the rocky shore

These pages are from Seashore life of New Zealand published in 1971. I love the illustrations and  especially the seaweeds done by Eric Heath - so bold and graphic. When I was at primary school and about nine or ten years old the class spent an afternoon at a local beach were we poked around in rock pools looking at sea anemones and hermit crabs. My husband did the same. Probably every school child in New Zealand got to do the rocky shore project back in the day.

Anyway you can read more about Eric here and even get yourself some of his artwork.

Have a great week.

Reading: The iceberg by Marion Coutts - a beautifully written account of living with her husband's illness and death
Viewing: Unposed portraits by Lucien Rizos showing at the Anna Miles Gallery

pink rabbits

This is my granddaughter looking at some board books I bought for her - Counting and Colours by Finnish illustrator and designer Aino-Maija Metsola. See more of her work here. We love these books. We love the brilliant colours and funny drawings and there are loads of flaps to lift and close.

the elements of style

I'm a big fan of Maira Kalman and these are some of her illustrations from The elements of style by William Strunk and E. B. White (of Charlotte's web). It was first written by Strunk in 1918 and later revised by White in 1959. Apparently it is the go-to guidebook on writing good, plain English. (Although a quick internet search will show that it is loved and loathed equally.)
I borrowed it from the library after hearing a TED talk - Maira Kalman: the illustrated woman - where she tells how she came to illustrate this book.
I love the dancing guy. He looks so serene and unselfconscious. His socks match his belt. Do you think he's also wearing a polka dot cravat?

Reading: The graphic novel Blankets by Craig Thompson. I hope it's not all true but I think it might be.
Days with my father by Phillip Toledano - a beautiful photo essay recording an aging man's final years. You can see it here.

skipping girl

These beautiful drawings are from a 1986 children's picture book, Anno's counting book. They are by Mitsumasa Anno, a Japanese illustrator, who is now 87 years old.

The top drawing shows children skipping amongst giant pink flowers. I loved skipping as a child especially double dutch where you have two ropes - a bit like this - well, actually, quite a lot different to that!

Mr Fox

Last week a student set up a table outside the local library. She had a list of books that people felt had influenced their lives in some way. She'd written the individual titles onto strips of paper, folded them and dropped them into a box. The idea was that passersby would randomly select a title from the box - a bit like a lucky dip - then go in to the library and borrow the book.

I drew 'Fantastic Mr Fox' by Roald Dahl, illustrated by Quentin Blake. I decided that somehow this was serendipity and that I should borrow and read this book. Maybe something joyous would happen. So I did borrow it and read it. And I enjoyed it. I'm sure if I were seven years old I probably would've loved it.

I'm not sure of the purpose of the student's project. If you borrowed the book you were meant to return the slip to a different box inside the library - presumably for the student to collect later. Anyway, I think it was a nice gesture. It was an opportunity to read something you probably wouldn't normally read. Maybe even broaden your experiences. It lead me to rediscover my own Mr Fox and to borrow the DVD. So... not bad at all. Thanks.