{"id":2426,"date":"2012-09-16T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2012-09-16T06:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2426"},"modified":"2012-09-16T00:01:10","modified_gmt":"2012-09-16T06:01:10","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-297-featuring-edward-hemingway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=2426","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #297: Featuring Edward Hemingway"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Here’s an illustration from artist Edward Hemingway’s<\/a><\/strong> forthcoming illustrated title, Tiny Pie<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, written by Mark Bailey and Michael Oatman and coming in May from Running Press Kids. <\/p>\n

Edward, who paints with oils on canvas and wood, also saw the release this year of Bad Apple: A Tale of Friendship<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, August 2012), all about an apple and a worm who become good friends — and weather hard times, given the funny looks and mean comments they get for being friends in the first place. (Let us not forget the enduring wisdom of the popular mid-’90s bumper sticker<\/a><\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

Edward is here today to talk a bit about his books, his paintings, and I also couldn’t resist briefly asking him about his heritage. Yes, he’s Ernest’s<\/a><\/strong> grandson. <\/p>\n

Let’s get right to it, since Edward shares so many images today. And for that I thank him. <\/p>\n

P.S. If you read below, you’ll see that this is a very special day for Edward … <\/p>\n

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

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Can you talk about your choice to use oils for Bad Apple<\/em>?<\/font><\/p>\n

Edward<\/font><\/strong>: My desire to work in oils has always been a selfish one, and I\u2019m terribly selfish. I love the medium, the texture, the smells, and ultimately the surface of the finished product. My first two books were painted in acrylics, and I found myself missing the oil-painting process, which I have been doing sporadically since my teens. Bad Apple<\/em> seemed like the perfect book with which to reopen my box of oils, as its compositions are filled with lush outdoor scenes of trees and water and hills and red, red apples.<\/p>\n


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“<\/em>Bad Apple paintings in the studio before I finished them and handed them in.
(I work on most of them all at once for drying purposes.)”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

I continued the oil painting trend with Tiny Pie<\/em> and had fun tackling interiors. For that book, the publisher only wanted digital files, so—instead of painting on canvas (rolling scanners require images with a flexible surface)—I was able to paint on hard wood board and then scan the images myself. There is something about the flatness of painting on board that I love. And in the end, you are left with this great object. <\/p>\n

Which, of course, I keep for myself, being terribly selfish.<\/p>\n


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“Unfinished <\/em>Tiny Pie painting on my easel.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


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“A couple of pics of <\/em>Tiny Pie paintings in progress”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


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Final cover<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

But I haven\u2019t become a complete slave to oils just yet. My friend and former graduate program adviser, Maira Kalman<\/a><\/strong> (yes, the divinely talented sometimes walk among us) has done such wonders with gouache, and I think I may try to tackle that medium next. Lately, I have been playing around with exaggerated areas of flatness in my compositions, and it seems to me that gouache could lend itself nicely to this.<\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Is there something in particular that spawned the story of Bad Apple<\/em>?<\/font><\/p>\n


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“Mac took his new friend to the watering hole to clean off.
He couldn’t remember a better day.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Edward<\/font><\/strong>: I can tell you exactly how the seed (sorry) of the idea for Bad Apple<\/em> came about. I was on the phone with a pal of mine, who does these nonfiction children\u2019s books about machines and vehicles and the likes, trying to convince him to join myself and my friend Sara Varon<\/a><\/strong> for a day at an apple orchard. Sara does books and graphic novels with animals and robots, among other things.<\/p>\n

My friend wasn\u2019t biting; he told me he had too much work to do, was on deadline, etc. (all things I should have been saying to myself as well, but I\u2019m crackerjack about letting deadlines slide).<\/p>\n

So, I gave him this pitch: <\/p>\n

“Think of it as research. We could all do books about the orchard. You could write one about the on-site tractor; Sara could do a book about the orchard goats; and I could make a book about \u2026 a \u2026 um \u2026 a \u2026 bad apple?”<\/em><\/p>\n

It had just come to me. And suddenly I couldn\u2019t get the idea out of my head. What was a “bad apple” exactly, and what would a book about one entail? Maybe it would be about an apple and a worm, and they would be friends. Voil\u00e0.<\/p>\n

My busy friend didn\u2019t join us at the orchard that day, but Sara and I had a great time and got to feed some very charming goats. They left her happy but uninspired, and she ended up doing a couple of awesome books about ducks and cupcakes instead. I wrote Bad Apple<\/em> and it\u2019s sequel, Bad Apple\u2019s Perfect Day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
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“Black and white rejected endpaper sketch of Mac and Will’s world for<\/em> Bad Apple.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

My hard-working friend stayed in, met his deadline, and won the first of several national awards. <\/p>\n

Is there a moral to this story? If there is, it\u2019s lost on me.<\/p>\n


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“…he looked up in the sky.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: The Publishers Weekly<\/em> reviewer wrote that your spreads “recall old campground postcards of the 1950s.” Do you\/did you set out to be retro, or did it just end up that way?<\/font><\/p>\n

Edward<\/font><\/strong>: I like to think of my work as being a bit retro — but with a modern sensibility. <\/p>\n

One of my favorite teachers once told me that our limitations create our style, and I believe this. I am always trying to be a better painter, but I have also learned to embrace and exaggerate my flaws, which ultimately make my work unique, make it mine. My warped sense of perspective, my crude brush strokes, my flat compositions, my love of aping cartoons of the 1940s and 50s.<\/p>\n


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From <\/em>Tiny Pie
(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)<\/center><\/p>\n


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From <\/em>Tiny Pie<\/em>
(Click second image to see spread in its entirety)<\/center><\/p>\n

I used to find a lot of inspiration in other artists with romantic and often retro styles, but I\u2019m trying to let go of that a little. No one will ever make a better William Joyce book than William Joyce<\/a><\/strong>, so why try?<\/p>\n

The best you can hope for is to make your best work in your own voice.<\/p>\n

Maybe one day I\u2019ll make a better Edward Hemingway book than Edward Hemingway (who, I heard, really isn\u2019t all that selfish). It\u2019s a goal.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
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From <\/em>Tiny Pie<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: You will be teaching at the School of Visual Arts<\/a><\/strong> next year, yes? Will this be your first time teaching?<\/font><\/p>\n

Edward<\/font><\/strong>: I will be teaching Creative Writing in an amazing new graduate program at SVA next year, called MFA Visual Narrative<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

I have substitute-taught Creative Writing at the graduate level on and off for several years, but I am really looking forward to working with artists and helping them tell their stories on a larger scale. Plus, I like an audience I can tell what to do.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
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From <\/em>Tiny Pie<\/em>
(Click to see entire spread from which this illustration comes)<\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: I gotta ask: How does your grandfather’s work inform your writing, if at all?<\/font><\/p>\n

Edward<\/font><\/strong>: I\u2019m very proud of my heritage and the success of—and beauty present in—my grandfather\u2019s writing, but he\u2019s had no true influence on my work as an artist or writer.<\/p>\n

My physique, however, is another matter. Thanks for the gut, Grandpa!<\/p>\n

<\/a>
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From <\/em>Tiny Pie<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: What are you working on now?<\/font><\/p>\n

Edward<\/font><\/strong>: I am currently working on the second book about Mac the apple and Will the worm, entitled, Bad Apple\u2019s Perfect Day<\/em>. It\u2019s all about making the most of a disappointing situation, something I think we all have had experience trying to do. I\u2019m also in the beginning stages of another picture book and trying to get Bad Apple<\/em> adapted to the small screen.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
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From <\/em>Tiny Pie<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center><\/p>\n

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: I’m posting this on your birthday. Big plans?<\/font><\/p>\n

Edward<\/font><\/strong>: It\u2019s my birthday today! I probably won\u2019t do anything too exciting, but I will buy all the local newspapers (remember those?) and read my horoscopes. It\u2019s the one day a year I like to do this, mainly because I hate reading horoscopes, seeing the line, “If your birthday is today\u2026” and being jealous and wishing it was my birthday and it\u2019s not. Ah, the little things.<\/p>\n

I will also be reading Bad Apple<\/em> and answering questions<\/a><\/strong> about it at Books of Wonder in Manhattan.<\/p>\n

It’s the first promotion for Bad Apple<\/em> that I will be doing and kicks off the informal cross-country book tour I’m making in October.<\/p>\n

BAD APPLE. Copyright \u00a9 2012 by Edward Hemingway. Published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. All images here reproduced by permission of Edward Hemingway.<\/em><\/p>\n

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

Note for any new readers: 7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks is 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. New kickers are always welcome. <\/p>\n

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

I guess most of these are music kicks, but when I’ve had too much writing at my computer, which is how most of my days go, I gotta get up and hear music and\/or dance around to it. For writing breaks. It’s just necessary. <\/p>\n

1)<\/strong><\/font> When I found out Fionn Regan<\/a><\/strong> had a new CD, I ordered it to show up on my doorstep next-day. (I think I was slow in finding this out, so by “new,” I mean 2012 — and<\/em> I think it even saw a 2011 release in Ireland, where he lives. Generally, I’m confused—and I usually am—but it’s new to me.) It’s good stuff. Wanna hear a tune?<\/p>\n

Dogwood Blossom by Fionn Regan<\/a> on Grooveshark<\/span><\/object><\/object><\/center><\/p>\n

He’s a great songwriter: “Keep climbing into my head without knockin’ \/ and you fix yourself there like a map pin \/ on this ghost of this street where I’m livin’ \/ I’m in a chrysalis and I’m snowed in.”<\/em><\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> This is peppier. MUCH peppier:<\/p>\n