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I have missed contributing. I just finished one of my hardest semesters yet and had to put my art away for a while. But I'm back now and ready to play. This is my contribution for hot summer days. I had a blast drawing it and then painting it. My daughter kept asking me if this was for fun or homework. Ha, homework be gone. I'm ready for fun.

I hope you enjoy it.

p.s. Am I doing October or November? I thought I was on October, but whatever. Let me know. Thanks.

Hello There:

Just popping in to inform you that I am having a give-away starting tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. pacific standard time. It will run through Sunday evening until 5:00 p.m. pacific standard time. The contest winner will receive a print of my original collage entitled: "Rabbit's Curious Day". I will include a photo of the print in tomorrows blog entry. All you need to do is post a comment and the winner will be chosen randomly by none other than my very old dog Homer.

Stop by tomorrow if you'd like to be included in the contest.

Thanks so much:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

I drew this last Wednesday and then just couldn't find time to paint it. Tonight I decided I needed to escape to my studio and just kick back. This was fun. So many wonderful ideas to this prompt.

"With the embarrassing seatbelt-extension episode on the plane forgotten, Ella had a great time learning the hula."

I had a great time with this illo. I kind of liked the colors that happened. I inked this first, then painted with gouache. When dry, I held it under a stream of warm water and let it wash off the extra paint. I had some happy accidents when the paint washed off in patches in the sky making clouds.

I've really been inspired by everyone this last 2 weeks. I haven't taken the time to comment as I have started 3 classes and put in overtime at work this last week, but I've loved them all. Good job everyone!

Welcome, Year of the Rat!

To help you celebrate, here are a couple of new books we can recommend…

Grace Lin has a sequel just out to her delightful Year of the Dog - called, appropriately enough, Year of the Rat. We’ll have our own review of it soon, in the meantime, you can read what Grace herself says about it here.

You can read here about another new book by Grace, this time a picture-book called Bringing in the New Year. There are some good “Lunar New Year” links on this post from Wild Rose Reader too.

And here are some more Chinese New Year picture books reviewed by PaperTigers:
The Year of the Rat: Tales from the Chinese Zodiac by Oliver Chin, illustrated by Miah Alcorn,;
The Great Race / The Story of the Chinese Zodiac by Dawn Casey, illustrated by Anne Wilson;
The Day the Dragon Danced by Kay Haugaard, illustrated by Carolyn Reed Barritt.

Do you have any special favorites you’d like to share with us?

…And a PS - do have a look at Grace Lin’s blog to read about her trip to China last month - there are some great photos too.

Good Morning:

I thought I might take this opportunity to stop by this morning while my mom's resting. I had a look out the window a moment ago and it looks windy and crisp. The Palm Trees across the street are whipping every which-a-way. The howling wind makes my mini-schnauzer nervous and/or giddy (he's not sure yet which way he feels). Personally, I love the wind. I love the sound of it creeping around the corners of the house. I love the movement it brings. Everything in the garden is alive in the wind. The birds can be seen riding the waves, soaring and darting. Outside my windows, there's life in the wind. How I envy those soaring birds...

I've found it comes very easily lately to get lost in sights, lost in thoughts and lost in books. Late at night and early in the morning hours, while my mom is sleeping/waking...sleeping/waking I've re-discovered "Alice". I haven't read "Alice's Adventures In Wonderland" and "Through The Looking Glass" for years. What a lovely place to run away to...so many Anthropomorphic animals and flowers. I remember as a little girl (maybe seven and a half exactly?) being fascinated by Anthropomorphic animals and I reckon that may be why I portray my own animals in such a way within my collages. And...although I was never a fan of Disney's portrayal of "Alice", I do remember the "Alice In Wonderland" ride being my most favorite ride in Disneyland. Well, that's neither here nor there, but I truly am inspired by the magic within the books. I am currently enjoying the silly banter between Alice and Humpty Dumpty.

Oops...I hear my mom calling. She's ready for some oatmeal. I'll quickly share a few pictures of my newer pieces. I haven't worked this last week, but these are current as of a couple weeks ago.

And speaking of Anthropomorphic animals, this collage is called "Rabbit's Celebration". It's a 6" x 8" on canvas



Here's a close-up of the Celebrating Rabbit



And these are my two newest ACEOs...

Rabbit Visits The Country ~ my 203rd ACEO



Amelia's Lovely Girls ~ my 204th ACEO



I haven't the time to post a link to my Etsy shop, but these are all available there. You can find the link in the upper left hand corner.

I'm off...back to reality.

Thanks for having a peek at my blog as I truly appreciate it.

Kim
Garden Painter Art

We have just returned home from a week in London, exploring the city to dropping point! One place we visited was the National Gallery, where we followed the Chinese Zodiac Trail. We knew which animals to look for from retellings of the legendary selection process, such as The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac. While looking at the paintings, we learnt a great deal about the differences and similarities in the symbolism attached to the animals in Chinese and Western cultures; and Little Brother, who is passionate about dragons, was overjoyed to discover that his birth sign, the Snake, is also known as the Little Dragon!
In the gallery shop afterwards, we found a delightful picture-book called Pablo the Artist by Satoshi Kitamura, which is an enigmatic exploration of the artistic process and where inspiration comes from – I agree with The Magic of Books‘ review, where PJ Librarian says “you really aren’t sure at this point if Pablo is dreaming or if these landscape characters are actually real” – it’s one of those books which grows with each re-reading as new details are discovered and absorbed. We especially loved the glimpse of infinity provided at the end, having read The Mouse and His Child so recently, where the picture of the dog carrying a tray with a tin of dog food with the picture of the dog carrying a tray etc. etc. was such a recurrent and pivotal theme.
Not Just for Kids recommends Pablo the Artist and some other picture-books which “introduce young readers to some of the world’s masterpieces”, as does Rhyming Mom.

I have just received this lovely e-card from Barefoot Books , which I would like to share with you all – it’s based on their recently-published Whole World, which not only celebrates the world we live in but reminds us that we need to look after it - something that Barefoot Books are really focussing on with their new “Go Barefoot, Go Global” emphasis on environmental issues.

As well as family favourites like The Emperor who Hated Yellow, The Gigantic Turnip and The Great Race: The Story of the Chinese Zodiac, we love Barefoot Books’ anthologies of stories from around the world. Son Number One has taken The Barefoot Book of Knights out of the library on a regular basis over the last three years. I like its format of the traditional tales being woven into the story of a young steward who is learning to be a knight, although it does sometimes mean reading time goes on for much longer than you intended!

Generally, however, these anthologies are great for (more…)