{"id":1044,"date":"2007-12-02T00:01:41","date_gmt":"2007-12-02T06:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1044"},"modified":"2007-12-02T12:23:37","modified_gmt":"2007-12-02T18:23:37","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-39-featuring-julia-denos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1044","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #39: Featuring Julia Denos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jules<\/strong>: We have Jackie<\/a><\/strong> at Interactive Reader<\/em><\/strong><\/a> to thank for our new-found adoration of Julia Denos’ illustrations. Jackie featured Julia and her snowflake in October for the Blogging for a Cure<\/a><\/strong> effort for the Robert’s Snow<\/a><\/strong> auctions. Here<\/a><\/strong> is that feature; if you missed it, go read and enjoy, ’cause it’s a great interview and feature, and — bonus! — Julia is pictured eating one of her picture books and saying, “as a fanatical picture booker, I can’t deny the urge to chew a well designed spread.” This statement immediately endeared her to me, as I understand this urge, you see. And Eisha was all squealy over her artwork, too, proclaiming it as “crazy beautiful,” which it is, and saying that it’s “exactly the sort of art I’d want to create if I had a shred of talent.” You can see at that feature of Jackie’s that a lot of other bloggers immediately fell in love with Julia’s style and immense talent. So I asked Julia (who I think also goes by “Jules” — kickin’) if we could feature her today, and lucky for us, she agreed. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The illustration above is one of three we chose to show you today (Julia also sent us some brand-new art work, so if you just can’t wait, scroll down below). She gave us free reign to choose from her site<\/a><\/strong>, and Eisha and I found it too hard to choose just one illustration. Here’s what Julia said about the ones we chose and, in particular, that one: “The pieces you both chose are my oldest ones on there! Tried and true they have stuck by me though. The girl with the bear on the ice I just made out of pure coziness one winter night in CT. I also needed to think of an idea for a Christmas mailer. The girl reminds me a lot of my sister Christa when she was younger.”<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Then we saw this one . . . <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

“As for the autumn piece,”<\/em><\/font>, Julia told us, “that was created in 2005 . . . The words came first for that piece, which happens sometimes for me. ‘Then Clara caught a story’ was the line plucked from a story I have not yet written, except for a paragraph, but still have floating around in there somewhere. The children’s names in that piece were also very clear to me from the get go: Peter is in the back, Demetri is rolling down the hill and Saul is my favorite with his arms open to the wind.”<\/em><\/font> <\/p>\n

And then there’s this one, which is just ridiculously wonderful, as Eisha put it. About this one, Julia told us: “The ‘Skyboots’ piece was done in art school actually, in my Sci-Fi illustration class at the Art Institute of Boston. The clouds are white ink that were unintentional. The bottle spilled literally on the plank of wood I was painting on and I just started moving the spill all over, and loved it! Mistakes are the best things that could ever happen to an artist I think.”<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

And, finally, as for the brand-spankin’-new art work she sent us, it’s below. It’s her latest book cover, which she just finished and sent off this week for ZonderKidz, to be published in August 2008:<\/p>\n

It’s a book acting as a gigantic reply letter from the author, Nancy Rue<\/a><\/strong>, to her young girl fans (hence the fan mail the girl is composing). So this file is the bare-bones final art. In other words, this is exactly what I handed to the art director and designer. She will then crop it, fit it into the series’ border template and add a few words and the ISBN barcode in. The right side is the front and the left is the back (just imagine it wrapping around a book as is). I wanted to send it in with the messy edges and everything to show what the art looks like before design. I used watercolor, gouache (bright blue, my favorite!) pencil and ink, and finally, Photoshop. I loved working on this piece so much, I’m glad to be sharing it with you! It is definitely a step in growth for me artistically. I am starting to see how to blur the line between the love of experimenting and play on my own time, and the work for clients.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Many thanks to Julia for sharing these with us — from one Jules to another and from Eisha. And, remember, if you want even more information on Julia and her beautiful illustrations, there’s always Jackie’s recent interview<\/a><\/strong> as well as Julia’s own blog, The Cinnamon Rabbit<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. <\/p>\n

{Late-morning addendum: Tonight on CBS is the television movie adapation of <\/em>Pictures of Hollis Woods, which will open with some art work from Julia. You can read more about it here<\/a><\/strong>}. <\/em><\/p>\n

* * *<\/center><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

*******Jules’ kicks<\/strong>*******<\/center> <\/p>\n

1). Julia Denos is here, and she’s so talented it must hurt. Those illustrations are a big kick for me this week. <\/p>\n

2). Grace Lin<\/a><\/strong> sent me an original piece of art, featuring Lissy and her paper animal friends in the snow (and there’s a snowflake on Lissy’s nose) and a sentiment about gratitude from Henry Ward Beecher. It’s the most beautiful, most special piece of mail I’ve ever received, and it’s so lovely that it made me cry. <\/p>\n

3). Long story, but I put in the mail this week a happy drawing my three-year-old daughter, Miriam, made for Naomi Shihab Nye’s<\/a><\/strong> mother, also named Miriam. Yes, from one Miriam to another. I hope that when my Miriam is older, she will appreciate how very mighty cool it is to have corresponded with Naomi Shihab Nye’s mother. For the record, my Miriam drew for Naomi’s Miriam the following: a sea rock; a giant squid; an apple; a fish; a person swimming; a whale; a “jumping person”; a heffalump and his mommy; and blueberries. <\/p>\n

4). I actually might have posted this before, but I love this link<\/a><\/strong>. Pippi is a coffee-lover after my own heart. (I’ve seen this before, but thanks to The Brookeshelf<\/strong><\/em><\/a> for showing it to me again. I had forgotten about its awesome-ness). <\/p>\n

5). I sent a copy of Samsara Dog<\/strong><\/em><\/a> to a good friend who said, after reading it, he sat down in the floor and cried. It doesn’t sound like a kick that I made a friend cry, but it was a good, cathartic cry.<\/p>\n

6). I started my holiday-book-review round-up yesterday<\/a><\/strong>. I have mixed feelings about the holiday, as I explained this week<\/a><\/strong>, but I like a good challenge. <\/p>\n

7). See #2 again. Really, it’s beautiful. Best kick in a long time. <\/p>\n

*******eisha’s kicks<\/strong>*******<\/center> <\/p>\n

1* Julia Denos’s illustrations. Lovely.<\/p>\n

2* I got a sweet print from Grace Lin, too, even though I’ve said repeatedly to anyone who will listen: Blogging For a Cure<\/strong><\/a> was ALL JULES. I deserve no thanks! I totally love the print, though, so thanks to you<\/em>, Grace!<\/p>\n

3* No temp jobs this week, so I spent a lot of time reading, reading, reading for my Cybils YA Fiction<\/strong><\/a> panel.<\/p>\n

4* I also put together three bookshelves and most of a dresser from our trip to Ikea<\/strong><\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

5* And I’ve gotten some of my xmas shopping done.<\/p>\n

6* I discovered another new yummy ice cream flavor: Bordeaux Cherry Brownie.<\/p>\n

7* And I’ve been totally addicted to The Fratellis’<\/strong><\/a> album Costello Music<\/strong><\/a> this week. It’s great music for putting furniture together. My downstairs neighbors probably hate me all the more, though, because in between all the hammering and screwgunning, every time “Creepin’ Up the Backstairs” comes on I have to take a dance break.<\/p>\n

That’s my kicks for the week. How about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jules: We have Jackie at Interactive Reader to thank for our new-found adoration of Julia Denos’ illustrations. Jackie featured Julia and her snowflake in October for the Blogging for a Cure effort for the Robert’s Snow auctions. Here is that feature; if you missed it, go read and enjoy, ’cause it’s a great interview and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}