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Anna talks about her life writing and illustrating books, among other things!
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Dear readers,
Happy new year! With the new year come new changes. I've recently moved my blog over to my new web site. Come join me there for updates on my work and life.
Best wishes,
Anna
I've been busily framing all week for the RISD Fall Sale this Saturday. There will be mountains of prints and books at my booth. Come by and say hello if you're in the neighborhood!
Details:
Booth #13
Saturday, October 10th
10:00 am- 5:00 pm
Benefit Street, between Waterman and Hopkins
Providence, RI
This week I finished off the last of the artwork for
Sprout Street book number two:
A New Arrival! After a busy summer of painting, it's satisfying to see all the illustrations laid out together. I'll post some close-ups soon! In the meantime, you can find me at the lake, picking blueberries, and taking a few naps...
A sweet package arrived in the mail last week! In it was the cover to my next book,
Sprout Street Neighbors, A New Arrival. I'm in the final stretch of illustrating this book, feverishly painting round the clock. Can't wait to see it all come together!
Sprout Street Neighbors: Five Stories is out today- happy birthday little book! To celebrate I am posting my favorite review so far. The Winnie the Pooh comparison really made my day. Thanks Booklist!
"The five stories here present a tribute to the ups and downs of friendship. Differences are the central focus of each story as characters display their very diverse personalities. Poetry-loving Henry fancies peace and quiet; vivacious Emma is always ready to party; creative Violet wants to practice her flute and knit; gardener Wilbur prefers to work with plants and dig in the dirt; and shy Fernando’s secret desire is to dance. These animal friends reside in the same apartment building, but sometimes their different lifestyles make being neighbors hard! Episodic chapters reveal how problems, such as a noisy acorn collection, leaky ceilings, and a birthday cake disaster, find resolution in a fashion reminiscent of Winnie the Pooh’s misadventures in the Hundred Acre Woods. Soft, expressive pen-and-ink illustrations provide assistance for the transitional reader. Demonstrating tolerance, politeness, and teamwork, these gentle stories help show how the world can work when challenges are approached with kindness and understanding."
— Martha Edmundson, Booklist
ps. If you would like to purchase a personalized copy of the book, my lovely local indie
The Odyssey Bookshop would be happy to help! Just order the book
here and note who you would like it inscribed to in the comments when checking out. I'll go in and sign it, then they'll ship it directly to you.
It is hard to describe the feeling of holding your book for the first time, after all the many weeks, months, and years spent bringing it into being. When a little package arrived on my doorstep last week, I was excited to open it, but also nervous that it might not live up to my expectations. Would all the pieces that we had labored over for so long come together and create a solid little vessel for the story inside? When I opened up Sprout Street and flipped through the pages my heart leapt up. All the details blended seamlessly together to form one little book, five little stories, one hundred and four little pages.
My favorite details, both surprises, are the sweet little embossed sprouts on the cover and the marvelous full color printed endpapers.
I am so excited to share this book with the world!
Much has changed since my last post here. 2014 was a whirlwind, so I took some time off from blogging to get my bearings. I am happy to be back with updates on on my adventures, both bunny painting and otherwise!
Shortly after my last post, this little guy arrived:
He has brought much joy and much busyness! We are totally, utterly in love with our tiny fellow. And also we are very busy. Did I mention that?
Shortly before his arrival, my husband and I closed on a house and began converting it from a two family to a single. With no experience and a lot of excitement we put our home renovation dreams into action. Much of the year was spent wandering around mess that looked like this:
Surely enough the space was transformed, and we moved into our house at the end of the year:
We've been painting, organizing, and unpacking ever since. I'm excited to post some before and after pictures when the transformation is complete.
When not house painting, I've been hard at work with a different kind of paint brush. The illustrations for
Sprout Street Neighbors (book 1) are now complete and I am so excited that it's book birthday is almost here! In one month's time it can be found in bookstores at last.
Til then I'll be posting more of
the artwork, peeks inside the making of the book, and details about ways to celebrate with me (mark your calendars for a launch party on June 6th at the
Odyssey). Stay tuned!
Here are a few of my favorite paintings from the second chapter of Sprout Street Neighbors (some chapter one paintings here), featuring a rambunctious squirrel named Emma:
I just finished up the illustrations that will go on the back cover of
this jacket. Looking forward to seeing how the designer puts all the pieces together!
Here are a few of my favorites from the first chapter of Sprout Street Neighbors, the chapter book I've been working on. It's been a lot of fun painting without color, it sort of frees me up to think more about the values, textures, and patterns in a painting. I like spending time in this cozy black and white world.
Here is the final painting for the jacket of Sprout Street Neighbors. I began with
this sketch. I'll post the jacket design soon!
Tightening up the jacket sketch for Sprout Street Neighbors, my first chapter book, due out next year.
"Of all the questions I have been asked as an author of children's books, the most frequent one, without doubt, has been 'How do you get your ideas?' Most people seem to think that getting an idea is both mysterious and simple. Mysterious, because inspiration must come from a particular state of grace with which only the most gifted souls are blessed. Simple, because ideas are expected to drop into one's mind in words and pictures, ready to be transcribed and copied in the form of a book, complete with endpapers and cover. The word get expresses these expectations well. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
"It is true that, from time to time, from the endless flow of our mental imagery, there emerges unexpectedly something that, vague though it may be, seems to carry the promise of a form, a meaning, and, more important, an irresistible poetic charge. The sense of instant recognition with which we pull this image into the full light of our consciousness is the initial impulse of all creative acts. But, though it is important, it produces no more than the germ of an idea. Each book, at the birth of its creative history, has such a moment. Some are fortunate enough to have, from the outset, a strongly identified hero, one with an inescapable destiny. Others are blessed with a promising beginning, or perhaps with the vision of an ending (which means working backwards to a surprise opening). Others stem from a clearly articulated conflict situation. Sometimes, I must admit, the motivations of a book may be found in a sudden, unreasonable urge to draw a certain kind of crocodile. And it may even happen that in the dark of our minds there appears, out of nowhere, a constellation of words that has the bright, arrogant solidity of a title. Only last night I was jolted out of a near-slumber by the words the mouse that didn't exist. I am sure that, temporarily tucked away in my memory, they will eventually become the title of a story for which as yet I have no idea.
"To shape and sharpen the logic of a story, to tighten the flow of events, ultimately to define the idea in its totality, is much like a game of chess. In the light of overall strategy, each move is the result of doubts, proposals, and rejections, which inevitably bring to mind the successes or failures of previous experiences.
"Inspirational raptures may happen, but most books are shaped through hard, disciplined work. Creative work, to be sure, because its ingredients come from the sphere of the imaginary. But the manipulation of these ingredients requires much more than mere inclination or talent. It is an intricate process in which the idea slowly takes form, by trial and error, through detours and side roads, which, were it not for the guidance of professional rigor, would lead the author into an inextricable labyrinth of alternatives.
"And so, to the question 'How do you get your ideas?' I am tempted to answer, unromantic though it may sound, 'Hard work.' "
-Leo Lionni (found through his Amazon bio)
I'll be selling books and prints once again at the RISD Alumni Holiday Art Sale, this Saturday at the Rhode Island Convention Center. As always, the sale is a great place to do your holiday shopping- I love to stroll the aisles and pick out handmade goodies for my xmas list. Come join us! The sale is from 10:00-5:00.
Tomorrow is the
We Art Boston event at the Rose Kennedy Greenway from 11-3:00! There will be watercolor, collage, and bookmaking activities for kids, illustrators on hand for book-signing, stuffed animal portraits, kid's music and more. You will be able to view all the original artwork for sale. More details
here. This is going to be a REALLY FUN event! And it's all totally free.
I will be helping out at the book making station from 11:00-12:30 and drawing stuffed animal portraits from 1:30-3:00. Come get an original drawing of your favorite stuffed animal to take home! I'll be drawing alongside some incredible talents: Barbara McClintock, Kelly Murphy, Scott Magoon, David Biedrzycki, and Julia Denos.
The Fall RISD Sale was bustling and fun. It was a full day that started early and flew by.
But there was one sweet moment that caught my attention. In the early afternoon, a small girl sidled up to my table and looked through a bin of prints. She picked out an image of a bird in a nest and asked how much it was. Then she plunked a little pouch onto the table, and with her mother's help began to count out dollars and coins to pay for it.
"Is that your allowance money?" I asked. "Yes," she said, and kept counting. I was tempted just to give her the print, but then I remembered the pride and feeling of independence that goes with buying something yourself. I remembered saving up my money and carefully deciding what to buy, contemplating the many different ways it could be spent. Though I don't remember wanting to buy things like artwork at that age, I think I would have gone for a toy or game. I was really touched that she wanted to buy my print, and impressed that she was bringing home something that couldn't be played with or worn or quickly thrown away.
Thanks for the lovely moment, and to everyone who came out on Saturday!
I'll be selling books and prints of my work next Saturday, October 12th, at the RISD Fall Alumni Sale. It's always a lot of fun to do the sale (and a major temptation to blow my earnings on all the beautiful hand crafted goodies)- come by and say hello if you're in the area!
ps. I'm on the card, woot! Check out this guy below...
I am so proud to be part of We Art Boston, a fundraiser for the Emergency and Trauma Fund at Boston Children’s Hospital. Original illustratons from over 40 children's book artists will be auctioned off beginning October 10th.
On the 20th there will be a fabulous celebration on the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston, with art activities for kids, a stuffed animal portrait station, book signings, and book making station, among other things. Come by and say hello! I will either be signing books, manning the book making station, or sneaking my daughter's stuffed lamb over to get her portrait drawn...
Here is the piece I donated, from Abigail Spells:
Libby tagged me for this blog tour on BRG, a chain-letter blog tour of sorts about your latest book. Here is a little bit about what I've been working on:
1. What is the working title of your next book(s)?I am currently revising a draft of my first chapter book, tentatively titled The House on Oak Street. This title will change, it's more of a place holder right now until the right title sparks.2. Where did the book idea come from for the book?I've always loved animal stories and stories about friendship; this book is both. Once the characters formed in my head, the story sort of flowed out of their relationships with each other as I wrote about them. I am not usually the writer that says "the story wrote itself!" (I can't imagine that happening *and* my work being any good) but this might have been similar in that the ideas came when I needed them.
3. What genre does your book fall into? It is a young chapter book. 4. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
Five friends live in an apartment building together teach eachother about friendship.
5. Who is publishing your book?
Alfred A. Knopf Books
6. How long did it take you to write the first draft?
Before I conceived of the idea for the book, I wrote one of the chapters as a picture book, maybe 3 or 4 years ago. When I came back to it in 2011, shortly after my daughter was born, I realized it was part of a larger story, and began writing other chapters around it. In total that first draft took about a year to complete, but I was also part-time at home with my daughter.
7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I would love if it were compared to The Wind in the Willows or Winnie-the-Pooh, thought it is a very different book from both. Still, I took inspiration from the cozy worlds of both books, and the way the characters learn deeper truths about themselves through everyday events.
8. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?
Are you looking for a simple way to celebrate Earth Day with your kids? There are a number of activities for the wee ones on the
web site for my book
What Can You Do with an Old Red Shoe?. Download free coloring sheets or activity pages, a curriculum guide for your classroom, or check out the resources section.
Wishing you a happy, crafty Earth Day!
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Dear readers,
The Fall RISD Sale was bustling and fun. It was a full day that started early and flew by. 
3. What genre does your book fall into? 
Anna, it sounds great, I can't wait to read it!