Eraser Stamps Again

 

More eraser carvings. The box stamp and the name stamp were carved in a white Pentel eraser with an exacto knife. The sun stamp was carved with a size #1 round linocutting tool which allows more precise and shallow cuts. Like the boxes and suns, most of the stamps I carve are for art journal backgrounds or embellishing collages rather than stamping single images on art cards. The boxes stamp was used in a grunge accordian book project.

See all posts tagged carving stamps.

Top Picks: Books for 4 Year Olds

When my daughters were each 4, they enjoyed more expansive stories with witty illustrations, searching for details within illustrations, counting, following little maps, and hearing the antics of their favorite characters. I like books with depth - good illustration, well-written text, creative vocabulary, patterns, books that motivate kids to think creatively and logically...

Toot & Puddle - First and favorite of the Toot & Puddle series, it's the story of best friends. One goes on a global adventure with exciting escapades and the other stays home, cozy in the comforts of familiar traditions. There is such depth to the story and the illustrations ~ the unique characters, the months and change of seasons, postcards, traditions. Fantastic gift for 3rd-5th birthday. We also love Toot & Puddle: You Are My Sunshine - Friends go to amazing efforts to cheer up Toot, and they love him no matter what.

Stella, Queen of the Snow - Lovely story with beautifully detailed watercolor illustrations. Making snow angels is the best part! All four of the Stella books, including Stella, Star of the Sea, are wonderful and great gifts for 3rd-5th birthdays.

Good Morning Sam - Stella's precocious brother starts his day... sort of.

The Velveteen Rabbit - A classic; nice, warm and snuggly.

I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew - A child's fantastic adventure to a mythical land where he will escape his troubles, meeting unique characters and situations along the way.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Great to read to children of various ages together, each gets something different out of it. Food rains from the sky and the havoc begins... The illustrations are amazingly detailed and expand upon the story.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss classic with marvelous illustrations and a zest for the amazing things life has to offer.

Blue's Snack Party: A Lift the Flap Story - A great launching point for discussing topics like counting, cooking, measuring, flavors, patterns.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - A story of a bad day, told with lots of exxageration and detailed line art.

The Snail and the Whale - An adventure story told with lovely illustrations and charming poetic language.

Jumanji - If you are ready for a scary story, but not too scary, this is a great one. A brother and sister play a board game which goes quite wrong. Darkly but realistically illustrated.

Look-Alikes Jr.: The More You Look The More You See - Photographs of pictures, using everyday objects to represent other objects. Great for attention to detail.

Meerkat Mail - Lushly detailed watercolor illustrations embellish the story of a meerkat who visits his far-off cousins. We loved the ephemera, like postage and ads, woven into the story.

Horton Hatches the Egg - A story about keeping promises.

Check out the other book recommendations in the Children's Books category!

Moleskine: Like Fabric

Several weeks elapsed... bit by bit... one little section of color at a time... done!

Sakura gellyrolls, microns, PITT pens.

Art Journaling: Lines

Lines and patterns can be used in art journaling to add emphasis or embellish. Pen and ink strokes such as contour lines, parallel lines, cross-hatching, stippling, scribbling, wavy lines and criss-cross lines are described in Art Teachers Resource. 

In All at Once, Jennifer emphasizes the sense of frustration and chaos using scribbles, cross-hatching, etc. It really pops on the dark background, giving the feel of graffiti or sidewalk chalk. The process is described at her blog, Life in the Arizona Desert. Shared with permission.

Lots of line love in Randi Feuerhelm-Watts Journal Pages and Joei Lau's My Moleskine B-3. In his illustration of Oregan Nut Brown Ale, it's clear that Kurt Hollomon is a master of the line. I learned of his art through Danny Gregory's Illustrated Life Podcasts.

Please share what you create!

Top Picks: Books for 5 and 6 Year Olds

Our favorite books have witty illustration, descriptive text, thoughtful stories that motivate kids to think creatively and logically. Following are books that I read to my kids at 5 and 6. These are books to read to your children, that will engage them even as they are learning to read themselves.

Alice in Wonderland - At 5 my daughter thought it was hilarious. My daughters were hesitant for me to read them books without pictures, so this was a good segue, because it has some pictures! Just simplify a few words or concepts here and there.

Anne of Green Gables - The antics of Anne, an endearing and unforgettable character who comes to life on the pages.

Eloise - The first and best Eloise story. My daughters love,love,love Eloise. She lives in a hotel in NYC and does a lot of funny things. Her character is so unique that we invent Eloise stories with more escapades and adventures. There are several others in the original series, including the wonderful Eloise in Paris. Newer books written "in the style of" the author lack the original charm.

Toot & Puddle - First and favorite of the series, it's the story of best friends. One goes on a global adventure with exciting escapades and the other stays home, cozy in the comforts of familiar traditions. There is such depth to the story and the illustrations ~ the unique characters, the months and change of seasons, postcards, traditions. We love Toot & Puddle: You Are My Sunshine - Friends go to amazing efforts to cheer up Toot, and they love him no matter what.

The Velveteen Rabbit - A stuffed rabbit becomes real because of a boy's love.

I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew - Seuss tells the story of a child's fantastic adventure to a mythical land where he will escape his troubles, meeting unique characters and situations along the way.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Kids of various ages get something different out of this story. Food rains from the sky and the havoc begins... The illustrations are amazingly detailed and expand upon the story.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss classic with marvelous illustrations and a zest for the amazing things life has to offer.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - A story of a bad day, told with lots of exxageration and detailed line art.

The Snail and the Whale - An adventure story with lovely illustrations and charming poetic language.

Jumanji - If you are ready for a scary story, but not too scary, this is a great one. A brother and sister play a board game which goes quite wrong. Darkly but realistically illustrated. We also like Polar Express - The story of a peculiar train ride to the North Pole.

Look-Alikes Jr.: The More You Look The More You See - Photographs of pictures, using everyday objects to represent other objects.

Meerkat Mail - Lushly detailed watercolor illustrations embellish the story of a meerkat who visits his far-off cousins. We loved the funky ephemera, postage and ads, woven into the story.

The Lorax - The Seuss tale of man's impact on the environment and the lovely truffula trees. KidsEconBooks (a website focusing on the use of children's literature to study Economics!) uses the book to study the concept of scarcity. The Web English Teacher shares links for activities for numerous Seuss books.

Stella, Princess of the Sky - Like the other Stella stories, author and illustrator Marie-Louise Gay's lovely watercolor illustrations and witty, descriptive dialogue tell the story of a simple adventure of a brother and a sister.

Do your kids know their books inside out? Try doing an Illustration Treasure Hunt! Check out the other book recommendations in the Children's Books category, including Witty Books for Kids 7-9.

Doodlicious Moleskine

These doodles were completed over several days, in a cafe with my younger daughter while my other daughter was at a class or after the kids were asleep while listening to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report.

Generally I do the figures with black PITT pen, working from the center out, round and round like kooky mandalas. Then I add color and detail with Sakura gellyrolls and microns. These came out bouncy, bright and vivid.

November Garden I

Early November in the garden... fallen pomegranates, orange honeysuckle flowers inhabit the birdbath under the shade of a senna plant, pink rose bud amidst the thorns, the copper roof of a fairy house and senna. If you enjoy pomegranates, check out the lovely painting of a pomegranate at Omphaloskepsis.

 

   

Top Picks: Books for 3 Year Olds

I've gathered a list of our favorite children's books... books with witty illustrations, vivid imagery, patterns, life's details, books that inspire kids to think creatively and logically. Many of the books described in Top Picks: Books for 1-2 Year Olds are great for 3 year olds as well!

Stella, Queen of the Snow. The illustrations are lush, detailed and whimsical. Vivid colorful drawings of poetic Stella and her reluctant brother Sam. There are four books in the Stella series, and a few in the Sam series. All good. A perfect gift for 3rd or 4th birthday.

Olivia - First and favorite in the series of Olivia books, a slice of Olivia's daily life and her antics. I've heard Olivia described as "Eloise, but as a pig."

Corduroy - Lovely story of a sweet, playful stuffed bear living in a department store and a kind girl named Lisa. My daughters always giggled at Corduroy's anitics and fell in love with this little bear. In A Pocket for Corduroy Corduroy gets lost in a laundromat and has an adventure. Note ~ there are just a few Corduroy books by Don Freeman, the newer books attempt to copy the style but lack the sense of wonder and genuine warmth.

If You Give a Moose a Muffin - The illustrations breathe life into the story of a rather large moose and a little boy. Like "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie," the story logically goes full circle.

Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - Great to read to children of various ages, as each gets something different out of it. Food rains from the sky and the havoc begins. The illustrations are amazingly detailed and expand upon the story.

Oh, the Places You'll Go! - Dr. Seuss classic with marvelous illustrations and a zest for the amazing things life has to offer.

Check out the other book recommendations in the Children's Books category!

Erasers = Stamps

In order to focus your stamp design and carving efforts, consider how you will use your stamps. The ideas are endless...

• Stamp a single, elegant image on handmade recycled note cards.
• Make a hand cut tag to insert with teacher gifts or holiday cookies.
• Stamp the month/year or a series number on the back of your ATCs.
• Edge borders around art journal pages.
• Art journal or visual journal backgrounds.
• Make a unique journaling block on journal pages.
• Stamp a border around an address or words.

I love the idea of making something unique (for less than 50 cents) to use in journal backgrounds. Think in terms of textures, abstract shapes, images or patterns that you can repeat for greater impact. It's rewarding to make a stamp that you cannot buy, something you designed.

Here are some of today's stamps ~ the stars and triangles were carved with an exacto knife; the textured lines were carved with a lino carving tool that we use in block printing.

See all posts tagged carving stamps.

Making Maps

 

What is your favorite type of map? I found a National Geographic map of California from the 1950's in my dad's attic this summer. AAA maps and trip-tiks. Hand-drawn city maps with local attractions. Maps of intricately detailed islands. Maps are a simple project requiring just basic paper and pencil or pen.

See what intrigues your kids. A "real" map of their backyard, room, school, classroom, a park? The idea here is NOT accuracy, it is getting kids to think it new ways. If they like what it looks like, that's cool. It may help to think about whether they are looking at the park from a helicopter or Imaginary worlds are even more fun ~ an imaginary amusement park or treasure island with buildings and natural wonders. Encourage creative naming for everything from streets to stores to mountains.

The first two maps of imaginary cities were drawn by my daughters this summer and currently up on the wall. Next a map of a park drawn by my younger daughter and a map of the school grounds and a map of a candy world drawn by my older daughter.

 

Map links:

• On Flickr, "Slow Learner"shares a unique set of maps that his family drew when asked to sketch his first home in Perth. Trish's Map highlights memories in different parts of the home.
• Beatrice created a walking map of Lunch and Dinner Places in New Orleans.
• Tony Dowler created an intricate map entitled Stranger Things.
• A Study of Kindergarten Children's Spatial Representation in a Mapping Project from the ERIC database.
• Teach Kids How to Read a Map from the cool site Teach Kids How.
• The kids made MORE maps in Making More Maps!