Last May Dave and I traveled to England to research the book I’m currently working on, titled Strange Creatures: The Story of Walter Rothschild and his Museum (2011, Disney-Hyperion).

Walter Rothschild was the son of Lord Rothschild, banker to Queen Victoria. He was incredibly rich and seemed like a kid who would have had everything, but he struggled with being horribly shy. His father demanded a lot of him — yet Walter was so nervous, he could barely speak. He seems like an unlikely hero, but a hero is just what he was to me. When he was 7 years old he declared to his parents he would build a museum. He set out to collect bugs, butterflies, birds, fish, reptiles, mammals and even plants. By the time he was a late teenager, he was funding expeditions all over the world to collect animals. This was in the late 1800’s when scientists still had not discovered many of the world’s plants and animals. Walter’s father discouraged his dreams and insisted he begin work at the family banking firm, but Walter persevered and opened his museum to the public when he was 24 years old. With the help of two curators and many explorers, Walter created the largest natural history collection ever gathered by one person and furthered our understanding of the world’s animals in immense ways. I’m really enjoying bringing his story to life!

You can see how the visit to the actual museum helped in creating some of the sketches:

I’m getting pretty close to finishing the final art for the illustrations so I wanted to post a sneak peek at a couple of the paintings:

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

Next summer I’ll be teaching a three day field seminar at Yellowstone National Park! I’m so excited!! Not only do I get to go back to a place I love, but I’ll get to share a subject I’m passionate about — seeing nature through the eyes of an artist. The seminar will combine exploration of the park  with on-location watercolor painting as we follow in the footsteps of Thomas Moran, William Jackson, Ferdinand Hayden and the 1871 Hayden expedition. The workshop is offered through the non-profit Yellowstone Association Institute. Just staying at the Lamar Buffalo Ranch should be a treat, but exploring and sharing with others the sights of Yellowstone during the summer will be a blast!

Here’s the description of my field seminar:

Explore Yellowstone through the eyes of an artist. Thomas Moran’s field sketches from the 1871 Hayden Expedition played a vital role in the preservation of the park. View the paintings of Moran and other early explorers at the Yellowstone Heritage and Research Center, and follow in their footsteps as you discover the pleasure of plein-air (open air) painting with watercolors. Through daily painting excursions, nightly lectures, and painting demonstrations, you’ll explore and learn the art history of Yellowstone. Enjoy three days of on-location painting that includes demonstrations, critiques and encouragement from your artist instructor. You may even get the opportunity to paint some of the same locations made famous by Moran.

If you’re interested in attending, please contact the Yellowstone Association Institute. All levels of painters are welcome!

Field Seminar: Moran Watercolor, August 10-13, 2010

Location: Lamar Buffalo Ranch, Yellowstone National Park

And here’s a video clip from the Yellowstone Association.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

Yellowstone Moran was a really exciting book for me to create. My parents are wildlife photographers and I grew up spending long hours sitting still in wildlife blinds, waiting for animals to show up. It was often cold, bum-numbing, and with mosquitoes so thick it could drive a person mad. We had to sit very quietly while we watched. Not having a camera myself, I often carried a sketchbook and wrote and drew about the animals we saw.

As I grew older I dreamed of being an artist explorer, like Thomas Moran, exploring the wilderness and painting it. Eventually I became a landscape painter, toting a French easel and a backpack full of canvases as I traveled to places to paint. The experiences made me respect what Moran had set out to do with his art even more- preserve the natural beauty of the land by painting it and convincing others it should be protected. I knew I wanted to write his story, how he played a vital role in the creation of our first national park.

Creating the art for this book was a challenge. How to capture spouting geysers, huge landscapes, and men and horses climbing over fallen timber. I had never painted horses before this book. But I found a rancher kind enough to take me out on horseback so we could explore land Moran had traveled. Both the rancher and my husband, Dave posed as models in the book.

My favorite part creating the illustrations for the book was capturing the natural beauty of the land. I drew form the experience I had as a landscape painter. Though I now use watercolors instead of oils, the principles are the same, and it was a joy to pull out the field easel again and paint on location throughout the Yellowstone.

Here are a few of the paintings I did before I created children’s books, when when my focus as an artist was to paint on location. I often combined my painting travels with trips to Europe to study art in museums. The experiences I gained painting from life, on location were vital to my creating this book.

Brittany, France

Venice

Thanksgiving in New Hampshire

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

I just got back from ALA, and it was fantastic! It was not only my first time at ALA, but an extra special year since our friend and neighbor, Beth Krommes received the Caldecott medal for her book The House in the Night.

My conference began with my participation in the panel discussion — Inspiring Young Citizens: The Library as a Forum for Engagement. It was a great morning. We’re thankful to all those who attended and contributed to the discussion. I was honored to speak with my fellow panel members: authors Anne Sibley O’Brien and Phillip Hoose, librarian, Kelley McDaniel and children’s book advocate, Kirsten Cappy . Please refer to this link if you’d like to learn more about the discussion.

I then zipped over to the Penguin/Viking booth to sign the first F&G copies of my book Yellowstone Moran!

How exciting to have this book soon to be released (September). I’ve literally been working on this idea since I was 4 years old, when I first saw and fell in love with Yellowstone National Park. Over the years, I returned dozens and dozens of times, photographing wildlife with my parents and plein-air painting when I was a landscape painter. All together, I’ve spent over a year’s worth of nights camping and exploring the region, so the release of this book is an extra special moment for me.

My conference continued with a signing at the Disney-Hyperion booth, celebrating the fact that Pennies for Elephants was just released a few weeks ago. Then I rushed back to the hotel to change for the Caldecott banquet. What a thrill to hear Beth accept her award, as well as Neil Gaiman and Ashley Bryan!

I’m savoring the experience now and for the next couple of days before heading out again, this time to the MD/DE/VW SCBWI conference at McDaniel College, where I’ll be speaking with my editor of One Thousand Tracings and Pennies for Elephants, Namrata Tripathi. It’s been a busy summer, and I apologize for not writing more “process” entries lately. But quiet days at the easel will soon return and I’ll share work on the current book!

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

We got the news the same day my lovely editor, Kendra, sent me the first F&Gs! This is a story I’ve wanted to do since I was 4 years old so I’m really excited to know that JLG liked the book. Yellowstone Moran will be a September 2009 release with Viking.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

I am still on cloud nine after my school visit at Gilbert H Hood in Derry, NH! Thank you to all the students, teachers and especially Kathy Lane, for welcoming me to their school and making it such an incredible day. Thank you also for the wonderful letters on foot tracings that several students gave me. I loved our lunchtime conversation about writing and am still thinking about many of the questions and comments that were posed during that time. I’ve been working so hard on my current book, and a day with motivated, bright students really got me reenergized about writing and illustrating.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

Continuing the discussion on developing characters in my picture books, I wanted to mention the importance of secondary characters. All characters that appear in my stories are important, even if they aren’t the main characters of the story. I gather reference, do complete sketches, and then do color studies for these minor characters. Sometimes they only appear once in the book. But their role is crucial. They must have the same sense of life—the same uniqueness—as the main characters.

Here is a short series, sketches to final art, of five figures (including the dogs) who appear in “Pennies for Elephants.”

The role of the husband and wife, the “Snooty Couple”, is to ignore the little paper boy. Their gestures and clothes wordlessly portray people who aren’t interested in what the little boy is saying. Even their dog can’t be bothered to notice the paper boy’s dog. These characters add some humor. And even though they have no dialog, they convey meaning just by their attitude.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

For the second part to my series on developing characters, I thought I’d discuss the process of developing my animal characters for Pennies for Elephants. As I mentioned before, this book takes place in Boston, 1914. I demonstrated how I developed my little girl in the first part. This story also has three elephant characters. The children in the story are painted in a style which is not realistic, but rather reminiscent of an old fashioned style. Because they weren’t realistic, my elephants couldn’t be realistic either. I needed to make them slightly anthropomorphic to fit with the style of the children, but still real enough so my readers feel they were true characters.

I started as I always do by gathering reference. I found an elephant named Dinde, and her trainer was happy to work with me. Dinde did tricks and took poses that I needed for the book.

And since the characters in my book got to ride elephants… so did I! That’s the best part of creating my characters - immersing myself into the role so I can bring life to my sketches.

After working with Dinde, I was ready to begin sketching. I did hundreds, searching for the proper style to fit the children in the book and finding enough expression in the elephants faces to bring them to life. The sketches often start very crude and simple, then slowly build in character and detail.

Once sketches are done and I have found the style that works, I am ready to begin painting!

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

As part of my series on creative process I thought I’d share, over my next three entries, how I develop my characters for a picture book story.

The first character is a little girl named Dorothy in my book Pennies for Elephants (due out next spring). The book is set in Boston 1914. I wanted to create a sense of nostalgia with the book and with the characters. I also wanted it to be a younger story, not as realistic as One Thousand Tracings — that meant developing a new style for depicting my figure work. I find it’s actually easier when I do work that’s realistic, because I just hire a model and paint what I see, but for this book I worked to develop a style which captured the proper mood and period of the book.

I began by looking at examples of illustrators from the early 1900’s to immerse myself in the period. I also looked through clothing catalogs to see what people wore.

Then I drew lots of sketches! Hundreds of drawings of children. My style swung from too representational to overly cartoony. I experimented with putting different types of clothes on my characters, and used different gestures to create the personality I wanted. At last, I started focusing on the look of my character.

But the work wasn’t done. Translating a pencil drawing into a painting is often the most difficult step for me. There are still decisions to be made in the final paintings that the pencil drawing doesn’t cover. How could I paint my character to capture the flavor of fun and nostalgic early 1900’s. I did a series of color studies, experimenting with different colors to capture the right mood. I also experimented with different qualities of line and paint to find the right balance of emphasizing the getup of my little girl through line, but softening the look so the art felt warm and inviting. I did all these steps before the manuscript was even complete. Because I’m so visual, I often need to get my character down on paper as an illustration before I can complete the writing. After I ‘m happy with the look and personality of my character in the illustration, I can move toward finishing the story.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

I did it! I gave my speech at the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award Ceremony. It was pretty exciting to see all the flags lined up in front of the UN. I was really impressed with everyone’s speeches, particularly Emily Arnold McCully.

My wonderful editor, Nami, came to the ceremony. Below we’re admiring the Jane Addams doll that they gave each of us.

I’ll be posting another Creative Process entry soon on developing a strong character.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been planning to share my working process on my blog by doing a series of entries that coincide with each step of creating my picture books. I thought now would be a good time to start because I’m just beginning another story.

Most of my stories are based on historical events, so the very first step usually entails a lot of research. After reading stacks of books and taking enough notes to write a novel (I fall in love with all the fun details), it’s time to start writing. Because I’m so visual and approach my picture books with a strong sense of what I want to do with the illustrations from the very beginning, the writing phase begins with both words and drawings. I make dozens of sketches of my characters, exploring their personality in drawings as much as in words. Then I start a storyboard, each page of the book laid out on an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. I fill these pages with both words and sketches, blocking in my manuscript and illustrations. The separate pages allow me to keep the manuscript fluid and helps me think about the pacing of the book. I can also see the book as a whole from the very beginning this way. It is my favorite stage in a book, Sasha’s too!

Dave has noticed I have one other critical step in beginning a picture book –which may not seem important — nonetheless, I can’t seem to move forward on a project until I’ve completed this step — rearrange my studio! This entails not only cleaning up the piles of reference and sketches from the last book, neatly stacking the hundreds of drawings that accumulated on the floor and walls, but actually moving the furniture. Maybe it’s because I moved so often in my childhood. Now that we are permanently settled I feel the need to get a fresh start by moving furniture. I think its Pavlovian. I’m really not a procrastinator, I’m always bursting to launch into another book. But first, I spend a day shuffling tables, book shelves and easels, getting my nest ready for another book. Pu loves this stage. Moving the picture book collection creates a fortress of tunnels between stacks of books. The kitties stalk each other and hide within the trails until I’m ready to load up the book shelves again. Dave has given up trying to convince me this step really isn’t critical to starting a book and now cheerfully helps me move the couch when I’m ready. Then I can settle down to work.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

I’m excited to be on the homestretch painting for the Yellowstone Moran book. All the interior art is finished and I’m just starting the cover! Sasha has been supervising carefully as usual.

I’ll be attending the NEIBA convention in Boston this September. Hope to see any of you who may be attending as well.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

Dave and I just returned from Yellowstone National Park. It was a fantastic trip!! I did a lot of field sketches and color studies, gathering reference to finish the final paintings on my book about Thomas Moran. Now I’m home completing the last of the paintings. This has been a really fun project.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

I’ve been thinking of a new story idea based on an experience I had with a fawn when I was a little girl. I have little time to write lately as I’m working hard on the final illustrations for the Moran story, but often find myself daydreaming about the fawn story when I have a spare moment. Now summer has arrived and our back yard here at Wilder Farm has blossomed with wildflowers and baby wildlife. We have baby turkeys bobbing about in the clover, baby jays and crows squabbling on the fence posts and baby chickadees venturing out of their nest boxes. But perhaps the best of all are the twin fawns that were born in our backyard — I saw one wobbling around just after its birth.

They are growing up, eating our garden, napping in the ferns in front of my studio and playing in the yard. I now have oodles of pictures and have enjoyed watching them grow. I guess I’m going to have to write that story after all!

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

The 2008 Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards, given by the Jane Addams Peace Association, were just announced last Friday from the Hull-House Museum at the University of Illinois-Chicago. I am very, very proud that One Thousand Tracings received an honor! I’m looking forward to the awards ceremony at the United Nations Plaza in New York this October. I really feel like I’m accepting this particular award on behalf of my grandparents. One Thousand Tracings is their story—their efforts to help people who were suffering after the war and to bring healing to all people. I continue to feel very fortunate that I was able to write their story.

During last year’s awards presentation Susan Griffith read a quote from Jane Addams: “We have learned as common knowledge that much of the insensibility and hardness of the world is due to the lack of imagination which prevents a realization of the experiences of other people.” I love this quote!

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

I’ve just sent a pile of Pennies for Elephants artwork to my editor and art director. This is my next book with Hyperion—hopefully a spring/summer 2009 release. The story is based on the true event of Boston area children earning money to buy the first elephants for the zoo in 1914. Here are a few images:

I’ve added these images to the main illustration page on my website and added a few other new images as well.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

A teacher at New Palestine Elementary sent these pictures and story to Becky Gaines, the publisher of the New Palestine Press. Thanks to Becky for sending this to me. And congratulations to the students at New Palestine Elementary for working on a great service project!

“One Thousand Tracings,” by Lita Judge, gave a glimpse of time in the 1940’s and of the need for people in the war stricken countries for shoes.

(…) This year’’s event included a special service project. New Palestine Elementary students donated good used shoes to aid Indianapolis children in need. Two books the children read helped give an understanding of other’s’ needs. “Those Shoes”, written by Maribeth Boelts, gave a warm understanding of how important a good pair of shoes can be. It can bring pride and dignity to many children. The second book, “One Thousand Tracings”, by Lita Judge, gave a glimpse of time in the 1940’s and of a need for people in the war stricken countries for shoes. They would trace their feet and send them to a family that would search to find their size and send them back to them. The students each traced both of their feet, making over 1,000 Tracings.

The feet tracings are hanging up at New Palestine Elementary to represent their wonderful service project. They had a special opportunity for school spirit, good exercise and, most of all learned how to give to others with their community service.”

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

Our friend Melissa Stewart just gave us information on a Picture Book Festival she is organizing in Belmont, Massachusetts. This is much more than just a group book signing! Each author and/or illustrator has developed a short presentation, performance, or activity to entertain attendees, especially the children. And the entire event will be filmed and made into a documentary. It’s definitely worth checking out!

Belmont Children’s Picture Book Festival
March 29, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
First Church in Belmont, 404 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA
Free and open to the public

Six local authors celebrate the release of their new picture books with an afternoon of fun for the whole family. Meet the authors and illustrators, hear them talk about their books, and enjoy a variety of performances and activities. Wellesley Booksmith of Wellesley, Massachusetts, will make books available for purchase and signing.

Here are the web sites of the participants: Sarah S. Brannen , Anne Broyles, Timothy Basil Ering, Leo and Laura Jaffe Espinosa, James Kaczman, Melissa Stewart

For more information, contact Melissa Stewart at 978-263-7279 or hbeeprod@msn.com.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

Thank you to the International Reading Association for honoring One Thousand Tracings as the winner of the 2008 IRA Children’s Book Award! I’ll be going to the IRA Convention in Atlanta this May to accept the award. I’m so excited! The conference falls on the week of our planned vacation to Santa Fe. Dave and I rarely fit vacations in these days, but decided to take the plunge for my birthday. Now Santa Fe will have to wait for another birthday. Dave is being a great sport about it all. He’s as excited about the award as I am (perhaps more). I’ll be traveling to Atlanta with my close friend Sy Montgomery. She’s speaking on a panel—Growing up Green: Environmental Conversations with Authors—with Nic Bishop and Melissa Stewart. Sy received this same award in 2000 for her book, The Snake Scientist. We’re looking forward to the conference, and to sneaking off to see the whale shark at the Georgia Aquarium between events!

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.

Anyone who has met our family knows how much I love my Maine Coon, named Pu.

But you may not know just how much she supervises my work.
I spend long hours in the studio when I’m working on a book, but I’m NEVER lonely.

And of course Pu will be in my next book!
Here are a couple of preliminary sketches for Pennies with Pu’s contribution.

Originally published at Adventures at Wilder Farm. You can comment here or there.