Clothkits n Cut Outs

It's been a while.  I've had a lovely little Clothkits parcel stashed away for a while now. First the season was wrong, then my belly swelled.  Finally it's time had come, and the scrunchy tissue was removed, the sewing machine unhusked and zim zum, voila, a skirt.  I was especially looking forward to this one as the design is by the tremendous Rob Ryan, whose quirky and poetic paper cuts are just what you would wish for on a skirt.   It wasn't yet open when I was living in East London, but when I finally get to go back (can't face it with a babe and preschooler in tow right now!) I'll definitely be making a visit to his shop Ryantown in Spitalfields.

Enough preamble, here's the item in question...

 
With Dadda Boo in the UK on a business trip, it was a one-woman (at least for now...) photo shoot in the mirror.  Hmmm, see the issue there?  The text.  Yes, the text... ho hum. The cut out lettering on the bell says 'This bell will ring when you take me in your arms and hold me'.  What more can one ask for than a romantic skirt?!

 
Ah yes, as you can see, I wasn't alone for very long. 

 
On the back the text reads 'Every bird is my brother and sister'.  Boo loves this.

And soon I was relegated to the background.

 
I have great respect for someone who can wield a scalpel with such impressive results, precision never having been my forte. 

Staying with cut-outs, today we picked up this book from the library:

 
Nicky McClure is a self taught cut-out artist who uses black paper to create images, usually with a family/home life theme. Her book Mama, is it summer yet? was just right for us today, when we are hanging on for the pacific northwest summer to finally emerge.  The young boy asks if it is summer way too early and his mother plants seeds with him and draws his attention to things changing in the natural world around them, until the strawberries are in fruit and summer is finally here.

 
 
 
Finally, if paper cutting rings your bell, you must check out the work of Peter Callesen, who can do things with a scalpel and a piece of A4 white paper than I can only marvel at.

Now where did I put those cack-handed scissors?

Yum yum, Hyewon Yum!

Recently I came across a great interview with the author illustrator Hyewon Yum on the children's literature blog 7 Impossible Things before Breakfast.  I featured Yum's book Last Night as 'book of the week' here a while ago, and was enamoured with her lino printing technique.  So I wanted to check out her more recent book 'There are no Scary Wolves'

 
In this book, an impish little boy (and his shifty-looking feline companion) are in the house of a morning whilst a too-busy mum tackles mountains of washing up and laundry.

 
The boy tires of waiting for his mum and determines to head out himself, but finds that there are 'scary wolves everywhere' even in his favourite destination, the toy shop.

 
 
The boy runs home terrified, but when he later goes out with his mum, he finds that there are 'no scary wolves anywhere'.... or are there?

 
This tale is a gentle reminder to young children that they need to explore the world under the guidance of an adult, but I don't find it moralistic.  Instead, it portrays the escapade from the eyes and unfettered imagination of a child. 

This time, Yum has used a mixed media collage approach to the illustration, with photo collage and drawn elements as well as attractive use of pattern and texture.  Love it.  I've recently been exploring some similar approaches, and also printmaking, so I can't get enough of looking at Yum's work.

As I said, yum yum.

Picture Book Picks for Christmas 2010

Here's my top picks for childrens picture books of 2010 I think any young bibliophile would be thrilled to unwrap on christmas morning...

 
'Cave Baby', Julia Donaldson (author), Emily Gravett (illus), Macmillan 2010

When you bring together the inimitable talents of Donaldson (Gruffalo, Snail and the Whale etc) and the fluid pencil work of Gravett (Apple, Pear, Orange, Bear etc), you are most likely in for a cracker.  A stone age baby fond of cave wall daubing romps with a hairy mammoth and other creatures.

 
'It's a Book', Lane Smith, Roaring Book Press, 2010

This is a very 'knowing' and funny book, and for that reason in many ways I think its one of those children's books which might be more for the adults.  Certainly my little girl would not 'get it', knowing little about the technological world, which is the way I would prefer things for the time being.  Older children who are familiar with technological gadgets and gizmos but have a great love for the printed book would probably enjoy the humour. But maybe the grown ups even more.

 
'Owls see Clearly at Night', Julie Flett, Simply Read, 2010

Julie Flett is a Cree Metis Vancouver illustrator (Zoe and the Fawn) whose exquisite digital collage work we recently saw at 'Collage Collage'.  This book is a Michif alphabet with beautifully spare illustrations.  Boo liked the bear hiding behind the tree.

 
'The Quiet Book', Deborah Underwood (author), Renata Liwska (illus), Houghton Mifflin 2010

A book about many different kinds of quiet - from comfortable quiets to the quiet of having done something wrong.  A beautifully meditative book with some adorable animal characters, rendered in fine pencil with digital colouration.

 

'Shadow', Suzy Lee, Chronicle 2010

Suzy Lee hasn't put a foot wrong as far as I can see.  With her wordless books 'Mirror' , 'Wave' and those with a spare story ( 'The Zoo'), her lively marks in charcoal, ink wash or pencil convey the energy and imagination of a young girl's antics.  In 'shadow' the girl plays in a dark attic, where the shadows begin to have a life of their own.

 

'Up and Down', Oliver Jeffers, Harpercollins 2010

Oliver Jeffers can do no wrong.  'up and down' is the next installment in the adventures of the boy and his friend the penguin, who decides it is his mission to learn how to fly.  'The Great Paper Caper' remains my favourite, but who can resist another deadpan tale of adventure and absurdity?

 
'The Tree house', Marije Tolman and Ronald Tolamsn, Lemniscaat USA, 2010

Boo and I were mesmerised when we came across this at the library.  The cover was enough for the Boo, who is obsessed by polar bears, and to look inside to see that he is joined in the tree house by a brown bear who flies there on a boat, she was sold.  So was I by the quality of the art work, which is stunning.  A wordless book, the tree house remains throughout as it is visited by hoards of flamingoes, rhinos and other animals who join the bears to hang out and enjoy the tree.  Magical. 

Happy Reading!

 

 

Book of the Week: 'Forever Friends' by Carin Berger

'Forever Friends' by Carin Berger, Greenwillow Books (an imprint of Harper Collins), 2010

The story begins in Spring as blossoms open on the trees.  A blue bird sings to a bunny sleeping in a hollow log below him to 'come play', and soon they are friends, floating a daisy chain between one another, playing with fireflies in Summer and acorns and drifting leaves in Autumn.  Then the bird announces that it is time for him to fly south, though he promises to return in the spring.  Through the winter, the friends miss each other, until at last Spring returns and the animals joyfully reunite to play once again. 

I am a great fan of collage and currently making my own book using this technique, so Carin Berger's artwork is an obvious choice for me to study.  Her collage materials are often found materials such as magazines, with some that are clearly aged or vintage.  She uses a muted background of what looks like handmade paper or aged lined/squared paper, and sparingly creates the motifs on top, using fluid lines.  Parallels can be drawn with similar approaches seen in the work of Sara Fanelli and 'The Book Eating Boy' by Oliver Jeffers.  In this book she has also used some sponge-stencilled motifs, the softness of which contrasts with the hard edges of cut shapes very effectively.

I am wondering if Berger creates her images on a larger scale and then shrinks the images, down, as some of the cut pieces are just so tiny, I can't imagine how she managed it otherwise, small pieces of paper are just so fiddly, even with the use of tweezers.

Another aspect of this book that I like is the use of graphic devices to tell the story, such as when the bird says he must fly south and we see little circular vignettes of his forthcoming migration.  Berger also uses split spreads (I'm sure there is a better technical term here!) to show the passage of time and the two animals when they are separated.  I am enjoying learning about all these pictorial devices for storytelling as I look at more childrens picture books.

This is a beautiful book, check it out.  

Book of the Week: 'Paulina P. (for Peterson) by Lisa Cinar

When I was recently taking a 'Childrens Book Workshop' at UBC, the editor from Simply Read Books came in and brought a selection of books from his catalogue, and this was one of them, which I picked out to subsequently borrow from the library.  Their catalogue is really worth checking out, the books are are real quality and beautifully designed from what I have seen.

Paulina P. is written and illustrated by Vancouver author/illustrator Lisa Cinar, who has an excellent website and also a blog about childrens book illustration from which I have already learnt quite a lot about significant illustrators.

Paulina P. is a grey cat-like character with red hair and a spotty body.  She loves things that start with P and cannot comprehend the obsessions of others, such as her friend Penny Lee who loves hearts.  Cinar's work involves bold crayon lines, scanned patterns, and photographic collage, as well as some elements that are clearly computer-generated.  The rhyming text is fun, with all the 'p's being printed in different colours, as well as there being the use of comic-strip like speech bubbles.  I love the eclectic use of media and the dynamism of all the pages.  The drawings are child-like which I suspect is a much harder thing to achieve than it appears, and, whilst I find the crayon lines a little heavy at times, there is real energy in the work which I find exciting.  Over the course of the book Paulina comes to a level of acceptance of people's differences and develops greater tolerance for the predelictions of others such as her friend Penny.  A wise life lesson told in a fun way.  
 

Book of the Week: 'Bunny Days' by Tao Nyeu

 

Tao Nyeu's first book 'Wonderbear' was a big favourite in our house, with its surrealist flights of fantasy involving a magical bear which emerged from a hat, grown on a plant from a seed planted by a small boy. So we were full of anticipation for her new book 'Bunny Days' (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2010).  Here we found the same fluid lines of her earlier book, made using water-based silkscreen printing.  There is also a bear, though this bear's activities are a tad more prosaic, and the whole book is more gentle, whimsical and just plain cute.

Bunny Days has three stories, each of which feature the trials and tribulations of six cute bunnies, and each of which Tao Nyeu has illustrated around a selective palette of, in turn,  blue, orange and green, all of which are muted.

In 'Muddy Bunnies', our hopping friends are splashed with mud from Mr Goat's tractor.  The bunnies hop to Bear for assistance.  They find him knitting himself a stripy scarf and just by chance sitting next to a washing machine, into which the bunnies are loaded (the delicate cycle).  'Swish swash' they are washed, hung out to dry all day and all night and 'Everyone is happy', a reassuring resolution repeated at the end of the following two stories.

In 'Dusty Bunnies' Mrs Goat is hoovering in the meadow (I love these touches of the absurd), 'Rrrr' she mistakenly sucks up the bunnies from their underground slumber.  The frustrated housewife visits Bear (now wearing his knitted scarf and swinging on a swing) , who shakes the little bunnies out and blows off the dust with his big fan 'Whirrr'.  A few careful repairs to Mrs Goat's vacuum and she can return to her work, with all the bunny holes now clearly demarcated with fences and bunny signs.

In the concluding story 'Bunny Tails', the bunnies are playing hide and seek in a hedge, whilst Mr Goat trims it with his shears. Distracted by a butterfly, Mr Goat's shears remove some bunny tails. 'Now there are bunnies without tails and tails without bunnies'. Our hero, Bear, is once again consulted, this time as he sits in front of his sewing machine sipping a cup of tea.  'Zumm zumm' goes his machine (dont worry though, he is 'very gentle'), the bunnies have a bit of rest and a bedtime story from Bear, and once again they are as good as new. 

Boo wanted this book read over and over again when we brought it home from the library.  We both found it very funny and the characters very endearing. Boo has an obsession with bears anyway and if they can be seen to be knitting, sewing and washing (things she is very aware of as she sees me doing them frequently) then I think it really fires up her imagination.  When I first saw this book I thought it might be too cute, but the absurdity of it balances against that, and the minimal text with sound effects is elegantly done.