What I've Read - 'All the Colours of Paradise' by Glenda Millard

This is the 4th instalment from the Kingdom of Silk.

Perry Angel is the newest Silk. 'He arrived on the ten-thirty express with a small and shabby suitcase embossed with five golden letters. It had taken him almost seven years to find the Kingdom of Silk.'

Perry loves drawing but something happens and he may never draw again. Perry may need all the colours of paradise to draw again.

Glenda Millard's books are sensitive and seriously beautiful. Stephen Michael Kings pen and ink washes are delightful but Glenda's writing paints the best pictures. Her words are vibrant and full of colour.

After reading 'All The Colours of Paradise' I still have to say that the first book in the series, ' The Namong of Tishkin Silk' is still my favourite just for the raw emotions it evoked. But this installment has all the hallmarks of Glenda's writing; simple, evocative and full of colour. It makes me want to move to Cameron' Creek. I'm glad that some of the Rainbow Girls have stepped out of the background in this book.

I have a confession, part of the reason I like this book as much as I do is that I can relate to this one personally through the character of Mr. Jenkins. Not because I tidy the local cemetery - although I do quite like cemeteries. Like Mr. Jenkins, I work at the school with children who need help to adjust and to understand. Being a School Learning Support Officer (Teacher's Aide) is my all-time favourite job that I have held. I have been blessed to work with some wonderful and challenging children.

Another brilliant part of 'All the Colours of Paradise' is that we get to see things through Perry Angels eyes. Even ordinary things become fresh and full of innocence. Did you know, laughter is the colour of watermelons and love is like chocolate melting in the quiet dark? Well you do now.

'All the Colours of Paradise' is a book that young girls will devour. I know a few boys who would enjoy the book, although they probably wouldn't admit it to their footy mates.

Highly recomended.

Paintings For Your Pocket

I have found that one of the first reactions I get from people looking at my leaf paintings is;

“How can you paint them so small?”

I didn’t think the paintings were all that small, not really. I was sure I could paint smaller.

Plus most people don’t have the wall space to display really large paintings, especially after they have them mounted and framed. This is one reason why many people buy paintings on the wrap-around canvases.

Next month, I’m going to set up a stall at the local Sunday Markets to sell my traditional and leaf art. I realise that not everyone can afford to buy original art. I started to think about how I could offer lower price alternatives to make the market stall more profitable. Obviously, prints of my work were the first thing to come to mind along with bookmarks displaying prints of my work. I can produce both quite cost effectively and sell them at a reasonable price that even kids with some pocket money can afford.

The next thought that came to mind was to shrink some of my paintings down to a size small enough to fit into those clear acrylic key-rings, the ones you can place photographs in.

I’m still thinking on that one, and I may do some to see how they go, but I last week I had an even better idea. I decided to put my money where my mouth is and prove I can paint even small than the gum leaf pictures.

I bought a box of key-rings and discovered that the smaller leaves from my two silver birch trees in the front yard are the perfect size to fit inside the key-ring. I’m talking a 35mm x 24mm space. I have decided to call them “Paintings For Your Pocket.” The main thing I wanted to do was make sure the paintings were still as realistic and detailed as my other work.

I started work on them last night and finished adding the details and highlights on the first four this morning. I’m having some serious fun painting these pictures and trying out new techniques.

If any of you would like a “Painting For Your Pocket”, or want to challenge me to paint something particular, just drop me a line.

I’ve decided to price the paintings at an even $10.00 each.



Workshops at the NSW Writers' Centre

Someone once told me that many people don’t realise that people actually live west of the Blue Mountains. He was mainly talking about the publishing industry at the time. Granted, he was a little jaded and being flippant but he isn’t entirely wrong. It is harder for writers living outside the capitol cities. Not because of publishers but mainly that we don’t have regular access to all the facilities of our city cousins.

Take the NSW Writers’ Centre.

If I didn’t live three hours away, I’d be at the Centre every week. I’d join one of their numerous writers’ groups and I would go to a lot more of their wonderful workshops. As it is, I try to attend two workshops each year, plus the annual Festival of Children’s Literature.

Early this month, I attended the “Advanced Picture Book Workshop” with Libby Gleeson. I had high expectations and happily, I wasn’t disappointed. Libby is such a lovely person. She made everyone feel at ease and filled our hungry little minds with insightful and practical information. She also left us with some useful questions to ask ourselves when writing.

Some of these include;

.....• What is it that sets your character apart from other picture book characters?

.....• Why did you explain what the story is about?

.....• Is the orientation too long and complicated?

.....• Is there enough dramatic tension in the middle? (Rule of three)

These questions are just as valid for chapter books and novels.

Libby also left us with some interesting quotes.

.....• “Try and find that perfect – beautiful image.”

.....• “If you are going to do a rhyming text, it MUST be VERY, VERY good.”

.....• “If it doesn’t ADD, it SUBTRACTS.” (My personal favourite).

The best thing I took away from the day was the realisation that I’m actually on the right track with my picture book texts. And I’m confident that with persistence and a little luck, I am going to crack this publishing thing.

What a lovely setting for a workshop.



A Literary Christmas

It is now late on Christmas day and the house is finally quiet. It has been a busy day - if you don't count the short nana-nap this afternoon - so I haven't had much of an opportunity to enjoy my gifts yet.


BUT…

It is going to be a very literary Christmas.

Santa has been good to my this year, not only did she leave me a new camera, there was a whole swathe of new books as well. Lara Morgan’s first Rosie Black Chronicles – ‘Genesis’, Suzanne Collins – ‘Hunger Games’, Simon Green’s - ‘The Man With the Golden Torc’, two of Joseph Delaney’s - ‘Spooks’ books, Bernard Cornwell’s - ‘The Burning Land’, Cornelia Funke’s newest book – ‘Reckless’, a gift voucher from my local book shop and last but certainly not least, ‘Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot’ by Anna Branford with brilliantly delightful illustrations by Sara Davis.

Although, like I said earlier, it has been a busy day. The first thing I did after the exchange of gifts – and a nice coffee – was to sit down in the quietest corner of the house I could find and devour ‘Violet Mackerel’ Not only is it a lovely story with enchanting characters, nearly every page has a little of Sarah’s magic. She never ceases to amaze me with her illustrative talents. One day I hope to be as good.

I walked around today and kept finding myself looking for my own small things.

I’m going to buy a second copy of ‘Violet Mackerel’s Brilliant Plot’ to donate to my school library. I’m working in just the right class next year (Year 4). I know some kids who are going to love this book as much as I do.

Congratulations Anna and Sarah. You made my Christmas special. And thank you to the team at Walker Books – you know your job.

Accidental Art

How do you have accidental art?

A couple of years ago while holidaying on Moreton Island in Queensland, I found some lovely large flat leaves in the garden. I painted some scenes on them and eventually consigned them to my art folder.

Last year, I was working with a student during lunch time and a few of the Year 5 girls were looking through my art folder and came across the leaf paintings. I was busy and distracted at the time and subsequently wasn’t really listening when one of the girls asked me a question.

My answer was “Yes, I’m sure that would be fine.” And I waved them away. About five minutes later, I had leaves landing in front of me on the table and instructions for what the children wanted painted on their leaves.

Their question had been, “If we find some leaves, would you paint a picture on them for us.” I ended up painting about a dozen leaves for the children.

The moral of this story could be – Always listen to children before answering them!

But my moral for this has turned out to be – Sometimes happy accidents happen!

I enjoyed painting on the leaves and I improved my technique with each one I did. Now that I have my studio set up, I have continued to paint on gum leaves and liquid amber leaves.

Now here is where the second part of the happy accident happened.

The little one teacher school at Rockley, where my children started their schooling had their 150th Anniversary on the 6th of November. One of my friends from Rockley was organising the event and asked me if I would like to set up a market stall.

I framed up the leaves I had on hand and made some postcard prints and bookmarks of the artwork. I only sold one painting on the day but received two commissions for specific subjects. (A frog similar to the one I sold earlier in the day – frogs are in, I could have sold that leaf three times on the day – and a scene from the Tarana Valley, as a gift for a Canadian teacher who has been on a work exchange.)

Since that weekend, I have sold two more of the leaf paintings and have commissions for six more at $55.00 each.

I think I may have set the price too low!

3-E Poetry

I have been working, for the second half of the year, helping out in one of the Year 3 classes. There are some wonderful kids in "3-E", some real characters. The kids have been learning poetry in term four, much to the distress of the boys.

"But poetry is gay, Mr. Doherty"

I've heard that statement more than once this term.

Week one was Limericks. One of the boys insisted that if he was writing a poem it would be about something cool! Theropods. Finding rhyming words for that is not an easy task. I thought I would set a good example and write a limerick of my own. It is about young Nicholas and his theropods.

....Young Nicholas loves dinosaurs
.....Even though they have very sharp claws
....He can name them all for us
.....Like the Tyrannosaurus
....With short arms but terrible jaws.

This week's style of poetry was Diamond Poems. Seven lined poems shaped like a diamond about a linked subject. The poem switches between the subjects in the middle of the 4th line. The 2nd and 6th line have 2 descriptive words. The 3rd and 5th line have three verbs, ending in -ing

....................Egg
.............Oval, white
..Moving, cracking, hatching,
Helpless, hungry, high nest
..Growing, learning, flying
..........Black, feathers
...................Bird
..................................by Oden.

All the words were his, with only a little prompting.

I love working with the Year 3 students. I'm definitely going to miss them over the Christmas holiday break.

Painting #2

Kookaburra Sits In The Silver Birch. Oils on slate

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It's half past midnight and I have just come inside from my studio. I have installed the gallery hanging system, hung some of my paintings and emerged with another finished painting under my belt.
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This one, I'm really happy with - my first ever oil painting. In the past I have shied away from oils. They take too long to dry, you need turpentine or thinners to clean up, it is smelly and just seemed like too much of a hassle.
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Now, I have discovered that I love oils!
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I like trying different things with my paintings. Rectangular canvases can get a little monotonous. That is one of the reasons I have experimented with painting on leaves in the past. I found a nice, oddly shaped piece of slate half buried in the backyard. After digging it up and brushing the dirt away, there seemed to be an image trying to break out of the stone. I sketched about on the surface for a while and found the kookaburra hiding inside.
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What do kookaburra's usually sit in? Old Gum Trees. That's why I sat this kookaburra in a silver birch. What can I say, I like being different.

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