Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

You guys, yesterday’s birthday wishes were so, so kind. How can a girl get so lucky to have such friends — and a blog partner-in-crime who will get Barry Manilow to sing to her?

Anyway, thanks again, and onwards and upwards…

Ah, just look at that watercolor creation. This comes from author/illustrator Maria van Lieshout, and it’s a sneak-peek from one of her upcoming titles, Sleep, Baby, Sleep, to be published by Philomel in October of this year, and written by Maryann Cusimano Love. Here’s another sneak-peek:

I’ve posted before about one of Maria’s books — back in February of last year after the 2007 release of Bloom! Somehow I missed Splash! (2008), the second title in this series of hers from Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan — these compact, sparsely-illustrated, small-format titles about…well, they all seem to be about life’s extreme highs (post-lows) in one way or another. With subtitles like A Little Book About Finding Love and A Little Book About Bouncing Back, you can see what I mean.

I enjoyed the latest title, Peep!: A Little Book About Taking a Leap (March 2009), and it reminded me that I’ve been wanting to ask Maria to stop by for a while and talk a bit about her work. But, even if I had forgotten, my five-year-old’s very loud hoots over the book and her repeat—and, boy howdy, do I mean REPEAT—readings of the title would have jogged my memory anyway. I haven’t had a chance to test this title, so to speak, on a big group of kids in, say, a story time, but my own preschooler found it pretty much hysterical. Or, as Julie Just in the New York Times writes, “the wit of the drawings…makes the book very appealing.” Yeah, when Peep, our tiny chick protagonist is screaming in frustration and there’s a huge blob of angry yellow scribblings over him, on the generously white backdrop of his world, I’d say the wit of the drawings is what makes a five-year-old hoot and holler and hee-haw laugh.

Maria’s artistic style—at least in her books thus far (you never know what an illustrator will try next)—quite distinctly falls into the less-is-more category. As Betsy Bird put it in her 2008 review of Bloom!, calling it a “finely-honed” book that “packs a wallop with apparent ease”…

This book is all thin black lines and understated swoops of the pen. Van Lieshout then combines pen-and-inks, watercolors, and crayons at strategic points. The result is sometimes very spare and often quite striking.

Not surprisingly, since this is the third title in this series, Peep! is very similar: Minimalist art work (pencil, ink, and watercolor, with a bit of help from the computer) and a very concise text that merge in such a way—probably in large part thanks to the design work of Molly Leach—to make it all look much easier than it actually was, I’m sure, to create. Deceptively simple, as they say. And all told from a perspective—and herein lies the primary appeal—similar to a child’s (which means wide-eyed, innocent, and emotionally volatile — with a dollop of unabashed bravery).

I welcome Maria this morning with a pipin’ hot cup of coffee. I asked her to tell us a bit more about her work, and she shared lots of art work, including more sneak-peek art, so let’s get right to it…

“When I illustrate, I try to capture energy and emotion. This also dictates my choice of media. I use a mix of watercolor, ink, pencil, crayon, computer and collage. I find myself using watercolor often, because I am drawn to the imperfect, whimsical, unexpected nature of it. It’s often the accidents/splashes/spills/drips that help me achieve the feeling I’m after.

And the fact that she designed The Stinky Cheese Man, which has played such a crucial role in my decision to pursue this in the first place, makes it all extra sweet!“

Thanks again to Maria for stopping by; I especially love it when visitors remark on what an “extraordinary art form” the picture book is. Durn skippy, I say.

All images, with the exception of the book covers, are © Maria van Lieshout and used with her permission. All rights reserved.