alpanas and henna
Jan Hamilton, Youth Services Librarian at Prince Memorial Library in Cumberland, and Lupine Committee Chair, invited me to speak this past week about Rickshaw Girl and draw alpanas in combination with a henna demonstration by Genevieve Levin. What an inspired combined program. Henna designs are commonly found in Indian culture, particularly around weddings and special occassions, applied as a paste to the skin. The designs bear a resemblance to alpanas, the ephemeral decorations created by Bangla women with rice paste, and applied to walls and entrances of dwellings. Both employ similar...
Read Moremaking connections
While the biggest moment in NYC was receiving the Jane Addams honor award, there were plenty of other big moments as well. I reconnected with friends I haven’t seen in years. Decades, even. Dessert on our first night in town at Cafe Lalo with Genevieve completely sweetened the trip. I first worked with her ages ago in Boston and we are in touch annually, around her almost solstice birthday. So many moons, so little time. We met her adorable Cormac at last. Next day, it was lunch at Brasserie with fellow RISD alum, Bob de Michiell, who looks younger every time I see him. We talked about...
Read MoreBig moment in NYC
Whew. I actually made it, breathless and jittery to the 55th Annual Jane Addams Children’s Book Awards presentation, across from the United Nations. Rickshaw Girl won in the Honor Books for Older Children category and author Mitali Perkins gave a memorable acceptance speech, acknowledging her family heritage and God, “author of MY story.” I had not written a speech, assuming I would follow Mitali, who would say everything in the best way possible,and I could simply say, thank you. But of course, I got going, and got choked up. Couldn’t help myself: the story of...
Read MoreFind out moonshine
They are here! The 2009 Lunar Calendars are in. Got my batch of comps and they are divine. I posted the tiger drawing awhile back, when I was in the middle of figuring out the illustration. I am asked to do the cover only every few years, so I wanted this one to be as colorful and dramatic as possible. I decided to work with separate elements, and then play around with layering them in Photoshop. This makes the process akin to collaging, my other love. I can play around til it hits me just right. I also wanted to get more mileage out of the reams of reference I had collected when researching...
Read MoreMixed metaphors
I’m working on the cover of next year’s Lunar Calendar which is both fun and daunting, since I have great freedom. My so-called personal work is always an amalgam of whatever is cluttering my drawing table/mind at the moment. With Rickshaw Girl bringing good news, I have been revisiting all the scads of reference material for that project that went unused. In short, I decided to do a Hindu goddess/chimera…part tiger and part queen, since I just finished reading about Mabel Stark, the famous female tiger trainer from the 20’s. During a break, I opened up the local...
Read MoreRickshaw Girl wins again
I am still glowing with the Lupine Honor and now comes another: the Jane Addams Honor Award for Rickshaw Girl! From the Jane Addams Peace Association press release: Three books have won honors in the Books for Older Children category. Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins, with illustrations by Jamie Hogan and published by Charlesbridge, is a contemporary novel set in Bangladesh. In clear prose and detailed black-and-white drawings, ten-year-old Naimi excels at painting alpanas, traditional designs created by Bangladeshi women and girls. Her talent, though valued by her family, cannot buy rice or...
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