{"id":4044,"date":"2016-05-01T00:01:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-01T06:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4044"},"modified":"2016-04-30T18:54:10","modified_gmt":"2016-05-01T00:54:10","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-481-featuring-david-litchfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=4044","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp\u2019s 7 Kicks #481: Featuring David Litchfield"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\nIt’s the first Sunday of the month, which means that here in 7-Imp Land I take a look at the work of an up-and-coming illustrator. Today, instead of a student, I’ve got a debut author-illustrator. David Litchfield’s<\/a><\/strong> new book, The Bear and the Piano<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (Clarion), was evidently inspired (in part) by the White Stripes’<\/a><\/strong> song “Little Room.”<\/strong><\/a> It was published in the U.K. last year but arrived on U.S. shelves at the beginning of this month. <\/p>\n

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In this story, a bear cub stumbles across a piano in a forest clearing. Unsure of what it is, he is nonetheless fascinated by it and plays it for years, as he grows into a big, strong grizzly bear. He learns to master the instrument and dreams, as he plays, of far-off lands. The other bears in the forest love to gather ’round and hear him play, but so do a young girl and her father, who spot them one day. The girl asks if he’ll head to the city with her and perform there. He does so and is met with great success and fame. But his misses home and longs for his friends. So he heads back. <\/p>\n

Now, I can’t ruin the ending for you, especially if you’ll want to read this one yourself. So I’ll stop there. <\/p>\n

Evidently, Litchfield, who lives in the U.K., created the mixed media illustrations using various traditional techniques, which he then assembled digitally. He plays with textures to great effect in this artwork, and his landscapes are atmospheric and multilayered. In both the forest and city scenes, he depicts light in precise and splendid ways. (Note the cover below!) Here’s a bit more art from the book:
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(Click either image to see spread in its entirety)<\/em><\/center>
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“So after the bear had told his friends about his life in the city, and the many concerts he had played, he sat down to play once more.
This time, for the most important audience of all.”<\/em>
(Click to enlarge)<\/center>
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(Click to enlarge cover)<\/em><\/center>
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\nTHE BEAR AND THE PIANO. Copyright \u00a9 2015 by David Litchfield. First published in the U.K. in 2015 by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. Published in the U.S. in 2016. Illustrations used by permission of the publisher, Clarion Books.<\/em>
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\nNote 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

1)<\/strong><\/font> Children’s book people are, by and large, the nicest bunch of people I’ve ever met. I already knew this, but I was reminded of that this weekend. <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong><\/font> Yesterday was Independent Bookstore Day. <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong><\/font> I survived story time at my favorite independent bookstore (Parnassus Books<\/a><\/strong> in Nashville) with lots of extra people (more than on a normal Saturday) and really antsy toddlers. <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong><\/font> When your friend’s luck goes from bad to good. <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong><\/font> The novels the girls and I are reading now. <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong><\/font> Good editing. <\/p>\n

7)<\/strong><\/font> Playing a piano piece this week that gives me confidence. I bet I don’t play as well as Bear, though. <\/p>\n

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

  It’s the first Sunday of the month, which means that here in 7-Imp Land I take a look at the work of an up-and-coming illustrator. Today, instead of a student, I’ve got a debut author-illustrator. David Litchfield’s new book, The Bear and the Piano (Clarion), was evidently inspired (in part) by the White Stripes’ […]<\/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-4044","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\/4044","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=4044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}