Had a great time at JERSEY COMMUNITY HIGH SCHOOL today speaking to Mrs. Scott's and Mrs. Goetten's classes. One of the best things about being an author is visiting schools and talking to students.  Thanks for a great morning everybody in Jerseyville!

ARTillus 1: When is a box not a box?

When it is transformed by your imagination!  The first book, I've chosen to explore is Not a Box by Antonette Portis.  With simple line drawings, a clever rabbit show us that a simple box can become anything.

  

While researching the possibilities using cardboard boxes, I discovered a wonderful website: “BOXDOODLE”.  http://www.neu-e.de/ Included on the site are numerous samples of transformed boxes.  A really exciting feature is “The Doodle Tool” where you can transform a virtual box using digital painting tools. 

I chose to explore the box doodle idea using traditional media: acrylic paint and markers. The wonderful part of this project for art classes is re-purposing cardboard boxes we usually throw away. 

Saving money + 

Helping the environment + 

igniting our student’s imagination = 

WHAT'S NOT TO LOVE?

The illustration I created was based on my box transformation. I used Derwent watercolor pencils and sharpie thin point markers.  This style is a radical change from what I usually do but I loved the freedom of stepping “outside of the box”.

Introducing "ARTillus"

The best laid plans of mice and men….gobbled up by my new addiction to PINTEREST.  Yes, I know the bad stuff BUT it’s the double whammy for me: an unending plethora of visual images and my prehistoric hunting/gathering nature kicking in big time.  Who doesn't need fifty-one pin boards ranging from cupcakes to Lincoln?  I have been inspired. I now know how to revive sharpie markers, make flowers out of marshmallows AND I have at least a year’s worth of u-tube videos to watch.  The biggest plus is I finally have a shadowy idea of what I hope will be the direction of this blog! (whoo, whoo)  I’m bringing together three of my favorite things: children’s books, art education and expanding my illustration muscles by trying new things. I’m calling it “ARTillus”….combining my love of art, art education and children's illustration.  I plan to post a beautiful/inspiring children’s picture book, an art activity for children based on the media, theme, or style of the book and an illustration of my own in a similar vein.  I hope you are as inspired, as much as I am, by children's picture books.