{"id":1229,"date":"2008-04-13T00:40:52","date_gmt":"2008-04-13T06:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1229"},"modified":"2008-04-13T00:41:46","modified_gmt":"2008-04-13T06:41:46","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-58-featuring-julie-paschkis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1229","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #58: Featuring Julie Paschkis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jules<\/strong>: If you’re a regular reader of 7-Imp, you have seen illustrator Julie Paschkis’<\/strong><\/a> name pop up a lot lately. And that would be because, with every new title she illustrates, I become more of a fan. Her colorful, patterned, and striking folk art gouache paintings are a feast for the eyes. I thought TadMack<\/strong><\/a> put it well at a recent post about Imaginary Menagerie<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, which Paschkis illustrated, when she said that seeing such lush gouache paintings “makes me want to roll around in paint.” <\/p>\n

eisha: <\/strong>Well said, Jules and TadMack. I’m a big fan too – I particularly enjoyed her work in Twist: Yoga Poems<\/em> by Janet Wong,<\/strong><\/a> which features colorfully-clad children in yoga poses surrounded by intricate Indian-inspired paisleys and floral patterns. And I was lucky enough to see her accept the Boston Globe Hornbook Honor in 2006 for Yellow Elephant: a Bright Bestiary<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, another collaboration with poet Julie Larios. That was a stunning book, too – I said at the time the illustrations reminded me of a cross between Russian miniature painting and Pueblo art, which worked perfectly with the fanciful poems. You’re so right, Jules. I think she just gets better and better with every book.<\/p>\n

Jules: <\/strong>Lucky for us all, Julie stopped by today to share some of her art work with us. Pictured above is a new painting of hers, and Julie told us: “I was playing with words. This is a new painting that is going to be used as a poster by the King County Library for a program of that name (Playing with Words).”<\/font><\/font> If you<\/em> are also a fan of Paschkis’ work, then you might be happy to know that I’ve lined her up for one of our new illustrator interviews (the first seven-questions-over-breakfast interview<\/strong><\/a> being with Jeremy Tankard<\/strong><\/a> a couple weeks ago). <\/p>\n

Here are the other gifts Julie is sharing with us today: <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sea Serpent from Imaginary Menagerie: A Book of Curious Creatures<\/strong><\/a><\/em> by Julie Larios (Harcourt; April 2008). I reviewed this title<\/strong><\/a> here at 7-Imp a few weeks ago, and Julie shared more images from the book with us there. So, if you like this, head on over to that post<\/strong><\/a> for more Paschkis-goodness.<\/center> <\/p>\n

“I shared a room with my sister growing up,”<\/font> Julie told us. “She told me once that, after I went to sleep, a magic horse came and rode away with her. I longed for the horse to take me, too, but I couldn’t stay awake. I thought of that when I drew this picture: the feeling of a secret adventure.”<\/font><\/p>\n

“Now that I am older not only can I stay awake — sometimes I can’t sleep,”<\/font> Julie told us. “This is a painting called Insomnia<\/em>. The painting is not an illustration for a book. Books are wonderfully collaborative, but I also like to do things that require no approval but my own. I find I can stretch and grow and bring fresh ideas back to the books.”<\/font><\/p>\n

“Keeping with the sleep theme… this is from Albert the Fix-It Man<\/strong><\/a><\/em> by Janet Lord (my sister with the dream horse). Albert’s character is inspired by our father. He dreams of broken bicycles that he can fix. It is my habit to fill every inch of space with pattern, but in these illustrations I tried to leave some breathing room.”<\/font><\/p>\n

{This book was published by Peachtree Press in March of ’08, and I also reviewed this title here<\/strong><\/a> in March. I have to add that my wee daughters and I read our library copy of this book so very, very often that we have our own little “Albert the fix-it-man” ditty, which I just KNOW<\/em> you all are so sad to not be able to hear. Heh.}<\/p>\n

“This is a spread from Glass Slipper, Gold Sandal: A Worldwide Cinderella<\/strong><\/a><\/em> by Paul Fleischman<\/strong><\/a>. The art is inspired by wycinanki, Polish paper cutting. This and all of my paintings are gouache on paper.”<\/font><\/p>\n

{This book was published by Henry Holt in September of last year, and I also reviewed this title here<\/strong><\/a> in March. See what I mean? Everything’s been comin’ up Julie lately here at 7-Imp, but seeing her art work simply makes life better, I say.}<\/p>\n

“These are some papercuts I did of Adam and Eve. They are about five feet tall. Lately I’ve been experimenting with combining painting and paper cut images.”<\/font><\/p>\n

We can’t thank Julie enough for stopping by today and gracing our site with her illustrations. It’s going to be hard to post anything above this and scoot her post on down our main page. I kinda want to leave it up there forever. Thanks, Julie!<\/p>\n

As a reminder, 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 (as well as featuring artists like Julie). You — yes, you<\/em> reading now — are more than welcome to leave your kicks from the week, whether you’ve ever done so before or not. <\/p>\n

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

1). Most supreme kick of all this week? Julie’s visit and her beautiful art work. <\/p>\n

2). “Cutting a Swath,” the collaborative crown sonnet (posted here<\/a><\/strong> in its entirety) by Liz Garton Scanlon<\/strong><\/a>, TadMack<\/strong><\/a>, Kelly Fineman<\/strong><\/a>, Sara Lewis Holmes<\/strong><\/a>, Tricia Stohr-Hunt<\/strong><\/a>, cloudscome<\/strong><\/a>, and Laura Purdie Salas<\/strong><\/a>. Hoo boy, what an exciting creative adventure they undertook, huh?<\/p>\n

3). Finally reading The Fairy Tales<\/em><\/strong><\/a> (translated by David Walser) with Jan Pie\u0144kowski’s<\/strong><\/a> elegant silhouette illustrations and hand-lettering. What a handsome book, and my oldest was literally shaking as we read Snow White<\/em> and Hansel and Gretel<\/em>. Ah, the drama of those traditional fairy tales. Good for the wee ones they are. Remember: Albert Einstein said, “If you want your child to be brilliant, read them fairy tales. If you want your child to be a genius, read them more fairy tales.” <\/p>\n

4). Speaking of the oldest, she got into a two-day-a-week Parents’ Day Out program for this coming Fall. It’ll be exactly one year before she enters kindergarten. Don’t get me wrong: I’m certainly a mother who needs time to herself, but will it make sense when I say, I miss her already<\/em>? <\/p>\n

<\/a>5). This library poster<\/strong><\/a> from the State Library of Iowa<\/strong><\/a>. Thanks to Your Neighborhood Librarian<\/em> — who has some great posts<\/strong><\/a> about the need to unfug the ALA READ posters — for the link<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

6). The “This I Dream”<\/strong><\/a> series of essays and art over at Authors + Illustrators for Children<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. You can already read Virginia Euwer Wolff’s essay<\/strong><\/a> on music education and George Ella Lyon’s essay<\/strong><\/a> on peace. The essays to come are listed here<\/strong><\/a>. Many thanks to Jama<\/strong><\/a> for the link!<\/p>\n

7). Andrea and Mark of Just One More Book!!<\/em> getting immortalized<\/strong><\/a> by Bob Staake<\/strong><\/a>. A well-deserved honor if there ever was one!<\/p>\n

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

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

1* This week’s art. Natch. I think I love the sea serpent best – it reminds me of Voyage of the Dawn Treader<\/em>, my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia.<\/p>\n

2* I also loved the crown of sonnets created by our seven uber-talented blogger\/poet\/friends. I’m in awe.<\/p>\n

3* As you know, I got to hang out with Adrienne (WATAT) last weekend<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n

4* And I got to hear some excellent authors speak, and see some very enthusiastic young book lovers.<\/p>\n

Neko!5* Oddly, I got to hang out with her again this weekend, since the husband and I ended up taking a last-minute road trip to Rochester on Saturday. So we met Adrienne for coffee. Yay.<\/p>\n

6* On the way, we saw signs that reminded us that a Record\/CD fair was in town for the day, so we made a little stop. We snagged a couple of CDs I’d been meaning to get for ages, plus a total surprise: Neko Case: Live From Austin City Limits<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

7* Guest-blogging over at Practically Paradise<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Thanks, Diane, for being such a lovely hostess.<\/p>\n

What are your kicks this week? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jules: If you’re a regular reader of 7-Imp, you have seen illustrator Julie Paschkis’ name pop up a lot lately. And that would be because, with every new title she illustrates, I become more of a fan. Her colorful, patterned, and striking folk art gouache paintings are a feast for the eyes. I thought TadMack […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday","category-picture-books"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1229","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=1229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1229\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}