REMEMBER

I love houses. Really. I love being in them, painting them, speculating about them. I even love peeking in the windows of abandoned homes. So when this week's ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY topic, REMEMBER, appeared in my inbox, I was in my element. This is an example of what I'm reasonably sure I'd do on the side, if I were good enough. Houses. I'd illustrate houses. Especially the pre-War 20's something Tudor home with stucco and beams.
I've driven by this home, now owned by the bank, numerous times; it's fodder for my imagination. I picture getting up in the morning here, mowing the long rolling lawn. (With a hand mower, can you imagine that?) Being the lady of the house and entertaining 20's style as my mother might have.
So the sunset is editorial, I guess, a time gone by.

THERE AND THEN

I sat at my drawing table this morning staring, yes, staring at a nearly completed illustration. Wondering. How do we even attempt to illustrate there and then. It's a concept I was told not to even attempt to write about for children under age 9-10 or thereabouts. (Early days of kiddie-lit, and those rules might have changed.)
I love historical fiction and keep hoping the interest could translate well into a PB or atleast a picture storybook. And so I keep plugging away at mine, set in preWWII Europe against the backdrop of KRISTALLNACHT, the night of broken glass. So Ilook at my MC's grandfather, blowing the shofar in a PRE WAR aynagogue. Where would he have stood. In front of the bimah? Are the curtains of the Aron Kodesh (literally holy closet, containing the Torah scrolls). I know European synagogues were beautifully ornate, their destruction yet another travesty of the war, but I have as resource pics only black and white. So I ponder; if I wasn't there, can I illustrate it?
Back to doing research, I came upon an amazing article about the TRIANGLE shirtwaist factory fire. I've read compelling adult fiction written with this subject as it's theme. FOR THE LOVE OF MIKE by Rhyss Bowen, immediately comes to mind. Maybe the key is in research, or love of the subject. And maybe it's being patient.
Whatever it takes, I'm back to the drawing board to poke at it until it feels right.

Today's thoughts and musings

Looked at the calendar and the week is already more frantic than I want it to be. It seems most engagements are frivolous and have very little to do with what I ought to be doing. And the beginnings of nice weather won't work in my favor, I can tell that right now. I'll be pokier, want to be outside, wonder what I should really be working on in the absence of any real assignments.
Did finish submission to ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY, well sort of. The suject wasn't one I'd illustrated in the past, but WANTED TO. Thought it might be a good subject for a PB or card. So kind of a rough is what I submitted for this week. I really wanted to do Aurora Borealis against a polar icecap; and still may. But basically POLAR was play for me this week. Also working of the finish of a spread for a picture STORYBOOK I've been working at for far too long; (not having a print home for it as yet does cut one's enthusiasm.)
The coffee pot is plubbing away and it promised to be at least a warm, if only partly sunny day. Clouds rolling in against the semi-budding trees looks as though the world hasn't yet decided if it's winter or spring.

SPRING IN NW OHIO

Last night my family experienced the truest sign of spring in NW Ohio. The Maumee river Walleye run. The doll fly venders, fishing boats, men lined side by side in chest waders hoping to catch their limit; this is spring for us. The Maumee is so narrow in parts that fishermen facing each other from opposite ends get their lines tangled.It's a beautiful river, albeit pristine, with woods up to its shore in many places.
It brings back memories for me becuse fishing was one of my husband's and my first dates. In fact I received chest waders for a birthday present the first year we dated.
And now we walk, too many years later to recall. We pick up spinners, doll flies, sometimes a few sinkers embedded in the gravel long the road. But mostly we watch for deer, enjoy the Canadian geese, which while many never left, are returning from their winter vacationing grounds. We usually go after dinner, near sunset, giving us all a longing to be in the river.
The park rangers hover predictably near, watching for the occasional offender, snagging, not catching through the mouth, going beyond the present limit of 3 fish.
Most obey the laws, licenses are expensive after all, $20.00 a piece. No one wants his license revoked, because sometimes just the promise of that perfect catch, is worth the hours of standing in the river with nothing. And for me, just once more standing in the river would be worth it all.

PUDDLE OF DROOL

I'm once again sitting in a puddle of drool over another illustrator's work. If you haven't visited the SCBWI site and seen the most frequent Winner, do so. Hannah Harrison's work is not to be missed. If you can imagine whimsical artwork with fine art skills you'd just about have it. But the rich colors and the fresh clean look are beyond description. Her black and white incorporate crosshatch with humor, a combination that gives a bit of a nostalgic feel. In all her site is one to be closely examined.

TURNER MOVIE CHANNEL

I treated myself to a one hour broadcast on TMC. Wednesday's Child; the 1930's version of the child of divorce. Solved of course in one hour. Plot line:
Mother has an affair.
Child sees her (of all things) kissing another man.
Friends see this as well and of course taunt the child.
Parents divorce.
Child goes to court.
Mother remarries and gets custody for most of the year. Father has custody June through Sept.
Of course we see the fleeting months by way of the calendar against the backdrop of seasonal changes and the boy's wishful narrative. Wow! wouldn't that simplify things for writers!Love those flipping calendars.
Child FINALLY gets to go home to father. Enter Father's new love interest.And of course pending marriage will be just the week he'd promised a fishing trip with the boy. (hasn't that been done before!!!)
Child FAINTS. And of course a nurse is called in to stay by his bedside.
What to do, what to do. Doctor advises (despite the fact he doesn't like to talk about these things. MILITARY SCHOOL, the usual solution.
Jump ahead to boy in full military school regalia. Father comes to visit. Brings gift.
Roommate advises that visits will become few and far between and gifts are proof of waning visits.
Father overhears conversation just as mother is arriving for her visit.
Again what to do, what to do.
Father knows just what to do. He'll cancel wedding plans and make a home for the boy.
THE END.
Aside from the frequent, "dahling" and "Golly Dad" the dialogue was believable. And the plot was NO LESS believable than some of the fare offered up in today's cinema. Ah, but try this in a manuscript and see upon whose slush pile lands.
I have to admit, dispite the obvious flaws, it did make for a feel-good hour.

CONTEMPLATIVE DAY

Usually I'm up before the alarm, but this morning I indulged and listened extra appreciatively to those extra house sounds. You know, the ones that say everyone is home, safe and sound. I hate to dwell on the news, in fact I often avoid listening to the 11:00 news, but the Virginia tech slayings and parents receiving that awful news is going to keep cropping up in my mind. Having college age (and a bit older) kids, I wonder where they can go to be safe and enjoy the accroutements of everyday life. So I say a little prayer of gratitude that for this moment, everyone is home. and that will last until they all pull out of the drive.

Chasing myself

I think I'm chasing myself all over the place. If I didn't need a cane occasionally, I think I would. So what's the solution to being all over the place. Wanting to succeed in this industry, and by that I don't mean JUSTthe children's book industry, but illustration in general. I'm finishing a piece for my own PB which I've long since lost genuine interest in. My editor hasn't found children's books to be lucrative and most authors I illustrated for have gone to greener pastures (and not invited me along for the ride LOL)
I think following one's passion is the key, if the passion doesn't constantly change. I was recently commissioned to do wildlife greeting cards for a local vet's office. Oweing them a huge kindness for services rendered in the midst of disaster, I wanted to do this pro bono. It's the second "pro bono" job I've had this year.
So I begin again and settle myself to serious thinking time at the drawing table, because, after all, there's no place I'd rather be.