{"id":1658,"date":"2009-04-26T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2009-04-26T06:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1658"},"modified":"2009-04-26T00:01:28","modified_gmt":"2009-04-26T06:01:28","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-112-featuring-wendy-wahman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1658","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #112: Featuring Wendy Wahman"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Dog-lovers might be particularly happy this week to see that we have a visit from artist Wendy Wahman<\/strong><\/a>, who has mostly done editorial art in her career but is now venturing into the world of children’s books. Don’t Lick the Dog: Making Friends with Dogs<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, which will be released at the end of this month from Henry Holt, is—for all intents and purposes—a how-to manual for children about approaching and interacting with dogs, but it’s way more fun and funny and snazzy (or “jazzy,” in the words of Kirkus<\/em>) and playful than your typical manual. I could have really used this as a kid and, actually, even now, as I found the tips helpful myself: Now I know what to do if a dog, for one, is grumbling at me and wearing that “ugly wrinkled frown” face. <\/p>\n

I’ll let more of Wendy’s art work from the book speak for itself here. (You can click on each image to see it larger and in more detail.)…<\/p>\n

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This is Wendy’s first children’s book. “I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember…I didn’t speak outloud to anyone outside my family ’til I was about six or seven. I made up stories when I drew, and drew all the time. Still do.”<\/em> Over the years, Wendy has worked as a “janitor, a vet tech, a dog trainer, a security guard with a big red doberman, a graphic artist, a technical illustrator, a newspaper illustrator {for the Seattle P-I<\/em><\/strong><\/a>} a toy designer. Now I make my living as a freelance illustrator. It\u2019s nice to sit down.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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Wendy—a “passionate, passionate dog person”<\/em>—and her husband, Joe, live with two cats and three poodles. “I poodle. I love my poodles and spend all my money on them. As my husband pointed out while doing the taxes, now if I could just find a way to write off bullysticks and agility classes.”<\/em> Her six-year-old poodle, Andy, who is afraid of children, inspired the book: “Most dog bites happen to children between the ages of four and nine. Dogs and kids do not naturally go together. Or at least not all of them.”<\/em> As she notes in this Seattle P-I<\/em> article<\/a><\/strong>, she is not a professional dog trainer but simply wants to teach children and adults the basics about approaching dogs. Wendy’s already working on her next book: “Basically, similar message — safety with cats this time. It is a non-rhyming prose poem. Softer, gentler pace than the dog. It walks on little cat feet.”<\/em><\/p>\n

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One of Wendy’s pen-and-ink editorial illustrations<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Here’s a bit more from Wendy, after I asked her to talk a bit about her work and the book:<\/p>\n

“I work in Photoshop, drawing with the lasso tool and using a Wacom Tablet. I also draw with pen and ink (actually, a Japanese brush pen), but not so much anymore. I divide the two styles on my website<\/strong><\/a>…I did the first dummy {for Don’t Lick the Dog<\/em>} in two weeks {with} many more revisions after. Many. Laura Godwin, the publisher, is very patient perfectionist. She has been a great teacher for me and also sent me a really lovely cat book by Doris Lessing<\/a><\/strong> when I was feeling grumpy and uninspired around the cat book. <\/p>\n

The cat book. I did not want to do the cat book. There are no fast rules on how to be safe with a cat. I struggled and struggled. I re-tweaked and re-wrote for almost seven months…I told Laura, I hate it and want to start again<\/em>. She said, okay…I thought for about a week, procrastinated for a few hours on a Saturday, sat down, and wrote it in two hours…I hope to finish up the illustrations by the end of April so maybe it will be out Winter ’10. Maybe. Publishing is so slow; it makes me squirm with impatience. I worked for a daily newspaper for twelve years. Fat happy job: Three days a week, drawing pictures and doing maps. I loved it and loved the people. The P-I<\/em> was closed March 17th after 146 years in print…<\/p>\n

I don’t generally talk much about my work. Or books I read. I just go there and float and experience and think and go. I am not a super analytical artist. Actually, I love the happy accidents.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Here are some early spreads from the cat title:<\/p>\n

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Many thanks to Wendy for stopping by!<\/p>\n

What in the what-the are the “7 kicks”?<\/em> you wonder. They are our 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. So, let’s kick it up. Absolutely anyone is welcome to list kicks — even if, or especially<\/em> if, you’ve never done so before.<\/p>\n

{P.S. Important copyright stuff: DON’T LICK THE DOG: MAKING FRIENDS WITH DOGS \u00a9 2009 Wendy Wahman. Published by Henry Holt and Company, New York. Spreads posted with permission of Wahman. All rights reserved.}<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Eisha’s travelling this weekend, everyone, so I’m going it solo. (But she’ll come and leave her kicks today, I’m sure, in the comments.) And I think that Spring Fever’s hit everyone, so will folks be around today? I hope so. If not, I hope you’re at least outside in the sunshine.<\/p>\n

1). I don’t think I listed this last week: When my family and I went to Clinton for the Walter Dean Myers Arbuthnot lecture<\/a><\/strong>, we got to spend some time with a good friend. She lives on what she calls a “farmette,” and it was beautiful, and she has lots of goats, which the girls really dug. There are many things I love about Rachel—who is pictured here, who has precisely seven SKERJILLION talents and seriously<\/em> if you ask me to name them we’ll be here ALL WEEK, and who played “Simple Gifts” on a bowed psaltery<\/strong><\/a> when I walked down the wedding aisle almost ten years ago. But here’s a new thing I learned, which I’m adding to the list of Things That Make Rachel Like No One Else You’ll Ever Meet: She puts on what she calls her “goat coat,” this big, puffy winter coat that her goats love, for some reason; goes into the goat’s pen and curls herself into a ball on the ground with her back facing up; sits quietly and patiently for as long as it takes; and the goats come to her, one by one, and stand on her back. <\/p>\n

2). Fuse’s picture book poll<\/strong><\/a> results, which are sending me to the library LOTS to get some of the forgotten—and not-so-forgotten—classics to share with my girls. <\/p>\n

3). Long conversations with a new friend. <\/p>\n

4). Listening to the singular rhythm of my girls playing together, their tacit agreements on the rules and rhyme of their play and the dialogue that swirls around it. It’s the sympatico of sisters, made all the more apparent when the five-year-old is off at school and the wee one is playing—with more stops and stutters and silences—with, say, the neighbor. <\/p>\n

5). I read “Jabberwocky”<\/strong><\/a> for the first time ever in their short, little lives to my girls. I even got to dig out my groovy version illustrated by Graeme Base<\/a><\/strong>. Unfortunately, my husband missed this moment, because he was working very hard to save my computer’s hard drive, which decided it had had enough of me and stormed out of my life, grabbing the car keys and leaving for good. But…<\/p>\n

6). He saved all my files! Every. single. one. My blog files but, more importantly, my WORK FILES<\/font>! He’s brilliant, I tell you. Brilliant! And he only said “MOOOOVE!” once. (Seven points for any other nerds who get that SNL<\/a><\/strong><\/em> reference.)<\/p>\n

7). Getting a mammogram, which I had to do for the first time, is not necessarily a kick. No worries here; I didn’t think I even needed to get one and I was right and I’m perfectly healthy. But when you’re sitting in a room full of elderly women, as I was that morning, who really and truly have a reason for needing to be there, hearing their conversations about cancer and having beaten it—or not—and their long lives and their ailments and aches and worries and fears, it makes you count your blessings. Or, er, kicks. <\/p>\n

Bonus: Margo Lanagan’s<\/strong><\/a> Tender Morsels<\/a><\/strong><\/em>. Trippy, you guys. And so<\/em> good, too. (And I’m just now<\/em> seeing the man’s face in the bear in that cover art, since the barcode of my library copy mostly covers their faces. Ooo, that’s creepy-good, that detail is.)<\/p>\n

Note: For other fans of Walter Dean Myers — A webcast of his lecture<\/strong><\/a> from last week (including the honorable and fabulous Marian Wright Edelman’s<\/strong><\/a> opening remarks) is now available. <\/p>\n

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

Dog-lovers might be particularly happy this week to see that we have a visit from artist Wendy Wahman, who has mostly done editorial art in her career but is now venturing into the world of children’s books. Don’t Lick the Dog: Making Friends with Dogs, which will be released at the end of this month […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1658","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\/1658","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1658\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}