7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #32 (the Southern Festival of Books Edition): Featuring Jeremy Caniglia
October 14th, 2007 by Eisha and Jules
Wooooooo! It’s getting close to Halloween, and we’re in a spooky mood here at 7-Imp. So we’re pleased to be featuring art by Jeremy Caniglia. Back in August, we co-reviewed Margo Lanagan’s Red Spikes, for which Caniglia did the cover art. As Eisha put it in the co-review, the cover painting is lovely in a slightly creepy way, and we thought that Jeremy could send us some slightly creepy-spooky Halloween-esque art (we’d like to do that for each Sunday in October, leading up to Halloween — did you see Frank Dormer’s mummy last week?). If you visit Jeremy’s site, you’ll see he’s capable of creepy and creepy-verging-on-disturbing (he does a lot of art for Adult Fantasy and Horror titles, as he explains below), and no matter the tone, he possesses much talent with the paintbrush.
But then he went and sent us these not-so-creepy and more eloquent, more whimsical paintings instead. And we’re still just as pleased that he did so, even though they’re not Halloween-esque spooky in tone. Here’s what Jeremy had to say about these works:
“People always ask why a majority of my work centers on birth, love and death. I guess the answer would be it helps me understand the impermanence of life on this planet.
I have always felt that by bringing ego and materialism into perspective we will find wisdom lying within those willing to listen. Our gift for generations to come can be realized through the seed of hope we plant in our children.
I have always found hidden hope in art, music and books. They are all doorways to very special worlds if we open our minds. I really feel Red Spikes by Margo Lanagan is one of those collections that takes us on a journey in which we find love and hope in the darkest of worlds. It was such a challenge and great experience to create the cover for Red Spikes. I tried to create a cover that was elegant, haunting and beautiful all in one cover. This was my first cover in the Young Adult Reader section. I have mostly created covers and illustrations for Adult Fantasy and Horror. So it was great to finally have a chance to break new ground.
I have attached two new images for you to see some of my other works in progress I am currently creating. These are personal works. The first painting is called ‘Birth of Spring -– Butterfly Kisses.’ This is a painting of my daughter, Vivian. I felt this painting really captured the beauty of being a child and experiencing butterflies that are like little fairies. The darkness in the painting is brought to light by the kiss and promise of the rebirth of Spring.
The second painting is called ‘He came Forth to Unveil the Forgotten Stars.’ This is a painting of my son. The painting was a vision I had of when I was a child and would try to climb trees in hopes of touching the night sky.
No matter how old we get, I feel we should always try to reach for our dreams and stay young at heart.”
Many thanks to Jeremy for sharing his art work with us this week — and for sharing his thoughts about them as well. We’re excited to be featuring his paintings today.
By way of explanation for any new folks (who we hope will leave their lists), our weekly 7 Kicks list is the meeting ground for listing 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.
I’m writing this super-early (Saturday), because B. and I are going to a wedding Sunday. For the next 24 hours I’ll be far from my computer: driving for hours, sleeping on a sofa bed, wearing hose, eating tiny food, and making small talk with people I don’t know. So, it’s a good time to remember the good things from this week:
1* Jules and I are guest-blogging for ForeWord Magazine this month, and our first post went up Friday. Woo!
2* I’m sad I won’t be there, but I know Jules will kick ass like the juggernaut she is at the Southern Festival of Books. Break a leg, Jules!
3* Got late-pregnancy tummy pics from my sister’s BFF who’s pretty much part of the family. Wow. I haven’t seen her in months, so it’s pretty amazing. She’s calling it “The Great Pumpkin.” Also got new nephew pics. Squee!
4* Walking home Thursday, I caught a whiff of dill from someone’s garden, and I had the most overwhelming sense-memory of being in my grandparent’s garden when I was little. Nana always grew dill to make pickles, and the whole garden smelled that way.
5* “Robot Chicken,” Season 2 on DVD. We had to pause several times to get the laughs out over “My Little Apocalypse Pony” and “Composite Santa,” not to mention “(Doctor) Who’s on First?”
6* I usually save them for dates and special occasions where I know I’ll be sitting most of the time, but I wore my high-heeled boots to work Friday, and didn’t break an ankle or develop permanent Barbie-feet as I had always feared.
7* A snippet of loud, impassioned conversation I overheard walking through the Common Friday, between two people who may have been homeless, or maybe just Ithaca-eccentric:
“…he made it, but it didn’t want to serve him. It didn’t want to serve Gollum, either, but there was no one worthy…”
Do you ever commit to entirely too many things in one week and then feel like you’re being spread way too thin? That was me this week. By Friday night, I was practically in tears at the thought of simply opening my email and the fear that I’d have one more thing to do by reading my email messages. I’m not trying to elicit pity, I know I sound rather pathetic, I know there are way worse problems I could have, and I know everyone’s dang busy. I think we all have weeks like that sometimes, and since mine was like that this week, I haven’t a) read any blogs (except for super quickly — and not as many as I’d like) and b) haven’t cracked a single book this week. What the . . .? I need to find a better balance here. I’m blogging about books, but I had too many other blogging-related responsibilities that left me no time for, uh, books. Not right, huh?
Anyway, I did get to attend some — not all — of the Southern Festival of Books in Nashville, hosted by Humanities Tennessee, and I’ll talk a bit about that at the end of my kicks. My experience there today (Saturday, as I type this) was SO GREAT that it made up for my otherwise crazy week.
Here are my kicks, then:
1). My daughter’s birthday. She turns two on Sunday, and we partied down today. Elephant and Piggie did not show, despite their love for parties, but we had fun anyway. And my husband hung short, blue streamers from each blade of the ceiling fan in our living room. They’re still up there, spinning around, and they sound like a soft rain.
2). Al Gore and the U.N. climate panel winning the Nobel Peace Prize.
3). Watching (most of) Season One of “Weeds” (which has great music) with my husband this week.
4). Getting responses for an upcoming interview with Phyllis Root. She is so smart. And tough. And neat. And did I mention smart? And she talks about Big Momma Makes the World, as well as other books. But I ask you: Does it get any better than Big Momma Makes the World? No. It does not. Her responses were a big ‘ol honkin’ JOY to read. They reminded me why I love children’s lit. (The interview will be in November).
5). Modest Mouse has a new CD. Or so I thought. I’m just hopelessly behind. I see — after a quick web search — that it was released in March. But I just heard this song, “Missed the Boat,” this week. Eisha, dude, you’re supposed to have my back and tell me about new Modest Mouse CDs.
6). Listening repeatedly to “The End” on Abbey Road this week and playing air drums while my three-and-a-half-year old and my youngest play air guitar and air keyboards, respectively.
7). And last, but not least, the aforementioned Southern Festival of Books. Yesterday, I saw a session on middle-grade novels with Jack Gantos, which made me really happy (I’m a big Gantos fangirl). He always revives my faith in children’s lit, should it be lagging (which it often isn’t), and I just want to buy that man a drink for being so smart and honest and tellin’ it like it is (we’ll also be interviewing Jack in November). He presented with Jacques Couvillon and Jeff Kinney. Did you know that Kinney set out to write Diary of a Wimpy Kid for adults? He was envisioning the Humor section of the Adult part of a bookstore, he said. Go figure.
On Saturday, I hosted a session on gender, identity, and sexuality issues in YA lit — with Perry Moore (Eisha and I will be tri-reviewing his first novel, Hero, with Roger Sutton, coming soon to a 7-Imp near you), Ellen Wittlinger, and Alex Sanchez. I also knew that Adam Rex would be at the festival (have we ever mentioned here at 7-Imp that we’re fans? HOO HA! This could be the Adam Rex Blog these days. Big, geeky fans we are), and — since I knew that my busy weekend plans would prohibit me from seeing either one of his sessions (wah) — I was hoping to spot him from afar and/or run into him to a) say hi and b) get him to sign my copy of Pssst! for my daughters, who adore that book (as their mama does).
So, I had very limited time, but I walked into the Author Hospitality Room Saturday morning to meet up with Perry Moore before his session, which I was hosting, and there was sitting Adam Rex, doodling in his sketchpad at a table. I could tell it was him from behind, what with his plaid shirt and glasses and such. So, I got to sit and chat with him over coffee, and what a great end to an otherwise stressful week that was. He’s very friendly and sincere and funny and, well . . . all that good stuff. Am not surprised that I enjoyed chatting with him . . . And then here comes Kerry Madden, whose latest book (Lousiana’s Song) I adore (just haven’t gotten to my review yet). And she was lovely and fun and friendly (have you READ this woman’s bio? She’s also tough and neat and smart. Go see her great new web site, too. And I got an ARC of her new Weems-family novel. Woot!). And then Perry showed up. And it was really nice to sit and talk to these authors, who were all terribly interesting and very friendly. And then, although Kerry had to leave, Ellen showed up and we all conversed some more. Adam Rex is particularly nice for listening to me ramble a moment about children’s theatre while two authors talked near and over and around us. He never once wavered and is a good listener and nice guy, that Adam (and did a dramatic reading of his new poem for us). And do you know that he doodles in his sketchbook all. the. time? Heh.
And the Perry, Ellen, and Alex session went well, too. They’re all very eloquent speakers. Woo hoo all around! I got to hear Rosemary Wells speak for a bit and get her to sign a copy of Noisy Nora for my daughter, complete with a “happy birthday, Ada!” Excellent.
I hope I don’t sound all name-droppy or too terribly hero-worshippy about authors/illustrators. It was just a great way to end a busy week, sitting and chatting about literature and blogs and wanting to be a Greek Mythologist when one grows up (long story).
That’s about all I can report right now, due to extreme fatigue. And this is long enough. So, what are your kicks this week?
(p.s. Happy birthday, E.E. Cummings) . . .
(p.s. again — no, I did not have my camera yesterday — doh! — and the picture of me and Jack Gantos didn’t come out at all . . . as in, it’s totally black. I think my digital camera’s on its last leg. Ah well) . . .
The light in that painting is amazing. I could look at that all day.
My kicks are between coughs today. I was sick for most of the week, so it’s been a rough one, between that and the news that my niece has spots on her lungs again. But there were some kicks:
1. Talking to my brother and realizing what a wonderful dad he is.
2. My husband brought me flowers and dinner.
3. Homecoming at my son’s school. They painted their faces Friday night and looked like wild and crazy kids, and then dressed up so fine like grownups last night for the dance. May I say, my boy in a suit is a heart-breaker.
4. A friend dropped a reference to a writer I admire in an email, saying that I reminded her of that writer. And she didn’t even know that I was a fan.
5. Got a call to do a school visit in January for eight sixth-grade classes. I’d better start preparing myself NOW.
6. I made a Rachel Ray recipe for Tenderloin Bites last night. I’d made it before, but every time, it’s soood good.
7. Watching all the great things that are developing in the Kidlitosphere, and being profoundly grateful to be a small part of it.
The illustration is magnificent this week. I agree with Sara, the light. I wonder if Apocalyspe Pony would fly with the mom who doen’t want Harry Potter in the library? What do you think, Eisha?
Jules, I am a huge Gantos fan. Have you read The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs? What a great creepy story. But I love Rotten Ralph the most I think.
Sara, I hope you are feeling better. Cograts on the school visit invite,
My 7 kicks:
1. The fog is like a blanket on us this morning.
2, I updated with two posts at Deowriter. I didn’t realize that it had been 3 weeks without a new post.
3. Got my posts for Robert’s Snow ready to publish this week.
4. My granddaughters visited me at school this week. The public library does “Read and Play” and they attend.
5. Caught up on sleep from last weekend.
6. My Poetry THursday group.
7. Time to work in the yard today.
Have a fabulous week, all.
Jeremy’s daughter’s name is Vivian! How cool. I loved what he said about his work.
Eisha, Have fun at the wedding. And congrats to you gals for guest blogging at ForeWard Magazine.
Jules, Happy Birthday to your little one! My eldest turns 9 next week and it’s giving me hives. Not really, but, you know what I mean. Hope this upcoming week settles down for you, and no worries…you’re doing awesome with Robert’s Snowflakes. Tomorrow’s launch will turn out fine.
Sara, Feel better and congrats on the school visit invite.
Jone, I agree with you. Rotten Ralph is so fun.
My kicks:
1. I had an incredible visit with my sister, who is simply extraordinary.
2.The kids were amazing with her and acted like a motorized wheelchair is the most natural thing in this world. It does my heart proud.
3. David Ezra Stein sent me his answers for his interview…I want to post it now…he’s so sweet.
4. I finally recreated the Greek salad from my college days. I lived on this: Iceberg lettuce, cubes of feta cheese, kalamata olives, tomatoes and a fresh lemon dressing. Brush the dressing on some pita bread and warm it up. Mmmm.
5. I’m starting to catch up on much needed sleep.
6. Crisp autumn apples.
7. Lovely fall days.
Oh thanks, Vivian. Robert’s Snow is a cinch, ’cause all you awesome bloggers make it easy. It was just one of THOSE weeks when I over-committed to EVERYthing — we all have weeks like that. I hope I don’t sound like I’m throwing myself a pity party.
Happy birthday to your daughter! And word to the lovely fall days, and I can’t WAIT to see your Stein interview. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Monster Hug and might maybe perhaps talk about it at ForeWord.
Jone, so how is that Harry Potter challenge going?? Hello to Chuck! Where are his kicks?
Sara, I’m sorry you don’t feel well. But I loved your little story about your son in a suit. I hope your niece is hanging in there — as well as her family. That must be so hard.
As usual I’m scrambling to get my list up even though it’s a Sunday (which is generally the quietest day of the week). I love the artwork on today’s kicks.
Sara, I read about your niece on your blog this week (the kitlosphere conference has had me reading blogs all over the place) but I didn’t comment. But seeing you here I just wanted to say sorry about the bad news and best wishes to your family.
Jone, you reminded me that we had a beautiful foggy day this week!
My list for this week:
1. I had a great day with my sister in London yesterday! She was on her way back from her European holiday. The weather was nice enough to be able to sit outside a London pub on the river, where we looked over at St Pauls.
2. All of us were able to make use of my railcard, which I just discovered and bought this week: one-third off off-peak rail fares! This will make going to London much more affordable.
3. Unfortunately my sister didn’t make it onto her flight last night (she’s staff travelling on standby). Fortunately this meant we got an expected visit today! But despite my wish for all of my family and friends to come hang out here I obviously hope for her sake she gets on a plane tonight.
4. I now have a vase and a bunch of flowers on the table
5. While talking about flowers…although the hanging baskets of flowers were taken down in our town, signalling that summer really is over, I was delighted to see winter pansies have been put into the planter boxes – they’re always so cheerful.
6. I got to visit a farm this week for work. It was heaps of fun, including the novelty of wearing (loan) wellington boots and sploshing around.
7. Our second hand car was (slightly belatedly) checked by a local mechanic and there’s nothing seriously wrong with it. Phew!
1. Camping for two nights with my darling girls and husband and six other impossible families. Canoeing, fishing, swimming, singing, roasting marshmallows… all before breakfast 🙂
2. The car is already washed and the first load of campfire-smokey laundry is in the wash.
3. Eat, Pray, Love. I really like that book.
4. The spinach-artichoke hummus I just had for an afterschool snack.
5. The beginning of the Robert’s Snow-Blogging for a Cure!! And the fact that with the help of Jen Robinson, I was able to insert a linkable html schedule. OMG. It made me feel almost technologically savvy!
6. My old white dog who camped with us and is now sleeping at my feet.
7. My bed. I love camping, but I can’t wait to tuck between the sheets tonight.
Congrats, you guys, on the beginning of this amazing blitz of Snowflake media. Seven Imp rocks!!!!!
Tee hee — I meant afterNOON snack, not afterschool snack. I think I’m a little tired….
Hey, Jules.
No activity on HP. But the parents were perusing the library this past week. Wanted to know if I had the Dolphin Diaries series.
Chuck says hi. His kicks were:
1. Starting a treadmill porgram
2. Having dinner with his duahgter and granddaughter.
3. Starts a new job this week.
Liz, Eat, Pray, Love is our Feb book club choice.
Wishing health to Sara and her niece, a happy birthday to Jules’s daughter, and congratulations to Eisha on a great article in ForeWord. Let’s see … 7 kicks:
1. Echoing Sara, I’m seeing lots of great energy and enthusiasm in the Kidlitosphere this week, and I’m honored to be part of it.
2. I finally saw a doctor about my knee (which has been a problem on and off) and confirmed that yes, I was making it worse by trying to go for walks, and go up and down stairs and things. So it’s not really good news (I have to have physical therapy, and I really miss walking), but it’s kind of a relief to know, and not feel guilty about resting it.
3. We went to a funny party for Mheir’s work at the San Jose Children’s Museum this weekend, and had a nice time chatting with his colleagues and their families.
4. My Mom sent me a cool lap desk/tray which happens to be just the right height for using my laptop, and making it easier for me to see the relatively small screen.
5. A Congressional Committee voted this week to recommend that the US acknowledge the Armenian genocide. I know it’s not a good climate for this politically, but Mheir’s family is Armenian, and I know what an open wound this has been for the Armenian psyche over the past 90 years. So this vote was a small but important positive step.
6. Great Chinese food Friday night.
7. Someone from Vermont found my blog because of a poem that I published from The Changeling. It made my day to hear from a kindred spirit, who found me because of one of my favorite quotes.
Happy week to all!
Me too on the amazing artwork today. Wow.
My seven kicks this week:
1. I had not one but two positive encounters with the DMV (yes! the DMV!) this week. Car paid off, sold, money received, all good.
2. Perhaps even more amazingly: good service from the internet service provider. Making, among other things, baseball easier to watch (broadband tv is working better).
3. Home-made pita bread. Mmmm.
4. New baby! My best friend from high school! (Yes, we’re the same age–my two are 17 and 10, and her three are six, four, and brand new!)
5. Robert’s Snow blogging about to start. And D.B. Johnson answered my email and gave me great stuff for my post!
6. Progress made on PTSA newsletter. (Note to self: never volunteer.)
7. Reading Terry Pratchett (both some re-reads and some I hadn’t) this week. Fun stuff.
Jules and Eisha,
Thanks for Jeremy’s art! Glad you both had such good a week.
Today I had a super kick that equals seven all rolled into one. I met Grace Lin and Janet Wong at the Child at Heart Gallery. Grace and I wanted to show Janet the snowflakes on exhibit there. Grace and I also wanted to have a second look at all the gorgeous snowflakes ourselves. Then we had dinner together. Tomorrow the three of us are going to get together to share and discuss some of the things we’ve written recently.
Eisha, I’ll be cooking up a batch of potato pancakes for Janet. Hope to send you the recipe soon.
I have something special to announce at Wild Rose Reader tomorrow in conjunction with the first day of Blogging for a Cure. It has to do with a purchase I made at the Child at Heart Gallery today.
Emmaco, that’s great that you had such quality time with your sis. And I love winter pansies, too.
Liz, I’m impressed at how chore-driven you are after camping. I don’t know if I’d have the energy. Your trip sounds great.
Jone, good luck to Chuck at his new job!
Jen, did you even sleep this week? You were busy in the kidlitosphere. I don’t know how we’d get along without you.
Libby, I LOVE D.B. JOHNSON’S BOOKS SO MUCH and can’t wait to read your post!
Elaine, what a great kick you had today! And your get-together with Grace and Janet tomorrow sounds like fun. Give Grace our best.
1. I did NOT have to wear hose this week.
2. I get to be part of the Robert’s Snow project.
3. The beach and snorkeling which never feels like exercising to me.
4. I got my pre-ordered copy of Hungry Planet – incredible.
5. The Ironman – and the resulting craziness in town – is OVER.
6. Teens and tweens (mine!) that are willing to listen reasonably to what I have to say.
7. Coffee.
Kris, coffee is always an assumed kick for me. I think I’m truly addicted.
And not having to wear hose is always good.
Looking forward to your Robert’s Snow post.
My one big kick was that I did storytelling for Kidfest, and I did well. Yay! I’m glad it’s done so that I know I was able to do it, because I was nervous.
I’m behind on blog-reading, commenting, and emailing too. There’s so much good stuff to read and I’m not giving it the time it deserves.
Alkelda, WORD WORD WORD! I miss your blog. I need to find a better Blog Balance. I need a Busy Bloggers Support Group — for serious. It’s just not right that I haven’t had time to READ and read other blogs – this is all about community and not me just runnin’ my mouth. I miss my blogs. I’ll have to re-balance soon here.
Oh and congrats on the KidFest success!
Jules, all I have to say to this comment:
“Jen, did you even sleep this week? You were busy in the kidlitosphere. I don’t know how we’d get along without you.”
is …. talk about the pot calling the kettle black (which is a goofy expression, but you know what I mean). Look at all you’ve organized with Robert’s Snow. It’s amazing!!!
I missed posting yesterday, but, Eisha, I have to say that “My Little Apocalypse Pony” is seriously the best. I have it on my DVR and cannnot delete it because it’s such a wonderful thing to watch when I’m feeling angry.
Jules, Happy b-day to your little one! I had a little girl burst into tears in the midst of storytime last week. Her mother promptly whisked her away, and I turned to another adult in the room and asked if something happened. The other adult shrugged like, “Got me.” That’s when another little girl piped up, “Oh, that’s my little sister. She’s TWO.” Then she rolled her eyes, like she was way long-suffering. It was one of the best things that happened to me this week for sure.
Heh. Great story, Adrienne! I know how that bursting-into-crying thing goes, and then sometimes my two-year-old does it, too. (Bah-dum-ching).
Jen, all the Bloggers for a Cure bloggers make it easy!