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It has been brought to my attention that we are approaching what would have been Roald Dahl's 100th birthday.
Yes, today I (and I'm guessing lots of other people in the UK) have been watching, and voting on,
Roald Dahl's Most Marvellous Book; a programme that has taken a look back at all of his greats
Well, ten of them. Ten of his children's books that is, as, of course he also wrote for adults (we all remember Tales of the Unexpected, right?).
Not only has the programme reminded me as to what an amazingly ridiculously phizz-whizzingly whoopsy-whiffling genius he was, but it also reminded me of these drawings I made a few years ago.
I made twelve drawings that were used as backdrops for a production of James and the Giant Peach at the Buxton Festival. And an extra one for the programme (top of post).
It was a really good excuse to re-read the book too. I find a lot of childhood favourites don't read quite as well (to say the least) when you're an adult. But Dahl's do. Try it.
As much as I love James and his Giant Peach it's not the most marvellous. That, of course, is Danny Champion of the World. Which is what I voted for, and which, incidentally, is also as good a read when you're grown up (ish).
(By the way, Matilda won the poll. But obviously everyone was wrong)
Sometimes I read something so wise and good that I can't wait to pass it on to my best writer buds. That happened this morning. Tara Lazur reviewed the biography of Roald Dahl on her blog--Read it here: wp.me/p7jVE-18t
But THIS is the part that gave me happy goosebumps:
What makes a good children’s writer? The writer must have a genuine and powerful wish not only to entertain children, but to teach them the habit of reading…[He or she] must be a jokey sort of fellow…[and] must like simple tricks and jokes and riddles and other childish things. He must be unconventional and inventive. He must have a really first-class plot. He must know what enthralls children and what bores them. They love being spooked. They love ghosts. They love the finding of treasure. The love chocolates and toys and money. They love magic. They love being made to giggle. They love seeing the villain meet a grisly death. They love a hero and they love the hero to be a winner. But they hate descriptive passages and flowery prose. They hate long descriptions of any sort. Many of them are sensitive to good writing and can spot a clumsy sentence. They like stories that contain a threat. “D’you know what I feel like?” said the big crocodile to the smaller one. “I feel like having a nice plump juicy child for my lunch.” They love that sort of thing. What else do they love? New inventions. Unorthodox methods. Eccentricity. Secret information. The list is long. But above all, when you write a story for them, bear in mind that they do not possess the same power of concentration as an adult, and they become very easily bored or diverted. Your story, therefore, must tantalize and titillate them on every page and all the time that you are writing you must be saying to yourself, “Is this too slow? Is it too dull? Will they stop reading?” To those questions, you must answer yes more often than you answer no. [If not] you must cross it out and start again.
The quote above is from a letter Dahl wrote to “The Writer” Magazine in October, 1975: “A Note on Writing Books for Children”.
By:
Betsy Bird,
on 12/10/2013
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Don’t you hate it when you’ve saved oodles of links for a Fusenews only to find your computer apparently ate them without informing you? Fun times. So if I promised some of you that I’d post something and then I didn’t, remind me of the fact. Clearly me brain is running on fumes.
- Stop. Before you go any farther I will show you something that will make you laugh. It is this post by my sister on making a particularly unique gingerbread creation. If nothing else the photos at the end will make you snort in a distinctly unladylike manner.
- Please remind me the next time I wish to garner outrage to simply tap Philip Pullman. The man has sway. Big time sway.
The SCBWI is proud to announce the winner and honor recipients of the 2013 Jane Yolen Mid-List Author Award. Congratulations to winner Eve Feldman, author of such works asBilly and Milly Short and Silly (Putnam) and Dog Crazy (Tambourine). Eve has been a children’s book author and SCBWI member for over twenty years. To learn more about Eve visit www.evebfeldman.com.
Two Honor Grants were also awarded to authors Verla Kay and Deborah Lynn Jacobs. Verla Kay is the author of Civil War Drummer Boy (Putnam) and Hornbooks and Inkwells(Putnam) among others. Learn more at www.verlakay.com. Deborah Lynn Jacobs is the author of the young adult novels Choices (Roaring Brook Press) and Powers (Square Fish). Learn more at www.deborahlynnjacobs.com.
- Gift giving to a young ‘un when you yourself are without young ‘uns? Well, this post A Message to Those Without Children is dead on. She doesn’t mention alternatives but I can: What about books instead? Board books! Give it a whirl, prospective gift givers.
- The most amusing part of this Harry Potter Swimsuit Line to my mind isn’t the content so much as it is the models they got to wear the outfits. Most of them don’t seem to have any clue what they’re wearing. However, #2 in the Snape dress model appears to have been cast solely for the part and #3 has the decency to look slightly embarrassed to be there at all. Thanks to Liz Burns for the link.
- Speaking of HP, we all knew that the covers of the Harry Potter books were being re-illustrated here in the States. But how many of us knew that the Brits were planning on releasing full-color illustrated books with art by Jim Kay? Does the name Jim Kay ring a bell for you, by the way? You might be thinking of the art he did for A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. That was a far cry from that cutesy Harry picture included in the article. Suddenly I can’t wait to see what the man can do with Dementors. Thanks to Ben Collinsworth for the link.
Doggone it. Yet again I delayed posting my Fusenews a day and failed to mention Jarrett Krosoczka’s Joe and Shirl Scholarship Auction in time. Sorry Jarrett! Fortunately, the man is no stranger to auctions of every stripe. This past Sunday there was a big fundraiser for First Book Manhattan at Symphony Space. The actors involved were HUGE and Jarrett was the lucky guy who got to host (he even played Glowworm to Paul Giamatti’s Centipede).
As part of the fun, Jarrett created this cool art. The Dahl estate then signed off on it to be auctioned off to continue to benefit First Book. Like what you see? Then buy here!
Bidding ends on Friday at 5 p.m.
A while back I did this project for
Buxton Festival's production of James and the Giant Peach. I produced a number of drawings that were used as backdrops to the performance. It was a great experience all round, especially seeing the final production and my drawings so BIG.
For some time now I've sat drawing. And drawing. For around about seven years in fact. Since I picked up my pens, back then, I've never stopped. I've always felt that, because I haven't been drawing for a huge amount of time (relatively speaking), I need to squeeze as much of it into my day, into my life, as possible. This has meant that other areas in my life have suffered and been neglected whilst I just draw draw draw.
I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Drawing has become everything to me. It's taken over my life. I feel it might be time to think about redressing the balance. But just thinking about it has thrown me into a bit of a funk. Wondering how I do that - because I still love drawing so much. If anyone has all the answers please let me know. 'Cos, I'm struggling.
I've been a little distracted of late. By this amongst other things. Yes, this week saw the production of James and the Giant Peach at Buxton Festival. It was very sweet indeed. And, a real treat to see my drawings so BIG (they were the backdrops to the performance). I do hope I can get some photos of the event to show you but I'm not so sure - you know with all those rules and regs about photos of kids.
Anyway, lots of new drawings to post, including some from today's International Sketchcrawl Day. I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail. But for now I need some sleep.
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By:
andrea joseph,
on 6/13/2012
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I've finally finished the drawings for the production of James and the Giant Peach at Buxton Festival.
These two drawings depict the two stages of completing a deadline.
Above; panic = trying to get all the work in on time.
Below; bliss = all work in on time (ish).
There are three performances of the James production, in early July,so, if you are close to Buxton then bring your kids along. I can't wait for it, myself. It'll be a new experience to see my work as backdrops. How exciting. I hope to post some photos from the event.
You can get your tickets
HERE.
By:
andrea joseph,
on 6/9/2012
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And now for something completely different. Different from all the sketch crawl stuff that I've been posting of late anyway. Here's a couple more from the
James and Giant Peach project. These drawings will become the backdrops to the play. I find it quite difficult to not get sucked into all the details. After all, that's what I love to do.
The scene below is what goes on inside the peach on an average evening. As I was finishing it I was reminded of one of my favourite
Spike Milligan poems which goes like this;
'Today I saw a little worm wriggling on his belly,
perhaps he'd like to come inside and see what's on the telly.'
I bloody love that.
By:
andrea joseph,
on 5/21/2012
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Here's another of the backdrops I am illustrating for the Buxton Festival's production of James and the Giant Peach. I'm prettyy happy with this one and though I might still add a little background I also liked it against the white.
Lots more on it's way this week.
Here are another couple of drawings that I have been working on for
Buxton Festival's production of James and the Giant Peach. This has been an interesting project to work on. It's quite different to what I'd normally do in that usually my work is all about the detail. This brief is almost opposite to that. These images will be the backdrops to the production and therefore should not distract from everything that is going on on the stage. So, with that in mind, I've tried to create them through colour and atmosphere.
Anyone interested in attending the production can find the details here. I'll be there on for the
Monday afternoon (9th of July) performance and the original drawings will be displayed in the foyer throughout. I'll linger in that area before the show so come and say hello.
JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH by Roahl Dahl is celebrating its 50th birthday with a fun, interactive site. You can send a "Virtual Peach" to someone special or a "Peach-Gram." Peachy greetings are circulating the globe, almost 800,000 miles worth when I peeked in at the site.
Everyday is the right day to celebrate a great story!
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Betsy Bird,
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When you work with the real Winnie-the-Pooh you have a tendency to get complacent. “Oh sure,” you think. ” I know everything about that bear. Absolutely everything.” So it’s nice when the universe gives you a swift kick in the pants to remind you that you are not always up on your Pooh knowledge. Or at least not as up on it as you might think. For example, I completely missed the fact that they just reissued The Winnie-the-Pooh Cookbook by Virginia H. Ellison (amusingly my library’s gift shop has known for quite some time has stocked several copies accordingly). I found this out when a reporter from the Associated Press wanted to interview me (or anyone else who worked with the silly old bear) about Pooh and food. The final piece, Counting pots of honey? Pooh’s recipes for them consists of me desperately trying to think of ways to describe Pooh and food. You will probably enjoy it more for the cute honey gingerbread cookie recipe at the end.
- The article in Tablet Magazine (“A New Read on Jewish Life”) is entitled The Others: Several new books for children and young adults ask us to see the world through Palestinian kids’ eyes. Its author is Marjorie Ingall, one of my favorite children’s book reviewers, most recently seen heaping praise upon A Tale Dark & Grimm in the last New York Times children’s book supplement, as is right. The article in Tablet gives great insight into books like Where the Streets Had a Name (which I reviewed myself) as well as Sarah Glidden’s How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less, which I have on order with my library. For this article, Marjorie is lambasted in her comment section. Some of the comments are thoughtful, but a great many show why this issue is so rarely discussed in children’s literature today.
Roald Dahl is one of those writers whose books have truly stood the test of time. James and the Giant Peach was first published in 1961. Today readers of all ages are still falling in love with this delcisouly odd story, and the memorable characters that Dahl created.
James and the Giant Peach
Roald DahlIllustrations by Quentin BlakeFictionAges 5 to 8Penguin, 2001, 0141304677There can be no doubt that James Trotter had every reason to be miserable. Not only had his beloved parents died in an unfortunate accident involving a rhino, but he also had had to leave his wonderful home by the sea to go and live with his frightful aunts, Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker. These two women did everything they could to make James’s life as unhappy as possible; they did not give him enough to eat, they made him work very hard, and all in all they were a thoroughly despicable pair.
Yesterday I received two reviews from Sophia, a girl in the Fourth grade at Metrolina Regional Scolar's Academy. These were the same girls who tried the hostile takeover. When I got these reviews, however, there was no mention of a takeover; only three paragraphs about some good reads! She has obvioulsy accepted the olive branch of peace that the boys offered so generously in our bigness of our hearts. OK, we're glad you did, Sophia. Let's see what our friend wrote:
Danny the Champion of theWorld
Danny the Champion of the world is by Roald Dahl. It is about a little boy named Danny whose dad goes paoching one night. Poachng is when you go out into the woods and "steal" food for your families. Danny has only father; his mother died when he was four months old. Danny's father poaches pheasants and one day he falls in a hole and breaks his leg, then Danny has to go and rescue his dad. Then Danny and his father think up a way to poach two hundred birds at one time. This book will keep you on your toes, it has so much action in it. That is why I love it and think you all should read it.James and the Giant Peach
James and the Giant Peach is, again, written by Roald Dahl. It is also about a little boy. His name is James. James' parents died when he was young, so he was sent to live with his horrible aunts. One day a little old man gives him a magical bag of something lucky and James hurries to dirnk this formula. Suddenly James spills the bag and the things go into an old peach tree that never produces peaches.The next day, a peach starts growing. James crawls in and he finds giant insects inside. Then James goes off on adventures!! I LOVE this book, and I am urging you to read it! It has a lot of action in it. These book reviews are again written by by Sophia, a girl in 4th grade at Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy.Very well done, Sophia! You've REALLY made want to read the second book! Several boys have written before and talked about Danny, the Champion of the World. A lot of kids like it. (Go to the list of already-reviewed books on the left hand side of the page and see what other kids have said)Now you see, everyone, this is as it should be! There was no mean and sneaky attempt to take over. She simply shared her love of readiing with all the rest of us. She did the right thing. In other words, she acted like a boy.Isn't it wonderful?Carl
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All the answers - some would be nice. I'll keep an eye on this post as I have no idea how to balance.
Love the backdrops - they look gorgeous!
Hi Andrea,
Take a look at why you want to 'redress the balance'. Are the reasons your reasons or other people's reasons? What else (besides drawing) is important to you?
Once you know the important stuff, you can make time for all of it, on your terms.
The thing that was a breakthrough for me is that I have a choice. There's really no such thing as "I can't" ('Oh, I can't do x, I have to do y'). You are actually choosing to spend your time on something every time a choice comes up. If you choose what feels right to you, and not what you think you 'should'('shoulds' tend to come from outside (family, friends, society)), then you won't feel pulled in two different directions. Sometimes your choices won't please everyone, but since you can't ever do that anyway, there's no point in trying! What you can do is choose your priorities, and then focus on those.
Cheers,
eSeN ([email protected])
Congratulations AJ. I'm so so glad for you.
Humans are put on this earth to find what it is that makes them passionately alive and to share that with the world.
If drawing is that for you, you're already in balance. Moreso than the rest of this crazy world, for sure.
Provided you're not hurting anyone, just live into what you're supposed to do. Draw, lady. Draw like it's your soul made visible.
Years ago I was deeply, obsessively into flying. It was on my mind pretty much every waking minute. I remember the panic I felt when imagining the day I didn't do it any more. It seemed like I would lose the core of who I was.
The answer was that whether I'm flying or not: once a pilot, always a pilot. The magic will wait for you if you have to take a break.
Maybe the answer lies in combining your love of drawing with other things in your life: more sketchcrawls, more sketching with others, teaching your skills to others, or including drawing in those parts of your life that you feel have been neglected.
I wish you the best in finding the elusive balance. May your search lighten your soul:)
they look amazing on that huge screen!
I am in the exact opposite position - an amateur artist who hasn't created regularly for many years. Your blog of wonderful drawings is one of several inspiring me to dust off the sketchbook & supplies. I'm starting my own journey back to regular drawing and blogging about it. Whatever you decide is the right balance for you, thanks for the inspiration and for sharing your talent!
eSeN, has the solution I think. The most difficult might be to put into practice maybe. But yes, I guess the only solution to be in peace with our everyday life, is to listen to ourselves as much as possible.
You draw a lot, maybe too much in the some peoples eyes, but you do it well, and you don't seem to loose a second of that time spend drawing. It really seams worth it, your work is beautiful Andrea!!
Thank you for your passionate dedication, it's a gift to all those who are lucky enough to see your drawings!
Helen
eSen raises a good point.
Death is certain and the time we have is not. What you do with your time is important. The fact that you are fully aware of what you love and that you prioritise it is incredible.
So few people know and love themselves enough to do what you do.
Even when you think you are drawing every minute, you still make time to do what needs to be done - go to work, clean the clothes, call your Mom, etc - so even though doing these things make you feel cheated of time, I don't think they are part of the balance issue. Balance for me is doing ART as much as I can until that dreadful time when the muse takes a vacation. Then I spend that time doing research and reading, preparing for her return, then, when she does, I do as much ART as I can. That's how I stay balanced.
I've been reading a book about visioning (which sounds daft, but actually just seems to mean working out what you want so you can go do it), and had a wee go at it myself.
Essentially, you're meant to picture your life in x number of years if everything went just how you always imagined it. Then (in the present tense) you describe in detail the way your spend your week, or how you interact with the people around you.
The amazing thing is that it really does make it easier to work out what to do now in order to get there (and it's not always what you think it's going to be).
I'm with Aggie, as another amateur artist, (and mother of four teenagers/young adults) I find it a struggle to carve out time each week, never mind each day (which is my goal) to find time to draw and be creative. Relax and enjoy this time you have because before you know it other things will creep in. Thank you for sharing your journey and your achievements, it is always inspirational.
eSen talks a great deal of sense - as long as you are not in danger of being evicted, starving to death or hurting anyone, I see no problem in spending your time drawing. It's what you are brilliant at and it is starting to pay dividends. I quit art completely in my early twenties after many setbacks and various people telling me I wasn't good enough. After 13 years, I came back to it and thought to hell with anyone else, I'm going to do what I love. It's been a long hard slog but I can finally call myself a professional artist. Now I feel I have to catch up with those lost years because let's face it, we're a long time dead!
Andrea,
From your perspective you have done 'nothing but draw'.
However from those of us who have followed you for these years there is more to it than that. There is inspiration (both to spur the artists among us to create more, as well as the sheer joy of seeing the beauty of the world through your eyes), excitement of watching your career develop, and the hope that with all this great work will come greater recognition for you. As I've posted before, your blog is the starting point for student projects in my university drawing classes, which undoubtedly has a ripple effect unforeseen.
Next things? More exhibitions, travel, a reality show? Whatever 'it' is will hopefully dovetail with what you do now so we (selfishly) won't lose you.
Best wishes.
Thank you SO much for the kind response to this post, folks.
I have read and reread through all of your comments and appreciate them more than you know. I, too, will respond (to your response!)by posting very shortly. Sorry, I haven't ot around to it sooner, I've just been a bit 'all over the place' recently.
For the first time, yesterday, I suddenly felt like drawing and had a deluge of ideas. This makes me happy.
A blog post will follow shortly. In the meantime, a HUGE thank you. I'm very touched.
I understand how you feel. Re-Adjusting your life when you have a strong passion for something isn't easy at all... If you sit down and really think this through I'm sure you could make an effort to balance out your passion of drawing with other things in your life!
I'm a new fan of your work!(btw) Whatever you do, just please don't stop drawing :)
andrea, i hope these amazing comments have helped lighten your mind
with so much wisdom i'm not sure i have much new to add.
looking forward to a "balanced" you and some sketches :)
Beautiful backdrops Andrea. I have no answers either. I am absolutely consumed with making marks. ??