{"id":1832,"date":"2009-11-15T00:01:05","date_gmt":"2009-11-15T06:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1832"},"modified":"2009-11-15T00:01:07","modified_gmt":"2009-11-15T06:01:07","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-141-featuring-rob-dunlavey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1832","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #141: Featuring Rob Dunlavey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, 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. <\/p>\n

This is an oil pastel and ink painting from the sketchbook of illustrator Rob Dunlavey<\/strong><\/a>. I really like that. How about you? <\/p>\n

Rob has done editorial illustrations of many kinds and is an aspiring children’s book illustrator. The art at his site drew my eye, and I asked him to stop by today and talk about his work a little and share some art. If you like what you see, don’t miss his site<\/strong><\/a>, which includes all kinds of sketchbook images and paintings and his educational, editorial, and advertising work. His children’s book illustrations are here<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n

Rob: <\/font><\/strong>I’ve done editorial illustration most of my career (since 1986). This is probably a throwback to youth and high school days, where I was inspired by political cartoons, comic books, Thomas Nast<\/strong><\/a>, and <\/em>MAD Magazine. I started drawing in pen and ink and did a lot of work for school newspapers and even into college. The odd thing is that I detoured and got a BA and an MFA in Fine Art. I spent years learning printmaking, how to paint (more or less), and make sculpture. When I moved to Boston in 1985, I started developing an editorial portfolio and soon was doing work for <\/em>The Boston Globe and <\/em>The Christian Science Monitor. Later on, I developed a more graphic style, using watercolor, and I started getting published in magazines. I got a computer in the late ’80s and started working digitally. Some of the digital work was for computer games and educational software. I also do a lot of digital editorial work, but the last few years have seen a slow-down for me in that market. Here are a few examples that have a whimsical quality. Usually they are about something kind of inscrutable or boring, about banking or fire sprinklers!<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

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“Local Lore” for Adirondack Life<\/em> Magazine<\/center><\/p>\n


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“Squirrelz” for The Los Angeles Times<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


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“The Barracuda” for a poem by Jack Prelutsky<\/strong><\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Throughout all this time, I’ve kept sketchbooks going. Seriously. Every day, somehow. And I think it was after my kids were born, the habit became really important to my sanity and sense of who I was as an artist. A lot of good stuff has come out of them. None of it has been too commercially successful, but it’s work that I really value, because it is all mine. In the last year, this sketchbook habit has spawned work that looks seriously like it might interest publishers of children’s books. So, that’s where I’ve enthusiastically turned my boat.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n


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“Owl & Tern on a Late-Night Errand”<\/center><\/p>\n

I didn’t have an exact story in mind for <\/em>Owl and Tern. It is a series of paintings and drawings of these two characters, who have a close relationship. I’m really trying to explore my reality through picture-making. I have written a story and broken it down into a book dummy, but it needs a lot of work before it flows properly and the right mood is apparent. It seems to resist me, possibly because the reality it’s inspired by is still somewhat tangled.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n


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“Owl, Tern, and the Bear Crossing the Ocean” — personal sketchbook painting<\/center><\/p>\n


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“Owl, Tern, and the Bear on the Island” — personal sketchbook painting<\/center><\/p>\n


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“Owl and Tern Sharing an Endearment”<\/center><\/p>\n

I’ve started to work with a more disciplined children’s book focus and have written a few additional stories as vehicles for my art. This is a story about a fellow who loses his hat and grows a heart. I’ve also been focussing on Andersen’s “Thumbelina” and other fairy tales. {Ed. Note: See here<\/strong><\/a>.}<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n


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I have found a big gap between illustration and fine art. This shouldn’t be a big surprise, but it was always more academic before. Now I grapple with it every day. Every moment I put my brush to the paper. Is this Art or Illustration? It’s nuts! In illustration, the text comes first. In fine art, viewers assemble their own text after the art is experienced. I guess the best of both worlds is when art and text are equally engaged in conveying what needs to be said. This is what appeals top me about making children’s books. Plus, I get to draw castles, birds, cats, bears, dragons, and princesses (rather than fire sprinklers and dollar signs)!<\/p>\n

At the same time that this children’s book work is developing, another related series of images is poring out of my sketchbooks: Crystal Cities.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n


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Flickr thumbnails for January 2009<\/center><\/p>\n


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From various 2009 sketchbooks.
Media: marker, ink, watercolor, colored pencil, acrylic, etc.<\/center><\/p>\n

I’ll be showing some of this work when I go to Paris in a few weeks. I’m going for two reasons: I’ll attend the Paris Children’s Book Fair<\/strong><\/a> in order to learn about this major European market, get acquainted with some French illustrators (hopefully), and also show my portfolio to publishers. In and around Paris, there are scores of children’s book publishers. The second reason for going is to install a small show of my work. I’m inviting all those Parisian art directors, too! The exhibit is at The American Library in Paris<\/strong><\/a> through the month of December. I’ve made some special works for the show that take the Crystal Cities idea into three dimensions. Like this:<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n


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

Oh! I want to be at the American Library in Paris in December for the Paris Children’s Book Fair! Rob, have fun, learn a lot, and take pictures for us. Best of luck in your career, too, and stop by again some time. <\/p>\n

Boring But Necessary Copyright Info: All images are used with permission of Rob Dunlavey \u00a9 2009. All rights reserved and all that.<\/em> <\/p>\n

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

Hi, dear readers! As you’re reading this on Sunday, I’ll be around. But, as I type this, it’s late Friday night, and I’m getting ready to head out for half the weekend to a memorial service for a college friend who passed away recently. (I think I mentioned that a few weeks ago.) It will be bittersweet — a sad occasion, but I’ll be able to give big hugs-around-the-neck to some old college friends who probably need hugs right now. So, I’m sorry this is brief, but consider my seven kicks this week to be wrapped up into one overarching one: You all, who come to visit every Sunday, and who leave me your happy kicks, which I’ll probably really want to hear on Sunday. And art like Rob’s, too. (I love the phrase “sharing an endearment” and the mysterious, growing story wrapped around it.) <\/p>\n

So, let’s hear it. What are YOUR<\/font> kicks this week? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to 7-Imp’s 7 Kicks, 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. This is an oil pastel and ink painting from the sketchbook of illustrator Rob Dunlavey. I […]<\/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-1832","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\/1832","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=1832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1832\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}