Illustration Friday: Lonely

It's impossible to be lonely when you have a good book—and a chicken or two.

This is May, my Buff Orpington hen, atop one of my latest yard sale finds. My husband spotted these beautiful Adirondack chairs when we stopped at a yard sale on our Saturday morning walk home from the coffee shop.

Both chairs and both footstools for $22—such a steal! I may refinish them down the road, but I kind of like their weathered look. But best of all, they're really comfortable for reading on a summer afternoon; May and Charlotte think so too. 

Are you reading anything wonderful this summer? (I keep my current picks on my sidebar over to the right, if you're interested.)

Illustration Friday: Obsession

Prismacolor pencils on Strathmore Bristol Vellum

My obsession? That's easy: books. I love books and everything connected with them: book blogs, bookstores, used book sales, libraries...especially libraries. Aren't they still the best deal going?  When I was growing up, my mom didn't drive, but we lived a few blocks from the Emerson Branch of the Indianapolis Public Library, my favorite place in the world. The librarians had these mesmerizing pencils that had a little rubber date stamp attached to the tip so that they could initial and date the checkout card with one efficient stroke; I thought they had the best job on earth. 

I loved the quiet, the card catalogs, and that intoxicating smell...sort of musty, but sort of magical. And apparently, the addiction is genetic: When my daughter was small, as I was tucking her in one night, she opened her book and cooed, "I  love how books smell." Call me a sentimental fool, but it was one of my favorite parenting moments of all time.

As a kid, on a summer day, I'd take my library books home to the coolness of our screened-in porch where I would begin a little ritual that I still perform: I'd read the first paragraph of each book I'd checked out and one with the best paragraph would be the one I'd read first. To this day, if I pick up a book that doesn't have a great first paragraph, I rarely read any further.

The books I've drawn are my copies of favorites from that era of the visits to the Emerson library. Top to bottom:

The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
A classic, of course: the size, the story, and those illustrations. Loved 'em then, love 'em now.

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White, illustrations by Garth Williams
Easily my favorite book of all time, and some of my favorite illustrations as well. I'm thrilled that kids still read it in school; it has stood the test of time unbelievably well. I received this copy for Christmas when I was nine. I also got a little tape recorder, and I would sit and read Charlotte's Web into it and play it back to myself...such a book geek. Audio books, circa 1966.

Magic to Burn by Jean Fritz 
I loved this book and read it over and over after doing a book report on it in fourth grade. American kids find an elf while on vacation in England, and bring him home with them. Sadly, it's out of print now, but I found this copy on eBay several years ago.

On Cherry Street - the reader we used in first grade. We didn't have Dick, Jane and Spot, we had Tom, Betty and Flip. Another eBay purchase.

Sugarplum by Johanna Johnston
One of the books that we owned, and we must have read it a million times. This was our copy; I found an identical one online for my sisters birthday a few ago.

What were the books that were most important to you as a child?

NOTE: If  you're a book lover, I urge you to get your hands on a copy of Anna Quindlen's indescribably wonderful little book, How Reading Changed My Life...it will change yours.

Fabulous books, fabulous people

We all fret about the future of small, independent retail establishments these days, while lamenting the proliferation of the big, impersonal chain stores.  Well, in the past few days, I've had heart-warming experiences at both:

I'm lucky enough to have the world's best children's bookstore just a few blocks from my house. Hicklebee's is, quite simply, a treasure.  Do you remember the charming children's bookstore in the movie, "You've Got Mail"?  Hicklebee's is just that wonderful.  The owners, Valerie Lewis and her sister Monica Holmes, are quite well-known in the world of children's books.  On the walls throughout the shop, one finds amazing items which make up the Hicklebee's "Museum": artifacts and original illustrations given to the shop by the most well-known authors and illustrators.  (I've met people like Tomie dePaola and J.K. Rowling at Hicklebee's events.)  This magical shop was a big part of my kids' childhoods, so when I buy children's books, I head over there.

I've just recently become aware of the amazing books by Diane Hutts Aston and illustrated by the incredible Sylvia Long.When I bought A Seed is Sleepy at Hicklebee's last week, I ordered a copy of  An Egg is Quiet, and stopped by today to pick it up. I got to chatting with the woman who was helping me, telling her I liked to draw things from nature and that I was madly in love with Sylvia Long's illustrations in these books. She smiled and ducked into the back room and brought out this beautiful poster from the publisher featuring the author's next book, A Butterfly is Patient, and said "You can keep this." Isn't it gorgeous? So unbelievably nice.

Now, before last Saturday, I would have confidently crowed, "I know that would never happen at the big chain stores!" But, here's heart-warming experience number two:

You all know how much I love "The Fabulous Beekman Boys".  (If you need a reminder, click here and here.)  On Saturday, Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Brent Ridge were speaking about heirloom vegetable gardening and signing Josh's book The Bucolic Plague at Williams-Sonoma in San Francisco, and there was no way that I was going to miss it.  I wasn't disappointed: Josh and Brent were absolutely charming, and unbelievably gracious.  They chatted and answered questions of all sorts, and it felt like an afternoon spent with old friends.  Then, it came time for the book signing.  I had brought prints of my Beekman soap drawings to give to the guys, but, I warned my husband, "Those Williams-Sonoma people will probably herd us in like cattle and whisk us through in an assembly line."  I couldn't have been more wrong.

Aaron, one of the culinary experts at W-S, wove through the line and served us delicious shortbread cookies (a Beekman recipe) that he had baked himself.  As we got to the front, the W-S staff set up each person's book to be personally signed (some authors have stopped personalizing at these things and only sign their names), and  genially introduced each groupie guest to Josh and Brent.  The guys weren't stationed behind a table, but preferred to sign while standing the entire time because it was easier to hug people and pose for pictures that way.  Yes, another W-S sales associate happily took each person's camera (usually a cell phone) and patiently took pictures... of everybody. Josh and Brent chatted with each and every obsessed fan person as if they were old friends, even little ol' me with my soap drawing prints.  They remembered my blog post, which made my day...well, my year. (My daughter says that I look like a proud little kid on show-and-tell day at school...I think she's right.)

As I'd expected, those Fabulous Beekman Boys really are fabulous, but so is, surprisingly, Williams-Sonoma.

My favorite page spread from An Egg Is Quiet

Illustration Friday: Cultivate

"The garden is a ground plot
for the mind." 

—Thomas Hill,  The Gardener's Labyrinth, 1577

Several days in a row of spring rains are keeping me from putting in my vegetable beds as I'd planned, but the Illustration Friday topic of "cultivate" has me thinking of gardening nonetheless. (I found that wonderful quote in a book that I love to page through when I can't be outside in a real garden: The Garden of Reading.)

This magnolia drawing (also part of my page banner) was drawn at a workshop that I attended quite a few years ago at Filoli, an historic estate with beautiful gardens about thirty minutes north of where I live.  (The mansion was used for the exterior shots in the tv show "Dynasty", once upon a time.)  Filoli has a wonderful botanical drawing program, but the classes are quite pricey—however, the two-day workshops are a little more affordable.  The class description said that all mediums were welcome, but I was the only person not using watercolors, which I found a little intimidating.  I never completed the drawing (I'm not sure I even went back for the second day, come to think of it), but I kind of  like the fact that the image is sort of blossoming out of the white paper.

At that time, I did very little drawing for pleasure.  But in the following years, I would occasionally steal a peek at this piece, as if to remind myself that, even though I didn't have the time or inclination to cultivate it, the artistic side of me was lying dormant, ready to emerge when the time was right.

By the way, two of my favorite farmers/gardeners are back in my life this week:  The Fabulous Beekman Boys will be back for Season Two on Planet Green on Tuesday, March 22!  (There is also a Season One marathon being shown today, at this very moment.)  You may remember that I blogged about and drew my Beekman 1802 goat milk soaps here and here, back in January, and even got a comment from the guys themselves.  Love them, love the show, love Josh's book, love their goats...you get the idea.

Illustration Friday: Layer

Well, I was really tempted to do a drawing of one of my hens, my layers, but my chicken-drawing skills aren't quite ready for public consumption.  Then, I remembered my post last month in which I chatted about David Tanis' cookbook, The Heart of the Artichoke. From the moment that I saw Maren Caruso's gorgeous cover photograph, a cross-section of an artichoke, I've wanted to draw a similar view.  So, I went to the grocery store and bought an artichoke, whacked it in half and started looking at it. Its layers are quite beautiful - the way the greens lighten into yellows as they move inward, ending with the little magenta "brushstrokes" on the innermost creamy petals. It's easy to get a little lost in the details (sort of like drawing a pinecone), but once I had the basic parts and pieces botanically correct (sort of ), I was able to take a little artistic license with the details. Artichokes are just so beautiful...and delicious.

Spring in January

The weather was positively spring-like in the Bay Area today.  (Apologies to those of you enjoying frostier days.)  And while I know that today was probably just a brief respite from our soggy winter, everyone I talked to seemed to be spouting some version of  "This is why we live in California."  (Of course, it's usually followed up with  "And this is why we pay obscene amounts of money to live here", but I digress...)

I was looking for a drawing that might illustrate the joy of living in California, when I ran across this artichoke sketch that I did one day last summer.  As my thoughts turned to food, I was reminded of the cookbook that my sister recently gave me, Heart of the Artichoke, and Other Kitchen Journeys by David Tanis, the chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, a restaurant that's about as quintessentially Californian as it gets.  (Actually, he's the chef at Chez Panisse for six months of the year, and lives in Paris the other half of the year....quel dommage.)  I love the cover photograph; it illustrates the elegance of art forms found in nature, which is one of my obsessions lately.  (Check out photographer Maren Caruso's website here - it's incredible.)

Heart of the Artichoke is a fabulous cookbook, but David Tanis' writing makes it much more: "Mesmerized by television shows hyping the thirty-minute meal and the blood sport of competitive cooking, we have somehow forgotten the pleasure of giving ourselves over to the true kitchen experience.  This doesn’t mean spending hours and hours in the kitchen.  It’s not more difficult cooking, but a different way of engaging with food.  What matters is the joy..."

The first 35 pages or so are devoted to fourteen of his kitchen rituals, and I'd recommend the book for that section alone.  Who among us doesn't have some food ritual akin to Tanis' particular way of making and eating oatmeal?  And I'm always a sucker for a cookbook organized by seasons.  So, in honor of today's weather, I'm boldly ignoring (for now) the "Dead-of-Winter Dinner from the Supermarket" and heading right for "Spices for a Summer Night"!