When I started this project, it seemed easy enough: write a goofy story, draw a couple pictures and there you have it -- a children's book. Well three months on and I have just finished the rough draft of my book called “Starry, Starry Playground.” The story is done, the rough sketches make me smile, getting the tone right was a challenge since this IS a book about art, creativity and mental illness.In the end I decided to focus on something many of my friends and I know all too well: depression. In the book I call it a dangerous sadness since loneliness is a dreadful disease. Umm. did I mention this is also a book about joy?
The tone I meant was charming, funny -- a kind of celebration of people who are just different. Diva is taking a psychology class in college and is upset that mental illness in the text book is treated so unsympathetically. It is a list of damage. My book is a list of possibilities.
To get to this point meant I was a monk hiding away studying things I never imagined I would be studying. Just today I picked up a plush toy as the best model for Tippy the Cow. It has great body language as it sits and a fantastic hoody. Yes, a grown man playing with teddy bears and such -- or Tippy Cows. But they are models who I don't have to pay and will assume any position and hold it patiently as I sketch and paint them.
I decided not to show you my whole rough draft right now. I was working on the final sketches for my paintings until 2 AM this morning (no, I’m not obsessed) and then I will attempt the finished watercolors. When I am happy with each of them in turn I will show you the doodle I scrawled out when I had the idea, the final sketch and the finished work.
Here is a list of what I have read and watched in the last three months as research:
I bought or made toys so I can see how plush toys sit and flop about. It was kind of a casting call in a toy store. I got Nicole the Tree Frog and Priv the Tiger at Savers for a couple of bucks. Being tall, I also helped a lady by getting to plush sea turtles off the top shelf. I got Tami the Dolphin at Dollar Tree. In Toys-R-Us I found Hockney the Hedgehog for about five buck -- he makes funny noises when you squeeze him -- just like me. I saw a scanner for price checking. It didn’t scan so I pushed a button which I thought was for price checking. Nope.
I noticed too late that it was for calling for assistance. Over the loudspeaker: “Customer needs help in plush toys.” I ducked behind the hot wheels, jogged passed Hello Kitty and checked the hell out before I pushed any other damn buttons. This casting of characters is hard -- but now they sit on my table. I have live -- er plush models to patiently assume the position and let me draw them for hours on end.
I could not find a blonde, blue-eye squirrel for Jill or the right cow for Tippy (until today!) so I had to make them. But that’s another article.
Animal Reference (Yep, method drawing. Know the hedgehog -- be the hedgehog):
Hedgehogs by Pat Morris (Everything you want to know about that varmint and much more. Diva‘s mother adores hedgehogs so I am putting one in the book for her -- but she tells me that they are the worst pets in the world.)
Squirrel: The Animal Answer Guide by Richard W. Thorington Jr. and Katie Ferrell
Squirrel by Jessica Holm
(Jill the Squirrel will be a real squirrel -- that wears a pageboy hat and stripes.)
A Cat in the Family (A Complete Authoritative Guide) by Uschi Birr
The Natural Cat (Understanding Your Cats Needs and Instincts) by Helga Hofmann, Ph. D.
Beautiful Cats by Uschi Birr
(Pete is a real cat of my friend Jeanne. I want Pete to move and act like a real cat. I have had many dogs in my life but don’t know cats as well so I need to study them. I love the fluid grace of cats and am already fascinated. Diva has own cats and loves them so.)
My Puppy is Born by Joanna Cole
I have also visited people with dogs or cats and nip into pets stores to sketch those pets from life. I have been doing a lot of gesture drawings of people -- which are turning out very well. I hope to get the same simplicity and grace in my animal drawings.
Art Reference:
I hope to use Van Gogh’s art and Impressionism as a stage for my plush drama so I need the images to study (I wrote that about a month ago -- little did I know then that the paintings would find their way into my book and become a child‘s playground):
Impressionisms:
The International Movement 1890-1920 (Great very rare works from all over the world)
Impressionism and Post-Impressionism
Vincent by himself edited by Bruce Bernard
The Treasures of Vincent Van Gogh by Cornelia Homburg (Thank you again, Tom -- It is a gift that I uses a lot.)
Sargent Portrait Drawings and
John Singer Sargent both by Trevor Fairbrother
100 Masterpieces of Art by Martina Vaizey
The DK Art School: Watercolor Still Life (in Association with the Royal Academy of Arts) by Elizabeth Jane Lloyd Pub by Dorling Kindersley 1994 Great technical information on paint, paper and brushes.
Classical Life Drawing Studio (Lessons and Teaching in the Art of Figure Drawing) by James Lancel McElhinney (Sterling 2010)
Picasso and The Human Comedy (a Suite of 180 Drawings) by Michel Lewis (Modern Library Paperbacks - Random House 1954) I love the way Picasso drew.)
Picasso’s Picassos by David Douglas Duncan (Ballintine Books New York 1968) The painting in Picasso’s own collection.
Picasso (from the Musee Picasso, Paris) by Martian Friedman (Walker Art Center, Minneapolis 1980)
Van Gogh by Gerald E. Finley (Tudor Press Company New York 1966)
Seurat by Pierre Courthion (Harry N. Abrams, Inc. New York 1988)
Degas (Impressions of a Great Master) by Gerhard Gruitrooy (Todtri Productions Limited, New York 1994)
Step by Step Art School: Nudes by Jack Buchan and Jonathan Baker (Hamlyn, London 1994)
Matisse by Jean Selz (Crown, New York 1969)
Magritte by Daniel Abadie (Distributed Art Publisher, Inc. New York, 2003)
Eyewitness Art: Monet by Jude Welton (Dorling Kindersley Inc., New York, 1992) Great information on Monet’s methods of painting, colors he used, pallet, brushstrokes -- the works.)
Eyewitness Art: Van Gogh by Bruce Bernard (Dorling Kindersley Inc., New York, 1992)
Monet Water Lillies by Charles F. Stuckley (Park Lane -- Random House, New York, 1988)
Painting the Impressionist Landscape ( Lessons in Interpreting Light and Color) by Lois Griffel (Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1994) A wonderful instructions on how the impressionist worked.
Paint with the Impressionist (A Step-by-step Guide to Their Methods and Materials for Today’s Artists) by Jonathan Stephenson ( Thames and Hudson New York 2010) Showing the methods of Van Gogh, Monet, Manet and Degas.
Chinese Watercolor Techniques (Painting Animals) by Lian Quan Zhen (Northen Lights Books, Cincinnati, 2005)
Great Picture Books:
You may know many of the books I have listed but the works by Patrick McDonnell are recent and brilliant. Hug is charming and South tells the story without dialogue. I love McDonnell’s drawings that remind me of Chinese ink drawing.
Art by Partick McDonnell
Just Like Heaven by Partick McDonnell
Hug by Partick McDonnell
South by Partick McDonnell
Wag by Partick McDonnell
The Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne with the original charming drawings by Ernest H. Shepard
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll with drawings by John Tenniel
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams, Illustrations by David Jorgensen as read by Meryl Streep
The Inferno by Dante, illustrations by Dore (Well, I read it as a kid -- or looked at the pictures -- but I was an odd kid.)
Poetry:
I hope to have a poetic tilt to the work and have been listening to the artists performing their own works on CDs.
T.S. Eliot The Love song of J. Alfred Profrock, The Wasteland, Quartets, Practical Cats (Yes, he wrote a children’s book)
The Voice of the Poet: Sylvia Plath Random House Audio
Dylan Thomas reads “A Child’s Christmas in Wales”
Sylvia Plath reads her own poems
The Caedmon Poetry Collection (A Century of Poets Reading their own Work)
Bob Dylan The Witmark Demos 1962-1964 (Dylan’s original demos -- hear Dylan becoming himself.)
So, you were expecting Dr. Suess? It may seem like a odd and cheerful lot for picture book inspiration. But theses are the ones I love. To listen to a poet speak their own work is like hearing a composer play their compositions. Just looking at it on the page won’t cut it.
Life Drawing and Art Techniques:
Yoga for Dummies (Priv the Tiger is from India and uses Yoga to relax)
The New York City Ballet Workout by Palm Pictures
Understanding Ballet by John Gregory
Body Parts (a practical guide for artists) by Simon Jennings
The Figure in Watercolor: Simple, Fast and Focused by Mel Stabin
Chinese Brush Animals by Lucy Wang
DVDs and Videos:
Great Courses: A History of European Art taught by Professor William Kloss, Independent Art Historian The Smithsonian Associates, Smithsonian Institute 48 lectures, each 30 minutes long. (The Teaching Company, 2005) A college course, Kloss clearly enjoys his work -- I wish more college professors were as fun.
Great Courses: Museum Masterpiece - The Louvre, taught by Professor Richard Brettell, University of Texas at Dallas, 12 lectures, each 30 minutes long. (The Teaching Company, 2006)
Great Courses: Museum Masterpiece - The National Gallery, London, taught by Professor Catherine B. Scallen, Case Western Reserve University, 24 lectures, each 30 minutes long. (The Teaching Company, 2009)
Vermeer: Master of Light -- narrated by Meryl Streep Microcinema 2001. Very detailed explanations of how he painted -- fascinating.
Magritte: An Attempt at the Impossible. DVD by Kultur International Films. Magritte was once asked what was behind his paintings, “The wall,” he cracked. Unfortunately the makers of this film don’t get jokes. A very serious art film about a man who spent his life making fun of serious art.
Vincent, a film by Paul Cox. Docudrama DVD 2005. Using Van Gogh’s letters and paintings Cox takes us on a life’s journey and obsession. The document on Cox is also amazing. I admit that I felt a kinship with Cox, So many of his statements hit home, “Loneliness is a dreadful disease,” he says and it feels like the theme of my own book.
Van Gogh, Brush with Genius. A Camera Lucida Production,. Imagine DVD 2010. Having Van Gogh’s ghost show up to narrate the film is pretty funny, having him introduce the director as if they hang out at the bars nightly is jaw dropping. That said, the images shot with an Imax camera are amazing. The film makers were allowed unprecedented access to glide their lens inches from the paintings to pick up incredible detail. Also wonderful were scenes showing Vincent's paintings that fade into the present day location where Van Gogh himself stood -- unlike the cheesy narration, I did feel a chill of a ghost passing by at moments like that.
Van Gogh’s Van Goghs, directed byJackson Frost, Home Vision Theater/ WETA Washington 1999
Portraits in Watercolor (a complete video course) by James Kirk
