Bernice Myers Talented mid-century Illustrator of children’s books
They say all good things must come to an end, and so my year or blogging draws to a close. I’m making this my last post for 2012 and singing off for a well earned rest until the new year. Please find some time to shuffle through the past posts that you may have missed or the numerous links, I’m sure there’s plenty to keep you busy now that you’re here lol. I actually wrote this blog post a few months ago but decided to keep it as the final one for 2012 as it’s full of fun, cheer and wonderful illustrations, something positive to end the year on.
Anyone familiar with the children’s books illustrated by the mid century artist Bernice Myers like The Four Musicians, Bunny Button etc , may not have seen her science based ‘ All Around ‘ series of books. This is her more usual style.
I discovered her other style whilst browsing on Flickr and started collecting the range of books she illustrated with the text supplied by Tillie S Pine and Joseph Levine. Here’s a few of the titles I have already. I love their simple style and colourful, humourous characters. Most of the books feature two colours and black to show off the fun images.
I’ve taken some images from each of the books for your to marvel at. Starting with Friction All Around.
Electricity All Around.
Air All Around.
Sounds and Magnets All Around.
Heat All Around.
Gravity All Around.
Water All Around.
Light All Around.
A superb collection of quirky and informative illustrations, that I’m sure would captivate children and adults alike even today.
I did get in touch with Bernice who told me that she was flattered to be featured on my blog. How great is that !! She also mentioned that the work you see above, helped her to pass a test for a Ford Foundation Scholarship, where she learnt enough to go for a specially created college degree. Some 60 books later and she’s still working !
Superb work Bernice, I still have a couple of books in the series to go for the set but I’m getting there.
Just a quick card to wish all my regular readers and occasional visitors a warm and Happy Fishmas ! (of course) and all the very best for 2013.
Thanks for your comments and support, keep on spreading the word about Fishink blog and Fishink and I look forward to seeing you all again in the new year, Bye for now 🙂
Axel Scheffler creates the 2012 Christmas Stamps for Royal Mail
Image Copyright of The Telegraph
Axel Scheffler was born in Hamburg, Germany, but now lives in London. At school he was good at art, but didn’t think of a career in illustration until he won a cuddly purple cow in a drawing competition. He was asked this year to illustrate the Christmas Stamps for Royal Mail and he has produced a fine set of colourful and festive scenes.
Axel has had a very successful career to date, most notably for his wonderful illustrations in Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo and now also The Gruffalo’s Child.
For more information about Axel visit his site or there’s a great interview from earlier this year in The Telegraph. You can buy the new stamps online here or at your local post office.
Fishink Wintery Walks
It’s one of those beautiful cold crisp and frosty-fresh kind of days, so I took a walk up the road to experience it.
The thought that went through my mind as I passed those berries was that they must either be poisonous to birds or there is still plenty of food around for them not to have stripped the branches bare. The frosty leaves looked amazing, particularly when the sun caught them and made them sparkle and glisten. I like the way it adds definition to the veins.
The frost on the side of the path looked like someone has sprayed white paint over sections of the undergrowth. I hope everyone is keeping warm deep down in their burrows.
The warming, yet softened light at midday was magical.
As the day wore on, I watched the icy blue sky turn into a glorious refection of sugary candies.
Even the moon is wonderful at this time of year. Now I just need to defrost my feet ! Brrr…. keep warm everyone.
The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey
One day, while marking examination papers for his students, Professor Tolkien found himself presented with a blank piece of paper. So delighted was he with having nothing to read, he quickly wrote “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” and so began the story of Mr Bilbo Baggins.
Unless you’ve had your eyes closed when walking down the road in the UK lately, you can’t have missed the myriad of advertising for Pater Jackson’s latest film The Hobbit – An Unexpected Journey. Like it’s sequel Lord Of The Rings, The Hobbit has been filmed as a trilogy, An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013) and There and Back Again (2014), and today is it’s official UK release date.
Written by J.R.R. Tolkien and set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the three films follow the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), hired by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), to accompany 13 dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) on a quest to reclaim the Lonely Mountain from the dragon Smaug (Benedict Cumberbatch).
The quality of the films looks set to be superb, not only from the point of the obsessive attention to detail but Jackson also revealed through his Facebook page that he is filming The Hobbit at 48 fps (frames per second) instead of the normal 24 fps.
He states ” We are indeed shooting at the higher frame rate. The key thing to understand is that this process requires both shooting and projecting at 48 frames/s, rather than the usual 24 frames/s (the great majority of films have been shot at 24 frames per second since the late 1920s). So the result looks like normal speed, but the image has hugely enhanced clarity and smoothness. Looking at 24 frames every second may seem ok—and we’ve all seen thousands of films like this over the last 90 years—but there is often quite a lot of blur in each frame, during fast movements and if the camera is moving around quickly, the image can judder or “strobe.” Shooting and projecting at 48 frames/s does a lot to get rid of these issues. It looks much more lifelike and it is much easier to watch, especially in 3-D ”
I was enthralled and excited by the films for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, especially when watching the first one in New Zealand at Christmastime, it somehow made it even more spectacular. So I hope that the magic of the Hobbit can be as good, if not better.
The Hobbit was originally published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald Tribune for best juvenile fiction. The book remains popular and is recognized as a classic in children’s literature, being published in many countries with different covers, here’s just a few. Including the green cover with a drawing by Tolkien himself for Smaug the dragon. There’s more fascinating information about the creation of the book on the site Tolkien Collector.
So are we ready for another epic journey ? ….. have you packed your sandwiches ?
Donald Saaf A Creative Mind
Donald Saaf is a painter, sculptor, musician and children’s book illustrator. He lives in the small village of Saxtons River in southern Vermont.
I like his narrative paintings, and his quirky use of scale and perspective.
Can you spot the ghostly figure heads in some of the backgrounds.
He works in a lovely converted barn right near to his home, which he shares with his partner and fellow artist Julia Zanes.
Together they created a multimedia marionette show called ‘The Green Gold Tree’. Donald creates the music for the Bluebird Theater productions and
Julia Zanes is the talented director who also makes all these wonderful puppets.
Donald also creates whimsical sculptural pieces. I love the head in the wall and the angel and hand below.
A truly talented artist.
Michael Grab’s Balancing Sculptures
I’ve admired the work of Andy Goldsworthy for a fair number of years now, and when I came across the images of Michael Grab, and discovered that he also creates his sculptures by balancing one form on the other, and using gravity and weight as the ‘glue’, then I thought I’d take a closer look.
I get an odd mix of feelings when I look at his work. On one hand there is the wonderful feeling of serenity and calm to the pieces standing like a collection of stone totem poles or Easter Island sculptures. This plays alongside an inner feeling of unease or disbelief that the whole formation won’t come crashing down at any minute. Perhaps they’re meant to have a transience to them and exist only in the moment of us seeing them.
Michael says ‘As far as I know, many cultures from across the globe have practiced the art of balancing rocks for several centuries, if not longer. Rocks are among the oldest of primitive tools. In balance, their purposes range from marking human presence to giving thanks to meditative nature art. Over the past few years of practicing rock balance, simple curiosity has evolved into therapeutic ritual, ultimately nurturing meditative presence, mental well-being, and artistry of design. Alongside the art, setting rocks into balance has also become a way of showing appreciation, offering thanksgiving, and inducing meditation.’
The mix of stone and water works so well, and when many forms appear assembled together, then a magical space is created.
These oddly remind me of Henry Moore’s King and Queen sculpture, what a relaxing way to spend your days.
All images Copyright of Michael Grab and Gravity Glue.
Legend and Rise of the Guardians
If you like fantasy films and haven’t yet watched ‘Legend of the Guardians’ (or The Owls of Ga’Hoole as it was originally called in the book by Kathryn Lasky) then this is a great children’s adventure. It was released in 2010 and was one that slipped by me until I recently came across the dvd for £3 in a local supermarket.
Made by the creators of ‘Happy Feet’, the film follows Soren, who is a young owl enthralled by his father’s epic stories of the Guardians of Ga’Hoole, a mythic band of winged warriors who had fought a great battle to save all of owl kind from the evil Pure Ones. While Soren dreams of someday joining his heroes, his older brother, Kludd, scoffs at the notion, and yearns to hunt, fly and steal his father’s favor from his younger sibling. But Kludd’s jealousy has terrible consequences–causing both owlets to fall from their treetop home and right into the talons of the Pure Ones. Now it is up to Soren to make a daring escape with the help of other brave young owls. Together they soar across the sea and through the mist to find the Great Tree, home of the legendary Guardians of Ga’Hoole–Soren’s only hope of defeating the Pure Ones and saving the owl kingdoms.
Of course, as in all adventures there are goodies and there are baddies and the baddies are really quite dark and evil… you have been warned lol
However the truly stunning visuals,
and the painstakingly beautiful virtual sets, add such detail, depth and dimension to the film, that it’s a pleasure to escape into. Of course the storyline isn’t too taxing as it’s a children’s film after all but for the visuals alone I’d give it an 8 out of 10.
This is not to be confused with a new film called ‘Rise Of The Guardians’, a 2012 release by Dreamworks.
Rise Of The Guardians is an epic and magical adventure that tells the story of Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Sandman, and Jack Frost – legendary characters with previously unknown extraordinary abilities. When an evil spirit known as Pitch lays down the gauntlet to take over the world, the immortal Guardians must join forces to protect the hopes, beliefs and imagination of children everywhere. I’ve not yet seen this film and the reviews are pretty mixed
From the creators of How To Train Your Dragon, (another superb action adventure) this looks to be as rich and entertaining as any previous Dreamworks film, even if the story line sounds a little on the odd side.
There’s a review of the film over on Chud.Com
Vintage Book Covers
A few more Vintage book covers that have caught my eye recently. Some lovely adult book covers.
and a whole host of children’s books.
Such a variety of styles.
I remember The Happy Venture Readers when I was at primary school along with Janet and John, Nip and Fluff ! Great names for dogs and cats lol.
Hope these prompt some childhood memories for you too.
Josefa Galindo Illustration work from Chile.
Josefa Galindo is from Chile. She trained as an Industrial Designer and then took a course in Illustration. Her chalky drawings and see through trees are delightful.
As her interest grew she did a degree in Illustration and now also teaches on the course a little too. I like her modern take on Little Red Riding Hood and her angular, printed wolf below.
Clotilda is a little witch who takes advantage of her grandmother’s absence in order to make mischief.
I’m looking forward to seeing more new work soon Josefa.
I took an autumnal stroll to Manchester’s Gallery of Costume, primarily to see the gallery itself but also to catch part 2 of the exhibition called ” The First Cut “.
The exhibition starts with structured Victorian money dresses by Susan Stockwell,
and some of her preparative studies for the pieces.
More contemporary themed, delicate paper dresses by Susan Cutts and Violise Lunn.
The Museum itself is really quite beautiful, a Grade 2 listed Georgian house that underwent a major million pound renovation project back in 2010.
This is just a taster of the collections on display, head over to the museum to see them for yourself.
” The First Cut ” Exhibition runs across the two sites now until 27 January 2013 and is well worth a visit.
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