7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #183: Featuring
Up-and-Coming Illustrator, Lindsay Ward

h1 September 5th, 2010 by jules

Don’t you want to know more about this little bird? I do. This collage illustration comes from freelance illustrator Lindsay Ward, who is here in the 7-Imp pad on this first Sunday of the month, in which I like to feature up-and-coming illustrators. It is from an upcoming book she is doing with Penguin in Spring 2012, called Blue & Egg. (That title is subject to change, she tells me.) “This will be the second author/illustrator project I have done,” she added. “It is about a little bird who lives in Central Park. One morning a snowball lands in her nest, but Blue thinks it is an egg. She spends the rest of the book trying to find Egg’s mother, while developing a friendship with Egg. Soon, Spring comes and Egg is melting. Blue tries to help save her friend. The ending has a quiet surprise and highlights that friendship always wins out in the end.”

But let’s back up a little. Linday’s illustrated a picture book, written by Kathryn K. Thurman (who is also an artist), called A Garden for Pig, which was just released at the beginning of this month by Kane Miller. Lindsay’s mixed media illustrations for this title were rendered with cut paper, pencil, paint, stamps, and pastel.

This is the story of a persistent pig, Mrs. Pippins (his owner), and the creation of an organic garden (with a plot twist I won’t give away but that will have your scatalogically-minded wee ones giggling hard-core). This link tells you more about the title and that it’s evidently based on the true story of Basil, a pet pig who lived on the author’s family farm. The book closes with “Pig’s Tips for Growing Your Own Organic Garden”: Planting it, keeping weeds out the natural way, fertilizing it, and making your own compost bin.

Here are the book’s back endpapers:


(Click to enlarge.)

“{This} second image {below} is from the first book I wrote and illustrated, Pelly and Mr. Harrison Visit the Moon, due out from Kane/Miller in Spring 2011. This is the story of a little girl named Pelly and her quirky dog, Mr. Harrison, who travel to the moon in their bathtub (which has managed to grow a rocket engine on the back of it). Pelly and Mr. Harrison meet a little alien and spend the book having adventures on the moon with their newfound friend.”

Lindsay, who lives in Ohio, works primarily in cut paper and mixed media, “making use of paint, stamps, pencil, and anything else I can find. I have piles and piles of paper in my studio that I have collected from various places, which is one of my favorite things to do. I love trying to incorporate dictionary terms, crossword puzzles, old book cloth, newspaper, and so forth in my work. My typewriter is probably my favorite thing in my studio. I love old things like that.”


(Click to enlarge.)


(Click to enlarge.)

I love Lindsay’s inviting, spirited collages, and I really want to see a story that swirls around the wee lass in Flight Patterns. You can see more art at Lindsay’s site. I thank her for stopping by.

All art work used with permission of Lindsay Ward. All rights reserved.

As a reminder, 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks is a weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week, whether book-related or not, that happened to you.

* * * * * * *

* * * Jules’ Kicks * * *

1). I attended a fundraising event for the upcoming Southern Festival of Books at this wonderful brewery, who gave us all a tour. I’m tellin’ ya, this place represents just about everything good about locally-owned businesses. They simply rock.

2). My four-year-old and I visited a librarian at this Vanderbilt library, and it was the first time I met her face-to-face. (We had first met via email-slash-the Facebook world.) You know how when you meet someone for the first time and you just KNOW, she is one of my people. Yup. That. We instantly clicked.

3). If you’re friends with Steven Withrow, he’ll just randomly send you his gorgeous original poetry. One of those from this week is posted at his blog. Enjoy.

4). We’re planning one of those excessively suburban’y, all-American trips to Disney World, a place I’ve yet to visit in my life and a trip for which we’ve saved and saved. (And we figure our wee girls will explode from happiness and that we’ll be picking up pieces of them at the park.) Anyway. Realizing they didn’t have suitcases, we got them some this week. I found this note one morning taped to the side of the six-year-old’s. (On the other side is a note that says, “HASTA LA VISTA, KITTYS.”)

(I’m intrigued by the whole Cinderella part of the drawing, as she doesn’t particularly care for that movie and thinks Cinderella, along with pretty much every other princess but Tiana, needs to “get a job.”)

5). Remember this post? Check out this great NBC video, all about Renée and Shadra’s book.

6). HA. Just HA. It’s German director Werner Herzog reading/interpreting Madeline as only he can. “In truth, children are next door to sociopaths.”

7). Last but not least: I love this site from Lou Beach (who is also an illustrator).

What are YOUR kicks this week? Anyone around on this holiday weekend?





26 comments to “7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #183: Featuring
Up-and-Coming Illustrator, Lindsay Ward”

  1. Thanks, Jules! Lindsay’s art is so much fun.

    1. A new year of married life with Lesley:
    http://lesleybreenwithrow.com/
    2. My baby girl turned 5.
    3. Mo Willems and Jon Scieszka join us at the Southern Festival of Books on October 9:
    http://libraryoftheearlymind.com/
    4. Two new Fieldnotes interviews for 7-Imp in the works after a long delay.
    5. Brad Leithauser’s verse novel, Darlington’s Fall.
    6. Hurricane Earl rustles a few leaves in northern RI.
    7. Poems, poems, poems…

    INTO ONE, ANOTHER
    By Steven Withrow

    For Lesley

    Once, from the roadside,
    you called me, freaked,
    on your first cell phone,
    to say you’d had a flat,
    and wrestled the wheel
    across two open lanes
    to a wobbling stop.

    I gulped, could feel trucks
    barreling by
    so close, my breathing
    sounded loud over yours,
    scared yet intimate,
    as though, caught in a kiss,
    we shared the same air.

    No love, no lasting
    love, escapes risk,
    shuns running off road
    over the rumble strip,
    but to each other
    we are shelter, voices
    merging on the verge.

    Copyright 2010 by Steven Withrow


  2. RE: Lindsy Ward’s charming illustrations. Ah, that piggy peaking over the garden fence! The little dog, Mr. Henderson, is the spitting image of my childhood dog, Slipper. Her whimsical textures work so well.

    Jules – your daughter’s note is so sweet and funny. I love her sucase too. (Maybe she’s into the Disney CASTLE vs. the princesses that might reside within. Architectural appreciation? It is a pretty cool castle.) My first job was at Disneyland (I was a butterfly in the Christmas Parade.) Disneyplaces do feel magical when you’re there.

    Steven – I really like the movie poster for your documentary.

    I played hookey from Kicks last week and I really missed participating and reading everyone’s shared treasures. I was seeing my eldest off for his senior year of college in Oregon. That really does NOT seem possible. I swear, I just walked him to kindergarten a blink ago.

    My kicks this week:

    1.) My thoughtful husband surprised me with some original illustrations from my book; Barry Moser’s masterful art on my office wall. Sigh.

    2.) My younger son got his wisdom teeth out; so we’ve been feasting on tapioca and popsicles and carrot-ginger soup. Soft diets are not so bad (at least not over one week.)

    3. And he’s on ‘reduced activity’ – so we’ve watched a lot of movies. “Galaxy Quest” is just the best, the funniest, spoof ever made. Ha-ha-ha!

    4. the words: ‘ramshackle’ and ‘scattershot’.

    5. Even a glimpse at Daniel Handler’s high school graduation speech proves that he had Lemony Snicket tendencies w-a-y back then:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wi7Jwg8vSB0
    (He kinda looks like teenage Ron Howard to me…)

    6. pomegranate seeds on salad.

    7. A finished first draft. Whew!


  3. Good morning! I am excited about Lindsay’s work, wish I had that pic of the gal hard at work on the typewriter, papers everywhere! And the Madeline video, super. A wonderful flood of memories came over me thinking about your upcoming trip to Disney – my parents took us to Disneyland, I took my children to Disneyworld – some of my most treasured memories still!

    Kicks for this week:
    1. New CFO came to work at RIF, WA-HOO!
    2. RIF launched our US Airways Read With Kids initiative; go to http://www.rif.org to register yourself and then log your minutes reading with a child/ren through October!
    3. Received fun, fun, fun pictures of my grandson spending his first family vacation on the beach with his parents.
    4. Temps lowered as the week went forward, that is a true “kick”!
    5. Located information about a beloved Girl Scout Camp I first attended; after years of sitting unused the buildings are being renovated for public use, can’t wait to spend a night in a cabin in Tall Timber, my favorite unit!
    6. Razorback football kicked off with a win!
    7. Yesterday read NINTH WARD by Jewell Parker Rhodes, a children’s book about Katrina…so well done.

    Have a great week!


  4. Since I haven’t been here in months, my kicks will span a longer time period than just the last week.

    1. I traveled this summer so much! To ALA, to Ohio to visit my parents and brother, to the beach. It was crazy but also fun.

    2. I also celebrated my first wedding anniversary. We toasted with Lime Izze. (And as our wedding cake was key lime cheesecake, we hadn’t saved any because it was already spoiling early on, so the lime was a bit of a callback to the cake. Unintentional!)

    3. I’ve started my second year of library school and despite the schedule being crazy, I still love it.

    4. I took a children’s literature class over the summer where we got to select our own books, so I tended to go with the gothiest kids books I could find.

    5. I am working on many new projects at my job, all of which keep me more engaged than the original project they hired me for (which was still pretty great). My first blog post for them goes up tomorrow am.

    6. I produced and acted in (but did not direct, yay!) a production of Neil Simon’s Rumors which actually BROKE EVEN. (Big deal in community theatre, esp. when you’re doing Neil Simon, as his royalties are about double everyone else’s.)

    7. My sister continues to live locally and I’m so happy to be able to spend time with her.


  5. Bonus kick: Yesterday, my air conditioner broke, which forced me to go outside in the beautiful weather which I might otherwise have ignored entirely. (And whatever was wrong with the A/C was apparently an easy fix.)


  6. I absolutely love the the illustration of her office . I am always intrigued by artisits who do collage.
    Jules, DisneyWorld will be so much fun. As someone who grew up with Disneyland nearby we went a lot. Despite the commercial nature of it all it does manage to make it feel magical.
    Steven, happy anniversary. Love the poem to your wife.
    Denise, I am curious where in Oregon your son goes to school.
    Carol, the girl scout camp sound really fun.
    Kimberly, welcome back. You were busy this summer.
    My kicks:
    1. First week of school complete and all went well.
    2. Made a new lentil dish this week and it was so tasty.
    3. One of the neighbor cats is trying to adopt us. This week he spent a couple nights sleeping on the patio.
    4. Ate first tomatoes from our plants.
    5. Finished Hunger Games. Might be among the last to have read it.
    6. I was asked to mentor to beginning library media specialists. There first year.
    7.Planning a surprise birthday for my husband, milestone bday: 60.
    Have a great week.


  7. jone, I’m there with you among the last to have read Hunger Games – I finished it this week as well.


  8. I’m going to have to follow the links to the Handler speech and Herzog/Madeline video later, when my daughter’s not around. I’m looking forward to them! We got up early this morning to practice for when our girl starts for 1st grade on Wednesday, but not as early as we’ll have to get up on Wednesday morning. She needs to be at school by 8 am to be ready for the morning lesson at 8:15.

    We’re already on our second cup of coffee just thinking about it.

    Jone, my husband read both Hunger Games and Catching Fire the weekend before Mockingjay came out. It was very sweet to see him be so impatient for the final installment.

    Kicks:

    1. I still haven’t seen a luna moth in person, but I made a luna moth fairy.
    2. School begins this week!
    3. Our house is painted. It looks fresh and green. Well, it is green now. I would have lobbied for orange except that the house next to us was recently painted orange.
    4. I acquired some lovely stationary and I’m going to write snail mail letters. Really.
    5. Somewhere in my future is a nap.
    6. I can almost finger-pick “Skip to My Lou” with syncopation.
    7. Today is my Day Off.


  9. Good morning!

    Thanks for continuing to feature upcoming illustrators/artists every month, Jules. It’s like watching new magic tricks in development. Like Denise, I zeroed right in on the little garden pig. What amazed me was the endpaper — all the fruits and vegetables with bites taken out of them, and the pig at the very end, flat on his back, stricken sleepy with gluttonous satisfaction. I liked zooming in to see just how she’d constructed that little representation of him in perspective: one flattened oval for the nose, one bigger one for the torso, and the four little extensions of his legs. There’s nothing about those shapes per se which says “pig,” especially not “pig, satisfied and dozey.” Assemble them just right, though, and add a couple little slots in the nose and the right color scheme, and its unmistakable.

    (Maybe illustrators are magicians, after all.)

    Oh, Jules, Yazoo Brewery just shot to the top of my side-trips-in-Nashville-to-do list. I need to see if I can get some of that stuff delivered to a store in this area — especially the Sly Rye Porter and the Sue. Rrarr.

    And I loved the “sucase” note, too — especially the note on the reverse side. (Parents of little kids seem to have SO many reasons to laugh.)

    The Herzog reading blew my mind. I checked around some — apparently it’s (whew) not really his voice, but the work of someone who really knows his Herzog. The maker of that video also made three others of “Herzog” reading children’s classics; the one which thrilled me the most was his interpretation of Where’s Waldo? Ha!

    Congratulations on all the annual celebrations, Steven! (AND on having the leaves merely rustled.)

    Some kickin’ kicks this week, Denise. Barry Moser originals! Daniel Handler! FINISHED FIRST DRAFT! (But anything pomegranate-related gives me the willies. Fruit from a planet in the Aldebaran system.)

    Mine for this week:

    1. That Lou Beach web site which Jules mentioned. Extremely cool!

    2. Okay, this requires you to use the Google Chrome Web browser — not Safari, Firefox, etc. But it may be worth downloading another browser just to see it. (It’s also best if you have nothing else running on your computer at the time you watch it.) The band Arcade Fire has made a music video for which you supply an address — they suggest that you use the address of your childhood home. The video features a guy jogging through that neighborhood, using a combination of Google Maps and (if available) Street View. One of the coolest things I’ve seen on the Interwebs in years. Go here to see it.

    3. Crazy Facebook memes.

    4. I’ve been laid up most of this week with gout in one knee. I’d like to reserve a very special kick for horizonality. Oh, and Percocet.

    5. Cicadas.

    6. I think Tender Morsels is turning me inside out.

    7. The first day in weeks on which the sky actually had a third dimension to it instead of the constant matte-gray-paper look. And we’ve seen some blue since!

    Looking forward to hearing about everybody’s kicks for the upcoming week, next time around!


  10. That Madeline reading is so hilarious it has displaced any previous kicks I may have had and taken all 7 spots for itself.


  11. Steven, happy birthday to your daughter. Looking forward to the Fieldnotes, as always.

    Denise, look at that punkin head Handler, so wee young! Did you know there’s a band called The Pomegranates? Galaxy Quest is, quite simply, one of the funniest movies ever. Congrats on your completed draft!

    Carol, such good kicks. And I really want to read Ninth Ward. I’m pretty sure the author will be at the Southern Festival of Books.

    Kimberly, hubba WHOA, it seems just like yesterday that you GOT MARRIED and were showing us wedding pics. Happy anniversary. And congrats on producing your own show!

    Jone, I haven’t read Hunger Games — not a word. I want to, but I just haven’t. You as a mentor is perfect, too. Lucky student.

    Farida, I want a yellow house one day. Good luck with the start of school, and I love good stationery.

    John, oops. Look at me, assuming that it was actually the director reading. And the friend who sent me that told me to watch Where’s Waldo, too, so I’ll do that soon. Thanks for the Arcade Fire link, too. And, oh my, good luck with your knee. Ouch!


  12. Jim, right! So funny, huh? I’m off to watch the Waldo one.


  13. Here we go. The “collective nightmare of impending disaster” moment is probably my favorite:


  14. The Herzog videos are hilarious! Jes, wish we had the sound of cicadas. Farida, enjoy your day off.


  15. Checking back in:

    Jone – Paul is an English Major/psych minor at Lewis & Clark College (good liberal arts establishment on such a gorgeous campus.)

    Farida – kick 5 made me laugh.

    JES – I just tried The Wilderness Downtown, pretty cool. (Love those birds! The 360 look-around with the tiny black figure on the map turning, yhe trees sprouting up at the end.)
    And, Tender Morsels had the same effect on me; not comfortable but captivating.

    Jules/John – Both Herzog reads are other-worldly hilarious. “Vis has been Vere’s Valdo.” Ha!

    polkas [Wow! My cat just typed that! He jumped onto my lap and landed back paws on the keyboard. Look down and you can see where he landed to type ‘polkas’ with two paw plops. Heh-heh. Reminds me of that Probability yarn: “If a million monkeys typed on a million typewriters for infinity – one of them would eventually type Hamlet.“ Or maybe, the lively Bohemian dance — ‘polkas’.]

    : – ) Have a good week everyone.


  16. A busy period at work has combined with the whole looking for a job in Australia period, so I am not up to list making. But I love reading the kicks. Jules, that note is just fantastic.

    Denise, I watched Galaxy Quest recently and agree it’s great fun, and pefect for “reduced activity” times!

    Farida, snail mail letters are the nicest thing. I’m sure they will make someone’s day!


  17. Ooh, extra ones while I got around to pressing submit! JES, I love the sound of cicadas so much. They are definitely one of the things I miss most in summer over here.


  18. Can we all sing “It’s a Small World…”? Denise’s son goes to my ala matar! Wow. We have to meet up when you come to Portland, Denise.


  19. Jone, yes, lets!


  20. Hi, Lindsay Ward! Thanks for dropping by 7-Imp. I am amused by that little bird, and the fact that the egg is telling the little bird something instead of vice-versa to match the saying. I too love typewriters. Best of luck with your works!

    Ladies and gentlemen, the LEVERAGE season finale is on TNT tonight. Woot!

    Jules: Thank you for yet another great recommendation! I read A Paddling of Ducks: Animals in Groups from A to Z by Marjorie Parker, illustrated by Joseph Kelly, and really enjoyed it. Every page offered gorgeous colours and illustrations. I loved the extra story, the unwritten things that wise eyes would find and appreciate. I am so happy that your daughter thinks the princesses need to have jobs. YES. Smart girl with good parents. Have fun and be safe on your trip!

    Steven and Lesley: Happy anniversary, and happy birthday to the 5-year-old!

    Denise: Welcome back! Sending healing thoughts to your son. Points to your cat for typing polkas. That’s awesome.

    Rasco: Sounds like you had a kicking week!

    Kimberly: Hey, you! So glad that you’re back here. The first thing I saw in your kicklist was the word “callback,” so I thought, “Did she have an audition? What did I miss?!” 🙂 So glad that Rumors did well on all levels.

    Jone: Happy birthday to your husband. Congrats on the mentoring job. Lentils are tasty. So are tomatoes. Big hugs to the cat!

    Farida: Best wishes to all the schoolbound souls (and soles – an ode to the aching feet!) Hurrah for correspondence…and for naps, which I’ve heard are nice.

    JES: Yikes. Rest up and feel better soon. As someone who did a great deal of laundry today, just remember, turn inside out and wash with like colors.

    emmaco: Hope all is well within the busy.

    My kicks from the past week:
    1) Tomorrow will be the start of a new year. Let the majority celebrate New Year’s Day on January 1st; I prefer to do so on my birthday. Monday will be a double holiday in my world, which means a lot, to say the least.
    2) Visiting with friends that I haven’t seen in a while.
    3) Making new friends.
    3) Keeping in touch.
    4) Something that was as wonderful and encouraging as something two days prior was the opposite.
    5) Because I can.
    6) Getting $442 worth of goods for $22 out of pocket.
    7) Looking forward and seeing good things ahead.
    I can do this.
    This I can do.


  21. Happy b-day, Little Willow! Looking forward to another year of seeing you Kick up your heels here!


  22. Jules,

    Love the little note your daughter wrote–especially the “HASTA LA VISTA, KITTYS.” Too cute!!!

    It’s been crazy time for me and my family. We’ve finally removed most of the furniture and other stuff from my mother’s house. It’s now on the market. I hope it sells soon!

    *****

    MY KICKS

    1. Hurricane Earl missed us! Thank you, Mother Nature. We have had the most beautiful weather this holiday weekend.

    2. I attended two wonderful family parties on Saturday and Sunday–and had a great time! I especially enjoy spending time with my daughter and her new husband. I don’t see them as often as I’d like–so this weekend was a treat for me.

    3. We finally got some rain. Most of our grass is green again–so I mowed the front lawn this morning. I like mowing the lawn with our push mower. It’s great exercise for me.

    4. I’m hoping to get together with my friend Grace Lin tomorrow.

    5. One of our oldest and dearest friends who seemed to be at death’s door several weeks ago had surgery and is now feeling so much better. He and his wife even traveled down to NC to visit with his brother last week.

    That’s about it for now…


  23. Denise, the polkas made me laugh outloud.

    Emmaco, good luck with the job hunt!

    Little Willow, glad you like the book. Thanks for the travelling well-wishes, but it’ll be a while from now. And…

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

    Elaine, so glad you got to see family and that your friend is better. Hello to Grace!


  24. Elaine M.: Glad that you are safe and sound, and that you enjoyed your time with your family. Hi to Grace! Sending your friend lots of strength.

    Jules and JES: Gracias on all counts! 🙂


  25. Hey lady!!! Thanks for the shout out!!! Meeting you was pretty awesome for me too and the best part of the best day of the work week. True story. Another true story is that I LOVE LIndsay Ward- thanks for introducing her- she is super cool!


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