Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poetry. Show all posts

February 10, 2020

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

JOAN WALSH ANGLUND (1926 - ) was born in Hinsdale, Illinois, the daughter of Thomas F. Anglund, a commercial artist, and Mildred Pfiefer Walsh, a painter. In 1944 she attended the Chicago Art Institute, later transferring to the American Academy of Art in 1945. While studying in Chicago, she became an apprentice commercial artist under the tutelage of Adele Roth. She met Robert Anglund and the couple was married in 1947. Anglund's literary career began after she was inspired to write by a group of neighborhood children playing near her home. While watching the children, she wrote the text for A Friend Is Someone Who Likes You (1958). Many of her illustrations are based on people and places from her own life—particularly her two children, Joy and Todd. As the popularity of her children's works continued to grow, Anglund's artwork began appearing on a wide range of consumer merchandise, including dolls, plates, greeting cards, notebooks, ceramics, calendars, prints, and Christmas ornaments. Beginning in 1979, Anglund started writing and illustrating a special quarterly segment for Good Housekeeping magazine and her artwork has since been featured in Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Day and Family Circle. Her books have been translated into several languages, published in over fourteen countries, and have sold more than forty million copies worldwide. 
 Learn more about the illustrator 

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

"Love is a Special Way of Feeling" by Joan Walsh Anglund (1960)

April 27, 2019

"Roses are Red. Are Violets Blue??" by Alice & Martin Provensen (1973)

ALICE PROVENSEN (1918 - 2018) and MARTIN PROVENSEN (1916 – 1987) were an American couple who illustrated more than 40 children's books together, 19 of which they also wrote and edited. According to Alice, "we were a true collaboration. Martin and I really were one artist."
Their early lives were remarkably similar. Both were born in Chicago and both moved to California when they were twelve. Both received scholarships to the Art Institute of Chicago, and both attended the University of California, though at separate campuses. After college, Alice went to work with Walter Lantz Studio, the creators of Woody Woodpecker, and Martin took work with the rival Walt Disney Studio, where he collaborated on Pinocchio, Fantasia, and Dumbo.
The pair met in 1943 when Martin, working as a creator of training films for the American military, was assigned to the Walter Lantz Studio. They were married in 1944 and resettled in Washington, D.C., where they worked on war-related projects. After the war they moved to New York City where a friend helped them get their first job, illustrating The Fireside Book of Folk Songs. They illustrated several Little Golden Books including The Color Kittens by Margaret Wise Brown (1949). In 1952, Tony the Tiger, designed by Martin, debuted as a Kellogg's mascot.
The Provensen's were a runner-up for the 1982 Caldecott Medal as illustrators of A Visit to William Blake's Inn by Nancy Willard (who won the companion Newbery Medal). Two years later they won the Caldecott for The Glorious Flight, the story of aviator Louis BlĂ©riot, the first man to fly solo across the English Channel, which they also wrote. The annual award by U.S. professional librarians recognizes the year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". Eight of their books were named to The New York Times annual Ten Best Illustrated Books, including Our Animal Friends at Maple Hill Farm (1974) and An Owl and Three Pussycats (1981). he couple were collaborative illustrators for Donald Waxman's "Pagaents for Piano," a series of pedagogical primers. 
The couple lived for many years at Maple Hill Farm in Dutchess County, New York, which they portrayed in A Year at Maple Hill Farm (1978) as well as Our Animal Friends. Martin died of a heart attack on March 27, 1987, in Staatsburg. Alice continued to live and work at Maple Hill Farm, publishing solo work such as The Buck Stops Here: the Presidents of the United States (1990) and My fellow Americans: a family album (1995), two presentations of people and events from American history (juvenile nonfiction). Punch in New York, published in 1991, is considered her best solo work.The book received several honors and is dedicated to her grandson, Sean.
After turning ninety, Alice made the move from her beloved rustic farm to San Clemente, California to live with her daughter, Karen Mitchell, and her family. Provensen continued working (an addition was added to her daughter's house for a studio) well into her nineties. She died only four months before her 100th birthday.
Learn more about the Provensen's.

























April 5, 2019

"Oxford Book of Poetry for Children" compiled by Edward Blishen, illustrated by Brian Wildsmith (1963)

BRIAN WILDSMITH (1930 – 2016), born in Yorkshire, England, was a British painter and children's book illustrator. He won a scholarship to London's Slade School of Fine Art, and then entered the Army and was assigned to teach mathematics. From 1954 to 1957, he returned to his first love, art, and taught it full-time. After three years, he resigned his job to become a free-lance illustrator of children's books and also created large abstract paintings. 
In all of Wildsmith's books, the illustrations are always as important as the text. His book illustrations were done in full-color, using gouache, which gives a transparent effect, or mixed with impasto, which provides a thick-textured appearance. He once described his style as representational with "abstract tendencies." 
Wildsmith won the 1962 Kate Greenaway Medal for British children's book illustration, for the wordless alphabet book ABC. For his contribution as a children's illustrator, Wildsmith was a runner-up for the Hans Christian Andersen Medal in 1966 and 1968. 
Learn more about the illustrator.