Friday Studio Links Featuring...

Wendy Watson's Winter Studio

 

Magical Tree
Click here to purchase an archival Giclee print.

Early this year I featured the summer studio of award winning author/illustrator Wendy Watson. Today we get to see where she creates her wonderful books during the winter. How lucky she is to have two places to work. Wendy has written and illustrated twenty-one children’s books, and illustrated more than sixty children’s books by other authors. Just look at this list of books she's written or illustrated!

 

 

I recently had the opportunity to visit Wendy's home and see her studio. The one thing that stood out, was the artwork that covers the walls of her home. Wendy is a third-generation author and artist. Many of the pieces on display were not only hers, but those of her father, Aldren Watson and grandfather, Ernest Watson.

A few of their many accomplishments were teaching at Pratt Institute, co-opening one of the first summer art schools - the Berkshire Summer School of Art, and founding and editing American Artist magazine, which remained in publication for 75 years. These three generations have written of illustrated over 275 books combined.What a fascinating family filled with talent!

Plus, she has a pretty darn cool collection of old chairs and desks.

Be sure to follow Wendy Watson’s Blog. Also, Wendy recently opened up a new online studio shop! So head over to do some holiday shopping at her Esty store.

Thanks so much for sharing your studio Wendy!

What are you reading winner.

We have a winner! Karin Marie's name was drawn for this contest. A signed copy of First Snow is on the way to her.

Karin Marie said...
I enjoy reading The Night Before Christmas, but I often find that I will pick up the newest Debbie Macomber Christmas book. It seems like she has a new Christmas themed one every year!

What a fitting choice. I recently had a neighbor send these amazing photos of our cabin with the first snow of the year. I thought I'd share this winter sight with you all. For a desert dweller it's such a treat. Enjoy!

Our cabin.

 Our dog's house.

(She really doesn't stay there. She's an indoor dog.)

 Our favorite place to sit. Usually!

 

Our View!

Giving with Just a Click!

A Call-to-Action: Post a Comment to Help Share the Magic of BEDTIME STORIES!

Here are some great ways you can give to some great causes with just a click. That's right! Just a little of your time, and a click of a mouse and you're on your way to giving. Check out this great idea from the good people at First Book. Now through December 25, post a comment about your favorite bedtime story or memory on the First Book blog Bookmark and , in your honor, Disney will donate one new book to a child in need-just for commenting! It's free, takes just a minute!

Plus, if you make a donation through the First Book website, Random House Children's Books will match your donation book-for-book through December 31st!


Another way to help others can be found at the Breast Cancer Site. They are having trouble getting enough people to click on their site daily to meet their quota of donating at least one free mammogram a day to an underprivileged woman. It takes less than a minute and with just a click you can help fund free mammograms for women in need. Your click is paid for by site sponsors, and mammogram funding is provided to clinics throughout the U.S. through the efforts of the National Breast Cancer Foundation . Help them out and pass it on!

Links

Stop by my friend and fellow illustrator's blog for a great round-up (with photos!) of the Founders' Workshop in Honesdale, Pennsylvania put on by the Highlights Foundation. Tanja is always great at sharing everything she learns and continually supports our local talent. Thanks for passing on our promos Tanja!
Tanja Bauerle's Blog

You'll find a great video with Patrick Arrasmith explaining how he creates his amazing scratchboard illustrations and how book design helps define what he creates at:
Mishaps and Adventures

Head over and find the answers to "Seven Questions Over Breakfast with Brian Lies" and see some very cool behind the scenes sketches (Love Brian’s sketch of the library from Bats at the Library!) at:
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Don't forget to keep checking the Cynsations Blog. There's been some great giveaways. And of course always great interviews. You might even get lucky and win a book like I did. This week my mailbox held this little treasure. Listening for Crickets by David Gifaldi . Thank you Cynthia!

Halloween

Check out Lynd Ward's illustrated version of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Amazing wood cut engravings! Plus that type! I think I'd buy this book just because of the type alone...if I could afford it.

Thanks Fuse #8 for the link to this post. Go there! You'll see a number of wonderful interior spreads.

Wednesday Links

Read a Banned Book!


Join Random House in the fight against censorship. Celebrate your First Amendment right. Read a banned book! Check out the list of banned books Random House has put together. You'll be amazed at what you see. Their First Amendment First Aide Kit site features interviews with banned authors, strategies for teachers, librarians, and booksellers to stand up to censorship, and tips for talking about these issues.

Just the other day my daughter noticed I had Lois Lowry's The Giver sitting out. She told me it was "a really good book." My kids had read it in school. I'm so glad our local schools have not succumbed to censorship. That's the banned book I'm going to read. How about you?

The Bookcase- An Adventure in Spring Cleaning

Along with my quest to becoming published, I'm embarking on another, and just as difficult, quest. Becoming organized! The spring cleaning bug bit. That nasty little bug jumped right from the house into my studio. It keeps nipping at me. Finding piles over here and stacks over there. Newspaper clippings hidden among photos. Pencils stubs too short to even grasp. Plastic containers with no real purpose. And books! Stacks of books everywhere! It was time for a plan.

Ikea to the rescue! They have a cubicle style bookcase made just for me. I have cubbyholes for my copies and for the copies from each of the libraries I visit. And I can still stack, but hopefully keep things under control. Like all good organizers bitten by the spring cleaning bug, I started out by sorting everything alphabetically!

The new bookcase fits perfectly on top of my old credenza.

It didn't take me long to fill it up. Yet, I still have room for more!

Two of the cubbies are for library books.
The rest of the books are all mine.

These are a few of my picture books.

One cubby is devoted to signed copies only.
I love collecting these!