Vote Now!

Is worry about the upcoming election making you feel like this?

1825 British illustration

Well, stop worrying and vote now. Vote here! Today at Books Around the Table I am presenting you with an election.  There are two slates of candidates: Cats versus Mice. Each slate has 7 candidates (aka illustrations), picked because I like them. In the comments please vote for either the CATS or the MICE. You can explain your vote if you would like, or not. No photo ID is required.

Drum roll please: Here are the CATS:

Kazan the Cat: Russian Lubok 1700s

Japanese woodblock, 1850’s

Orlando the Marmalade Cat by Katherine Hale

Paschkis Acrobaticats

Millions of Cats by Wanda Gag

Tiger by Morris Hirshfield

Kotofei Ivanovich by Tatiana Mavrina

Piccolo please, here are THE MICE:

Rudolf Mates, A Forest Story

Paschkis, Mouse in Love

Lucy Cousins, Maisy

Lizbeth Zwerger, Alice in Wonderland

Arthur Rackham Rodents

You know who

Ignatz

Thank you for voting. On Tuesday I will tally up the answers and declare a winner. The wait will finally be over.

Tuesday night results: Thank you for voting. It was a squeaker but the mice won the Books Around the Table election – 15 to 14. As I write this my heart is heavy from the results of the real election. It isn’t over, but it is dire. I am stunned. Where do we go from here?  What do we do now?

Once Upon A …

Once upon a time.
That’s the way the story begins.

Last week Margaret included many fairy tale motifs in her blog post. These forms of a fairy tale are familiar, and many  themes and stories repeat. 

But the details differ.

In 2010 I had a show of paintings that I thought of as illustrations for unwritten fairy tales. They looked like fairy tale pictures and there were characters who reappeared in different paintings, but the stories hadn’t been written or told.

That is where you come in: you bring your own story. This is always what happens with any painting, but it is explicit here.
…This week’s blog is a contest.
Please write a fairy tale for this painting:

The winner will receive the original painting as a prize.
Please post your story as a comment (no more than 150 words please). All entries must be submitted by 6 PM,PDT on August 28th. Stories will be judged for brevity and wit.
New commenters might get stuck in the spam file for a little bit but all comments will be read and posted as soon as possible.
The winning entry will be announced and included in the blog on Thursday August 29th. That is the only place where it will be published or used.

I will mail the unframed painting (14″ x 20″, gouache on paper) to the winner.(That person can email me his/her mailing address.)
Relatives are encouraged to enter but not eligible to win.

Whoever wins will live happily ever after.

Space: The Final Frontier

Nature and I abhor a vacuum. I tend to fill up every bit of space with pattern and color.

But I am often drawn to art that has room to breathe in it, like this 1958 snowstorm by Selina Chonz. The space allows you to appreciate the patterns.

This next illustration was done by Lotte Schmiel in 1935. The background floats into the shapes; she allows your imagination to complete the edges of the objects.

As does Margaret (Chodos-Irvine) in this illustration for Apple Pie Fourth of July by Janet Wong. Your eye creates the edge of the tee-shirts and also connects the shirts from stripe to stripe.

Lizbeth Zwerger is a master of space. Her composition pulls your eye around the painting. All of the space allows you to notice the grace and perfection of her lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a while I was taking piano lessons. My friend and teacher, Julan Chu, told me that I needed to pay attention to the rests as well as to the notes. Lately I’ve been trying to leave some rest for the eyes in my paintings, at least some of the time. This image is from my book Apple Cake, coming next fall.

The images I’ve posted here all share the quality of spaciousness. There is also a secret sub-theme. Can you guess it?

 

P.S. For those of you in Seattle, there are some upcoming events I would like to tell you about. We have added an Events page to this blog where you can find out about the launch party for Mooshka and other exciting activities to come.