talk at Sandwich Library

Posted on November 10, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Titcomb’s Bookshop has arranged for me to come and talk about my books at the Sandwich Public Library on Cape Cod next week. The event will be held on Tuesday Nov. 16th, from 10:30am to 11:30am. I will read from my books and talk about my illustrations. I’ll also bring along some original fabric relief artwork, including some from my board books, Hey! Diddle, Diddle and Wee Willie Winkie.

Detail from Wee Willie Winkie, "Are the children in their beds?'

Titcomb’s Bookshop will be selling Pocketful of Posies at the event, which I will be happy to sign. One person has said, “This is a nursery rhyme book to keep until you’re old and doddering”, so it’s not just for children!

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.

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: Bow, wow, wow

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Last summer, in the rush to finish making borders for the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit, I forgot to take pictures while I was working on the border for this illustration. It’s for the rhymes, Diddlety, diddlety, dumpty, the cat ran up the plum tree… and Bow, wow, wow! Whose dog art thou? Original artwork from my book Pocketful of Posies will be on display until Oct 31st at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, Mass. and then the show will open on Nov. 13th at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Mass. See future locations here.

: illustration from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

Here are some early layouts of the page, showing the progression of the design. Originally, there were three children, with the Diddlety rhyme positioned in upper left corner. I incorporated an island to make the tree and characters grounded, instead of floating around in red space. The mound was also big enough to hold the Bow, wow, wow rhyme.

Time went by, maybe a year or more before I started working on this page. I looked at the design with new eyes and was unhappy with the type placement. So, I redid the layout, enlarged the tree and repositioned the Diddlety rhyme on top.

The tree was inspired by some wrought iron gates I saw, with graceful interwoven branches. I added bead leaves and glass pear-shaped beads. Here are some details of the finished border.

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

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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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.

“Posies” artwork ready to hang!

Posted on September 12, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Today, we finished framing the Pocketful of Posies artwork and will be ready to hang the show tomorrow! Talk about working ’til the last-minute. I don’t usually do things this way and have everything completed way ahead. The whole family helped out over the weekend, while I sewed the last border together. My studio was a beehive of activity; my husband Rob put the last of the artwork into frames and sons Peter and Ian drilled holes and screwed in the eyes on the back. It will take several car loads to transport all 51 pictures over to Highfield Hall tomorrow morning. It’s a good thing we live close by. Wow, does it feel good to have this project done! You can read about Pocketful of Posies: A Traveling Exhibit and see the schedule here.

Pocketful of Borders: Little piggies & back jacket

Posted on September 11, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This is a quick update on the border project for the illustrations from Pocketful of Posies. I’m working on the last one now, so if everything goes as planned, we will be readyto hang the show next Monday! My husband has been helping by putting the artwork into the frames he made. To see the show schedule, go to the Traveling Exhibit Page here. These pictures are from This Little Piggy and the back book jacket.

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

Closeups (grapes)

Posted on September 8, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I smelled grapes this morning. Wild Concord grape vines strangle the trees along the bike path and their dark purple fruit is ripening. Women were picking low growing grapes and filling plastic bags. Here are some closeups of grapes in my artwork over an almost 50 year span.

crayon on lined paper, 1960 (age 5)

This pin was made by covering red beads with sheer lavender fabric. Read the story of my pins here.

pin, 1978

The grapes in this fabric relief piece were made the same way as the pin, but about 1/2 the size. I used real curly grape vines. See another detail from “Vineyard Family” here.