Posted in Books I Love, Branches, Inspiration, Nature Notes, tagged children's book, picture book, trees on June 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Dreamy are the images in Sky Tree, like viewing the world through a gentle mist. A single tree is viewed throughout the season and becomes a gentle teaching tool about how the natural world works. Though targeted to children, I certainly felt like I learned some things after reading this book — about patience, about beauty and about perspective. A great gift for a child of any age.
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration, Nature Notes on June 19, 2009| Leave a Comment »
“a child’s garden” is one of the most beautiful – and most political – children’s picture books Ive read in a while. By Michael Foreman, it is a seemingly simple story of a little boy who finds a seedling. He waters it. The seedling grows into a garden filled with birds and butterflies. The catch? The garden covers a barbed wire fence, a fence dividing two people on one land. And … I think that is all that I will share of this powerful little tale. I look forward to tracking down more of the author/illustrator’s work.
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration on May 24, 2009| Leave a Comment »
My love affair with Dover Little Books began with stickers. Over the years I have purchased 4-page booklets of butterflies, dragons, frogs, and even Victorian kittens. Eventually I branched out to buy art stickers and postcard booklets as a way of introducing myself and young friends to fine art from around the world. The cost: $1.50 each. My most recent $3 splurge:
If you can’t find Dover little books in your local bookstore or stationary shop, the Dover website is worth a visit, especially the Books Under $10 page.
http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-books-under–10.html
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration, On the Road on April 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
If I were to travel light, for a day, I would pack:
1 sketch pad
2 pens
1 pencil (plus sharpener)
Trail Mix
a bottle of water
Funny that I do not immediately think to pack my camera. What would you pack?
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration, Nature Notes on April 7, 2009| 1 Comment »
Mary Oliver is one of America’s most prolific and successful living poets. In 2006 she produced a 71-page book of poetry that changed my life. Thirst, like many of her previous works celebrates nature, but the poems also give voice to her love and loss of her partner, Mary Malone Cook. When I first read Thirst, it did not inspire me artistically; i’m not sure that I was in a space to be inspired. Instead, the words brought me calm during an aggressively reflective time in my life. The poems were spare of word and rich with imagery. They made me pause. Even in the middle of a busy book store, reading her words felt like sitting beneath a tree watching a river flow past. And in the quiet that was created, I began to acknowledge, for the first time perhaps, how grief need not be a burden but it does need to be acknowledged.
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration on March 22, 2009| Leave a Comment »
The book was rather unassuming yet lovely in its simplicity. A maroon red book cover emblazoned in gold with the figure of a young boy leaping, and beneath him the words, also in gold, “Patrick and the Golden Slippers.” I don’t remember how much it cost in the antique store. A couple of bucks, no more. A first edition 1951 book by Pennsylvania children’s book author and illustrator, Katherine Milhous.
Turns out that Ms. Milhouse created Pennsylvania posters for the Works Progress Administration during the 1940’s. 
Posted in Books I Love, Inspiration on March 16, 2009| Leave a Comment »
Red plus yellow equals orange. Yellow plus blue equals green. Red plus blue equals purple. And so on and so forth. I can’t remember when I first learned the various recipes for creating colors but I do remember the childlike joy I experienced last week when I cracked open “The Color Kittens,” a 1940’s Golden Books Classic. Most of the Golden Books I buy I share with the young children of close friends, but “The Color Kittens” I purchased and sent to my adult friends. Why? Because that book which is so well-written by Margaret Wise Brown and beautifully illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen reminds the reader of what it means to be a child and to look upon the world with complete openness to discovery.
Posted in Books I Love on January 11, 2009| Leave a Comment »
There are at LEAST two reasons to find a copy of Guy Murchie’s Music of the Spheres. His command of language is one. If you can find a copy, just read the first chapter to get a sense of what I mean. It opens thus: “The stars beneath my feet stare upward, strange and bold. They do not twinkle. They burn steadfastly in the black, bottomless sky.” The second reason is the artwork, illustrations done by Murchie himself. The book was first published in 1961. Written over fifty years later, I’m not sure how much of what Murchie wrote in over 600+ pages stands the test of time, but it surely perseveres as a beautiful poetic discourse on the workings of the universe.
Chet Raymo’s Soul of Night, published in 2005, reminded me of Music of the Spheres with its melding of science, art and philosophy. It is a compilation of lyrical essays that allow even the non-scientist to imagine and explore heady concepts of astronomy. Each essay is prefaced by detailed Michael McCurdy wood engravings. You can find more of McCurdy’s work here: http://www.michaelmccurdy.com/ Chet Raymo is Professor Emeritus at Stone Hil College in Massachusetts. He used to write for the Boston Globe but now his essays can be found at http://www.sciencemusings.com/
Posted in Books I Love, Branches, Nature Notes on December 29, 2008| Leave a Comment »
When I first picked up a camera a few years ago, I mostly took pictures of trees and forests. Now I most often take pictures of branches and leaves. Outside my window right now are the mostly bare branches of a great oak tree. I say mostly because I can see hanging on with great tenacity a small rust colored leaf. It is the only one, and though the wind blows quite heartily, that leaf does not fall. Not yet. There is great beauty, great strength in the tree that towers over my room, but so is there in the leaf. From my perch at my desk I cannot get a full view of the tree, of its magnificence, but the leaf attached to its branch fills my vision. To sit and reflect on a leaf is one of those magic moments of rest that I think helps me get through the more hectic parts of my life. A moment of rest and reflection and a heightened awareness of simple rustic beauty … that is what it is like to read Carin Berger’s The Little Yellow Leaf.
Posted in Books I Love on November 27, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The cover art hooked me first and then the words inside. If I had the money, this book is one I would buy for all of the women in my life … even those without a garden. The prose is simple and thought provoking.I’m not sure what else to say about this book, except that when I read it, it is like stepping into a calm place.
Words + Images 