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Last week I had the pleasure of visiting with a group of children at the Lois Bronz Children's Center, in White Plains, NY. I read my book, Sam Bennett's New Shoes, and did a little show and tell about the inspiration behind the story. Then we talked about how an author/illustrator goes about creating a book. The kids were great! They were very attentive and asked lots of good questions. So inspiring!

Afterwards, the kids had a choice of different shoe-related craft projects set up by the folks at Hudson Fusion, a local marketing communication firm who organized the event as part of their creative public service initiative.

All in all, it was a lovely afternoon. Here are some photos:



















































Shoe prints with paint and paper.















Coloring and decorating different styles of boots & shoes.




















Shoe sculpture using old shoes!

Last week I promised that I'd share the inspiration behind my second book, Sam Bennett's New Shoes. Here's my rambling tale...

As I mentioned in my Door Day post, my family lives in an old colonial farmhouse that was built around the year 1720. Did I mention that it was a total disaster when we bought it, and that the realtors thought we were nuts? (In fact, we heard that a builder had wanted to buy it as a tear-down... don't get me started on that rant.) The house had sat vacant for over a year and our kids were very, very young. In hindsight, we were nuts! But the house had so much history. And we loved it.

So-- one day, my handy husband was hanging a chandelier in the dining room. He cut a hole through the plaster and put his hand inside and came out with... this boot. No kidding! Of course we wondered-- whose was it and what on earth was it doing there? 18th century hide-and-go-seek champion, perhaps? We filled it with dried flowers, put it on the mantel and pondered.

































A few months later it was wintertime. And having nothing better to do, hubby was rummaging around in the basement. Mind you, when I say basement I don't mean the wall-to-wall carpeting, finished basement/rec room kind. I mean old house basement-- bulging stone walls, dirt floor and spider factory. But it is one of his favorite spots in the house because, seriously, an old house basement has tons of information about the age of a house and how it was constructed. So it really is pretty cool.

He was in a crawlspace section that had once been an outside porch, but was enclosed not long after the house was built, judging from the beams. As he was rummaging through old rocks and spoons and shards of pottery (since in the olden days people usually buried their trash outside) he found... this shoe. No kidding! It's hard to see in the photos, but there were still pegs holding it together. The leather was almost petrified. Now we were really curious!


















As serendipity would have it, around that time Early American Life magazine ran an article about finding just these sorts of shoes hidden in old houses. They were called "concealment" shoes-- well-worn shoes that were past their useful life hidden on purpose, probably to protect the houses from malevolent spirits.

This set us off on a lot of research and, of course, sparked my imagination. Who wore the boot and the shoe? What was life like for them? Living in an old house naturally leads you to wonder these kinds of things anyway, but somehow the boot and shoe made it so much more immediate. They had taken on the shape of their owner's feet. They seemed so personal.

I thought about this for a few years, and eventually Sam Bennett came about-- a young boy growing up on a farm in colonial times gets his first pair of new shoes, and learns about the tradition of hiding old shoes from his papa.

In case you're wondering, through the years we've hidden our own children's shoes, too. After all, who couldn't use a little more luck?

Here's some more information about concealment shoes.

A spread from Sam Bennett's New Shoes.

Sam finally gets to go to town with Papa. The General Store has all sorts of things that he has never seen! (This is scanned from the artwork, which is why there is white space on the left-hand side for type.)

"The general store had barrels of goods. There were bolts of fabric from other lands and licorice sticks and spinning tops and a fruit that Sam had never seen, called an orange. Papa bought a sack of flour and one of tea. He bought a piece of loaf sugar, wrapped in paper, and a packet of marigold seeds for Mama. There were even some shiny glass marbles for Sam's brothers."

This is a small piece from Sam Bennett's New Shoes. Sam and Papa finally free the wagon from the spring-time mud, while Molly the pup watches.

(Personally, I'm looking forward to that spring-time mud!)

Good Morning:

I don't have a huge amount of time for words today, but I took advantage of the sunshine yesterday morning and snapped some photos. I found that, if I looked close enough, springtime is peeking out all over my yard...

Blossom on my plum tree...



Sparks of yellow on my hill...



Color in my overgrown garden...



Homer enjoyed warming her 12 year old bones in the sun...



Junior posed for a picture...



Have a lovely day~

Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Good Morning All:

Here it is, June 7th and it's chilly enough to wear a light jacket. I'm forcing myself to enjoy it though, as I know that within the next week or so, the temperature could be in the 90's to low 100's and I'll be wishing for a little chill!!

I spent a small portion of the afternoon yesterday going through a box of my treasures. Included in this box is my mom's wedding ring set from 1946, a strand of pearls given to me by an old lady named "Pansy" that lived next door to me when I was a little girl, and lots of other goodies that would most likely be junk to anyone else!

Also included in this old shoe box is my Grandma Watson's glove. A single glove, as the mate belongs to one of my mom's sisters. I don't know exactly how old it is, but I know that the gloves were sent to my grandma by my grandpa during World War I. I don't even know where he purchased them, although I've been given the broad idea that it was "somewhere in Europe, maybe Germany".


It is so delicate and tiny. I wonder if my grandma ever wore the gloves, as it looks as though it really wouldn't fit an average sized woman.

I imagine it is made from silk lace, but I don't know for sure. There are two mother of pearl snaps on the wrist...



and it has turned a beautiful light tea color over the years. It's kept in the same envelope that my grandpa sent them in originally. Unfortunately, the stamps are long gone and the writing on the envelope was done in pencil and is mostly worn away.

I'll keep this one single glove, along with my other little family treasures, in the old shoe box until it's time to divide them up. But...every once in a while, I'll open the lid and take a peek at the history that will one day belong to my kids.

*************************************************

I took a stroll through the garden today and Jr. came along with me. He's not too helpful, but he means well......


And, as usual, here's a link to My Etsy Shop. I've listed a set of 3 "Ghostly" collage ACEO prints today. As always, if you're interested in purchasing something in my shop, but you don't have an Etsy account, simply email me through my blog and I'll be more than happy to work with you.

The Lonely Ghost


The Ghostly Owners


Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
gnarly-dolls

I'd like to say "Good Morning", but it's now beyond that, so I'll say "Good Afternoon".

We're freshly home from church and on our way to see "Pirates" and then to dinner. I took a quick stroll through the garden and brought along my camera. While I spent my time looking for signs of budding tomatoes and listening to the buzz of our hummingbirds, Jr. spent his time engaged in his favorite sport of Ground Staring:



and.....



While I'm on the subject of dogs, let me give a little air-time to my good ol' loyal yellow Lab, Homer. She's such a sweet and timid girl. She's getting old now,(she's 11), and it's showing in her hips, but she's still happy:



Now, onto the monstrous squash plant. I literally planted 6 itty bitty plants 3 weeks ago. I snapped this picture and posted it only 3 days ago.....



and now, have a look at it today....



It's growing like bamboo!! I hope that we get a good batch of squash. It can be yummy, but as any good Southerner knows, a squash needs to be breaded and fried and always full of calories!!

Well, I'm off to the movies. I hope this finds all of you having a sunny and "ground-staring" kind of day.

Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
gnarly-dolls
Kim's Kandid Kamera

Good Morning:

As you all know, we are working hard on finishing up my garden path. The stones themselves will be finished this weekend. Then comes the fun part: deciding what to use in the flower border that will run along side the path. I've been enjoying my gardening books the last few days, hoping to solve the mystery of what I shall use in the border.

So...I am on my way outside to pick a bouquet of sweet-peas before the heat of the day kicks in. Then, it's off to work on the path.



I'll bring my camera along and see if I can sneak some pics of Jr. staring. I'm sure I'll be able to, as that IS what he spends most of his time doing!!

Whatever you are doing today, I hope that it brings you happiness and satisfaction.

Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Good Morning All:

I was up and about bright and early this morning, as I had a landscaper team coming in at 7:30 a.m. Of course, they were only here for a couple of hours, nevertheless, I had to be here to meet them. They came in to break up the dirt in my garden pathway. This isn't a huge job for guys with jackhammers, but for us, it was impossible. You see, the dirt here in this part of the world is, literally, as hard as concrete.


This dry, arid air makes for hard packed earth that no shovel can break down. So...in order to lay a path of walking stones, we first had to hire these gentlemen to come in with jackhammers to loosen the path. In just a mere few hours our pathway soil went from cement-like to something that almost resembles sand.


The soil is so loose and free that the ants have already started their tunneling and busy work.


This weekend, we will buy the stones and lay them ourselves. Through-out the next couple of weeks, I will plan the beds and ground-cover. All of this, by the way, is my Mother's Day gift from Gary and the kids. It's what I wanted! I've been waiting to get this side of my garden finished for several years now, so for me, this is huge.

I'll keep you posted on the progress of this long-awaited pathway...In the meantime, here are my two newest prints listed in My Etsy Shop.

Canine Nuptials ~ ACEO



Junior's Flood ~ 5" x 7"


Until Tomorrow:
Kim
Garden Painter Art
gnarly-dolls
Kim's Kandid Kamera