Pictures Worth a Thousand Words

A number of things have sparked my interest in writing this post, but it's mostly meant to be a visual. I was just reminiscing about some of my favorite books as a child and why they were my favorite books. As is well-documented here, I'm a major pushover for a good story, but I'm equally swayed by a moving illustration or picture. So often, pictures tell parts of the story that words or our own imaginations cannot...or they simply enhance our own imaginations. So w/out further ado, here are some of my favorite illustrators. Who are some of yours?

P.J. Lynch
Hands down my favorite illustrator. I will buy just about anything if he has illustrated it. Plus he's Irish. Plus I heard him speak at a BYU Symposium for Young Readers a few years ago and he's delightful!


As if his rich and beautiful use of color and detail isn't enough, he also alluded to one of my all-time favorite paintings (Gustav Klimt's "The Kiss" - picture on the right) in his illustration of my all-time favorite fairytale, "East O' the Sun, West O' the Moon"(picture on the left).












Is anybody swooning yet? Because you really should be.


Marilee Heyer

Heyer also illustrates a lot of really wonderful folk and fairy tales. The cover below is of a book that I bought purely for the pictures and ended up loving the story. I've also had a long love affair with Asian books/stories, so it had me at hello. I love how her pictures are sweeping, graceful and intensely intricate. I love detail. LOVE IT. Some of her books beg for you to spend hours just staring at her pictures...which I will neither deny nor confirm doing. Another book of hers that I'm fond of is The Girl, The Fish, & The Crown. Simply lovely illustrations.


















Trina Schart Hyman

Hyman's illustrations evoke something of the 70s to me. I can't quite put my finger on it. Maybe it has something to do w/ her pictures being somewhere in the middle between sketch and painting or the heaviness of her lines...but it just feels like my early childhood. Hm...not that I think of my early childhood as being somewhere between sketch and painting, nor did it have heavy lines...but well...her pictures just make me feel that way, okay? She also has lovely, graceful lines and delicate details. Her style is distinctive and memorable. I love it. I own this copy of Snow White, which was also purchased solely for the illustrations.
















Maurice Sendak

How could I have a list of illustrators without mentioning Sendak? Some of the most vivid images from my childhood originated in his imagination. Where the Wild Things Are & Outside Over There are two of the most vivid for me. Sendak is so talented at evoking a sense of fantasy and mixing in a bit of melancholy, eeriness and something uniquely beautiful. In short, I love his artwork and I love his stories. What more do I need to say, really?

















Leo Lionni/Eric Carle

I combine these two because something about their affinity for collage-ish/cut-out artwork makes me want to group them together. Also, I'm getting tired of writing, so I just wanted to make this go a bit faster. Also...they kind of look a little alike, don't you think? Lionni's character, Frederick, is one of my very favorite characters from my childhood. Perhaps I loved him so much because I was a daydreamer too. And what's not to love in such a sweet, adorable, unique little mouse made of paper?

Carle's pictures aren't quite as dear to my heart, because he didn't create actual characters, just illustrations. However, there is no denying that his illustrations are bright, cheerful and very memorable, which is why I've included him here.


















Dare Wright

Who says that illustrations always have to be paintings or drawings? These books have been stuck in my subconscious for as long as I can remember. My mom checked them out from the library for me when I was a little girl and I must have asked for them a thousand times after that. I was at least 80% convinced that because they were photographs, they were real. This little doll lived alone in a house w/ two stuff bears...and I was totally enamored with the idea. There is melancholy and loneliness in a lot of these pictures. (I'm noticing a trend w/ my attraction to illustrations/stories...) Being separated from my parents as a little girl was my greatest fear, so I think I was both horrified by the visual reality of such a thing and enchanted by the thought that even if that were to happen, someone/something might come along to care for and love me. Like a couple of teddy bears. Don't judge. They're special books, okay? And I still love them.
















So what books do you remember most from your childhood (or after) because of the illustrations?

Awesome Possum!

So, it would seem that I am driven to blog primarily about rodents. (Fine - rodents, mammals and marsupials, if you want to be completely accurate.) Just to recap, I've now blogged about field mice, squirrels and a raccoon - all of which met their untimely demises at the will of my car. Today I am forced to blog about another member of the rodent family; the opossum. To be specific, the Virginia Opossum. Thankfully this one is alive and well and currently hiding in our kitchen. Yes. That's right. Our kitchen. (Update: the possum has vacated the premises...details later in the post)

How did all of this begin? Well it all started when Roommate #1 inadvertently left the patio door in the basement open for several hours on Monday. Roommate #2 discovered this when she came home late that night and shut the door. The following morning Roommate #2, whose bedroom and bathroom are in the basement, found a little "gift" waiting for her on the bathroom floor. Say what you will, but at least the little critter had the decency to relieve himself on the bathroom floor and not the carpet. (We're all praying that there are no more little "gifts" waiting somewhere else! [shudder]) Roommate #2 was so disturbed by what she found that she wiped up the droppings and flushed them away. Understandably, R#2 was distressed and so she immediately contacted Animal Control to see if they could come and remove the animal - whatever it was. Unfortunately, Animal Control informed her that they would only dispatch someone if we had actually seen the animal. Sigh. R#2 and I searched the house (with broom in hand) from top to bottom and neither found nor roused anything, which only added to the frustration of the situation. This meant that because R#2 was the only one who had seen the droppings, she would have to use her super-sleuthing skills (thank you Google!) to figure out what kind of critter we actually had. Because she was at home that day, she gave me periodic updates and informed me that she thought it was either an opossum or a cat, but she seemed pretty sure that it was an opossum. Well, if it was, that would explain why we hadn't seen/heard anything in our searches because they're nocturnal and notorious for...well, "playing possum".

After returning from work, there were no new developments, so we decided to head off to institute and bother with it later. Later found R#2 and I in the living room at around 11PM both on our laptops and watching a bit of TV. Because this gave me the perfect sight line with the basement door, it was I who noticed movement and looked up just in time to see tiny black eyes peering from the delicate pointy-nosed face of a very small possum with a look of curiosity. My reaction? "R#2, R#2! Possum! Possum", spoken while pointing wildly toward where the little possum had just headed for the closed front door. Thankfully R#2 had her camera handy, so we got some good shots of the frightened little guy.













Let the games begin! The idea was to try and keep him corralled in the entryway, while we got the front door open and shooed him out with a broom or other such tool. Sadly, it didn't quite work out that way. As I slowly approached the possum to get him to the side of the door, so I could open it, he darted past me and behind the entertainment center in the living room. BLAST! So close! R#2 and I got down on our hands and knees and tried to find where he had gotten to, but couldn't immediately find him. He was a quick little guy and well, I already said it, but he was little. After moving as many objects on the floor that would provide hiding for him, R#2 lifted a blanket from a pile of other blankets and found this.

That's right folks. Have you heard that Snuggie is going for a new marketing scheme, focusing on a new and growing demographic? "Possums: the new spokescreatures for the Snuggie." (And yes, I own two Snuggies. What of it?) We succeeded in shooing Poss (he needs a name, okay?) back the way he had come, in hopes of getting him to head for the now open door. Unfortunately, because we hadn't thought to create barriers to other doorless openings, he instead, made a run for the kitchen. Sigh. We thought that wouldn't be such a big deal, because the kitchen is small and there aren't many places that he could hide, but rodents are clever and very squishy and he found a happy little crawl space between the bottom drawer and the floor. ARGH! This time we weren't going to fall for his shenanigans. We set up barriers using anything and everything we could find and then laid a trail of trail mix from his hidey-hole to the door. After that proved not as successful, I added some smelly bananas to the mix.

We retreated to the living room to wait him out and before long, we heard him happily munching on the bananas. We were not, however gifted with stealth and we had soon scared him back into his little hideaway. Great. Now he's fat and happy and has found a place to hang out indefinitely! What next?

After a few more times of him poking his little snout out and then running back to safety, we decided to back way off and just be patient. By this time it was nearing 2 AM and while I had been determined to stay until the job was done, I realized that I would be worthless today if I didn't get some sleep, so I went upstairs to get ready for bed. R#3 came down to keep R#2 company and to take her turn on "possum watch". By about 2:30AM I was in bed, but not yet asleep when I heard the front door close. I ran downstairs to see that the front door was, indeed, closed and when I asked whether Poss had acheived freedom I was met with R#2 & 3's joyous cries of triumph! Yes, he had found his way out of his hole and they shooed him the rest of the way. HOORAY! So it is official. We are finally possum-free.

Final Results

So for the last six months or so, I've been redoing my bedroom. It started back in August when I consulted with my friend Spencer (thanks!!) on the reconfiguration of my room and the important choice of wall color(s). Then I repainted my walls. Although my bedroom is relatively small, it was a looooong week to get it all done.













As you can see, I went with three different colors. Grape leaf for the wall behind my bed, a paler green for the two side walls and pumpkin spice for the wall across from my bed, in the area I call "my office". I painted that wall w/ flat paint and then painted stripes of the same orange in high gloss. The effect is kinda cool. I like it.

Anyway, it's been a long, slow process of getting all the walls painted and then getting my existing pieces of furniture moved around to where I want them. Lastly, and with the help of our favorite "house boyfriend" (Thank you, Andy), everything got hung on my walls/ceiling.

The Bedroom & closetThe Window
The office












And now my room is a marvelously beautiful little haven. I love it. Love, love, love it! I don't know whether the pictures can do it credit, but it's the best I can do. If you'd like a more first-hand view, you're welcome to come on over for a visit. I love visitors.

What projects have you been working on?