Origins Of A Monkey

Last month I went to the Jewish Museum's exhibit, 'Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H.A. Rey'. I was so excited to see such an extensive body of their original drawings and early children's books. H.A. Rey is such an effective illustrator. His simple line drawings convey expressions and movements so well! I also loved that all of the text was handwritten. I also liked how the exhibit showed the drawings with color separation and I was able to learn a bit about the printing process in the book publishing industry.

This exhibit well exceeded my expectations! The curator successfully paralleled the content of their work with the Reys narrow escape (on bicycles no less!) from Nazi-occupied Europe where they fled Paris and finally made it to New York. In 1941, Houghton Mifflin offered the Reys a contract and the 'Curious George' we know and love is welcomed into the world.

The Jewish Museum's special exhibit is on from March 14, 2010 - August 01, 2010.

Cut Vegetables In My Kitchen

For the past month or so I started working on a new mini project to decorate my walls in the kitchen. When we first moved in, my husband commissioned me to create some art of vegetables to hang on the walls. I experimented with oil painting them but the vegetables didn't have the graphic qualities I was looking for. (Or maybe oil painting just isn't my forte...) I was debating whether I should try to make some linoleum prints when I came across the inspiring work of Julene Harrison. She is a London-based cut-paper artist who creates beautiful custom typographic designs.

While my attempt at cut paper is not nearly as large or intricate as Julene's works, I had such fun creating this for my kitchen wall. I am already thinking of future projects where I can incorporate more cut paper!

Butternut Squash


Scallions


Corn


Tomatoes


Peppers


Avocado