A lovely review of Greta from School Library Journal

"A bunny misses her photographer father when he’s gone on assignments. Sometimes she wishes she were the subject of his photo shoots. When he covers the circus, Greta imagines she is a circus performer. Then he photographs a country singer, and she plays the part in cowboy boots. When she aspires to have an important job like his, her father assures her that she already has the most important job–being his Greta. The short, sweet text offers young children reassurance as it follows the rabbit’s thoughts while she dreams of ways to be close to her dad. The acrylic paintings of an anthropomorphic rabbit family are reminiscent of those in Margaret Wise Brown’s Good Night Moon (HarperCollins, 1947) and verify the warmth of the narrative . . ."

–Carolyn Janssen, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, OH

Thanks SLJ! Read more about A Photo for Greta here.

A house in the woods

It's been a busy month with sadly not much writing or drawing going on. We are packing up for a move once again, this time to a little house in the country:

It's been a long time since I've lived in the woods, twenty years I guess? Since leaving home as a teenager I've lived in Richmond, Virginia, Providence, Boston, San Francisco, and most recently Northampton, Massachusetts. Lately though I've been feeling the strong urge to live in a remote, beautiful, quiet place. Maybe the work of taking care of a baby has become enough stimulation and I need more of a calm, relaxing environment. Or maybe I've just come full circle and want to raise Tilda in a place similar to where I grew up. Either way, I'm excited to see where the change of environment takes me personally and creatively.

More soon once we settle in!

9 months

Tilda is 9 months old today. The time has passed so quickly, just like everyone said it would. I can already see the little girl she will grow into.

Advice

I recently read this article for aspiring photographers by Cheryl Jacobs Nicolai. It struck me as very true for any creative professional. Some favorite excerpts:

"Don't look outward for your style; look inward."

"Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a concensus."

"Accept critique, but don't apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn't make you ungrateful, it makes you independent."

"Excellent technique is a great tool, but a terrible end product. The best thing your technique can do is not call attention to itself. Never let your technique upstage your subject."

"Never compare your journey with someone else's. It's a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never "arrive". No one ever does."

And aren't her photographs lovely?

Posters

Jules over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast posted a link the other day to these amazing minimalist posters for various children's classics. I adore them! Trying to decide which one to put up in Tilda's nursery (probably not The Pied Piper).

ps. Happy 5th birthday 7-Imp!

Furball Friday

Awesome

"The first Penguin edition of EV Rieu's translation of Homer had a Greek sailor on the cover, with a disclaimer inside: "Not an authentic depiction of a Greek sailor". They then put a penguin on the cover instead – but forgot to change the disclaimer."

-from The Katharaine Whitehorn experience

Maybe I should start including disclaimers in my books, eg "not an authentic depiction of a rabbit photographer."

(Via Peonies and Polaroids)