are for a glue gun, but I keep a water bottle there.
The window is wonderful to have. But, when the sun is too bright there is a little folding Japanese screen that I can use to block out the light. If you look closely out that window you will see that the snow is up over the sill outside. There are three full bookshelves in here but I have another two in the hallway outside this room and walls of books in our family room. The ones that I keep close to me are reference and picture books. Some are signed by the artists, and several are those have been illustrated by very good friends.

I hope in the next few weeks more of the gang can share the space where they work. I know at least one of the Picture Bookies uses the entire planet as a studio! It is always fun to see where and how an artist works.

In Bermuda people make homemade kites and fly them on Good Friday to celebrate the risen Christ. I have taken the idea and am using it with my Sunday School students as a whole group multi age craft lesson. We will be making huge tissue paper creations that won't actually 'fly' in the true sense of the word. But they will be able to be wafted around using balloon sticks with an elastic string that attaches to the fish. Then the children can wave or bobble their fish around.

To create the fish we use a basic fish pattern of two back to back tissue forms. These are glued only along the top and bottom leaving the mouth and tail ends open. Next we stuff lightly with newspaper. Once that is done an oak tag mouth is fitted in the mouth end and glued in place.

Next the scales are applied. This is really easy and fun. Thin ribbons of elmers glue are run up and down along the fish in vertical lines. Before the glue dries...( this takes a while) we use tissue paper rounds. These are 4" wide and are available from craft supply houses in colorfast tissue packs of about 480 per pack. We cut these circles in half and just start laying them all over the fish where the glue is. Starting at the back, the process is fairly easy. When one side is done we switch to the other side and since the tissue scales cover all the glue it isn't too too messy. I do keep wet paper towels near the children so that they can easily clean their fingers from time to time.

A small amount of glitter can be added on one side if you wish. We use tiny glitter pens as they have a nice flow and dry quickly.

We use stick on eyes instead of plastic google eyes, since the stickers are lighter. When the fish is covered in scales the children can decide if they want to add a shredded tissue paper tail and then we attach the string and sticks and the fish are ready to bounce and fly. To attach the string I punch a hole in the bottom end of the mouth that was created with the oak tag glued inside the mouth to keep it open.


It makes a great party craft for kddie birthdays and even the boys love this one.....especially the "FLYING" part.
The large fish is approximately 28 inches long and the smaller one is about 18 inches.
Colorfast tissue comes in bulk also in an assortment of 24 colors per pack of 480. If you want any details on where to order, just email me and I'll be happy to give you the information.

Multiple snow storms did not phase Mrs. Rosario. It wasn't shopping for multiple items at the grocery store. It wasn't even having to feed multiple mouths. The thing that required her to engage the services of a Nanny was getting all six children dressed to go out before any one of them began undressing again.

So, here we go again. My good friend Sherry Rogers tagged me and invited me to play along with 5 random things about me.
Should be easy...most of my life has been random lately.

1.) If they let me, I would draw and paint 24/7. But they ( the BIG THEY..husband, dog, cat, mother ) insist on eating regularly.

2.) I have ALWAYS loved snow! Until this year. We have had a winter of snow, ice, mix, over 90 inches of it. And of course, as I type this ...it is snowing...hard. Enough already!

3.) Chocolate. ( many of you will understand why this only requires one word )

4.) I can't watch TV without a sketch pad and pencil in hand.

5.) I dream in vivid color. (I'll bet you do too!) And since we are on the subject of dreams, I often drive someplace in my dreams, park my car and am unable to find it when I look for it. There may be a meaning in this, but often even in my dreams I will tell myself I can't find the car because I am, in fact, dreaming. And I will STILL continue to look for the car. Go Figure!

Since this is a circle of fun I am tagging,

Kate Reitz

Paige Keiser

Nancy Lefko

Isay Hansen

Bron Smith

Play along if you all have some time.
CHEERS!

For the book dummy I am preparing I have created a slightly new cover design.
I am currently revising, adding, subtracting and polishing my book dummy for submission to ONE favorite publisher. They require exclusive submissions only. Since I have been at this for such a long time, the wait time for them to respond is worth the effort.
In the process I revised the cover art to fit in with the tone that the illustrations have now taken on. I also restructured some of the events to give the book a more organic flow. At 32 pages there are 25 full color illustrations to be presented along with the front and back cover. Some of those are double page spreads, so I'll share one of them here along with the new cover art.




©Ginger Nielson 2008

The process for Gunther the Underwater Elephant is now in its third year.  This won't come as a surprise to anyone else who writes and illustrates their own picture book. The process is twofold. The manuscript must be perfected and the illustrations must hit the mark with consistency and impact.
 It began as watercolor and ink ideas.

Finally I added some seaweed and darkened the sea a bit.  The final will have text at the bottom and maybe a few more bubbles with more clarity.

©Ginger Nielson

Somehow it never looks the same in print as it does during those wonderful hours after 2 am when you are finally finished with a project. The realization is good, just the same, because it only means I can do better. Today I received my copy of an educational reader segment. While on the surface it is good, colorful, tells the story exactly as requested, it lacks the perfection that I am currently striving for. I can only print this tiny example of a painting within a painting, but even here in this image that reproduces at maybe one third the size, I can see areas for improvement.

I suppose we all feel the same way, or at least most of us do...we can always do better. The big shocker for me is how many of the illustrators and artists I know or read about occasionally have the some of same feelings. And their work is amazing!

So do you all ever feel that way? Like there is a long way to go...uphill....with a bag of rocks on your back....??

I really enjoy making patterns that can be turned into borders for artwork or as elements of a painting.
©Ginger Nielson2008

When Vanessa Marie was only a few months old she began to grow the most beautiful wings. By the time she was 3 years old her parents noticed that her wings had grown far to large to fit under her little shirts and dresses. And by the time she was six, she realized who she really was and one night she flew away to take her place with those of her kind.

I was so honored to receive this lovely award from my really good friend and fellow artist, Nancy Lefko whose collage art is simply the best! Be sure to click on her name and enjoy her super collage work. If you haven't visited her site, this is a must and you won't be disappointed.

And as I accept this award I am pleased to pass it on with the following guidelines.

1. Write a post with links to 5 blogs that make me think and/or make my day.
2. Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3. Display the "You Make my Day Award" logo with a link to the post that I wrote. (Optional)
4. Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.

And I have chosen the following artists to receive this award, because they truly bring light to my day as I visit their sites and enjoy all that they offer.
Sherry Rogers

Amy C. Moreno

Jennifer E. Morris

Carla Kurt

Paige Keiser

I truly admire each of these incredible artists and know you will enjoy visiting their sites and leaving a comment of encouragement for all their hard work.