Mermaids and Sand Castles

Some years ago it was my pleasure to illustrate Kate's Castle, written by children's book author Julie Lawson. Like many beautiful books it is now out of print, even though the author and I still get requests from parents and teachers who would like to have a copy.

It begins, "This is the castle that Kate built"and builds from there with,
" This is the moat of sandy hue
That circles the castle that Kate built."
"This is the pool of anenomes,
whose swaying tentacles comb the seas
that fill the moat of sandy hue
That circles the castle that Kate built."

Kate's castle gets bigger, adorned with shells, crowned with turrents, waves come rolling in to surround it,

and creatures from the deep, including the mermaid above, swim by for a look.

Although the book is no longer available from the publisher I do have pretty cards with the above images and they will soon be on my Etsy shop.

On Author-Illustrator visits to schools I presented this book to many classrooms of children. They always fell right in with the winning poetry and the theme of sandcastle building and carefree hours on sandy beaches - they were even interested in how an artist makes the pictures that go with the words. I'm glad to hear from teachers that the appeal of books has not diminished, even with the advent of tablets and e-readers.

There was recently a sandcastle building event in the nearby harbour area. Artists set to work and within hours had produced these remarkable sand sculptures.

"Baby's First" ornament designs

For the first weeks of summer I was busy designing ornaments for a Toronto company for Christmas 2012. Along with angels and sleigh bells were several variations on the theme of Baby's First Christmas. This was a fun assignment, bringing a new twist to a well-known theme. The designs for Christmas 2012 are under wraps for now. Here are a couple of my designs from previous years, which currently appear in the Walperts/SilverTree catalogue:

the Stork,
with a tiny cradle, baby and teddy bearand the Pram,
again with a baby and a teddy, plus a little dove on the canopy.

This week is the 17th anniversary of my own Baby's First event, but I didn't get a Pink package,

the stork sent us a Blue one.

The Apprentice Dragons

The Apprentice Dragons by Alison Baird is now in print and available from Lulu.com! Last summer I had these dragons on the drawing board, large dragons and little scampering ones that wouldn't behave. I finally pinned them down the page, chapter heading by chapter heading, merry companions for this delightful junior novel.

The sequel to The Dragon's Egg , The Apprentice Dragons picks up the incidental adventure of the goldfish, the "apprentice dragons" as they were called by the boy dragon, Lung Wang. Lung Wang returned to his ancestral home but Ai Lien's goldfish stayed in their bowl on the little girl's dresser.

Or did they?

It really is a terrific adventure,

with enough tantalizing threads for the reader to know that the story is not necessarily over yet.

Summertime

"Too busy to blog", terrible words! Between art classes to teach, new designs and art to prepare and an art show to hang, I had to let some things slide. The dog walks were shorter, good books were unopened and the garden went unweeded (which allowed the wild daisies and loosestrife to wander in).My annual "Midsummer Magic" art show at Sovereign House was visited by a host of fairies with every style of wings,

and even swordsThis quiet spot by the lake has a magic all its own, a perfect place for fairies and reveries.

The show is over now and so is the rush. I have an unaccustomed breathing space, time to think and to paint some random fancies before starting on new work. The fairy bridesmaids at the top of this post are about to make their debut in the new issue of our "Illustrated Fairy Gazette", which is coming soon.

A Royal Fairy Wedding

"A simple country wedding for a Royal fairy bride" is the theme of the newest edition of our Illustrated Fairy Gazette. It is still a work in progress but is looking so pretty that I can't resist showing a glimpse.This will be the 6th in our series of miniature fairy magazines. Each one is just 4.5 x 5.25 inches, hand-stitched with rainbow thread, and packaged in a pretty fairy-parchment envelope. Follow this space for the publication date of the latest Illustrated Fairy Gazette!

Paper Cutting, Art and Magic

My own experience with paper cutting began in childhood, instructed by my mother in the simple charms of making linked paper dolls, joined by their outstretched hands and the edges of their wide skirts. The planning and decorating of these - each with a different face, hair and dress - passed many happy hours. From time to time I still revisit the craft, deliberately or by serendipity.


Some years ago I spent hours in waiting areas at the hospital while my youngster had appendicitis. Too fidgety to read, I delved into my handbag and found pair of sharp little nail scissors and some paper (a church bulletin as I recall). I accordion-pleated the paper into eight widths and improvised with the scissors, cutting the shape of a bird, leaving the wingtips uncut at the fold-edge. A half an hour later a cascade of little white worry-birds lay on my lap amid the confetti of irregular scraps. I picked up the larger remnants of paper and refolded them to make even smaller bird chains. By the time my son was waking up from surgery I had a small menagerie of paper creatures to show him: birds, dogs, angels, mermaids, dragons and cats-on-roofs.

Here is the dog, springing at the birds,

then unfolded to romp with friends,

and all standing up to play with their shadows.

I still have the Mermaid chain too, here posed on their heads and facing their shadows, as though diving to meet their reflections.

The other inventions have since disappeared but were the inspiration for a variety of hand-cut Christmas cards that year. I discovered that beautifully executed paper-cutting only looks simple - that hours of skillful work have gone into the pieces that take your breath away.

If you have not already seen the beautiful paper-cutting work by Elsa Mora, give yourself a treat and visit her blogs about art and miniature books. There is always something new, something fresh in its vision and execution, with links to other contemporary artists who are also exploring paper craft in extraordinary ways. But Elsita is my personal favorite.

From nature, a different kind of fine design: last week's storm (the last hurrah of winter, we hope) left behind this glittering tangle of ice - not unlike an extraordinarily fine paper cutting.

Velvet Slippers in the Snow

"We will dance in velvet slippers in the snow"

from The Illustrated Fairy Gazette, Winter Edition

Velvet Slippers, from our Illustrated Fairy Gazettes, is one of the many advertisements that reveal life in Picardy Orchard, a quiet place within the Peaceful Fairy Realms. The fairy fashion designer "Stitch-In-Thyme" always has a page to show off her latest creations, in this case a matching velvet gown and cape, and slippers for dancing in the snow. A fairy can never have too many shoes -

ruby red shoes, to match her gown,

twilight blue with stars,

and lilac-hued like shadows on the snow.

And because I like to design fairy shoes, they multiply with every new edition of the Fairy Gazettes!

At midnight here, when the snow was flying and a spinning cobweb of lace was haloed in every streetlight, Mr. Tumnus with his umbrella would not haved look out of place and a ring of dancing velvet-shod fairies would have seemed entirely plausible .


Everything is waiting for spring here in Ontario - fattening buds tightly closed on the trees, the first spears of snowdrops poised and ready under the snow. For now it is still boot weather - ski boots, skates, smart boots and plain ones, and even boots for dogs that must walk along city and suburban sidewalks, to protect their paws from salt burn. A trek in the woods is much gentler on their feet and a nice diversion for us too.

(In Bronte Woods, a welcome break after two hours skiing the trails)

"Let us walk in the white snow
In a soundless space;
With footsteps quiet snd slow,
At a tranquil pace,

Under veils of white lace."
Elinor Wylie 1885-1928