Catch-up Day

Ehh the snow is back again and I'm just not feeling as productive as I anticipated I would be today: lots of painting to do!
I might as well do something productive and prepare for a school visit coming up next week. Ooh, I can also transfer some drawings that will need to get painted this weekend...

Here are some inspiring videos I came across recently. Maybe they will wake up the inspiration!

on being in a creative slump:

THE GAP by Ira Glass on Vimeo

on cool charcoal drawings:

My aching bones

I'm no athlete or anything, but it seems to me that I should start warming up and stretching my arms, shoulders, hands and back before and after drawing and painting sessions.

I hit 29 years old and things that never hurt me before are bothering me now; like my lower back... what the heck? Sitting hunched over in a a chair for hours at my desk can't be taken lightly anymore! And I guess that the bitter cold we've had this winter affects the body too. Geez- who knew? I'm learning something new every day.

This reminds me of my very first day at RISD. My very first class at art school was a drawing class, where the teacher made us stand and stretch our arms; doing big circles in the air for what seemed like a good half hour (I'm probably exaggerating). We then sat in a big circle, each in front of our drawing pads with blindfolds on (yes, really), feeling the paper with our hands for what seemed like way too long once again, before we were even allowed to pick up a piece of charcoal to draw with. Needless to say, I was asking myself what in the world I had gotten myself into by choosing to go to an art school- But it all worked out in the end! I will forever be grateful to Professor Tom Mills for teaching us that we need to protect and be in tune with our bodies when drawing. It sounds dramatic, but it's really true!

Ah, now I'm missing those art school days...

OK- time to get up, stretch and get back to work! (should my shoulders be cracking every time I swing my arms around in a big circle? Somebody should make a jazzercize video for painters...)

P.S. Tom Mills is a genius- he woke up at 4 or 5 every morning to write in his dream journal... and I only ever saw him ingest Diet Dr. Pepper and cigarettes: all the fuel he needed.

New Picture Book!

I am working on final illustrations for a new book to be out Spring 2015!
It takes place in western Africa, and I am so thrilled to be illustrating it. It has been a while since I've painted sequential images for a picture book, and I'm getting back into the swing of things and working methodically.

I loooove painting- but there is so much to do before putting paint to paper:
- transferring the drawings that I've done into the computer (by scanning)
- editing and printing out drawings (to scale of the final book- easy to do if not for various forms of technology sabotage! Don't get me started)
- preparing the paper (measure, cut, tape to drawing board)
- gesso-ing the paper (gesso is thick acrylic white paint)

squeezing a scribble of gesso onto the watercolor paper

spreading it out to cover the entire page with a thick brush

paint it smooth and leave to dry!

- painting a base coat of pinkish-orange acrylic onto the papers (it shows through in skin tones and makes them look warm)

- transferring the drawings onto the final paper to paint on (thank you, tracing paper and light box- you light up my life)
- making sure paintbrushes are clean and dry and happy (if I've been good, I've washed them the night before and they are dry a as a bone with soft bristles)

(these brushes are not happy)

- mixing oil paint colors! (dark, medium and light skin tones)

and FINALLY I jump in! 

Oh, and I cannot paint without music- right now it's "Tartit" and "Mamadou Kelly", whom I saw in concert this summer--- having good music makes all the difference when trying not to worry about deadlines and things, and every book ends up having kind of its own soundtrack!

Happy New Year!

2014 is here!

Although we did not have a white Christmas, the new year has kicked off with loads of snow on the ground, and freeeeezing temperatures... So cold that my heat stopped working on Friday! What a cruel joke (especially for an African) to wake up in a freezing house on the coldest day of the year! The heat was fixed by the afternoon (thank God) and I got organized to get back to work on my projects this coming week, and that involves painting, painting, painting!

More on that tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

Snowy Days

It's Christmastime here in the Northeast already, and this kale plant in the community garden behind my house has got me thinking of palm trees in snow. Ironically, I find myself working on another book which takes place in hot, sunny Africa. Three years ago around this time, I was illustrating Lala Salama: A Tanzanian Lullaby by Patricia MacLachlan, a lullaby story that takes place in Tanzania, eastern Africa.

Now the book I'm working on takes place in the Gambia, western Africa, and I can't help but see the paradox in the situation! Growing up in the Ivory Coast in the 1980's-90's, two of my favorite books were Owl Moon by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr and The Snowy Day written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats- odd, for a kid living in a tropical paradise!

I marveled at the illustrations of white stuff covering the ground. I had several of books on tape, including Owl Moon. I LOVED it! Jane Yolen's voice is so calm and firm, and the music is awesome too- very atmospheric.

Owl Moon read by Jane Yolen on YouTube

Maybe it was the search of something that seemed so ethereal as an owl sighting which captivated me.

Or maybe it was the color palette of blues and whites and blacks of the illustrations, the solitude of being out in the quiet woods the starkness of winter white, or the alien-ness of it: being bundled up in a puffy coat, hat, scarf, mittens or snowsuit to go outside.

I recently re-bought a copy of Owl Moon for my home office, and it's perfect to read on a winter day like today.

I loved The Snowy Day for the bright, happy cut paper illustrations, a totally different feel from Owl Moon but a quintessential winter story nonetheless. 

This cut paper style of illustration has been an inspiration to me in my own work. I love color, texture, pattern, and having these play with each other on the page in various shapes:

(a painting of mine from 2007 incorporating collage)

(illustration from My Hands Sing the Blues: Romare Bearden's Childhood Journey)

("Paper Leaves" 2006)

I love, love love collecting pattered papers, fabrics and photos! One of these days I'll actually find a way to keep them organized.

I crave bright, fun color as soon as snow hits the ground. And as soon as I've taken in the beauty of a sparkly white first snow (or as soon as dirty boots and car tires dirty it up), I start planning bright, happy spring projects with colorful botanicals and tropical flowers.

For now, I'm hoping for a white Christmas.

P.S. Incidentally, both Owl Moon and The Snowy Day mention making footsteps in the crisp white snow, which I love!

Geraldine & Co.

I've been working on a new line of mini zipper pouches inspired by one of my original illustrated characters: Geraldine. She is a new character I created this year while playing around with markers and gel pens in the hopes of creating a looser, more dynamic style, different from my usual oil paint and collage style I use in my children's book illustrations.

Meet Geraldine!

She is inquisitive, sassy, loves to dance and get into trouble!

The line of pouches is called Geraldine & Co., which I realized this weekend are perfect to carry crayons, colored pencils or or mini markers.... 

 

But then I thought- hey, wouldn't it be cool if Geraldine had her own crayons? So I stripped the crayons I had of their paper wrappers...

 

and added my own!

Hmmm... I should make a Geraldine & Co. coloring book to go with it... and paper dolls! Maybe in the next few months!

Next, meet Ellie:

She is a character inspired by this old photo of my mom I keep on my desk:

She's peeking through the curtains in the parlor where the Christmas tree was placed at her grandmother's old house. (http://twocookbooks.blogspot.com/2012/12/minnies-christmas-gift-1897.html)

She's got a mischievous streak too, I bet! Don't you wish you could go back in time and see how your parents acted when they were children? If I had a time machine, that's what I'd do. Being the middle sister I bet little Ellie got into loads of trouble.. but you'd never guess it; seeing the responsible and accomplished mother and wife that she grew up to be! 

Well along with the Ellie zipper pouch, I created a mini collection of another of my characters: Aminata...

Aminata is the name of the girl's little doll, and she is inspired by a book my mom read as a child  called "Hitty, Her First 100 years" by Rachel Field, illustrated by Dorothy P. Lathrop, in which the little doll has loads of adventures and travels the world.

I love the stark black and white illustrations!

I also created pouches of  my characters Elephant, Gazelle and Peacok. They arose as illustrations for a re-interpretation of the story "The Gift of the Magi". In my version, Peacock and Gazelle are best friends and they each shed something from their bodies to buy a gift for the other.

This style is inspired by the "mudcloth" paintings of northern Ivory Coast, West Africa. There, they are called "Toile de Korhogo" (Korhogo cloth), after the northern town where they are created. I grew up in the capital city, Abidjan, in the south of the country, and always really admired this style of art and the artists who create it:

and all I want to do is sit on the floor next to my boom box and paint... ahh....

Hopefully, making these zipper pouches with various characters will help me come up with some story lines to write about them. I've only published children's books that have been written by other (very talented) authors and would love to some day write and illustrate my own stories from start to finish. For now, my characters and I are just playing! 

"Restless Soul"

Well another Saturday has come and I've managed to create a whole new line of crafty projects I cannot get out of my head! I keep looking for ways to combine my love of color, pattern, texture, beads, paper, fabric, paint, photography and eye-catching things into one... It's hard! Wait-no.
It's fun! It only gets difficult when I allow myself to stop having fun and turn it into a chore I need to get done to quiet my chatty inner self... It's a never-ending search- one I'm sure I'll be on for the rest of my life. I'm told I have a "restless soul". I agree. I just can't stop making things!

This was a corner of my craft table this morning... new zipper pouches, beaded necklaces, gift box and ribbons and things after I had made some new necklaces and sewn little bag collections for my Etsy shop (https://www.etsy.com/shop/SomethingIvoryCoasty) yesterday. 

So many things to do!