Cathy's Picks!

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2008 Children's Book Illustration Show & Signing
December 6th, 1-5 pm

Pick my favorite? There are so many illustrations to choose from and they're so wonderful and they're all so different. How can I possibly?

Well, I guess if Jennifer can pick her favorite books, I can pick my favorite illustrations. So, here goes... I'll do my best.

Elisa Kleven
from the book, "Wishing Ball"
watercolor/collage
$1325
SEE IT FRAMED

I think this little cat is so joyful and innocent. Elisa Kleven has created vibrant colors with water color, gouche, and bits of paper in this striking but simple piece. In the story "Wishing Ball", a stray cat wishes for a place to belong and someone to belong to. As seen in this delightful illustration Nellie has a dream that a wishing star comes down from the sky and plays with her. Don't you hope her wish will come true?

Melissa Sweet
from the book "Charlotte in Paris"
mixed media
$1500
SEE IT FRAMED

When you see this lovely little piece in person it just pops! Melissa Sweet painted a garden scene in Paris with a deckeled edge, then topped with a hand made detailed "seed packet" attached. "Charlotte in Paris" is the first of a series of early chapter books about a young girl who's father is an impressionistic painter during the late 1800's, who brings his family along on his travels to Paris. This page illustrates a gift to Charlotte from none other than Monsieur Monet!

Beth Krommes
from the book, "Butterfly Eyes"
watercolor/scratchboard
$1450
SEE IT FRAMED

Such strong design and detail, I want to wander into this lively meadow! Beth Krommes has created this beautiful scene with scratchboard in amazing, fine detail, then makes an archival reproduction and adds watercolor to complete the illustration. "Butterfly Eyes" is an unusual and fascinating mix of poetry and scientific facts about the plants and creatures in the meadow. Along with this illustration are the answers to riddles about Spittlebug and Xylem & Phloem... I never would have guessed!

Holly Meade
from the book, "Sky Sweeper"
cut paper collage
$1850
SEE IT FRAMED

I love the movement as your eye travels with the boy and the cat. Using paper collage, Caldecott Award winner Holly Meade, gently tells a story with patterns, simple shapes, and a soft calming palette. In this illustration from the "Sky Sweeper", young Takeboki sweeps the garden through the spring and summer which is just the beginning of his life long devotion of caring for the garden.

Zachary Pullen
from the book, "The Toughest Cowboy"
oil on paper
$1800
UNFRAMED

Zachary Pullen's characters are HILARIOUS! What can I say? I laughed out loud when I turned to this page of "The Toughest Cowboy". Grizz, the toughest of all, decided he needed another kind of companion other than his scruffy, rough around the edges cowboy buddies. The above illustration is their reaction when he tells them what their duties will be to care for "Foofy"!

That was tough! So, those are my picks, at least today. If you ask me tomorrow I'd look through all these wonderful illustrations and agonize about it all over again. Come in and choose for yourself which ones are your favorites!

...or browse our website. Your comments are welcome.

Cathy June Arneson

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