tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5238516441453177652024-02-19T03:29:57.176-05:00Sophie Blackallsophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.comBlogger159125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-55976522295524943882016-12-07T14:44:00.000-05:002016-12-07T14:44:15.517-05:00And the Winners Are...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Thank you to everyone who bid on the auction, donated to the campaign, shared and posted and entered this competition!</div>
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Your contributions raised $3982 which, thanks to the generosity of <a href="http://www.thecuriousreaderbooks.com/" target="_blank">The Curious Reader</a>, will stretch to send 230 picture books to 23 schools! Which schools you ask??</div>
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoyRcI2x9mM0EHcTrJR1xiSidBjCBZIleEVGvH4EBHKQJTF4ec4-whRFkxnh582m6CvzRE_jrjxZQQXMUPoYKygBM5ginN96dGCnXNkXDAI1IQLylYexQ3gNDRFwu2rYJitVoLAqRJ9HRq/s320/sortinghat.JPG" width="320" /></div>
The studio sorting hat was put to good use again (thank you Brian Floca and Sergio Ruzzier!) and these are the winning schools:<br />
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Auten Road Intermediate School, Hillsborough NJ<br />
Cannaday Elementary School, Mesquite TX <br />
Cerra Vista Elementary School, Hollister CA<br />
Crestview Elementary School, Springfield TN<br />
Discovery Elementary, Grand Forks ND<br />
Dr. Debbie Emery Elementary School, Katy TX <br />
Eagle Cliffs Elementary School, Billings MT<br />
Grundy Center Elementary, Grundy Center IA<br />
Henry Ford Elementary, Pharr TX<br />
JFK Elementary, Sioux Falls SD <br />
Manatee Cove Elementary, Orange City FL <br />
Matthews Elementary School, Matthews NC<br />
Menchaca Elementary, Austin TX <br />
Nicolet Elementary School, Green Bay WI<br />
Orchard School, South Burlington VT <br />
PS 18 The John G. Whittier School, Staten Island NY<br />
Russell Street School, Littleton MA<br />
Seatack Elementary - An Achievable Dream Academy, Virginia Beach VA<br />
St. Bernard School, Enfield CT <br />
St. Paul School, Cana VA<br />
Sturgeon R-V Elementary School, Sturgeon MO <br />
Visitation BVM School, Norristown PA <br />
Wilson School, Natick MA<br />
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They will each receive a set of these ten picture books. Congratulations to all, Happy Holidays and Happy Reading!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBam52M98vaKI8rM-GQ-6rK7UOBSmp1aqMyX6gxYu6lcQ8i-1iomyyZzKrM_jV9VfsjEETjOEyUxoTBHv90YN-dNH4tH3yNDWRYwKJhtjSg1aJ0vCXri2VW6_TEDm2lDkftOqY7trBYO2T/s1600/IMG_5424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBam52M98vaKI8rM-GQ-6rK7UOBSmp1aqMyX6gxYu6lcQ8i-1iomyyZzKrM_jV9VfsjEETjOEyUxoTBHv90YN-dNH4tH3yNDWRYwKJhtjSg1aJ0vCXri2VW6_TEDm2lDkftOqY7trBYO2T/s320/IMG_5424.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-88098312675765279642016-11-24T10:28:00.000-05:002016-11-25T17:28:13.165-05:00Let's Turn This Painting into Books!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I have so loved hearing about schools that run mock Caldecott Awards but I have also been hearing from librarians and teachers how they struggle to buy new books. How they often supplement the classroom library out of their own pockets.<br />
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Around this time last year I held a fundraiser to send sets of 10 new picture books to schools in need. <br />
I thought maybe there was a way of turning a drawing into a pile of new picture
books. Because while there’s nothing as comforting as curling up with an
old favorite, there’s something thrilling about turning the first page of a brand new one.<br />
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I was hoping to be able to fund 60 books for six schools. Thanks to your
generosity we raised around $3500, which enabled us to send 200
books to 20 schools. <br />
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So! It's that time again!<br />
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Here's how it works. <br />
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This painting is <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/272458289404?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank">for sale on eBay</a>. It was on the cover of the Horn Book Magazine Awards Edition in June, 2016. Eagle eyes will spot <i>Last Stop on Market Street</i> and <i>The Lion and the Mouse</i>, <i>The Snowy Day</i> and <i>Winnie the Pooh</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/272458289404?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoFI1_1612AFaz8UGAz_Q1VqZO2PuAbAl2QQ24WDpbG_anjL24K_Z82yiouLDmkM0pBVGuwEpMsJRiYXp36aBcxpSMkqYOx-yuYgc0KseO7sxPssAGC81wrOD-P079vAmaqh_TxTu8zHbR/s400/HBcovercropweb.jpg" width="315" /></a></div>
The listing <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/272458289404?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank">is live</a> and runs until December 3rd.<br />
I have partnered with the wonderful bookstore, <a href="http://www.thecuriousreaderbooks.com/" target="_blank">The Curious Reader</a>, who have helped me select 10 beautiful, funny, rich, thoughtful picture books to tempt young readers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpoGiP33V2bGGAvWntzZySiROYOMBTuT0Uy1KzGX9sflXRgxqKQQ3lkfCMAXIw6YQzwESA9qLl4wCMDe6uloKZIp1IiYXgSS-1uGqz6lWYVpI0lU4xNagZR1pmCSbbDh-xBnIe-wZPMMi2/s1600/IMG_5423.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpoGiP33V2bGGAvWntzZySiROYOMBTuT0Uy1KzGX9sflXRgxqKQQ3lkfCMAXIw6YQzwESA9qLl4wCMDe6uloKZIp1IiYXgSS-1uGqz6lWYVpI0lU4xNagZR1pmCSbbDh-xBnIe-wZPMMi2/s320/IMG_5423.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbltBb-n3nDnHAI52tjleg1dskCA39MdJo5EEwwuks814nbuuBJPiDBh6OyIbL47cgR_VBICwCvhMhVyGKEzC3b3O2nqar_Zn4lm1BjooBQ22Ejr4PCZZI8xJ5oaXoSvCoajDXAGk-j7lK/s1600/IMG_5424.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbltBb-n3nDnHAI52tjleg1dskCA39MdJo5EEwwuks814nbuuBJPiDBh6OyIbL47cgR_VBICwCvhMhVyGKEzC3b3O2nqar_Zn4lm1BjooBQ22Ejr4PCZZI8xJ5oaXoSvCoajDXAGk-j7lK/s320/IMG_5424.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i>The Airport Book</i> - Lisa Brown</span><br />
<i>The Case for Loving</i> - Selina Alko and Sean Qualls<br />
<i>Du Iz Tak?</i> - Carson Ellis<br />
<i>Finding Winnie</i> - Lindsay Mattick and Sophie Blackall<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Freedom in Congo Square</i> - </span><span style="background-color: white;">Carole Boston Weatherford and R. Gregory Christie</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><i>The Journey</i> - </span><span style="font-size: small;">Francesca Sanna</span><br />
<i>Penguin Problems</i> - Jory John and Lane Smith<br />
<i>Real Cowboys</i> - Kate Hoefler and Jonathan Bean<br />
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<i>This is Not a Picture Book</i> - Sergio Ruzzier</div>
<i>Thunder Boy Jr.</i> - Sherman Alexie<br />
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So now I just need<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">a) People to bid on the drawing. <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/272458289404?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649" target="_blank">Click here!</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">b) Librarians and teachers to enter the draw.</span> </span>(Which
you can do by leaving your name and the name and location of your
school in the comments below. Only US schools, I’m afraid.)<br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-size: large;">c) You to help spread the word!</span> (Please share far and wide!)</span> <br />
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<span style="font-size: medium;">Thank you, all!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">ps. If you'd like to make a separate donation, you can do so <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/picture-books-for-schools-in-need" target="_blank">here</a> and receive a signed print from Finding Winnie!</span><br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-81855695857884234692016-01-14T13:44:00.004-05:002016-01-15T11:55:48.950-05:00Trying to put some of these feelings into words.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The days immediately after giving birth to each of my children passed in a surreal fog. I remember waking in the night to nurse and feeling flooded with wonder again and again – that this miraculous creature had come into being. This child I had dreamed of, hoped for, imagined, dared-not-imagine, was actually real.<br />
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I am feeling much the same way right now.<br />
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As I wrote in a Facebook post last week, “2015 was something of a fraught year for book making. I have been learning from all the discussions and am trying to use what I've learned to feel encouraged and inspired rather than paralyzed. Emphasis on trying.<br />
But the year is young! And there are books to be made!”<br />
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There was such an outpouring of love and encouragement in response to this. I was – and remain – so grateful. <br />
I decided to banish all thought of the Caldecott from my head. But it kept creeping back in. I wrestled with it all weekend. <br />
Who are you to hope? I asked myself, in Maggie Smith’s most withering voice… and then I imagined getting the call, imagined every detail. When I imagine something, it usually ends up in a drawing, not as a reality. I was pretty sure that the very act of imagining it was enough to prevent it coming true. <br />
In my sleeplessness I should have picked up an <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/617804.Mariana" target="_blank">old friend of a book</a> but instead I wandered the internet, fueling the fire.<br />
And then I read three things which helped enormously. <br />
The first was Kimberly Brusker Bradley’s <a href="http://kimberly-brubaker-bradley.blogspot.com/2016/01/about-that-pesky-newbery.html" target="_blank">blogpost</a>. <br />
“I want to win the Newbery so bad it makes my teeth hurt”, she wrote.<br />
“And yet, it doesn't really matter at all.<br />
Both of these things are absolutely true.”<br />
<br />
And this made me realize there’s nothing wrong with hoping.<br />
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The second was Susan Kusel’s<a href="http://wizardswireless.blogspot.com/2016/01/predicting-unpredictable.html" target="_blank"> post</a>, which reminded me that whatever happened on Monday morning was out of my control, and unpredictable, and whether I hoped or fretted or slept like a cat, it wouldn’t make a jot of difference.<br />
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And her words together with <a href="http://www.greenbeanteenqueen.com/2014/01/dear-committee-member.html?spref=fb" target="_blank">this letter</a> to which she linked, (which I now learn was written by Sarah Bean Thompson, a member of the committee. Thank you Sarah!), made me feel <span style="font-size: large;"><i>calm</i></span>.<br />
It gave me enormous confidence in the process and the committee. I don't envy their task, but I have such respect for their commitment and patience and attentiveness and open mindedness and willingness to work together. I realized that they would choose the right book, whichever book that happened to be.<br />
<br />
And so I went to sleep.<br />
<br />
I’m lying. I didn't really sleep at all.<br />
I’d heard the call usually comes before 6:30am. So by 6:31am, I’d resigned myself that it was not to be. I hopped in the shower. Made Eggy’s school lunch. Told Ed we could relax. It wasn’t going to happen. We had a lovely sad-happy moment of realizing that Caldecott or no, we were very lucky people indeed.<br />
And then the phone rang.<br />
The rest is a blur. I think my legs gave way. I may have sobbed. It’s still utterly surreal that your life can turn around in a span of minutes. It will take a lot longer to adjust to the idea that my name falls at the end of this list of luminaries: Virginia Lee Burton. Maurice Sendak. Ezra Jack Keats. Barbara Cooney. The Provensons. O. Zelinsky. Wiesner. Selznick. Pinkney. Stead. Raschka. Klassen. Floca. Santat. <br />
<br />
I’m so grateful to the committee and can’t wait to thank you all in person. <br />
The sound of a room of laughing, cheering librarians coming down the wire will stay with me forever.<br />
<br />
I am so fortunate to have worked with Little, Brown and thank everyone there for their part in making this book.<br />
Susan Rich, our editor, is on every page of Finding Winnie, and this award belongs every bit as much to her.<br />
Without Lindsay Mattick’s extraordinary family story, this book wouldn’t exist. I thank her for sharing it with me.<br />
My studio mates are my best friends and five years on, I can’t believe how lucky I am that we get to do this together every day.<br />
Ed, who held me up in the kitchen when my legs went wobbly, and who holds me up each and every day, my children and fake children, all of whom I adore, and dear family and friends who make my life and the world a better place,<br />
My father, to whom this book is dedicated,<br />
John Schu who has loved this book enough for all of us,<br />
Laura Amy Schlitz who I've decided is my fairy godmother, warm and wise,<br />
Nancy Gallt and Marietta Zacker, thank you.<br />
And to all the librarians and teachers and ambassadors of children’s literature for reading and reviewing, discussing and sharing books with unflagging dedication, respectful debate and contagious enthusiasm. Your extraordinary efforts to get those books into the hands of children, your love for books and those who read them is indeed encouraging and inspiring.<br />
And thank you to EVERYONE for your kind words.<br />
I am overflowing with gratitude.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLeleC2GNSv3hvQMbfTCLqihV9GG3hnLEHd1q-47cqxIMDHBToqnxRftehxt9rkCsc60YuCZktqebocLmhAxyev3RvR9M3mjuFHu4qq9WZndGFDywgwEVL7QOY2EEZM4F8d9jiXbt6o3g/s1600/IMG_3917.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLeleC2GNSv3hvQMbfTCLqihV9GG3hnLEHd1q-47cqxIMDHBToqnxRftehxt9rkCsc60YuCZktqebocLmhAxyev3RvR9M3mjuFHu4qq9WZndGFDywgwEVL7QOY2EEZM4F8d9jiXbt6o3g/s400/IMG_3917.JPG" width="300" /></a></div>
sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-56144017759221233062015-11-11T13:24:00.001-05:002015-11-11T13:24:48.119-05:00The Making of Finding Winnie - Part 4<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The story of <i>Finding Winnie</i> takes place in the context of WW1. Winnie, named for Winnipeg, became the mascot of the Second Canadian Infantry Brigade, and by all accounts she provided entertainment, distraction, comfort and solace to the troops, many of whom were very young and far from home. This illustration of Winnie posing with the soldiers was inspired by a photograph from the author, Lindsay Mattick's family archives. Harry is in the second row, second from left, seated.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4IVZ36p3UP3gQukhhcuKvLrIv_IVVuidKlaI-_DPA6EJrdKEeq_5-OUggKZ60xxw4w5AzODYcj028VfR_gknv7MWzYftkPbKmGV7Cq5mQIvF5I4Vv945uDZ0VicFOtsKY0tQk5Lhl76z/s1600/Soldiers%2526Winnie1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="273" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq4IVZ36p3UP3gQukhhcuKvLrIv_IVVuidKlaI-_DPA6EJrdKEeq_5-OUggKZ60xxw4w5AzODYcj028VfR_gknv7MWzYftkPbKmGV7Cq5mQIvF5I4Vv945uDZ0VicFOtsKY0tQk5Lhl76z/s400/Soldiers%2526Winnie1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Growing up in Australia, we learned about the Great War from an Australian perspective. Egypt and Gallipoli and ANZAC biscuits. (My own great uncle, Lancelot Blackall, below, served with the Light Horse Brigade.)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQaPSkRIDzVFww1fWXgA2oRaG-29j-pIToAF1ZOEPjbrZAIBinXhz6e-ivKahG8KKzOPe7bmJm30VmgjhgcdPOjZ7FgwcJ15B2wT2ewzxSCxpfhrrBsyrWpEAmzV3tgFkNQcQFN44HmjU3/s1600/LancelotBlackall.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQaPSkRIDzVFww1fWXgA2oRaG-29j-pIToAF1ZOEPjbrZAIBinXhz6e-ivKahG8KKzOPe7bmJm30VmgjhgcdPOjZ7FgwcJ15B2wT2ewzxSCxpfhrrBsyrWpEAmzV3tgFkNQcQFN44HmjU3/s400/LancelotBlackall.JPG" width="250" /></a></div>
So it was interesting to delve into Canadian history. I read about soldiers' kits, Ross Rifles, MacAdam Shield-Shovels, and their doomed boots. Ross Rifles were long and heavy, performed poorly in damp conditions and would often jam after first firing, making it impossible to reload. As the name suggests, the MacAdam Shield-Shovel was designed to be a multi-purpose shield and shovel. Unfortunately it weighed over five pounds which made it difficult to carry, the shovel’s blade was incapable of stopping
the penetration of gunfire even from the smallest of enemy calibre
arms, and the fact that it contained a large sight-hole made it almost useless for shoveling. As for the boots, they were made with pressed cardboard soles, which rapidly disintegrated in the mud.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZwg8opdHamJaO22XXQWCsBsOB91YNM1jaT4hdhZmIP8mbe1Snsa3rHMhkTlPHeyjS4DJ3_g2wwxNaSjwKGPyoRBVQLxjoyMDY6xBoj3SehxGIOx7iocvouATjzqfRHaZl_Pp7dLLJt-v/s1600/SoldiersRain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKZwg8opdHamJaO22XXQWCsBsOB91YNM1jaT4hdhZmIP8mbe1Snsa3rHMhkTlPHeyjS4DJ3_g2wwxNaSjwKGPyoRBVQLxjoyMDY6xBoj3SehxGIOx7iocvouATjzqfRHaZl_Pp7dLLJt-v/s400/SoldiersRain.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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This image of Harry's regiment marching in the incessant rain on the Salisbury Plain mirrors the composition of his departure earlier in the book. The First World War was all about hordes of young men, embarking on journeys with uncertain destinations.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijftqKtjG3RZg6oVzYmGUXmZl2b70adPfTWzAU-GGkP0gMcNBvHQWXyVcWPLDXI83v0SC0_ums86Ty1ErZJqX5I-pzlJSlsZan1JNsb1fDsGiuhftXeVYUwUHcDOIQPqEy4ctyxMjOO10v/s1600/Train.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijftqKtjG3RZg6oVzYmGUXmZl2b70adPfTWzAU-GGkP0gMcNBvHQWXyVcWPLDXI83v0SC0_ums86Ty1ErZJqX5I-pzlJSlsZan1JNsb1fDsGiuhftXeVYUwUHcDOIQPqEy4ctyxMjOO10v/s400/Train.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
We don't see anything of the actual War in <i>Finding Winnie</i>, but in the illustrations I wanted to allude to the devastation it caused. We all know the iconic photographs of soldiers leaving for war, hanging from train carriages, waving hats, reaching out for a last grasp of a wife's hand.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtGIjqVjA5SCLUkuOcx0R84De1pGXWWIeEuqLi33eORtnTj3PM3ILo7-Qtr5_XruJFC7VltBsDtJPK4bozqwNF0r72HtKHoMIDlQYllIrCJXOIP04zKL7pWRGyQ8vf_ZSYMSn_EUl6oNa/s1600/IMG_0479.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="297" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtGIjqVjA5SCLUkuOcx0R84De1pGXWWIeEuqLi33eORtnTj3PM3ILo7-Qtr5_XruJFC7VltBsDtJPK4bozqwNF0r72HtKHoMIDlQYllIrCJXOIP04zKL7pWRGyQ8vf_ZSYMSn_EUl6oNa/s400/IMG_0479.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
I set up this scene with Harry's departure from Winnipeg...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKtGIjqVjA5SCLUkuOcx0R84De1pGXWWIeEuqLi33eORtnTj3PM3ILo7-Qtr5_XruJFC7VltBsDtJPK4bozqwNF0r72HtKHoMIDlQYllIrCJXOIP04zKL7pWRGyQ8vf_ZSYMSn_EUl6oNa/s1600/IMG_0479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBc7WXiK0O_OBkGzWEf6yfHUVWhTYkJtPf34_9AGmnP3hfGQd2eK1wnSxnKwfT8CbArieDNj9X4qq47SRup_-zk1IWnp7-3O6zwU1_X5keidsZSfSVM76tWdjrDpjslAetGX3zJ_flswAl/s1600/Harry%2527sDeparture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBc7WXiK0O_OBkGzWEf6yfHUVWhTYkJtPf34_9AGmnP3hfGQd2eK1wnSxnKwfT8CbArieDNj9X4qq47SRup_-zk1IWnp7-3O6zwU1_X5keidsZSfSVM76tWdjrDpjslAetGX3zJ_flswAl/s640/Harry%2527sDeparture.jpg" width="368" /> </a></div>
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...and echoed it with his return. The families are the same ones, four years later. We see the survivors and the gaps where men – or limbs – were lost. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmtiSjqUw06pr1Ii6qYG7ReToTqY0It6ZCBqy4qd3l5camH7YksEO8dn_jpkHn5h8BRNRjnjVmRww-PXuPemkzvUMK48sKXMyhSIXOPO7pKS7UmoIBckG9y1VRVafOTkqLYsoj7aThtZN/s1600/Harry%2527sReturn.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXmtiSjqUw06pr1Ii6qYG7ReToTqY0It6ZCBqy4qd3l5camH7YksEO8dn_jpkHn5h8BRNRjnjVmRww-PXuPemkzvUMK48sKXMyhSIXOPO7pKS7UmoIBckG9y1VRVafOTkqLYsoj7aThtZN/s640/Harry%2527sReturn.jpg" width="366" /></a></div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-68998651445186588802015-11-02T15:49:00.000-05:002015-11-02T15:49:02.615-05:00The Making of Finding Winnie - Part 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu4Axn7g5yIqzo81mrhLSQetzR3HLdmzBCF6vMRje2UnC0RskXEQKoiaO9nslPlJ4F171M_KVSxIUTLjfrgLkUfMgyKKuOE-n-Q-FvlhOpRxLirxwbZBVB8BG-9psbZYrUlz5oBLZ8o0v/s1600/PAH26-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsu4Axn7g5yIqzo81mrhLSQetzR3HLdmzBCF6vMRje2UnC0RskXEQKoiaO9nslPlJ4F171M_KVSxIUTLjfrgLkUfMgyKKuOE-n-Q-FvlhOpRxLirxwbZBVB8BG-9psbZYrUlz5oBLZ8o0v/s400/PAH26-27.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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When my not-yet editor Susan Rich first sent me Lindsay Mattick's manuscript for <i>Finding Winnie</i>, she described it as "full of wonderful things to bring to life; a sea of white tents at the army barracks, a parade of ships crossing the ocean in 1914, The London Zoo..."</div>
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From the very beginning I was excited to paint the parade of ships. </div>
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<i>"Nobody had ever tried to float so many people and animals across the Atlantic Ocean before. </i></div>
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<i>Thirty ships sailed together, carrying about 36,000 men, and about 7,500 horses... </i></div>
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<i>and about one bear named Winnie."</i></div>
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I sketched the image above, which was how I imagined the parade. I read that Harry and Winnie had been on board the S.S. Manitou, one of the many merchant ships escorted by warships in formation across the Atlantic Ocean. </div>
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It was pretty easy to find an image of the S.S. Manitou.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9TS3nJz1TDXxWI8jcrqETTv-EV6-nd3aQYbcEwJI2gqw7dy-hBbFhoFGTw1VfWS2HOtnx9hthA3i8UR3TAfdMCrT6GaCDcMRN3_FJPQPWz2Cg5xI-tnTW_7_zG-UFY8D5sFsYZ6U9hfH_/s1600/Blackall6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="253" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9TS3nJz1TDXxWI8jcrqETTv-EV6-nd3aQYbcEwJI2gqw7dy-hBbFhoFGTw1VfWS2HOtnx9hthA3i8UR3TAfdMCrT6GaCDcMRN3_FJPQPWz2Cg5xI-tnTW_7_zG-UFY8D5sFsYZ6U9hfH_/s400/Blackall6.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div>
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I could have just made up the other ships, but I thought, <i>there are people who are serious about ships, and they will know I just made them up</i>. So I went looking for reference photographs of the convoy. This was the only one I could find. It was war, after all, and the Canadian army didn't want the enemy to know they were coming, so people probably weren't encouraged to take snapshots.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjvFeJS03363dSeuD9SNhnCp0QRFtfwILpTvcCXFRJLArDYnfy_0fid_N8XhaqipkK6AsiUGHaZmLWk8R81l17LzlFAhyFg5Sbo1PHx1SjU8JOT2cmMJmAj7Rw_-Z2xbRFed07ljlhu5n/s1600/Troopships.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWjvFeJS03363dSeuD9SNhnCp0QRFtfwILpTvcCXFRJLArDYnfy_0fid_N8XhaqipkK6AsiUGHaZmLWk8R81l17LzlFAhyFg5Sbo1PHx1SjU8JOT2cmMJmAj7Rw_-Z2xbRFed07ljlhu5n/s400/Troopships.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
And it's a pretty striking photograph, but it didn't tell me much about what the individual ships looked like. Then I found this painting by <span class="st">Lieutenant Commander Norman Wilkinson, </span><br />
called Canada's Answer, which gave me a few more clues. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxE_wvfyh0lGlxN-7F-yUMPPv5Rq1XgSFGKY-n3TWWPhXVQHDE5BSjunYtjcZsYavJk0giqDdcbTVKamLS4M0ot0fIq-SC9ynSD1f-yNtF_P0Jz7Ixlmg5MkLQdTe7TtKgEzO8cQK7ytV/s1600/Blackall5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpxE_wvfyh0lGlxN-7F-yUMPPv5Rq1XgSFGKY-n3TWWPhXVQHDE5BSjunYtjcZsYavJk0giqDdcbTVKamLS4M0ot0fIq-SC9ynSD1f-yNtF_P0Jz7Ixlmg5MkLQdTe7TtKgEzO8cQK7ytV/s400/Blackall5.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Then I found a very helpful website with an archive of primary documents from the Great War (gwpda.org) and found a list of all the ships and the order in which they sailed. I drew lines radiating from the S.S. Manitou and did image searches for those ships in lines, trying to get one whole set. It was a bit like bingo.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtbE0LSjFoscMYk3u4_qukO1rheqmVhAodaEhKQLcvLiMA9DdZBcj24jtPwwBMRHqFHBxsgXj98vsGsR-o_A1caEsKtIaghYadZJ4UkeZAuq19NNir__I053vdJaakbeFHLlgmP7K1E3G9/s1600/ShipConvoyList6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtbE0LSjFoscMYk3u4_qukO1rheqmVhAodaEhKQLcvLiMA9DdZBcj24jtPwwBMRHqFHBxsgXj98vsGsR-o_A1caEsKtIaghYadZJ4UkeZAuq19NNir__I053vdJaakbeFHLlgmP7K1E3G9/s400/ShipConvoyList6.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
They sailed at sunset, so a red sky made sense, but it was also meant to suggest the war they were sailing towards. From the painting above I saw some ships were flying signal flags. I read (more than I ever imagined I might) about signal flags from my studio mate Brian Floca's extensive library, and just so you know, I tucked a secret message into that string of flags.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05qPlxyyHAPlkR0LN28tntCaCuF9c20Jmq-OUR-nEhltsGbgeuccY9V1TuDdjvFTYJpyxfAiK2jMLNA8dIvY2zOF7wjQG0wFkOUexcr1DiuXuJiUBIu4Pn95RBfvt_SOqLi2Y9E_Qa7b5/s1600/Blackall7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj05qPlxyyHAPlkR0LN28tntCaCuF9c20Jmq-OUR-nEhltsGbgeuccY9V1TuDdjvFTYJpyxfAiK2jMLNA8dIvY2zOF7wjQG0wFkOUexcr1DiuXuJiUBIu4Pn95RBfvt_SOqLi2Y9E_Qa7b5/s400/Blackall7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Do you notice anything else in this picture? The Canadian flag? The book had gone off to the printer and at the very last moment somebody noticed that the flag was the maple leaf. Which was designed in 1965. This convoy took place in 1914. Oops. Thank goodness we were able to fix it in the nick of time<span id="goog_1754968493"></span><span id="goog_1754968494"></span>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji94nFYT2FHfo7fQZURV6fuLQUhLrpXKFuWZ7PDXILkoFeuXxYpL-EOs7vO9ZDHzTlFXSrm3iD1fjlwNtXMSRqaF5Bx1fDf8cizDLKYyrWTxTeDl51QS2w8vdvfg_IMLmcmv2bGnHj1lCD/s1600/correctflagweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji94nFYT2FHfo7fQZURV6fuLQUhLrpXKFuWZ7PDXILkoFeuXxYpL-EOs7vO9ZDHzTlFXSrm3iD1fjlwNtXMSRqaF5Bx1fDf8cizDLKYyrWTxTeDl51QS2w8vdvfg_IMLmcmv2bGnHj1lCD/s400/correctflagweb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-10814493529191394262015-10-28T09:09:00.002-04:002015-10-28T09:12:37.429-04:00The Making of Finding Winnie - Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Illustrating Finding Winnie took over a year. The very last thing I did was the cover. Sometimes covers come easily, sometimes it's a torturous process. This one, while not exactly torturous, was a little elusive. <br />
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This was my first sketch, but I wasn't really thinking where the title would go.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNuZ8Iujwen15Cx2RFfG4oiNPd53VQEwfLfQS8h8ZOhh-UZvIxd5HTo8DJ4eyJa-A1Fb6Sb3XYVaCm7H7CnfIyX1KJ6gFPUZATU_BULEITJpovqOJO1DUiS9tNya8YYnuBMzAMKLbgra5h/s1600/H%2526W.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNuZ8Iujwen15Cx2RFfG4oiNPd53VQEwfLfQS8h8ZOhh-UZvIxd5HTo8DJ4eyJa-A1Fb6Sb3XYVaCm7H7CnfIyX1KJ6gFPUZATU_BULEITJpovqOJO1DUiS9tNya8YYnuBMzAMKLbgra5h/s320/H%2526W.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Followed by about 87 color sketches, until I hit on Winnie holding onto Harry's boot. But the background didn't feel quite right. Nor did the type. We were down to the wire, the book had to go to print. We sent out the f&gs (folded and gathered proofs) with a placeholder cover, the one on the lower right.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirA-YKY-tK3u8taury5A4uQuLhttQUFyDVS0VLYMEKNTNiF7ktEuHkyPV0yjwaFvDakl5VENR37m_4RaiWmzakHHkfWn7qwqB96Wxza51j3ua6deITTwV0qM3WnlFTCZittOuf3G6tQyBi/s1600/Winniecoversweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirA-YKY-tK3u8taury5A4uQuLhttQUFyDVS0VLYMEKNTNiF7ktEuHkyPV0yjwaFvDakl5VENR37m_4RaiWmzakHHkfWn7qwqB96Wxza51j3ua6deITTwV0qM3WnlFTCZittOuf3G6tQyBi/s400/Winniecoversweb.jpg" width="265" /></a></div>
We took a collective deep breath, and went back to the drawing board. And then Saho Fuji, the art director, came up with the yellow diamonds in a flash of inspiration.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYNpPKpNuP2p-aSsDgtA8i-tC_gE81czecglqk8GB63yLROfwkWfyKfXyxqRzoOyKC23aK5EsqbGDgSlKfNalnu_XHX1D0KjuHAfcb2PEQx-GTkPBfjPhrWeHNbdnm6ekLWwY2raxg5Hk/s1600/FindingWinnieCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="312" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieYNpPKpNuP2p-aSsDgtA8i-tC_gE81czecglqk8GB63yLROfwkWfyKfXyxqRzoOyKC23aK5EsqbGDgSlKfNalnu_XHX1D0KjuHAfcb2PEQx-GTkPBfjPhrWeHNbdnm6ekLWwY2raxg5Hk/s320/FindingWinnieCover.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Partly inspired by Cole's bedspread...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGONVx1gULWW4nLSM2OZRvp9B1tjZFBGTgLbf4oOeDfX_3fvA8HzRCd86uHgk6hZ8zyJoynYcmM4S-vhqb0URT7Cgj3FO15uVS-oWYOd7M27a-3DNYDBPrhDM6dNOvnaB0IWcxhS5T-Tsf/s1600/FindingWinnieTellmeStoryweb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGONVx1gULWW4nLSM2OZRvp9B1tjZFBGTgLbf4oOeDfX_3fvA8HzRCd86uHgk6hZ8zyJoynYcmM4S-vhqb0URT7Cgj3FO15uVS-oWYOd7M27a-3DNYDBPrhDM6dNOvnaB0IWcxhS5T-Tsf/s400/FindingWinnieTellmeStoryweb.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
Partly by this old edition of Winnie the Pooh...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7HRAWSC1m0Kjr4t7i0iWVhPit1GnpFz8GQ5bhXlcaXXiCh4Jc4BVlZ9vsvSD9KMEueaOoOo2B_gA1gw4qO7LF7F9FdmgFK5rNXJuN_Ag7lN3PCWaXTRRjREy-LmFIE7OzGF5kpvOAUT4O/s1600/WtPcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7HRAWSC1m0Kjr4t7i0iWVhPit1GnpFz8GQ5bhXlcaXXiCh4Jc4BVlZ9vsvSD9KMEueaOoOo2B_gA1gw4qO7LF7F9FdmgFK5rNXJuN_Ag7lN3PCWaXTRRjREy-LmFIE7OzGF5kpvOAUT4O/s320/WtPcover.jpg" width="239" /></a></div>
And possibly, from deep in our collective memory, this WW1 poster I found in the very early research stages.<br />
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We always knew we wanted to show Harry and Winnie on the front and Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh on the back.<br />
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One of my favorite parts of the book is the case cover, the surprise under the jacket.<br />
When I saw this photo of WW1 soldiers...<br />
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It rang a bell!<br />
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And so, my tribute to E.H. Shepard.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-12475323461442521212015-10-23T14:10:00.000-04:002015-10-28T07:53:54.631-04:00Depicting Slavery in A Fine Dessert<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It has come to my attention that some readers of <i>A Fine Dessert</i> have found the depiction of slavery troubling.<br />
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Every reader is entitled to their response and I don't expect to say anything which will change those concerns. I would, however, like to explain the choices I made so that a newcomer to the book might not be deterred from reading it and so that they may come to their own conclusion.<br />
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Here are some of the objections I read in the comments section of the <a href="http://www.hbook.com/2015/09/blogs/calling-caldecott/a-fine-dessert/#comments" target="_blank">Horn Book blog, Calling Caldecott.</a><br />
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"Based on the illustrations, there are too many implications that should make us as adults squirm about what we might be telling children about slavery:<br />
1) That slave families were intact and allowed to stay together.<br />
2) Based on the smiling faces of the young girl…that being enslaved is fun and or pleasurable.<br />
3) That to disobey as a slave was [a] fun… moment of whimsy rather than a dangerous act that could provoke severe and painful physical punishment"<br />
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1) At the risk of sounding exactly as the writer of one comment predicted, ("But we included something hard! But I researched slavery!”), evidence shows that many mothers were able to keep their children nearby, usually because it suited the plantation owners to increase their workforce. Historian Michael Tadman estimated that one third of enslaved children in the Southern States experienced family separation, which suggests that two thirds did not. Jennifer Hallam writes, in <i>Slavery and the Making of America</i>, “The bond between an enslaved mother and daughter was the least likely to be disturbed through sale.” This does not imply that those relationships were not constantly under threat. But it seemed reasonable that we might show a mother and daughter working together. I believe the author, Emily Jenkins came to the same conclusion. There is no father to be seen.<br />
By showing an enslaved mother and daughter together, it is certainly a more positive portrayal of slavery than showing them wrenched apart. But it is not inaccurate. And the book is about different <i>families</i> making blackberry fool over four centuries.<br />
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2) I thought long and hard about these smiles. <br />
In the first scene, the mother and girl are picking blackberries. I imagined this as a rare moment where they were engaged in a task together, out of doors, away from the house and supervision, where the mother is talking to her child. It is a tender moment, but the mother is not smiling. The girl has a gentle smile. She is, in this moment, not unhappy. I believe oppressed people throughout history have found solace and even joy in small moments.<br />
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The second smile comes as the girl completes her task of whipping the cream. It’s hard work, which we see in the middle frame, and the smile was intended to convey pride in completing the task. She looks up to someone, presumably her mother, as if to say, “I did it!”<br />
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In the next spread, the girl smiles timidly as she enjoys licking the spoon, but looks fearful as she descends the basement stairs.<br />
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The dinner table scene is set up to show the deep injustice of the situation. The people who worked so hard over the dessert don’t get to eat it. A very small enslaved child pulls a cord to fan the white family throughout the duration of the dinner. The enslaved mother and daughter are somber and downcast. This scene seems to really strike a chord with young readers.<br />
I have shown isolated moments of their day which may appear pleasurable, but I don’t think I have made slavery out to seem pleasurable or fun. As another commenter wrote, “Why shouldn’t a child and her mother, no matter where they are in the world or what their circumstances, share love and a smile in the course of their day? No matter how trying, inhumane or unacceptable the circumstances. Love is the most triumphant of emotions, bringing us through unspeakable trials and ordeals.”<br />
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3) The act of having to hide in the cupboard to lick the scrapings from the bowl is the thing children have responded to most viscerally. They are horrified at how unfair it is. There is nothing whimsical about hiding in the cupboard. It conveys a complete lack of freedom.<br />
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Emily Jenkins says in her author’s note: “This story includes characters who are slaves, even though there is by no means space to explore the topic of slavery fully. I wanted to represent American life in 1810 without ignoring that part of our history. I wrote about people finding joy in craftsmanship and dessert even within lives of great hardship and injustice – because finding that joy shows something powerful about the human spirit. Slavery is a difficult truth. At the end of the book, children can see a hopeful, inclusive community.” I would add that this is a book for young children. It introduces issues of slavery in the context of a wider history. It is not intended to be the only story children will read. It does not fully depict the horrors of slavery, but I don't think such a depiction would be appropriate for this particular age group.<br />
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The way we look at pictures is incredibly complicated. I cannot ensure my images will be read the way I intended, I can only approach each illustration with as much research, thoughtfulness, empathy and imagination as I can muster. <br />
Reading the negative comments, I wonder whether the only way to avoid offense would have been to leave slavery out altogether, but sharing this book in school visits has been an extraordinary experience and the positive responses from teachers and librarians and parents have been overwhelming. I learn from every book I make, and from discussions like these. I hope <i>A Fine Dessert</i> continues to engage readers and encourage rewarding, thought provoking discussions between children and their grown ups.<br />
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This blog has been edited to add the following:<br />
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It seems that very few people commenting on the issue of slavery in <i>A Fine Dessert</i> have read the actual book. The section which takes place in 1810 is part of a whole, which explores the history of women in the kitchen and the development of food technology amongst other things. <i>A Fine Dessert </i>culminates in 2010 with the scene of a joyous, diverse, inclusive community feast. I urge you to read the whole book. Thank you.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com48tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-48385147641508957622015-09-23T15:44:00.002-04:002015-09-23T15:44:54.925-04:00And the Winners are...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Congratulations to the following schools, which will each receive a set of ten picture books!<br />
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AB Combs Elementary, Raleigh NC<br />Arcadia Local Schools, Arcadia OH<br />Aurora School, Oakland CA<br />Chamberlin School South, Burlington VT<br />Community Academy of Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA<br />Eagle Cliffs Elementary, Billings MT<br />East street Elementary School, Ludlow MA<br />Emiliano Zapata Academy, Chicago IL<br />Fred A. Toomer Elementary, Atlanta GA<br />George C. Weimer Elementary, Saint Bans, WV<br />Mackintosh Academy, Boulder, CO<br />Mt. Kisco Elementary School, Mt. Kisco, NY<br />Prince Edward County Elementary School, Farmville VA<br />P.S. 63, New York City NY<br />Scroggins Elementary School, Houston TX<br />Stephens Elementary, School, Rowlett TX<br />Walker Upper Elementary School, Charlottesville VA<br />West Birdville Elementary School, Fort Worth TX<br />West Mound Elementary School, Columbus OH<br />West Middle School, Grand Blanc, MI </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Thank you</span> to all who bid, all who entered, all who tweeted and reposted and lent their support to this endeavor. In particular, Susannah Richards, John Schu, Donalyn Miller, Schwartz & Wade, Greenlight Bookstore, Emily Jenkins, my studio mates, John Bemelmans Marciano, Brian Floca, Edward Hemingway and Sergio Ruzzier, and Galatea, who made an excellent hatstand.</div>
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Winning librarians, we will work to gather your books and ship them out in the next two weeks.</div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-14127191613151146142015-09-12T18:04:00.000-04:002015-09-15T15:13:49.837-04:00This Drawing Could Be Yours to Keep!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: large;">Help me turn this drawing into picture books for schools!</span></div>
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A few weeks ago I visited the <a href="http://www.carlemuseum.org/" target="_blank">Eric Carle Museum</a> at story time. I read <i>A Fine Dessert</i> and did a painting demonstration, (which was pretty much an ode to frisket, the masking film which allows you to leave areas white when you do a watercolor wash.) Afterwards, signing books, a librarian leaned in close and sighing, said, “I adore this book. I wish I could buy it for my school, but we have no budget for new books this year.”<br />
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Sadly this was a refrain I heard all Summer. (And yes, it occurred to me that they might be trying to find a polite excuse to avoid buying my books, but it was a general concern!) Librarians in public schools across the country are lamenting budget cuts. Which is a particular shame considering this is being called <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/minhle/when-it-rains-it-pours-50_b_8026340.html" target="_blank">a golden year for picture books</a>.<br />
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I looked at the painting I made at the Carle, and thought, Maybe there’s a way of turning this drawing into a pile of new picture books. Because while there’s nothing as comforting as curling up with an old favorite, there’s something about starting a new school year with a stack of fresh ones. So here’s the plan:<br />
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I have listed the painting on eBay. The auction is live and runs until September 22nd. I am hoping it will go for a significant amount, enough to buy at least six sets of ten 2015 picture books.<br />
Which ten books, you ask? Well this was hard, because there are SO many good ones. I consulted librarians and educators I trust and admire, (special thank you to Susannah Richards!) and was inspired by Donalyn Miller and Mr.Schu’s #pb10for10 lists. Here are ten new picture books I wish every kid had access to:<br />
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<i>Sidewalk Flowers </i>by JonArno Lawson, illus. by Sydney Smith<br />
<i>Wolfie</i> by Ame Dyckman, illus. by Zachariah OHora<br />
<i>Yard Sale</i> by Eve Bunting, illus. by Lauren Castillo<br />
<i>Rude Cakes</i> by Rowboat Watkins<br />
<i>Swan</i> by Laurel Snyder, illus. by Julie Morstad<br />
<i>A Fine Dessert</i> by Emily Jenkins, illus. by Sophie Blackall<br />
<i>Toys Meet Snow</i> by Emily Jenkins, ills. by Paul O Zelinsky <br />
<i>Last Stop on Market Street</i> by Matt de la Peña, illus. by Christian Robinson<br />
<i>Two Mice</i> by Sergio Ruzzier<br />
<i>Float </i>by Daniel Miyares<br />
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I have reached out to my local independent bookstore <a href="http://www.greenlightbookstore.com/" target="_blank">Greenlight</a>, who have generously agreed to ship the books to the schools.<br />
So now I just need <br />
<span style="font-size: large;">a) People to bid on the drawing. <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/-/271984580360?" target="_blank">Click here!</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">b) Librarians and teachers to enter the draw. </span>(Which you can do by leaving your name and the name and location of your school in the comments below. Only US schools, I’m afraid.)<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">c) You to help spread the word!</span><br />
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It’s a small idea, but if it works, it’ll make me happy. (And if it does work, maybe I can do this regularly!)<br />
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Thank you so much for your help!</div>
sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-19622123850419972012015-09-04T17:39:00.000-04:002015-09-04T17:39:37.524-04:00Finding Winnie - Part One<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
When I was a college student we were always being asked to show our process. We were encouraged to submit our doodles and sketch books and research which contributed towards our final grade. Problem was, I didn't doodle. I never kept a sketch book. I hated spending time gathering reference materials. I just wanted to <i>get on with it</i>. I was rather gung ho back then. So, the night before an assignment was due, I would scramble to retroactively produce convincing notes and scribbles and thumbnails. I'm a better person now. I floss more often than just before a dental visit. I pay estimated tax <i>most </i>quarters. I keep a sketchbook and I do lots and lots of research.<br />
I have had a such a lovely response from teachers and librarians about the <a href="http://sophieblackall.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-fine-dessert-part-2.html" target="_blank">blog posts describing the making of the illustrations for <i>A Fine Dessert</i></a>, (THANK YOU!) that I've decided to do the same thing with my new book <a href="http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2015/05/09/review-of-the-day-finding-winnie-by-lindsay-mattick/" target="_blank"><i>Finding Winnie</i></a>, which comes out on October 20th. Seeing as the book is finished, printed, bound and sitting right now in boxes in a warehouse, these posts will show the process retroactively. But I swear it's all real!<br />
<i>Finding Winnie</i> is the true story of the real bear that inspired Winnie the Pooh. It's written by Lindsay Mattick and published by Little, Brown and I can't wait to tell you about it. Stay tuned!<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-64796809408174576712015-04-20T18:54:00.000-04:002015-04-20T18:57:45.331-04:00A Fine Dessert - Part 8 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>A Fine Dessert </i>is out in the world and I've been so happy to hear about families making blackberry fool together and about teachers constructing exciting lessons – which end with dessert. I've had great fun helping kids whip cream with a whole variety of vintage whisks and Skyping with a class in Texas who had rented a museum-in-a-truck with period kitchen gadgets and clothing so they could immerse themselves in each of the centuries. There are some wonderfully inspired teachers and librarians out there. <a href="http://classroombookshelf.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-fine-dessert-four-centuries-four.html" target="_blank">Case in point.</a><br />
And if you've followed my posts about researching and illustrating this book, you know I went to some lengths to <i>get it right.</i> So you will imagine how I've been feeling a tad crestfallen ever since reading this really lovely, thoughtful <a href="http://yucareelibrary2.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-fine-dessert-by-emily-jenkins.html" target="_blank">blogpost</a>, which gently points out the following:<br />
"If I had to be absolutely nit-picky, the one qualm I have is at the end,
when the modern family in San Diego is enjoying the dessert outside.
One of the kids is chasing a firefly and, if I'm not mistaken, fireflies
are very rare west of Kansas (and those that do make Southern
California its habitat aren't luminescent as adults). But that's
hardly enough distraction to take away from the book."<br />
NO FIREFLIES IN CALIFORNIA! <br />
As I said to Yucaree, the author of the blog, in the last spread of the book where the dessert is shared by family, friends and
neighbors, I wanted to emphasize and celebrate all the subtle social
shifts which have occurred throughout the centuries. I wanted to bring the feast outside under the stars, and to have
diverse friends surrounding the table. And I wanted to hark back to the slave boy in 1810 whose role it was to fan the diners, by showing a
corresponding boy in 2010 – happy and free in the moment, being a child. And
coming from Australia, where we don't have fireflies, I find them
so magical and delightful and it seemed like just the thing.<br />
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It didn't occur to me that they don't exist in California.<br />
Hanging my head in shame, I confessed this to my ever supportive studio mates. At 3:30pm every second Monday, we share anachronisms and anomalies, typos and tears. Not really, but we may as well. Enter my hero, <a href="http://www.ruzzier.com/" target="_blank">Sergio Ruzzier</a>!<br />
A little internet sleuthing and Sergio has come up with evidence of at least one firefly spotted in California in May in 2010.And there's video footage on youtube of fireflies in CA. Rare but not impossible.<br />
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Phew.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-32245741611806773982015-03-11T18:26:00.000-04:002015-03-11T18:26:47.780-04:00Censorship and The Baby Tree<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It has come to my attention that some elementary school libraries have removed their copies of <i>The Baby Tree</i> from shelves out of concern that the information about where babies come from is inappropriate for children to read on their own.<br />
I believe that if a child is old enough to read <i>The Baby Tree</i> on his or her own, and curious enough to continue to read beyond the end of the story to the back matter – which contains answers to further questions about where babies come from – then that child has a right to the information. There is nothing salacious or untrue in the book, and the answers to the most common questions children ask about reproduction are given in a simple and straightforward way.<br />As the author Ellis W. Whiting wrote in the introduction to his 1933 book, <i>The Story of Life</i> (designed to be read to children of four or five and for older children to read themselves), “It is important that the first picture of sex knowledge which passes through the ‘lens’ into the child mind is a correct one” and if the correct information is not available, that picture will be readily supplied from another source, “the half-informed, misled playmate.”<br />The story of <i>The Baby Tree</i> is essentially a child’s quest for information. I believe children who are eager to read about their world should be rewarded with honest, thoughtful books.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-34103827945694842282014-10-29T11:48:00.000-04:002014-10-29T11:50:06.736-04:00Reading in Rwanda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I am proud to share some of the work we did in Rwanda in the beginning of the year. These illustrations form a guide for teachers who are introducing picture books to their students for the very first time. The guide explains things those of us who grew up with books take for granted, like how to engage children by asking them questions about the story, how to look at illustrations alongside text, and literally how to turn the pages and hold the books facing the class, so kids can see the pictures.<br />
The Rwandan Children's Book Initiative, a project of Save the Children, provides locally made wooden cupboards stocked with books and colorful mats for children to sit on. The initiative supports local writers, illustrators and publishers to produce quality books in English and Kinyarwanda, the native language. It's a wonderful thing.<br />
Here are some of the illustrations. The whole guide can be downloaded as a PDF <a href="http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sites/default/files/images/Enjoying_Books_Together_English.pdf" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-21140683909643791172014-07-02T16:30:00.000-04:002014-07-02T16:30:57.599-04:00My Father and James Lee Byars<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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There is an exhibition on view right now at <a href="http://momaps1.org/exhibitions/view/385" target="_blank">MoMA PS1, James Lee Byars: 1/2 an Autobiography</a>.<br />
My father, Simon Blackall knew Byars when they both lived in Kyoto in the mid 1960s. He photographed some of Byars's conceptual, ephemeral, performance pieces for posterity; photographs which are now part of MoMA's collection. My father and step-mother are briefly in New York so we made a field trip to PS1 which was quite wonderful.<br />
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Simon wrote about this very piece on our <a href="http://drawnfrommyfathersadventures.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>, where I am slowly illustrating his adventures.<br />
You can read the whole story <a href="http://drawnfrommyfathersadventures.blogspot.com/2012/04/james-lee-byars-at-shokokuji.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-90383159881009826152014-06-24T13:53:00.000-04:002014-06-24T13:53:35.319-04:00A Baby Tree Grows at Books of Wonder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is what I was doing yesterday and for about three days before that, and when I say, "I", I mean pretty much my entire family, who I roped in one way or another to help make and install a Baby Tree in the window at <a href="http://www.booksofwonder.com/" target="_blank">Books of Wonder</a>.<br />
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While I was putting finishing touches to the tree, my patient and tireless step-mother Diane painted gorgeous leaves.<br />
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My daughter Olive painted flower calyces and darted nimbly in and out of the window, and the chaps offered moral support.<br />
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Diane is not giving me the familiar Australian gesture here, but rather asking how many holes to punch to hang the cloud.<br />
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And that is a gluestick, not a cigarette.<br />
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The window will be on display for two weeks or so. I would love it if people visiting the store deposited their babies in the window while they shopped, but that probably won't be happening.</div>
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If you are an independent bookseller reading this, and are interested in a Baby Tree or Sapling or Stalk for your window, this is not an impossibility.</div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-21178922420564451332014-06-19T18:36:00.000-04:002014-06-19T18:36:58.907-04:00Author Illustrator Blog Tour... excuses, excuses<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Dear Internet,<br />
I know I promised you (and <a href="http://carinberger.blogspot.com/2014/06/a-u-t-h-o-r-b-l-o-g-t-o-u-r.html" target="_blank">Carin Berger</a>) I would post answers to five questions on a Virtual Author Illustrator Blog Tour on this blog by Monday, but as you can see, I didn't.<br />
Instead I cut out a lot of pieces of frisket.<br />
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And I did very neat cardboard recycling.<br />
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I picked these flowers in a meadow and sent them in a virtual sort of way to my mother who is having surgery in Australia.<br />
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I fell in love with this postcard of Stonehenge; the marks on the grass reminded me of the marks on a sperm whale.<br />
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And while I was thinking about sperm whales I found this picture of a model of Moby Dick which was apparently at the London Zoo in 1955.<br />
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While I was thinking of Moby Dick (I'm pretty much always thinking of Moby Dick), I did a painting of Ahab and the Whale for the <a href="https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/amandabullock/moby-dick-marathon-nyc" target="_blank">Housing Works Moby Dick Marathon NYC fundraiser</a>, which could be yours by simply clicking the link and forking out $200.<br />
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The rest of the time I was hard at work finishing one book, (<i>A Fine Dessert</i>, written by Emily Jenkins) well nearly finishing (if I'd finished, I'd have been able to answer the blog questions), <br />
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and drawing and researching and drawing and researching for another one,
(<i>Finding Winnie</i>, written by Lindsay Mattick) both of which are consuming my hours and filling my head with
beautiful, complicated, puzzling, thrilling details.<br />
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And visiting the folk at <a href="http://unionsquarecafe.com/" target="_blank">Union Square Cafe</a>, who are celebrating 30 years as a farm-to-table institution and who have asked four illustrators to mark this important occasion with postcards, one for each season. Those four are Milton Glaser, Maira Kalman, me and Roz Chast. I'm completely in awe of all of them. (You can pick up the postcards at the restaurant!)<br />
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And because I'm some sort of idiot I suggested making an enormous <i>Baby Tree</i> to install in the window at <a href="http://www.booksofwonder.com/" target="_blank">Books of Wonder</a> next week, so I have giant half painted babies at my feet right now.<br />
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So I'm very sorry I didn't answer any of the following <i>blogtour questions</i>,<br />
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(<i>1.what am i currently working on?<br /><br />2. how does my work differ from others of its genre?<br /><br />3. why do i write what i write?<br /><br />4. how does my individual writing/illustrating process work?<br /><br />5. who are the two author/illustrators that you are passing the interview to?</i>)<br />
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and I didn't necessarily mean to make this a girls' club, but I have handed the baton to the wonderful <a href="http://www.dashatolstikova.com/" target="_blank">Dasha Tolkstikova</a> and <a href="http://www.laurencastillo.com/" target="_blank">Lauren Castillo</a>, both of whom have really beautiful new books out now or nearly!<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-52654480708979264092014-05-02T09:51:00.001-04:002014-05-02T09:53:54.196-04:00The Baby Tree Winners!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Here are the names which were pulled just now from the paper bag. If you see the baby name you entered, send an email (with Baby Tree as the subject line) to sophie@sophieblackall.com with your mailing address, the name you want inscribed on your baby print, and which number baby you would like. I realize there were a few Mayas, but you're all winners!<br />
Thank you everyone for entering and for the all kind words about the book.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-53343723804870956462014-05-01T09:45:00.000-04:002014-05-01T09:50:43.507-04:00The Baby Tree<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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My new book, <i>The Baby Tree (</i>in which a small boy finds out where babies come from) goes
out into the world today, May 1st. To celebrate, I am giving away ten prizes!
Each winner will receive a packet of Baby Tree Seeds (see packet for planting directions) and a 5x7" signed,
archival print of one of the 8 individual babies seen below. (The
numbers won't appear on the actual print.) Unlike in real life, you will
be able to choose your baby.<br />
Leave a comment with a baby's name to enter. Winners will be drawn randomly at sunset, and announced tomorrow.<br />
<a href="http://www.indiebound.org/book/9780399257186" target="_blank">Oh and you can buy the book now too! </a><br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-14812498987852011342014-03-31T10:48:00.000-04:002014-03-31T10:49:22.559-04:00A Bologna Painting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Eighty percent of our studio went to Bologna last week for the international <a href="http://www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it/en/home/878.html" target="_blank">Children's Book Fair</a>. Sergio Ruzzier's work was selected for the <a href="http://www.bookfair.bolognafiere.it/en/illustrators-exhibition/2014-selected-illustrators-pictures/2517.html" target="_blank">Illustrators' Exhibition</a>, and I had several pieces from <i>The Mighty Lalouche</i> in an exhibition of Sports in Children's Book at the <a href="http://www.bolognachildrensbookfair.com/en/media/photogallery/march-25th-2014-museo-civico-archeologico/2722.html" target="_blank">Museo Civico Archeologico</a>. I have been meaning to go for years; when publishing people talk about Bologna they go all misty-eyed... mostly, I think, remembering the food.</div>
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It was a heady few days. 1200 exhibitors from 75 countries showcased thousands and thousands of children's books; enough to make your head explode. Tiny books and enormous books; paper mechanics and production qualities to make you weep. The sheer volume made me feel simultaneously inspired and exhausted. But mostly inspired.</div>
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And then there was the city itself: pyramids of purple artichokes and clusters of mediaeval churches, trailing wisteria and parading graduates wearing laurel wreaths, waving bottles of prosecco and their dissertations. Yesterday, before getting back to real work, I made a rainy, jetlaggy Bologna painting.</div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-59721432533611508802014-03-04T10:36:00.000-05:002014-03-04T10:36:20.906-05:00Kids. Hats.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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On my walk to the studio each morning I pass two middle, five elementary and three pre-schools, and cross paths with about a hundred kids. On a day like today, which is aspiring to reach 25 degrees, most of those kids are wearing hats. And of those hats, an astounding number have eyes, ears, horns, fur, beaks and teeth. I passed these three along Third Street. One was talking a mile a minute, one was conspicuously dragging heels, and one was standing stock still, despite the best efforts of a cajoling parent.</div>
sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-4861075812232505132014-02-25T10:55:00.000-05:002014-02-25T11:19:12.700-05:00Visiting schools in Rwanda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I am back home in Brooklyn, after my brief but intense time in Rwanda, Land of a Thousand Hills. It has taken a bit of time to digest all that I saw there, not to mention the home-brewed banana beer which had, shall we say, a lasting effect.<br />
To back track: I was visiting Rwanda as a guest of <a href="http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Save the Children, UK</b></a>, to learn about their International Children's Book Initiative, and to produce some illustrations for them on my return. The Rwandan Children's Book Initiative is introducing books into schools where few, if any exist. They have designed sweet little wooden cupboards to hold the classroom library, and will provide mats for children to sit on while they read. They are encouraging local writers and artists and publishers to create books, and are holding workshops to help them get started. <br />
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I grew up surrounded by books. Every spare moment of my childhood was spent up a tree, reading. My father is a publisher, and I too have chosen a career making books. It's impossible to imagine my life without them. And therefore thrilling to be involved in this project which allows children to hold their first book and open the pages to new world.<br />
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My first few days were spent in Burera, up near the Ugandan border, visiting schools.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: small;">This school was at the foot of a volcano, home to Dian Fossey's gorillas in the mist.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjdF_ISViyXVxuMM1FUIvZmFD05Zvl3uSk_DivTom2Z9hyphenhyphenfTX4jlk7Mxal7DIn-WGRyO-g0nWwBDEAN3R2S9S9vWJWyIygiP1f1dR33BRJJWWvdKKTqIWN-za6JXnRsU3IrHA3FNtQpN_/s1600/DSC_0745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHjdF_ISViyXVxuMM1FUIvZmFD05Zvl3uSk_DivTom2Z9hyphenhyphenfTX4jlk7Mxal7DIn-WGRyO-g0nWwBDEAN3R2S9S9vWJWyIygiP1f1dR33BRJJWWvdKKTqIWN-za6JXnRsU3IrHA3FNtQpN_/s1600/DSC_0745.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is a typical classroom...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWbW9Pke0J_dJS33dTkJaTVqGpkPAUl-dmxgFsRa7uP7ZPJz7mk-X4Thrys-wrK5x9CmTM0TmfXiaT-1U4ZuZiYEzEi_VKKwt7-_-TyE5xxU2jpr6f2_2NQ44nmCZm2xwqpAh-16LeiePJ/s1600/DSC_0005.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWbW9Pke0J_dJS33dTkJaTVqGpkPAUl-dmxgFsRa7uP7ZPJz7mk-X4Thrys-wrK5x9CmTM0TmfXiaT-1U4ZuZiYEzEi_VKKwt7-_-TyE5xxU2jpr6f2_2NQ44nmCZm2xwqpAh-16LeiePJ/s1600/DSC_0005.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">...which can get pretty crowded when everyone is present.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUYR7yUNxKyGkMxvW_bje7eE6T67HcZzO2YxKchPXZoItV-AFws7pWKiBDwR3Ak4eRKVGYQzvEWzgwWnan8RakpeQBXBBAz_Oi1E-7hd2g_ZULYl5G243ywJRclJJ12VYrhVtQZjVKTDs1/s1600/IMG_8791.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUYR7yUNxKyGkMxvW_bje7eE6T67HcZzO2YxKchPXZoItV-AFws7pWKiBDwR3Ak4eRKVGYQzvEWzgwWnan8RakpeQBXBBAz_Oi1E-7hd2g_ZULYl5G243ywJRclJJ12VYrhVtQZjVKTDs1/s1600/IMG_8791.jpg" height="80" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Girls wear blue and boys wear beige in government schools. </span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9cJtJ5bF9lJcOpTUL_ZbJwLbRqLSas1i5ctaoksh32Y-cH1D69tWeSDrS3iqhTyapdHb_OioDva0eviLFrJvgl0ZL1w9W3yz71mV-mt04V81b8AkOiYxrskUXx1c_QaTgT2ee3TAC5fn/s1600/DSC_0391.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_9cJtJ5bF9lJcOpTUL_ZbJwLbRqLSas1i5ctaoksh32Y-cH1D69tWeSDrS3iqhTyapdHb_OioDva0eviLFrJvgl0ZL1w9W3yz71mV-mt04V81b8AkOiYxrskUXx1c_QaTgT2ee3TAC5fn/s1600/DSC_0391.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">And they have uniformly cropped hair.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9avCe7oF9RU3NzikrxRMzr5IhuKqc7diQNcwEpJ6TkI9FDUTVSAl3RyehCsGEt-nEUcOx4XqkcNS451UM7w_yiXweJF3Ajx15hhwSwiUAFXzMBLo7Ao6QEHRxBC5U5ngriqaq4qNKQx0V/s1600/DSC_0409.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9avCe7oF9RU3NzikrxRMzr5IhuKqc7diQNcwEpJ6TkI9FDUTVSAl3RyehCsGEt-nEUcOx4XqkcNS451UM7w_yiXweJF3Ajx15hhwSwiUAFXzMBLo7Ao6QEHRxBC5U5ngriqaq4qNKQx0V/s1600/DSC_0409.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is one of the stocked book cupboards provided by Save the Children</span>.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCliFkfVYJPXpJwavJercEuJbIg8iyBpxN0AL9WUKCmNJWnXGhaK0BWRJg9RyeCMnKUmDSwi2zVop4NLejHRc0FQxClT3ZLf-hlox1IYgBO1ZoiSf1ukLlPfMyK7-2G2Xq8qVaPgFspIG7/s1600/DSC_0459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCliFkfVYJPXpJwavJercEuJbIg8iyBpxN0AL9WUKCmNJWnXGhaK0BWRJg9RyeCMnKUmDSwi2zVop4NLejHRc0FQxClT3ZLf-hlox1IYgBO1ZoiSf1ukLlPfMyK7-2G2Xq8qVaPgFspIG7/s1600/DSC_0459.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Teachers...</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBq9uw9hA57mus4wUlNXMNmPz7s_tBbK7e-QY0upqp50wXoNME-c_nku7S97N5e-D1UIhTPBETk-UFRQ8cerJ1TxCyqImQzCHq9VTGhEyAsckbDl2ikGUjHXByvUjp-6jIaOh3Jm3ELRD/s1600/DSC_0876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEBq9uw9hA57mus4wUlNXMNmPz7s_tBbK7e-QY0upqp50wXoNME-c_nku7S97N5e-D1UIhTPBETk-UFRQ8cerJ1TxCyqImQzCHq9VTGhEyAsckbDl2ikGUjHXByvUjp-6jIaOh3Jm3ELRD/s1600/DSC_0876.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">and children...</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2W9rnvj9phdfd8VB5MehTTAe39tgNHzlI3p__QDM99M6deeKz0-r8Ynfg9cGy5z8j7UrNT03v2J8NTWmUWycBcr7hiki6XUHjE9pIO6Um1OtirFaLgu7DT7nhDoc3dpHseFOQcZfEUiQ/s1600/DSC_0014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis2W9rnvj9phdfd8VB5MehTTAe39tgNHzlI3p__QDM99M6deeKz0-r8Ynfg9cGy5z8j7UrNT03v2J8NTWmUWycBcr7hiki6XUHjE9pIO6Um1OtirFaLgu7DT7nhDoc3dpHseFOQcZfEUiQ/s1600/DSC_0014.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">have embraced them enthusiastically.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I took a stack of books to share, books with lots of
pictures and few words, and universal-ish themes. (Thank you for your
suggestions!) </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzEXHw8zZ2zYf1pJaHvGCGJziT9yRkUltgchSEEam-ljUncdjvLeDLPStmxK6-p622sLIodpeXq_kyxEoVK-l9sfHlaY41hyphenhyphenEuBtT6ysRa7RQ1bQh4-vpFPlYKikWc0i51XPIJMMydlOPn/s1600/DSC_0735.jpg"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzEXHw8zZ2zYf1pJaHvGCGJziT9yRkUltgchSEEam-ljUncdjvLeDLPStmxK6-p622sLIodpeXq_kyxEoVK-l9sfHlaY41hyphenhyphenEuBtT6ysRa7RQ1bQh4-vpFPlYKikWc0i51XPIJMMydlOPn/s1600/DSC_0735.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Here I am reading Sergio Ruzzier's <i>Bear and Bee</i>. </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPP7yUaS61CP_I-Wf_A0Uyi826T-yINV01YF0LwKJ0nKaFmacmx5xtuvYlzIzwVeOxzKW0ZkprmjR7cJZScshD55KqFFbkkCUA_76XT0PFk27rGmJMgiK2fcU3ruTHcsqjwVqCBfyhcSG2/s1600/IMG_8647.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPP7yUaS61CP_I-Wf_A0Uyi826T-yINV01YF0LwKJ0nKaFmacmx5xtuvYlzIzwVeOxzKW0ZkprmjR7cJZScshD55KqFFbkkCUA_76XT0PFk27rGmJMgiK2fcU3ruTHcsqjwVqCBfyhcSG2/s1600/IMG_8647.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Teachers had left lovely ghosty drawings on blackboards.</span></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">But paper was scarce and pens and pencils even scarcer. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I had packed accordingly: few clothes, lots and lots of art supplies.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I was itching to draw with the kids.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And so we did.</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6cohoHIngn8zyqzEPmeur8gPZj7CQ2tWnnAN_48FXIB6xU3mJT8OpeOWzaaPSZb0pmqGsz-9TSgOJoPoThBfwKS2Uufnj4izoOc9Ed8-SP_vyMrs50zG-ZphdElXxjOa8Fkcep_qv-W5/s1600/IMG_8750.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6cohoHIngn8zyqzEPmeur8gPZj7CQ2tWnnAN_48FXIB6xU3mJT8OpeOWzaaPSZb0pmqGsz-9TSgOJoPoThBfwKS2Uufnj4izoOc9Ed8-SP_vyMrs50zG-ZphdElXxjOa8Fkcep_qv-W5/s1600/IMG_8750.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Class sizes were huge, often 60 or more kids and there was not a whole lot of room to spread out, or surfaces on which to draw, but we didn't care.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhac5ghMujHB-kJvzH2IW5-BAiipvuWD5l-ixy3eMKbU2gbXK_MxPCooPrdjJ-w5w3CoPNrvyRZ6Ox4aO2_83M6dDuZs_62H33h_o8VgMhaQPqAqViohvRM753zs5bdFV-0nka_OFgRDXH5/s1600/DSC_0049.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhac5ghMujHB-kJvzH2IW5-BAiipvuWD5l-ixy3eMKbU2gbXK_MxPCooPrdjJ-w5w3CoPNrvyRZ6Ox4aO2_83M6dDuZs_62H33h_o8VgMhaQPqAqViohvRM753zs5bdFV-0nka_OFgRDXH5/s1600/DSC_0049.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">These guys at desks, I set up with a letter or number to illustrate.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0abj65rLGYe7J4y_tivETjeUdip8jZx89hGpP7X_yJo72VgOMqUjXWiNuT8Kpe2wgAju_ei2FQgFt5IpcbEPol0gcEXt7b_2vxqwd1KSnCFTRyTFUxPaH0Ex7h3nxJXUxOVPqMPGC5RY/s1600/DSC_0072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH0abj65rLGYe7J4y_tivETjeUdip8jZx89hGpP7X_yJo72VgOMqUjXWiNuT8Kpe2wgAju_ei2FQgFt5IpcbEPol0gcEXt7b_2vxqwd1KSnCFTRyTFUxPaH0Ex7h3nxJXUxOVPqMPGC5RY/s1600/DSC_0072.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We found some wall space for this bunch.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnatx85fTGKSRLGQM40an4agpceHZ570iQzufjMS6yzPOeoqvmdUGxSC7-DKwyRRxnTUteHw3fV9xNa9vtCzp2kwevnndLGIPk-v5OiqxJCcVz0tfkNIrfiMnpjEFE2QWo5kiyyUhmSWHK/s1600/DSC_0035.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnatx85fTGKSRLGQM40an4agpceHZ570iQzufjMS6yzPOeoqvmdUGxSC7-DKwyRRxnTUteHw3fV9xNa9vtCzp2kwevnndLGIPk-v5OiqxJCcVz0tfkNIrfiMnpjEFE2QWo5kiyyUhmSWHK/s1600/DSC_0035.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">These girls and boys took to the floor...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_hcdCfleSYSdMo_kW5qdOGzPHQgZODzDkdjZPB3DUs927CwqT2-ySaarDgJ50iuHjL8eZTdRTt5xSzKkj7awopWjCWvshIcAV2az0QgteTKFBoTv_t4fbI4hPaVuD3W08LTTgEV3qDRRK/s1600/DSC_0084.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_hcdCfleSYSdMo_kW5qdOGzPHQgZODzDkdjZPB3DUs927CwqT2-ySaarDgJ50iuHjL8eZTdRTt5xSzKkj7awopWjCWvshIcAV2az0QgteTKFBoTv_t4fbI4hPaVuD3W08LTTgEV3qDRRK/s1600/DSC_0084.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And I moved outside with this lot.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvE-H6Z_PTcr6fJcJQtVTGDm6Ui0ICd52_dfFrKDeYOrDOJqVG-pHReeRU4t3UqISvk7sTJU9whEwIVFh1gkAeggsXg-VmJax12EA4MME4JVVvKRWElRHzYjBJqV0tOqZhX4jNQwAkAHJ/s1600/DSC_0060.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvE-H6Z_PTcr6fJcJQtVTGDm6Ui0ICd52_dfFrKDeYOrDOJqVG-pHReeRU4t3UqISvk7sTJU9whEwIVFh1gkAeggsXg-VmJax12EA4MME4JVVvKRWElRHzYjBJqV0tOqZhX4jNQwAkAHJ/s1600/DSC_0060.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> Others came to join in.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">We were concentrating so hard, we almost didn't notice the scene growing behind us...</span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygj2_Bpw_LfPQqwRH06i_wUDvPGfTmF32awDm238DhcdlF6AFdiEmOkKlZUHSkKMz0NDpI3P71tf_w9Mf1SGk4Mv52S2hsNlKDJ-cy3QOZ_6JlIMxKnkvq48tBPL4o_raK1zohbg_zUr_/s1600/DSC_0098.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhygj2_Bpw_LfPQqwRH06i_wUDvPGfTmF32awDm238DhcdlF6AFdiEmOkKlZUHSkKMz0NDpI3P71tf_w9Mf1SGk4Mv52S2hsNlKDJ-cy3QOZ_6JlIMxKnkvq48tBPL4o_raK1zohbg_zUr_/s1600/DSC_0098.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qlipYmJhYfjIDZ30Ht20IhdiVgunjktnacSyki2eukiyVJG7HQQvBpU6STpnGpm3HQaatFdAs1o8K86WiXqAQtxzssbP03NZDHY_9yU7268HQjZmpTlWag08zEWbyjG9WDjKDYsK6Lwz/s1600/DSC_0026.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3qlipYmJhYfjIDZ30Ht20IhdiVgunjktnacSyki2eukiyVJG7HQQvBpU6STpnGpm3HQaatFdAs1o8K86WiXqAQtxzssbP03NZDHY_9yU7268HQjZmpTlWag08zEWbyjG9WDjKDYsK6Lwz/s1600/DSC_0026.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfvE-H6Z_PTcr6fJcJQtVTGDm6Ui0ICd52_dfFrKDeYOrDOJqVG-pHReeRU4t3UqISvk7sTJU9whEwIVFh1gkAeggsXg-VmJax12EA4MME4JVVvKRWElRHzYjBJqV0tOqZhX4jNQwAkAHJ/s1600/DSC_0060.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-size: small;">Back inside everyone was still busy, and I realized something incredible.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">The world over...</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Whether kids have drawn for years or are holding a marker for the first time...</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNll1ZkJnZ3nr1hIDsvYYQSyNSN8qwdc2CmJHI4_iT34LVvDLZdXVuLKLkVVI5AJsjuORZpNsfMvcQHMe-i8dPZSGjY6AiZ-KhEOhIQKY5BlEIKM29bTiC-0ZKhK3TtgkBZ6q8PDWHqdBN/s1600/DSC_0030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNll1ZkJnZ3nr1hIDsvYYQSyNSN8qwdc2CmJHI4_iT34LVvDLZdXVuLKLkVVI5AJsjuORZpNsfMvcQHMe-i8dPZSGjY6AiZ-KhEOhIQKY5BlEIKM29bTiC-0ZKhK3TtgkBZ6q8PDWHqdBN/s1600/DSC_0030.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Girls will draw girls and boys will draw cars.<span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipNjcM3l24oMSPK3A5Olnx6dLq60UZgxqz6MYnIY1qa117Z2Leg1cndIqr2HtoviWqUkU9XF-XbgAMv4Tytm8WZrwFewi-yIbdr1rj8qFauxK51H5x4BBMMyH7pMjSoz36ptYRfRtJapue/s1600/DSC_0053.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipNjcM3l24oMSPK3A5Olnx6dLq60UZgxqz6MYnIY1qa117Z2Leg1cndIqr2HtoviWqUkU9XF-XbgAMv4Tytm8WZrwFewi-yIbdr1rj8qFauxK51H5x4BBMMyH7pMjSoz36ptYRfRtJapue/s1600/DSC_0053.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"> See?</span></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0KHoGtRGoPfQCk29lRebYtks-XHdiURk0gQs0LF4kin4bVLyg985bb1Q3FPwBMUQwb42EYivQxsNohmnwi9-O29TVzQEhTaVid5UgZM-nyEEhXz1xMbuXvhjIUbZtB9wby8M4DqmzjD-/s1600/DSC_0051.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb0KHoGtRGoPfQCk29lRebYtks-XHdiURk0gQs0LF4kin4bVLyg985bb1Q3FPwBMUQwb42EYivQxsNohmnwi9-O29TVzQEhTaVid5UgZM-nyEEhXz1xMbuXvhjIUbZtB9wby8M4DqmzjD-/s1600/DSC_0051.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">See?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vCyw8RsaPY8XLC-83Wm1h9QeFsogXu81SuZRgWmNU3HEcoO3KEnY9iv45nRgDzRbH4GIvvv8xyaMK8mTELR6xqn8cyox4aleBdIorpX-HzbWVCH3RkkJR2Q40lQlBGBY_jybSLwrQ4VT/s1600/DSC_0151.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9vCyw8RsaPY8XLC-83Wm1h9QeFsogXu81SuZRgWmNU3HEcoO3KEnY9iv45nRgDzRbH4GIvvv8xyaMK8mTELR6xqn8cyox4aleBdIorpX-HzbWVCH3RkkJR2Q40lQlBGBY_jybSLwrQ4VT/s1600/DSC_0151.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
They also drew animals...</div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKi4x3rhL5jrmTkhz5uazz95zoHMZ0MoOKO8kXvphu7KFeGX7AaCDF0w6ms6HLbnGCoXPTesGLytaZDIIloxjpFV-4uQuGJb4wdv3cyvl5pAEERNdrQmUnTFnT-ZHfpjIbMVdIQYk5nvU/s1600/DSC_0155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsKi4x3rhL5jrmTkhz5uazz95zoHMZ0MoOKO8kXvphu7KFeGX7AaCDF0w6ms6HLbnGCoXPTesGLytaZDIIloxjpFV-4uQuGJb4wdv3cyvl5pAEERNdrQmUnTFnT-ZHfpjIbMVdIQYk5nvU/s1600/DSC_0155.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
And houses.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskU8hm8dNlp1JtMwgQoS6OffzJARcsgEbvrJ9CQeHd3NjqwEJnyQoziz2Wupxknrin4oltqGVxgWFUwm2Ai2Qtr9BWxn09lcS08wjS77DVguqaRIVbbU1EKq5AbBLlyXHO2Hv7Sl3iLAz/s1600/DSC_0181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhskU8hm8dNlp1JtMwgQoS6OffzJARcsgEbvrJ9CQeHd3NjqwEJnyQoziz2Wupxknrin4oltqGVxgWFUwm2Ai2Qtr9BWxn09lcS08wjS77DVguqaRIVbbU1EKq5AbBLlyXHO2Hv7Sl3iLAz/s1600/DSC_0181.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XGlLIuc8GLDYZgpmpnJlbHU0-f7cc1zv10MahAi32vQrRQXSvw5UnqvVhtBrxzXFQhPbu3lf9cdRX6MSaiuGf0-Ij2yDHFUK648UFIZA9rutQfSoupqujYXYRThs_yYYQWe7qyqJ2weq/s1600/DSC_0152.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XGlLIuc8GLDYZgpmpnJlbHU0-f7cc1zv10MahAi32vQrRQXSvw5UnqvVhtBrxzXFQhPbu3lf9cdRX6MSaiuGf0-Ij2yDHFUK648UFIZA9rutQfSoupqujYXYRThs_yYYQWe7qyqJ2weq/s1600/DSC_0152.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxNiFIsBAZdVyQltM_tXFoq5EWIgRruElwi1BBtMSwx5SwU6FdhtrOE_AXGTnzxMQSYyzSjTO1jWbOtzdEnZIUMeq5jJ0aRcL7uyZi4pAsR-GY6-t8n33poaY5s8k00l5o0QZxAT6IE1Y/s1600/DSC_0189.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxNiFIsBAZdVyQltM_tXFoq5EWIgRruElwi1BBtMSwx5SwU6FdhtrOE_AXGTnzxMQSYyzSjTO1jWbOtzdEnZIUMeq5jJ0aRcL7uyZi4pAsR-GY6-t8n33poaY5s8k00l5o0QZxAT6IE1Y/s1600/DSC_0189.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And they used every inch of the paper.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJ0OGS0P3zo1-LiA8jkLTK6sCohV7H5ZStBZEMOH8j1Pn1sTJO9lf3NA1jDo_706mjNmbwd3cUdnZ7NmctZqnJlYS6Y0_rdPE6AAVsgU8Nvu49KUbV7hPmBv7tiMJ61GIgSB36v_dA1GG/s1600/DSC_0150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXJ0OGS0P3zo1-LiA8jkLTK6sCohV7H5ZStBZEMOH8j1Pn1sTJO9lf3NA1jDo_706mjNmbwd3cUdnZ7NmctZqnJlYS6Y0_rdPE6AAVsgU8Nvu49KUbV7hPmBv7tiMJ61GIgSB36v_dA1GG/s1600/DSC_0150.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Some were very proud of their work.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFK4oIHtedfuNykjhwWdZcUJcMqHH66XGsZn67Kekbb15jEW-RDT1Y5W2BBV_PcNNxQIDK1BBMMRrCjQK1RMXD7n2_XoKNeNqv21C38Yt_ssoWVWZq0nFkk2Fc63xa7N4lSwQANBJlil-C/s1600/DSC_0115.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFK4oIHtedfuNykjhwWdZcUJcMqHH66XGsZn67Kekbb15jEW-RDT1Y5W2BBV_PcNNxQIDK1BBMMRrCjQK1RMXD7n2_XoKNeNqv21C38Yt_ssoWVWZq0nFkk2Fc63xa7N4lSwQANBJlil-C/s1600/DSC_0115.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Some were a bit shy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-e4uF4atdK9vAQVsSgz_LjH0tX6cdLLb3JK2c9ijqrMkf6BboJhxrYAr6RXFcMQjpSZ6ng8bDxdSMw2_LqgtV4i1h5jYCshNJq3huGP-NmnVqAZbXWH-sNe5hFtVtiHIjrgV2Co14m2C/s1600/DSC_0141.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhj-e4uF4atdK9vAQVsSgz_LjH0tX6cdLLb3JK2c9ijqrMkf6BboJhxrYAr6RXFcMQjpSZ6ng8bDxdSMw2_LqgtV4i1h5jYCshNJq3huGP-NmnVqAZbXWH-sNe5hFtVtiHIjrgV2Co14m2C/s1600/DSC_0141.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMFbJmkJY1kSnIScQPPfk3-N-ByBsC5dkKEI7jhQC3Li3J6PKIuNMzdKvQKlDcq1rHNOs6ZYgxQDBkAxYpShfq0rLb8-dOVcSRZWh8-N3yVbpFIh4iz4tmJv78gYpunFZBgMxtSZYiJ5J/s1600/DSC_0144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGMFbJmkJY1kSnIScQPPfk3-N-ByBsC5dkKEI7jhQC3Li3J6PKIuNMzdKvQKlDcq1rHNOs6ZYgxQDBkAxYpShfq0rLb8-dOVcSRZWh8-N3yVbpFIh4iz4tmJv78gYpunFZBgMxtSZYiJ5J/s1600/DSC_0144.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">But most of us were giddy with joy.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Rwanda’s brutal history lies just beneath the surface. Twenty years ago in April, an estimated 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus, men women and children, were brutally murdered. <br />These are some of the thousands of children who died.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTTMw3ZtvuiHh2Ljjt-rEgU1q12tVs3YEDn49K1j_aKqmO9GPRIlPQsbrYu8oQNTr0pIJ-IC3NuTI3V2k39tCFu89X3CLhNeWg1O2iAbZA08yxK8Pw8f314DDYCt0SMlOghkvIvnUbxLQ_/s1600/IMG_8804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTTMw3ZtvuiHh2Ljjt-rEgU1q12tVs3YEDn49K1j_aKqmO9GPRIlPQsbrYu8oQNTr0pIJ-IC3NuTI3V2k39tCFu89X3CLhNeWg1O2iAbZA08yxK8Pw8f314DDYCt0SMlOghkvIvnUbxLQ_/s1600/IMG_8804.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I can’t stop dwelling on details of the massacre. And I
find myself going back to read more and more about those six bloody
weeks, trying to make sense of it... and failing. And then I seek out
this photograph from the last day in Burera. And feel very privileged to have had the opportunity to spend a few hours with these children, and hope that they will live long, happy lives without fear.<br /> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTO-63lB3GMflW-BqD2yBcYM2oZGbkd8uyFfoAYA8HDuu68A5FFHenAwLMhqMVBFzmlbRk4cbY2R8x4WIeq7MFoiJUKxr9DuRF1pf2NzWWzIn3sEp94JrkFmMruzQUtRW2pq7HeSGqYneZ/s1600/DSC_0596.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTO-63lB3GMflW-BqD2yBcYM2oZGbkd8uyFfoAYA8HDuu68A5FFHenAwLMhqMVBFzmlbRk4cbY2R8x4WIeq7MFoiJUKxr9DuRF1pf2NzWWzIn3sEp94JrkFmMruzQUtRW2pq7HeSGqYneZ/s1600/DSC_0596.jpg" height="320" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: small;">And also, perhaps, lives filled with books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUVyVHWt7LLwUak-yTL6VgURVrOEadWwP-uf96g5cChUxUjhMvYiYQcXGLWh0J8kCtH6tpKs3dVZBPA1EL35FfyCp0S9M-uZ_kRRdxpej-d-CDk7pWj3gGmqgHdJ8wGrelKMUAugfSkvG/s1600/DSC_0533.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZUVyVHWt7LLwUak-yTL6VgURVrOEadWwP-uf96g5cChUxUjhMvYiYQcXGLWh0J8kCtH6tpKs3dVZBPA1EL35FfyCp0S9M-uZ_kRRdxpej-d-CDk7pWj3gGmqgHdJ8wGrelKMUAugfSkvG/s1600/DSC_0533.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-88198912362367442332014-01-24T18:43:00.000-05:002014-01-24T18:43:05.391-05:00Rwanda!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Tomorrow I am heading to Rwanda for a week. I am very excited to be working with Save the Children UK on their International Children's Book Initiative; the idea is 'More children reading, more and better books’. I have been thinking abstractly about this trip for months now, but as I begin packing it is suddenly, dauntingly real. I'm going to be visiting schools around the country, madly drawing and taking photographs, to help produce a guide for teachers on how to use books in the classroom. The Rwandan Children's Book Initiative proposes to provide schools with books and shelves to put them on, and even mats to create reading corners. But from what I understand, few schools have books right now. If they're anything like the schools we visited in the Congo, there will be a blackboard and benches and not much else. I am hoping to draw and read with these kids, and I'm suddenly overwhelmed by the idea of introducing them to their first picture books. Or watching as they make their first marks on paper. I'm not sure how much English they'll speak, or French. And I don't speak any Kinyarwanda. I'm leaning towards books light on text, heavy on animals. I'm leaving tomorrow so I've left it a bit late to canvas your response, but I'd still love to know what books you would all suggest. <br />
I have assembled a pile on the floor of everything I want to take, a pile about ten times the size of my suitcase. A growing pile of books, sketchpads, packets and packets of pencils, tubes of watercolors, brushes, crayons. And a diminishing pile of clothes. I can't bear the thought that I'll be one pencil short.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHF732N1u_fWB3NtKhyphenhyphen8K0XND9YtTq5HmWVd9VI7yAjetlooO7GmWodDQk1ePcApjcO0ez4m6dSY_x-HZW1xfGje3H7GtbzzDiHtx8MeGi0a_WkvBCem6XvgwC2-oH-eU5rwsrbDjn0ky3/s1600/DSC_0522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHF732N1u_fWB3NtKhyphenhyphen8K0XND9YtTq5HmWVd9VI7yAjetlooO7GmWodDQk1ePcApjcO0ez4m6dSY_x-HZW1xfGje3H7GtbzzDiHtx8MeGi0a_WkvBCem6XvgwC2-oH-eU5rwsrbDjn0ky3/s1600/DSC_0522.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Classroom in the DRC, 2012</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-38298911696710446942014-01-24T17:41:00.000-05:002014-01-24T17:41:45.314-05:00A Fine Dessert - Part 7 <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<br /></div>
<br />
You may be forgiven for thinking I've not done a lick of work on <i>A Fine Dessert</i> since November, but in fact I've been drawing and painting so hard I haven't had a moment to mention it.<br />
The research process is all but finished, the sketches have been made, the dummy has been submitted to the editors, I was summoned in for questioning, and I've just been given the green light to paint; one of the best moments of this whole picture book-making process.<br />
In each of the four centuries in this book, (for those of you just joining me, I'm working on <i>A Fine Dessert</i>, written by Emily Jenkins), the dessert is served after dinner and I decided to set up the scene the same way. I wanted to make the most of the differences between the families: differences in culture and economic status and gender roles and racial equality, not to mention clothing and furniture design. It made sense to put them in the same setting; four equally shaped spaces.<br />
Here are some of the stages of a sketch, in this case, a scene in a family dining room in Boston in 1910. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJtGJuAIm6LQ83Q8EwsPObZuaIrp5Q-Isd5DlCMdOyyarD9xkyOBzwsriGkhzipxBIN7KWjVgtWBZHPTqtxIodGqnG_ckzxQ_2Lqx_EM7mpuIcocu-GsUl9fD2QEeUtPj1spL6rCzz2jc/s1600/dinner1910c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsJtGJuAIm6LQ83Q8EwsPObZuaIrp5Q-Isd5DlCMdOyyarD9xkyOBzwsriGkhzipxBIN7KWjVgtWBZHPTqtxIodGqnG_ckzxQ_2Lqx_EM7mpuIcocu-GsUl9fD2QEeUtPj1spL6rCzz2jc/s1600/dinner1910c.jpg" height="252" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVuvoFYf692JoZl6GYqw-uxXF4XuQpj1jqN5tDqptxNqOg1we8edKj1kFzj20UODSRbAFFcbbmTMPjl3npTf7lufUN9dqMtSAu2hJVrIqiSn1aEMSpNxld7rJVVrbF0otiysgkz4owOdv1/s1600/dinner1910d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVuvoFYf692JoZl6GYqw-uxXF4XuQpj1jqN5tDqptxNqOg1we8edKj1kFzj20UODSRbAFFcbbmTMPjl3npTf7lufUN9dqMtSAu2hJVrIqiSn1aEMSpNxld7rJVVrbF0otiysgkz4owOdv1/s1600/dinner1910d.jpg" height="255" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here are some of my bits of inspiration:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha5xgmwuSn4wmVa2ABRKtHmZlX6jHw6W3shyffc72q728DdIhhLTfR66OkaoCcHKxBFJr2yAZ3SllVrNlXG5ttKr90VG8yWkt_RMhzx8B0lPSMo-SAVBF_EWL1wF7F_K2XmUgs71sa6n8d/s1600/diningroom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEha5xgmwuSn4wmVa2ABRKtHmZlX6jHw6W3shyffc72q728DdIhhLTfR66OkaoCcHKxBFJr2yAZ3SllVrNlXG5ttKr90VG8yWkt_RMhzx8B0lPSMo-SAVBF_EWL1wF7F_K2XmUgs71sa6n8d/s1600/diningroom.jpg" height="316" width="400" /></a></div>
I found this "inexpensive dining room" in a furniture catalog from the turn of the century. You can see I've willy-nilly lifted the light fixture, the mirror and the wallpaper.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4O4Q43FUOekRL3fxL6db6wusXqYjDkE46UakQsgmy9tKW9xPY4a7k38hjSPO7lJaGTUBDhPB1xr4BpaJxwD7arcXW7bjdWtR3ipL9Q9Swwyqqvm608vYfvVWx2w-0Gf8Uem7Av4OozSZV/s1600/Walnut_Dining.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4O4Q43FUOekRL3fxL6db6wusXqYjDkE46UakQsgmy9tKW9xPY4a7k38hjSPO7lJaGTUBDhPB1xr4BpaJxwD7arcXW7bjdWtR3ipL9Q9Swwyqqvm608vYfvVWx2w-0Gf8Uem7Av4OozSZV/s1600/Walnut_Dining.jpg" height="209" width="320" /></a></div>
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And I chose this walnut dining setting for my Boston family, which reminds me of chain-of-hearts, which my mother always used to grow.<br />
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-22847891854246712192013-11-15T12:21:00.000-05:002013-11-15T12:21:06.082-05:00A Fine Dessert - Part 6, A Completely Justifiable Research Trip to England<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Not that I really need to justify a trip to England, but I really, truly had things to do there that couldn't be done on the internet, like visiting the archives of the London Zoo (for another book, more on that to come) and to do an Ivy and Bean Day event at the wonderful bookshop, <a href="http://www.ottieandthebea.com/" target="_blank">Ottie and the Bea</a> in South East London. But while I was there, visiting family in Somerset, <i>A Fine Dessert</i> was never far from my mind. Call me obsessed; you wouldn't be the first.<br />
My cousin and his wife live in a ridiculously picturesque hamlet in Somerset. I'm not going to tell you what it's called because you'll all want to go there and the hamlet dwellers would be mad.<br />
They live next door to this excellent pig called Blossom...<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4h9lQiN65p-kIZGK5YxWqQMG2liRi00CC6JNedphXDZeh_6y_4shanSKJQkiNqRP1v2KLgxkdlb2ukFwkTcvXHsCCt8oC_39DS9ywXOwFX7F_ZCGAAwxSvIrYZxzRx-Jo3K-qrhtLmjG/s1600/IMG_1629.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgC4h9lQiN65p-kIZGK5YxWqQMG2liRi00CC6JNedphXDZeh_6y_4shanSKJQkiNqRP1v2KLgxkdlb2ukFwkTcvXHsCCt8oC_39DS9ywXOwFX7F_ZCGAAwxSvIrYZxzRx-Jo3K-qrhtLmjG/s400/IMG_1629.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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And down the lane from this fairytale Medieval roundhouse built by their friend the local thatcher... </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvH1F1wOniXXPNvqLUkx8a1mfekCQ0av16cczeqHocU9-A4MgxysE2Gf948k0UXB-MRnyKJkZUFNSaDvvM4SaYTaAyRdCQQpAh8Y39cIY26nLZ8sQp1Pwq9uKl5gvfuUcOOmCyvNRrdLHB/s1600/IMG_1740.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvH1F1wOniXXPNvqLUkx8a1mfekCQ0av16cczeqHocU9-A4MgxysE2Gf948k0UXB-MRnyKJkZUFNSaDvvM4SaYTaAyRdCQQpAh8Y39cIY26nLZ8sQp1Pwq9uKl5gvfuUcOOmCyvNRrdLHB/s400/IMG_1740.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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...who also makes cider.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlgcnfaVwh1_iKOpLMX2AvcLeMd8eYqBjt-yz7rQ37g4sU-BzNtUxTUble3owUvK_S4xgzUu5yKchCuBHrecmFnZfej6L9bTVioO1-als2HQbK4WwBt3MqKHLjJgzAljcKUDNEk7uw8dK/s1600/IMG_1661.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAlgcnfaVwh1_iKOpLMX2AvcLeMd8eYqBjt-yz7rQ37g4sU-BzNtUxTUble3owUvK_S4xgzUu5yKchCuBHrecmFnZfej6L9bTVioO1-als2HQbK4WwBt3MqKHLjJgzAljcKUDNEk7uw8dK/s400/IMG_1661.jpg" width="300" /></a></div>
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It was harvest time at the local cider mill...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_7zgKXkcffs6X_Vq-6OhwsJWMVGsWb51ke9j1_N9frgUBSwC2gyUrSIknzL_tWTjCxDJQlqsxzgzBatogoqB3oBCGx2zD-JOraQ3vFJj70ZGuvAx8zwpAaMHthcLQDV_1hqBde_E40k6/s1600/DSC_0125.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_7zgKXkcffs6X_Vq-6OhwsJWMVGsWb51ke9j1_N9frgUBSwC2gyUrSIknzL_tWTjCxDJQlqsxzgzBatogoqB3oBCGx2zD-JOraQ3vFJj70ZGuvAx8zwpAaMHthcLQDV_1hqBde_E40k6/s400/DSC_0125.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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...which was momentarily distracting...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Mi1UfrMUe3PPPyZcZIbfcJxMBZ4xxNjoWlCJHGSnyPNwt9kIwAHeObU_uueNeZw566N9IRmjVFGv5lAwKHE1hAxxAQ4QdzCj9xJWN6wPMAs4ORK_571CV_XaGB5Xl7WfptF5_o4fKBKD/s1600/DSC_0150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3Mi1UfrMUe3PPPyZcZIbfcJxMBZ4xxNjoWlCJHGSnyPNwt9kIwAHeObU_uueNeZw566N9IRmjVFGv5lAwKHE1hAxxAQ4QdzCj9xJWN6wPMAs4ORK_571CV_XaGB5Xl7WfptF5_o4fKBKD/s400/DSC_0150.jpg" width="263" /> </a></div>
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...but I was looking for blackberries. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbx6Af3em9bj_4HczUpufo1DAMo9t5ADdZmBpl8lk9GBjUCtApPuPdFdk9J3LzXn013hoZuX2C1KCkyDoVMaxg-Au0Eyi2-KbYk41EfKUenVGIOo6PE6QvPzUH38Kz10FA-fOtFJwa8TPb/s1600/DSC_0091.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbx6Af3em9bj_4HczUpufo1DAMo9t5ADdZmBpl8lk9GBjUCtApPuPdFdk9J3LzXn013hoZuX2C1KCkyDoVMaxg-Au0Eyi2-KbYk41EfKUenVGIOo6PE6QvPzUH38Kz10FA-fOtFJwa8TPb/s400/DSC_0091.jpg" width="263" /> </a></div>
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The lanes were dripping with them...</div>
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...and just dripping, generally. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJKk_pobMjWNP1AQV3e9pVJ3nk0xMq5rATMVqwfpdID6DdM6164vUGhzLY5e5AQ7RkKOF22xP4yGG9dzr_kSHmMzMK4cbg6LCU0G7YuopwtFY_vPBw2LzVce6FWPXpxR1QLGP_I_ANMpv/s1600/DSC_0097.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnJKk_pobMjWNP1AQV3e9pVJ3nk0xMq5rATMVqwfpdID6DdM6164vUGhzLY5e5AQ7RkKOF22xP4yGG9dzr_kSHmMzMK4cbg6LCU0G7YuopwtFY_vPBw2LzVce6FWPXpxR1QLGP_I_ANMpv/s400/DSC_0097.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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But in the evenings they turned golden.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXDmFvGsOTmKjoApwqeENYEMyx9NguwEI7gpD3rBYj0K4Jhy-GwPr0xpHTtkMK-C-AHWPRBax7MXX_Xmx7ZeaaTSxWAlOmW6QNIvWP4djGsYPqMj4WZZvCctMX5HYu15ez6kAGiTXdqBu6/s1600/DSC_0104.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> </a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAhN0VH13J1RBagE4Vi7cJHE3mXakFk415KaXvNnh308z7m4vTAHXf2BXYuv5zTKUcYNxdff4YtvEDip7-Wrdb67b1cz5TutGU2wQTgwTGgLM6FwdFoizHKetIrX4n4JrUgiH8-XAAOxH/s1600/DSC_0227.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBAhN0VH13J1RBagE4Vi7cJHE3mXakFk415KaXvNnh308z7m4vTAHXf2BXYuv5zTKUcYNxdff4YtvEDip7-Wrdb67b1cz5TutGU2wQTgwTGgLM6FwdFoizHKetIrX4n4JrUgiH8-XAAOxH/s400/DSC_0227.jpg" width="262" /></a> </div>
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The blackberries were smaller and firmer than their American counterparts (I draw no cultural observations here)...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3Un__QXYnCs5jpeEzyRdBv0SE5pCGiBJFoO3hppLvMqwZv3att1cRltN1pvepmfFTAKLr_0LtdwzE1Merd8zcIhEfyT1agaUZMMVjVdw3kMBzD0wFh0um97m0lpaNd_ogFEE0PwZ6kE8/s1600/DSC_0269.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-3Un__QXYnCs5jpeEzyRdBv0SE5pCGiBJFoO3hppLvMqwZv3att1cRltN1pvepmfFTAKLr_0LtdwzE1Merd8zcIhEfyT1agaUZMMVjVdw3kMBzD0wFh0um97m0lpaNd_ogFEE0PwZ6kE8/s320/DSC_0269.jpg" width="319" /> </a></div>
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...and the fool we made came out a deep purple, almost tarmac color. But was equally delicious. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKk9xCoyZNg0za1W-0K4puIjuNy7O3ixaxvTLb1qWsRWyF_k301SdUICkitgAFX2twEz8h87rf_kDqTnZaHxvCX8Zqze2eOhz9opHJRXApXv2TM3N-K0VEhZmcpy2QJNY0cmomU2rjWt_v/s1600/DSC_0271.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKk9xCoyZNg0za1W-0K4puIjuNy7O3ixaxvTLb1qWsRWyF_k301SdUICkitgAFX2twEz8h87rf_kDqTnZaHxvCX8Zqze2eOhz9opHJRXApXv2TM3N-K0VEhZmcpy2QJNY0cmomU2rjWt_v/s320/DSC_0271.jpg" width="320" /> </a></div>
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There were more thatched farmhouses than you could poke a stick at. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePqjO6yQZs5bcaytNLZA4WwA6edRfAWLIGeaxTC6cefBmA9l9uqF9l6uP99oFYKT5jW-oLdpF0vA7pKPs63L-AowNaUpdRRHYK6xNpKzIQw6gPzqlYvicFWQtAqN-_J-72c5CiZOaerkn/s1600/DSC_0191.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePqjO6yQZs5bcaytNLZA4WwA6edRfAWLIGeaxTC6cefBmA9l9uqF9l6uP99oFYKT5jW-oLdpF0vA7pKPs63L-AowNaUpdRRHYK6xNpKzIQw6gPzqlYvicFWQtAqN-_J-72c5CiZOaerkn/s320/DSC_0191.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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And we visited Montacute which has a wobbly hedge...</div>
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And through the wobbly hedge, is an ice house.</div>
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In <i>A Fine Dessert</i>, in 1710 the farmer's wife and her daughter made the blackberry fool, then Emily Jenkins writes, "They carried the mixture to an ice pit in the hillside. It chilled near sheets of winter ice, packed with reeds and straw." I have been reading everything I can find about ice pits and ice houses and the making of iced desserts in the 18th century. This ice house was constructed in a similar way to a stone well. I couldn't quite imagine where the dish of blackberry fool would be placed to chill. I'm wondering whether perhaps they would have transported small chunks of the ice back to the kitchen instead. Emily suggested I write to Lynne Olver, the expert food historian at the <a href="http://www.foodtimeline.org/" target="_blank">Food Timeline</a>, and I'm holding my breath for her response. In the meantime I drew a sketch of them carrying the mixture to the icepit in the hill, because it would make a nice image, and a perfect excuse to paint the English sky. But we'll see what Ms Olver says.<br />
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ps The one tree hill I used in the drawing is part of the cider mill. Click below to visit their website.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ciderbrandy.co.uk/gallery.html" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.ciderbrandy.co.uk/gallery.html" border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrGA3xZcwFJrxs7UBOpzDYUkcU32xYi2zzLbVIq-SYFsWrHZbJj7HJvDBC5TK8XeNkrzOfN1qOp-08nPv-h-P93hFn7Un_c9KXX9TutsvuiEjRrVBZ-dnkZbu7mD1ev6yM6AWhh8oXAxlf/s320/onetreehill.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-523851644145317765.post-6216301744133078702013-11-04T12:26:00.000-05:002013-11-04T12:26:17.382-05:00A Fine Dessert - Part 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As I threatened a few weeks ago, I am sharing the <i>whole</i> messy process of this book, <i>A Fine Dessert</i>, written by Emily Jenkins – the decision-making, the research, the false leads, the mistakes, the happy accidents, even the paralysis – <i>as</i> it's being made. Here's how a recent day went:<br />
In the second century of making the blackberry fool, around 1810, we are introduced to a slave and her daughter, working in the kitchen of a plantation near Charleston, South Carolina. Just as I tracked down my farmhouse in Lyme, I had a picture in my head of the plantation I wanted to draw: white, with Georgian columns and an avenue of wriggly oak trees. I had a hard time finding a reference for the perfect house. So many of them were burnt down in the Civil War, or had porticoes or wings or columns added over the decades. I settled on Hampton Plantation, which was built in 1735 and suited my needs nicely.<br />
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I started to sketch it with the wriggly oaks when I suddenly had a
forehead slapping thought: I'm drawing these mature oaks, but this is
1810... what did they look like then? Had they even been planted? </div>
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And I found the answer was no. At least I'm not quite sure. Though it seems
they were planted around 1820. So I erased them. But I didn't want to lose them altogether so I decided to draw rows of saplings. </div>
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Then, as I continued to delve deeper, I found this painting by Charles Fraser. Of a white plantation house called Ashley Hall. With an avenue of mature trees. Painted in 1803. </div>
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So I drew them back again.</div>
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This took pretty much an entire day. Most people holding the finished book in their hands sometime next year will never know about the trees that nearly weren't, but you and I will.</div>
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sophie blackallhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10948122381079358521noreply@blogger.com4