The Mother Goose Treasury - by Raymond Briggs

I picked up this wonderful vintage children's book a few weeks ago at a local garage sale, and it's gone straight to the top as one of my favourite childrens illustration books!  It's a bit old and worn, but the pages are clean and undamaged and feature the most fabulous illustrations by British illustrator Raymond Briggs. 

The Mother Goose Treasury (first published in 1966, with my version published in 1973) is packed full of children's nursery rhymes, accompanied by Raymond Briggs' whimsical and witty illustrations. 

There are some classic nursery rhymes such as The Grand Old Duke of York, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black Sheep etc - but there are also hundreds of ditty's and nursery rhymes I've never heard of - including some very strange ones. 

The lively illustrations are a mix of black and white sketches created with an ink pen by the look of it, and colourful painterly pieces, perhaps with watercolour? 

Raymond Briggs is probably most famous for his children's classic 'The Snowman'.  First published in 1978 it's a picture book without words, that was made into an animated film in 1982. 

The illustrations and the animation of The Snowman is fabulous, all hand-drawn with pastels and crayons without any digital or fancy effects, and whilst the film contains no words the music describes the scenes perfectly, and you almost don't notice there isn't any commentary. 

The story is about a young English boy who makes a snowman one Christmas Eve.  The snowman comes alive at midnight and the two share a delightful adventure before the snowman takes the boy on a magical trip to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus. 

If you have a spare 25 minutes it's worth watching The Snowman on You Tube for the animation, and also a beautiful video to watch with children - it so reminds me of my childhood as this was played every Christmas.  Just seeing the snow and the excitment of the little boy takes me back to snowy winters in England a very long time ago! 

The North Wind & The Sun - Illustrations by Brian Wildsmith

I was really pleased to come across this book at the local op-shop, because it features the wonderful lively and quirky illustrations of one of my favourite illustrators, Brian Wildsmith, who I've blogged about previously with his books The Owl and the Woodpecker and Python's Party. 

The book is called "The North Wind and The Sun" and is a fable by La Fontaine, first published in 1964. The fable centres around the Northwind and the Sun, and how they compete by different methods to get the horseman to remove his new cloak.  

The fable has a great moral lesson (see below) but it's the whimsical and playful illustrations that transform this story into a delightful book to look at and read.  Using a multi-media approach Wildsmith's imagery mixes gouache, some kind of crayon or oil pastel (I imagine the latter), collage and inks to create his trademark expressive illustrative style full of energy and movement. 

"The North Wind and The Sun" - A Fable by La Fontaine:

One morning the North Wind and The Sun saw a horseman wearing a new cloak. 

"That young man looks very pleased with his new cloak" said the North Wind.  "But I could easily blow it off his back if I wanted to"
"I don't think you could" said the Sun.  "But let us both try to do it.  You can try first."

The North Wind began to blow and blow and blow.  People had to chase after their hats.  Leaves were blown from the trees.  All the animals were fightened.  The ships in the harbour were sunk.  The North Wind blew with all his might, but it was no use, for the horseman just pulled his cloak more tightly around him.

"My turn now," cried the Sun.

And as he gave out his gentle heat, insects hummed and flowers opened.  The birds began to sing.  The animals lay down to sleep.  And the people came out to gossip.  The horseman began to feel very hot, and when he came to a river he took off his clothes and went for a swim.

So the Sun was able to acheive by warmth and gentleness what the North Wind in all his strength and fury could not do.

A great lesson for us all I think!

Charley Harper

The fabulous graphic-style illustrations of Charley Harper

I'm a big fan of the work of American illustrator Charley Harper, and some time ago I received this fabulous book Charley Harper an Illustrated Life, compiled by Todd Oldham, to add to my book collection. 

Charley Harper was a prolific American artist - born in the 1920's he started producing commercial work in the 1950's, and continued to produce commercial art, illustrations, posters, book illustrations, mosaics and silk screens throught his life.  With an instantly recognisable style, he was renowned for his highly stylised wildlife interpretations and modernist style. 

I love Charley Harper's very graphic and simplified style, with flat (almost computer-like) shapes and use of geometric patterning to convery texture and depth - instead of any shading.  He also has a fabulous quirky take on his subject matter - just look at his representation of the Australian Koala and the back scratching baboons.  

I'm totally in awe of his pared-back style, and find it amazing that his illustrations were hand-painted and not created on a computer!  His simplified and stylised artwork translates perfectly to silkscreen prints, particularly his bird series which culminated in his 'Birds & Words' book in 1974.

Above is a very tiny snippet of the very fabulous artworks in the book.  You can find more information about Charley Harper and his work here

The Owl and the Woodpecker

 

 

 

I was really chuffed to come across this Brian Wildsmith book The Owl and the Woodpecker in the
second-hand section of my local bookshop the other day.  Not in the best condition, however at $4 I wasn't complaining!   

The book (published in 1971) tells the story of an owl and a woodpecker who live in a far-away forest.  The woodpecker lives in a tree where he sleeps all night and works all day - however - in the tree next door lives an owl, who likes to work all night and sleep all day!  All the animals in the forest get together to resolve the disagreement between the angry birds, so that peace can return to the forest.

It's the fabulous illustrations by Brian Wildsmith that captured my attention - Wildsmith has created a series of lively, expressive and frenetic animal illustrations to accompany the story.  Painted in what appears to be layers of gouache, oil pastel and the occasional use of collage, the multi-textural illustrations are playful and portray a sense of movement and energy on each page. 

I love Brian Wildsmith's freedom and relaxed illustrative style, and these colourful animal illustrations are really delightful (the photographs don't do them justice)..... and they make me want to rewind my life by several years and go to study illustration at college! 

There are some more examples of Brian Wildsmith's work on my blog here and here. 

The Big Brown Bear - book & record

The Big Brown Bear - a little golden book and record!   

Well, here we are.... one week into the new year and January is already racing by with lightning speed!  I managed to find time over the festive period to have a rummage in my local charity shop, and found this super-cute 'Read and Hear' Little Golden Book AND record! (a 45 RPM for those old enough (like me) to know what this means).

The story is written by Georges Duplaix and illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren (copyright 1944, 1947) and tells the story of a naughty bear who gets stung on the nose after stealing some honeycomb from a beehive, whilst he was supposed to be out catching fish for his dinner.

It's been a mighty long time since I've seen a 45 RPM record, and it reminded me of the little portable orange record player I had as a child. Sadly, I no longer own a record player so I can't actually play the record, but I still thought the book and record set was too good to resist!

A Year in Provence

A Year in Provence - illustrations by Paul Hogarth

I love how Paul Hogarth paints everyday French people!

          Rumbly tumbly old buildings, local architecture, landscapes and townscapes are

                     captured in quick pencil studies and light washes of watercolour.   

A few weeks ago I posted about a series of old Penguin books I have, which are all illustrated by Paul Hogarth.  Writing the post reminded me of another book I have, A Year in Provence, which again feature illustrations by Paul Hogarth.  It was a lovely excuse to rummage through my bookshelves and leaf through this partially forgotten about book.

'When Peter Mayle fled grey London for Provencial sunshine and bought an ancient farmhouse in the Luberon mountains, pastoral dreams were disrupted by the year's round of icy mistrals, demanding visitors, ruinous floods and absentee builders.  He soon realised that the only thing to be relied on was lunch, with military regularity at midday'.

All painted in watercolour, Paul Hogarth's illustrations perfectly capture the changing seasons and charm of life in Provence.  I'm really drawn to his expressive painterly qualities, and the quick sketches of landscape, people and historic buildings.  They are simply executed in pencil with washes of watercolour and minimum detail, but they are so lively and almost whimsical in feel.

The book is punctuated with these fabulous snippits of visual life in Provence - you hardly need to read the book, but just look at the illustrations to get a sense of the story.  I'm always in awe of people who can paint with such minimal fuss and detail, and I think this is a classic example of less is more.

A rather quirky second-hand kids cook book!

'My Fun-to-Cook Book' illustrated by Martin Mayhew 

I picked up this rather quirky children's cook book from a second-hand book shop recently.  First published in 1969, it's full of these fabulously crazy child-like illustrations by Martin Mayhew which appear to have been done with coloured texta's, felt tips or magic markers.

I love the care-free and relaxed style of the illustrations, and the cute visual step-by-step diagrams to accompany the recipes and cooking methods.  The illustrative style is such a world away from sophisticated computer generated illustrations or stylised photography, but I can see how these simple and fun images would relate to children, and make cooking seem quite easy.

I love having these sort of books as reference material to remind me that everything doesn't have to be 'perfect' or too finished, sometimes a quick scribble can be just as visually effective as a fully polished piece of artwork. 

Paul Hogarth for Penguin

                 Second-hand Penguin books featuring cover illustrations by Paul Hogarth 

A few years ago I decided I should read some of the 'classics' in English literature, but whilst browsing the shelves at a local second-hand bookshop I was drawn to a series of Graham Greene books because of the front cover illustrations!  On a whim and knowing very little about Graham Greene's books (apart from watching 'Travels with my Aunt' with the fabulous Maggie Smith) I bought the books, and later learnt the illustrations I admired were by English artist and illustrator Paul Hogarth.

Paul Hogarth illustrated all of Greene's novels for publisher Pengiun, and I love the power of the simplicity found in these cover images.  Predominantly created in inks and watercolour and utilising a limited colour palette - or simply just black ink.  Whilst the illustations are simple, they cleverly manage to capture the mood and feel of Green's stories.

"The distinctive style of the artist Paul Hogarth is instantly recognisable: a strong line, a broad watercolour wash and a flamboyant signature.  They are characteristically simple colour drawings which manage to capture a mood – whether of menace or anxiety or general seediness and invariably set in an exotic location – true to the writer's work".  Taken from the obituary in The Independent newspaper, 7th January, 2002

Whilst I love the illustrations of these second-hand books by Paul Hogarth, I've also enjoyed reading Green's stories, the majority of which were written in the 1940's, 50's and 60's and are set in various countries around the world, incorporating his writing with his love for travel.

You can see some more images of Paul Hogarth's cover illustrations for Penguin at this fab Vintage Penguins blog!