RhyPiBoMo 2016

Woo-hoo!

I am participating in the Rhyming Picture Book Month 2016 challenge!

30 days of reading rhyming picture books, and linking with bloggers and writers and readers who share the love.

I had the privilege of attending the RhyPiBoMo Conference in December, where I met Angie and a bunch of other wonderful people who made me feel at home right away. I am looking forward to connecting with them, and all the other fans of rhyming picture books out there!

So here's a list of the first week's batch of books I've read and enjoyed:

Dino-Hockey by Lisa Wheeler (illus. Barry Gott)
Two Sticks by Orel Protopopescu (illus. Anne Wilsdorf)
Llama Llama Misses Mama by Anna Dewdney
The Monster Who Lost His Mean by Tiffany Strelitz Haber (illus. Kirstie Edmunds)
Outer Space Bedtime Race by Rob Sanders (illus. Brian Won)
Interstellar Cinderella by Deborah Underwood (illus. Meg Hunt)

Those last two were prizes from the Conference, woo-hoo!

I hope to offer some reviews, maybe from my 6-year-old fan of all things rhyming, too. It's fun to have someone to read the books with me!

Visual artists offer fortitude (and inspiration)

I was in a funk.

I'm banging away at this book, and I love the process, and feel like I'm making progress, but the sense of "what's the point" looms large lately.

Usually, it's just a little whisper in the back of the mind, easily ignored. But it's getting louder. Does it mean I'm closer to something? Or is it the Voice of Truth I'd Rather Not Admit? Don't know.

But a visit to an art gallery has girded my writing loins. So to speak.

Check out artist Andrea Dezso's work, from her exhibit called "Andrea Dezso: I Wonder."

This is actually layers of cut paper, set a few inches in front of one another, with colored lights shining in between. Isn't it amazing? It's called a tunnel book.

Dezso also had ceramic bowls with strange images, pencil sketches, embroidered pieces, and a huge wall hanging of a magical land with bizarre creatures done with matte paint and markers.

She created worlds with all these different media, populated with frolicking creatures, and again, I wondered what sorts of stories she heard when she was creating them. Some referenced the Brothers Grimm, and some were her mother's tall tales, but she worked for hours and hours to bring these stories to viewers. And...wow.

Her show, as well as Kate Clark's, reminded me of what it feels like to respond to art by wanting to create art (in my case, writing). Sort of an "Oh yeah, I'm a writer" moment.

As well as an appreciation for all the other artists out there building their strange creations based on impulses and a vision--and a hope that someday, other people will see it and be inspired.

Inspiration...when you least expect it

I wasn't looking for a new story idea.

A friend invited my kids and me to a gallery exhibit called "Kate Clark: Mysterious Presence" at Newcomb Art Museum of Tulane after school. (My friend's an artist; she does stuff like take her kids to galleries after school.) My kids were into it, and it was free, so off we went.

Whoa.

Three life-size antelopes greeted us head-on...and they had human heads.

"Ceremony"

Artist Kate Clark uses traditional taxidermy techniques to create animal sculptures. Then she sculpts a face from a human model, attaches that to the animal bodies, and uses the animal's skin to make the creature look real. It's disconcerting at first, but also weirdly lovely. She humanizes the animals, and animalizes the humans, by creating these magical chimeras.

"She Gets What She Wants"

As I walked among the sculptures, I noticed each face was different, which got me to thinking about their personalities. What would they say? How would they interact with one another? Where do they live? What if someone found the place in the deep forest where these creatures lived?

And boom. Story idea. 

I felt like the story was already written, and I just needed to remember it, or find it. Then I realized, no, I need to write it. 

Now I'm haunted by these magical creatures and what they want to say to me. I'm not ready for their stories just yet--I still have a bunch of others to work on--but then again, who am I to turn away anyone who wants their stories told?