“Posies” exhibit at the Danforth

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I delivered my artwork to the next location in the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit. 45 original fabric relief illustrations from the book will be on display in the children’s gallery at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Mass. from Nov. 14th to Jan. 23rd. First, Rob and I went to Highfield with a huge role of bubble wrap and packed the artwork into our car.

That evening, I individually wrapped each frame in bubble wrap.

The next day my husband and I drove our Passat wagon with the 50 bubble wrapped frames filling the car to the ceiling. We headed off Cape and up Rt. 128 to the Danforth Museum in Framingham. The museum staff will hang the show this week and be ready for the opening on Saturday.

The exhibit’s opening reception will be on Sat., Nov. 13th from 6:00-8:00. All are welcome. I’ll be going back on Sunday, Dec. 5th to sign books at 1:30pm. The Danforth Museum will also be hosting their monthly Drop Into Art Family Tours and Activities on Dec. 5th from 2pm to 4pm. (learn more) I hope that many of you from New England will come see the show!

One picture will not be part of the show. Molly, my sister and I is on display in New York City at the Society of Illustrators until Nov. 24th. My picture is the only 3 dimensional piece in the Original Art 2010 show, which includes a juried selection of original illustrations from 129 children’s books published in 2010.

Molly My Sister and I, from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Close-ups (fall trees)

Posted on November 3, 2010 by Salley Mavor

We had our first frost last night and the crisp air really feels like fall. In this series of trees, I’ll explain a bit about how I made some of the parts. This first closeup is from Apple Orchard, an early piece (1992) which I wrote about in another blog post here. The apples are made from wooden beads, covered with a sheer red fabric.

Apple Orchard, fabric relief 1992

The apples from this illustration in Mary Had a Little Lamb, are made from small red wooden beads. The leaves are cut from larger artificial leaves and sewn to the end of thread wrapped wire branches.

detail from "Mary Had a Little Lamb" 1995

In this scene from In the Heart, the hearts and leaves on the lawn are painted with a home made stencil.

detail from "In the Heart" 2001

Here’s a fall tree from my board book version of Jack and Jill.

detail from "Jack and Jill" 2006

These last two are from my new book Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes. They are illustrations from the rhymes “A wise old owl lived in an oak”…

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

and “Hush-a-bye-baby”.

detail from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Celeste’s class visits Highfield

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Last week, Celeste’s 3rd grade class from Mullen Hall School came to see my artwork at Highfield Hall in Falmouth. She and her Mom, Deb, have shared photos of some felt dolls that they saw in Istanbul last summer in an earlier post here. I’ve just received word that Highfield will host the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit again near the tail end of its three-year tour in Sept./Oct. of 2013. Also, for those who live close by and haven’t yet seen the show, it’s up an extra day, Mon., Nov. 1st from 10 to 4pm. I’ll be going in on Tuesday to pack up the pictures and then driving them up to the Danforth Museum in Framingham later this week. The good news is that they’ve decided to hang the whole show, instead of half, which was the original plan!

: Celeste and her Mom, Deb at Highfield

The class arrived with their teacher, Miss Paltze, and several parent chaperones. Deb had them sit on the floor, while she explained how they would be going on a scavenger hunt.

Deb is a teacher’s dream of a parent volunteer. Not only did she come up with the idea, but she made all of the laminated treasure cards. She made color copies of illustrations from the book and cut out different characters and objects from the rhyme scenes for the children to find.

: scavenger hunt cards

The children traveled from one room to the next in small groups, searching for and identifying items on their cards. I answered questions as they looked closely at the artwork and found surprises.

It was great fun and we all had a good time! The children even brought in found objects from home to give to me as a thank you gift. Thanks to Deb for making the event so memorable!

thank you gift of found objects

On Halloween

Posted on October 29, 2010 by Salley Mavor

There’s a poem by Aileen Fisher about Halloween in my 1997 book, You and Me: Poems of Friendship (see on my books page).

We mask our faces/and wear strange hats/and moan like witches/and screech like cats/and jump like goblins/and thump like elves/and almost manage to scare ourselves.

The book is long out of print, but used copies can be found on the internet. For the On Halloween illustration, I made a double page spread with children in costumes, holding trick or treating bags.

illustration from "You and Me:Poems of Friendship"

It’s pretty shocking to see the difference between the book’s printed illustration and the original 4×5 transparency below. The night sky is dyed velveteen, with the moon remaining white with the aid of painted hot wax. The poem’s title is hand embroidered in white on the dark blue velveteen. I don’t know why the brilliant blue didn’t reproduce on the printed page, or why I didn’t kick and scream about it. At the time, I wasn’t even disappointed and recognized the limitations of translating my artwork into a printed book. Maybe it’s because of experiences like this, that I can appreciate how well the photos appear in my new book, Pocketful of Posies. The production team at Houghton Mifflin really did an excellent job!

On Halloween from "You and Me: Poems of Friendship"

This sketch shows how different the final piece turned out. Originally, I had a Dad with a large group of costumed children approaching a porch.

sketch for Halloween illustration

I simplified the scene by taking out the Dad and reducing the number of trick or treaters.

An owl was added and the house was put in the distance with a lit window. The pumpkin is made of felt, with embroidered features in yellow.

I stitched a bark texture of embroidered dots and dashes to the silk tree trunk. All of the branches are made from thread wrapped wire. The background fabric is dyed with a spray bottle. See other fabric dyed this way in a blog post about my Noah’s Ark piece. I hope you all have a fun Halloween!

Pocketful of Borders: Pussy Cat, where have you been?

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Salley Mavor

from “Pocketful of Posies”

Update: This post was written in 2010, so the events and dates mentioned are long past.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be showing pictures I took this past summer. They will show the process of adding borders to the original illustrations from my book Pocketful of Posies. All of the originals are currently on display in Falmouth, Mass. until Oct. 31st, 2010 and then they’ll move to the Boston area for the rest of the year. See the traveling exhibit schedule with future locations on this page. This is the illustration for the rhyme Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? The original was made at 90%, so it was enlarged just a little for the book. I don’t know why, but some characters and designs are easier for me to make on a smaller scale. Since I’m aiming for the work to be reproduced, it can be blown up to the necessary size, as long as the proportions are correct. I picked out an orange upholstery fabric for the back ground and some lavender felt for the border. I then blanket stitched around the border pieces with variegated pima cotton. The bottom corners were chain stitched with the date and my initials, while the top corners had doodles. The corners need warming up, so I outlined the edge with some golden wool crewel yarn. I added some loopy chain stitching to the side pieces… and sewed it all together. To see a closeup of the cat, see this post. To see other posts in the Pocketful of Borders series, click here.

Autographed copies of the book are available in my Etsy Shop here.

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Eight Cousins bookstore & more wee folk centerpiece

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Carol Chittenden from Eight Cousins bookstore asked me to come in and sign another box of books. She sold out of the copies of Pocketful of Posies I signed last week, so I was more than happy to sign some more. To order autographed copies call Eight Cousins at (508) 548-5548. Judy Richardson and I went by this morning after our dance aerobics class at the Rec center. 19 years ago, Judy and I celebrated the publication of our book, The Way Home. Read about the making of our book on earlier posts starting here. We gathered in the back room at Eight Cousins.

: Carol Chittenden, Judy Richardson and Salley

I signed a book for Judy’s relatives, a family with a boy and twin girls.

Out front, my book was in good company, next to a card board display of David Wiesner’s new book, Art and Max. David and I were both illustration majors at RISD, class of ’78. He was quiet and serious, but had a bold, determined side. I remember a mural he painted on the wall in the house he shared with some friends of mine. It was a huge copy of one of Henri Rouseau’s fantasy jungle scenes. I saw David at a RISD reunion a few years ago and was happy to see that he was still as kind and friendly as he’s used to be.

In the recent post about my book release party at Highfield Hall (see here), I said that I hadn’t taken any pictures of the wee folk centerpiece. Well, Carol from Eight Cousins was thinking clearly enough to take some, so here are her photos of the me setting up refreshments in the dining room.

“Posies” book party at Highfield

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Yesterday’s “coming out” party at Highfield for Pocketful of Posies was a big success! My husband Rob took pictures, as it was too hard to talk, sign books and photograph the event. I was so busy and involved with setting up the refreshments, that I forgot to take pictures of the cookies or my centerpiece, which was a tangle of driftwood covered with wee folk dolls. I took pictures during its construction in my studio, so I’ll write the next post about putting the scene together. Here I am, sitting at the desk, signing books. People kept coming, so I didn’t get a chance to walk around and show off my fancy Ojai pants, which were bought during my trip last spring (see Ojai posts here and here).

All 51 original illustrations from the book are on display at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, Mass. until Oct. 31st. Then half (25 pieces) of the collection will travel to the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Mass. from Nov. 13th – Jan. 6th. To see updates on the traveling show schedule, visit the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit page.

Eight Cousins Bookstore had a table set up and they gave away posters to the first 50 customers. I was touched by the number of men who told me how much they enjoyed the illustrations. My artwork involves so much “women’s work” with a needle and thread, that I’m especially pleased when men are impressed.

There was a constant line for signing books, which has never happened before in almost 20 years of illustrating books! So, this is a welcome change, as I’m usually sitting alone in a corner of a book store, twiddling my thumbs, wondering if the drive was worth the gas money.

So many friends came, including my neighbors Sheila and Joy. There were some guests who mentioned visiting this blog!

The piece this woman is photographing, “Molly my sister and I”, was taken down after the party. It will be sent to the Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Original Art 2010 is a juried exhibit of children’s book illustration published in 2010 and will run from Oct. 21- Nov. 24.

Pocketful of Borders: Jack Sprat & My son John

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Salley Mavor

All of the borders from Pocketful of Posies are finished and the artwork is hung at Highfield for the first leg of the tour. The book release party will be held at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA on Sunday, Sept. 26, from 4 to 6pm. I hope to see some of you there!

I still have some photos which show the border making process for a few more illustrations. This one incorporates two different rhymes, Jack Sprat (who ate no fat) and Deedle, deedle dumpling, my son John (who went to bed with his trousers on).

The gray of the driftwood house is too monochromatic for me, so I added a favorite color combination of orange and blue to the figures and props. I used cool colors on the felt border, allowing the warmer browns and oranges to pop out visually. Jack Sprat and his wife are holding doll house utensils.

I embroidered the border pieces with variegated thread.

The driftwood beams and floor boards are sewn onto the felt background through tiny drilled holes. No dreaded glue! Now that I think of it, I did use some glue on the furniture.

But sewed son John’s bed in place.

I can remember really liking the process of building the house, which was so different from sewing. There was sawing, sanding, drilling, carving and whittling. Sawdust mingled with threads on the floor.

Jack Sprat from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Close-ups (cottages)

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’m a hopeless homebody and have been putting cottages and other cozy shelters in my artwork forever. This first yellow house is from the back cover of the first edition of Mary Had a Little Lamb. The board book version shows a portion of the picture that doesn’t include the house.

This one from You and Me: Poems of Friendship has a ribbon porch roof decorated with tatting.

I used cloth-covered wire to make the gingerbread edging along the roof line in this cottage from The Hollyhock Wall. Looking more closely, there is a lot of cloth wrapped wire in this scene: tree branches, hollyhock stems wicker furniture and straw hats. The dolls are about 1 1/4″ tall.

This is the Russian grandfather’s house from Peter and the Wolf. See the whole illustration in an earlier story about the CD here.

This quintessential thatched cottage is from the rhyme, “One, two, three, four, Mary’s at the cottage door”, which is in my new book, Pocketful of Posies. Find out about the book and the traveling exhibit of original artwork here. Also, see the whole double page spread in another post here.

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

Giveaway winner & Highfield Hall Show

Posted on September 14, 2010 by Salley Mavor

It’s been a busy day. First, the book giveaway winner is Ann Irvin! I’ll be contacting Ann via e-mail and will send her an autographed copy of Pocketful of Posies. It is also the first day of the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit at Highfield Hall.

This is the back room at Eight Cousins Children’s Books, where I signed a stack of books today. They will take orders for inscribed books at 508-548-5548.

Here is Historic Highfield Hall in Falmouth, Massachusetts, where the exhibit is showing through Oct 31st. The opening reception and book release party will be on Sunday, Sept. 26th from 4 to 6pm. Eight Cousins will be selling books and I’ll be on hand to meet you and autograph copies. To add to the festivities, Eight Cousins will be giving away posters to the first 50 customers. All are welcome.

I’m really pleased with how the show looks at Highfield and the people have been just great to work with. It’s such a warm, homey setting for the artwork.