Costa Rica is alive

Have you ever heard a troupe of Mantled Howler Monkeys hooting in the dusk? The sound is startling and a little scary at first but in only a week in Costa Rica I not only grew used to it, I began to find it comforting.
Comforting in the sense that Costa Rica is a place where primates other than ourselves live in the wild and appear to thrive. The monkey troupes are sometimes as small as 3-4 individuals and sometimes have dozens of members. The group at Playa Lancosta was at least 30 adult monkeys with a dozen infants clinging to the backs of their mothers. Their prehensile tails were marvelous 5th limbs, always wrapped around a branch as an extra anchor.

Cesar Chavez High

It is a rare treat for me to be invited to speak to high school students. My books would seem to place me squarely in front of the kindergarten/1st grade audience, but I love the older students. On Friday, February 22, I was lucky enough to visit three art classes at Cesar Chavez HS in Stockton, CA.
After presenting a slide show about my work, I demonstrated how to draw a face. I discussed symetry, proportion, some anatomy and light source/shading techniques. The students had only rudimentary tools but were game and did some extraordinary quick sketches.
Then Anthony asked if I would draw his portrait and soon after that I was happily transforming Victor into a bear in football shoulder pads!

These are the books that we built

I am always amazed at how children will dive right into a project and make it their own. The group that came to my Saturday morning art workshop at Treehouse Museum walked in rarin' to go. We made simple, 8-page versions of one of my new books: The Pen That Pa Built by David Edwards. They used model magic clay to make a baby, some felt for the blankets and the sheep's pasture, yarn, wool fiber, construction paper, markers, glue and LOTS of imagination.

Old MacDonald lives at Treehouse

I finished my Old MacDonald had a woodshop mural at 8 PM on Saturday, February 16.
Without the help of Michael Goodwin, "Mr Boss" and master of detail, I'd never have made my deadline.
I appreciate the opportunity to be part of an exemplary museum for children, run by an amazing crew of talents. THANK YOU, Lynne & Michael!




Here, Spencer Cobabe, director of early childhood education, reads Old Mac aloud to a Treehouse crowd.

Working just like Abraham Lincoln

Every day this week I worked with 3rd and 5th graders on short, 8-page books. We concentrated on character development, continuity and forward momentum.
We were in the middle of the lesson when the lights went out at Dee Elementary School in Ogden, Utah. Dee's cafeteria had no windows so out came the camping lanterns and flashlights and the class of 80 3rd graders, their teachers and I carried right on with our project. It was Valentine's Day and Abraham Lincoln's birthday, so we worked just like Abe did, by lantern light.

Old MacDonald Went to Utah-E*I*E*I*O

I arrived in Utah on February 11th and visited Lomond View Elementary School on Tuesday morning. In the afternoon I began painting the mural which will eventiually form one wall of a new exhibit being built at Treehouse Museum in Ogden Utah. It will be a small replica of the shop from the book Old MacDonald had a Woodshop by Lisa Schulman.
Treehouse's resident construction genies, Dave and Steve, built the wall and set it up in the main atrium, right next to the giant map of Utah.
I laid out a few perspective lines with blue tape and started painting. I roughed in the background and added the figures before I knocked off at 7:30. I will return to the mural tomorrow afternnon and see how far I get. I need to finish by Friday night or Saturday.

Fat Tuesday at St Anthony's

Tuesday, February 5th was truly a super day.

It was the 101st day of school at St Anthony IC.
It was the final day of Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday.)
It was Super Tuesday. the 1st California presidential primary I've ever voted in that has actually been important.
And it was a glorious, sunny spring day.

I was invited to visit St Anthony Immaculate Conception K-8 Elementary School in my own Bernal Heights. I walked from my house and prancing along beside me came my border collie, Lucy.















We arrived at school and were greeted at the door by Christopher,Teacher Danny Ballesteros, and Sister Monahan, the Principal. We gathered in Mr Ballersteros' classroom and--after Lucy was lovingly patted by everyone, I read a Miss Bindergarten book aloud and drew a story with the kindergartners, 1st and 2nd graders.

The Kindergartners presented me with a book of their drawings of themselves as animals.

It was a SUPER DAY!

Three Necessary Elements

On January 22nd and 23rd I visited St Helena Primary School in the damp, overcast but still beautiful Napa Valley. My mission was to meet with every 1st grade class and be present when they all took three necessary elements:
1. A plain sheet of paper
2. Some sort of drawing tool
3. Their imaginations
Because 1st graders are natural artistic geniuses, my main goal was to get them started and then stand out of their way.



In a picture book there are a just a few firm rules, a few of them are:
1.The main character should remain recognizable from page to page.
2. Time should appear to pass in a logical way.
3. The story momentum should move forward.

They began with 2 sheets of paper, folded and stapled. That made a simple 8 page book: a cover, 3 interior spreads and a last page. They used pre-cut shapes to represent a character that remained consistent through the book. Some 1st graders understood the concept
completely and filled their books, while others struggled with the 1st spread.
It IS a complicated task and I was thrilled to see how many 1st graders already understood so much about story telling.

Thank you, Lisa Montelli, 1st grade teachers and the whole St Helena Primary School community for welcoming me and allowing me the privilege of 2 whole days in your midst.

A Miniature Miss Bindergarten

Sally Lonn wrote to me and sent these
photos. I think this is the most
adorable "Doll House" I've ever seen!
Thank you, Sally!
"About two years ago I wrote to you about creating Miss Bindergarten in miniature. I worked in the scale one inch equals one foot. I found a fabulous doll artist, Annie Willis from Surrey, England who captured Miss B. and her parrot just perfectly. I exhibited this scene at the Seattle Dollhouse September show:
http://miniatures.about.com/od/miniaturescommunity/ig/
Seattle-Fall-Show-2007/1-12-Scale-Miss-Bindergarten.htm
and won a second place prize.
The room box spent time in the Kindergarten class I was subbing in for a month and the next several weeks at the Dollhouse Cottage in Kirkland, Washington. It was a huge hit with the children where I was teaching and other classes came for a visit too. Teachers are asking me to take it to their classrooms next September, which I hope to do. I hope you will feel that I was true to your illustrations. I added some details that reflect my own classroom of 13 years.

Behind the teacher desk is a whole cabinet of supplies, paste bottle, pencils, markers, crayons, and scissors, ready for use. In this day and age I couldn't forget a computer. I made many of the furniture pieces. On the tables are real puzzles, books and alphabet cards. By the door is a hamster in his cage. I don't know how much detail you can see but I hope you enjoy looking."

Farewell Cocoa

Along with the new babies, 2007 brought losses.
On Christmas day in the morning, one of the princesses of Bernal Hill left us for the Happy Hunting Ground.
Cocoa Jenks was quite a girl and she will be sorely missed by her mom and dad, Leslie and Nigel, as well as all her many friends.

Good Dog, Cocoa!