Saturday, November 10th, 2007

Time

Event

4:56a

Robert's Snow for Cancer's Cure: Interview with Illustrator Jeannie Brett    One of the joys of being an author in Maine is the community I feel with the other children's authors and illustrators who also live surrounded by this gorgeous, sometimes harsh, landscape. Maine is a place of sharpest contrast, and I think that may be one reason why we hold the distinction of having the most authors per our population of all fifty states. We are also fortunate in Maine to have an organization called "The Maine Writers' and Publishers' Alliance," and one of the things MWPA does is sponsor group signings a few times a year. At those signings, I have met many Maine writers, including big-name authors for adults like Tess Gerritsen, Stephen and Tabitha King, and Jonathan Lethem. And as truly nice as those writers are, they aren't why I jump at the chance to participate in those events. I fire back a fast yes to those invitations because I get to spend my day with Maine artists and writers for children--like Jeannie Brett. I have loved Jeannie's books for years, and this summer at one of those group signings, I had the chance to meet her for the first time. It's always a little risky to meet someone whose books you love. Don't you find? I create an idea of the person from the work, and sometimes the person isn't like their work.  Jeannie Brett and Katie Clark--at our summer MWPA signing But two things struck me immediately that day about Jeannie: She has a smile that lights up a room (or in this case, a signing tent), and she is exactly like her books: genuine and friendly, with a wonderful sense of humor. So when I saw Jeannie's name on the list of illustrators participating in the Robert's Snow: For Cancer's Cure project, I asked if she would do an interview with me.  She agreed and also signed a copy of her book, Fishing For Numbers: A Maine Number Book for me to use as a contest prize today. Whether or not you have spent time in Maine, children will love counting the many beautiful or fun and frisky things: eight clipper ships, nine coon cats, twenty bears, twelve lobster buoys, even one hundred bees!        I asked Jeannie a few questions about Maine, the illustration process for Fishing for Numbers, her snowflake, and the poignant, personal reason why she chose to be part of the Robert's Snow project. Fishing for Numbers is full of beautiful animals and places and things associated with Maine. What do you love about living in Maine? Oh boy…I do LOVE living in Maine…I hope to always have a home in Maine! I love the change of seasons, the salt air, the mountains, the deep dark woods and moss-covered rocks of the Mount Desert area, the beautiful perennial gardens you find in Maine, the people the state attracts, the lore, lobsters, crabs and mussels….I could go on and on…… What could we Mainers do without? We definitely wouldn’t miss mosquitoes! Although I love bats, and bats love mosquito-snacking! From Fishing for Numbers:A Maine Number Book, written by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds, illustrated by Jeannie Brett I was really impressed with how you organized the items you drew in Fishing for Numbers: the fifteen beautifully overlapping whales, the forty practical potatoes divided by variety into bins, thirty lighthouses, etc. Was it ever challenging to decide how to draw so many things on a page or spread? Hmmmm, the potatoes and the bees were a bit of challenge. Potatoes! How to make potatoes fun and interesting?! I added my Newfie Cali, and kitty Macaroni (brother to Tortellini!) to add some interest! I also liked the idea of a road-side farm stand, which you see many of in the state of Maine. 100 bees on one page….and so you can actually count them. Yes, that was challenging! The 15 whales were a treat to do! 20 bears were also great fun to illustrate. Jeannie and Cali. Photo from Jeannie's website What was one of the hardest things you’ve ever been asked to draw for a picture book?  People have been very difficult for me…but now I am enjoying drawing people much more. I have taken the time to find models for my people and taken lots of photos of them to use as reference. Animals have always been my “thing,” but now I enjoy drawing people just as much! As a child, what page in Fishing for Numbers do you think would’ve been your own favorite page to look at? Why? I would say my favorite pages (I rarely have ONE favorite of anything!) to look at when I was a child would have been: the whales, seals, friendship sloops, clamming, lobster buoys. Why? Because they were familiar. I spent childhood summers sailing and cruising on our family sailboat (a sloop), the waters of Buzzards Bay, Elizabeth Islands (both of MA) and the Maine Coast. I remember spending hours daydreaming out at sea looking for whales (and sharks!), seals in the harbors and pointing out Friendship Sloops (a boat I always have been fond of). I did a lot of clamming as a young child…so again “familiar” things. Who was the first person that made you feel like an artist? That’s a tough one. We had many artistic members of our family. It really wasn’t made a big deal of by my family, kind of ordinary. I do remember being asked to decorate a lot of bulletin boards in elementary school! So I would say that my teachers made me feel as if I was an artist in early elementary school years. How do you think the child you used to be shows up in your art today? I was the youngest of three children and didn’t have any friends in the neighborhood…I spent A LOT of time with “me, myself and I” using my imagination, playing in my backyard woods and field and old “livery stable,” and having our pets as companions. I felt very comfortable by myself outdoors, amusing myself. A lot of those “visuals” come through in my illustrations. A lot of my art work triggers memories of when I was a child. Or maybe it’s just the opposite! Memories of my childhood trigger ideas/mood for my artwork! I have always found a deep connection with spending time outdoors and with the natural world, with animals, and experiencing the change of seasons and weather. Those are the things that make me tick…and they were embedded in my person way back as a very young child. I hope those connections come through in my illustrations. On your website, I read that you do school visits. What’s one of the most surprising or interesting questions you’ve been asked by children? Oh, I love visiting schools! I’m not sure what the most surprising or interesting questions would be, but a couple of common questions are: How old am I and do I make a lot of money! It’s interesting that any little bit of notoriety is associated with making a lot of money! It certainly isn’t true. I get a lot of questions about my pets and my sister, Jan! What were the best and worst parts of winter when you were a child? The best part of winter when I was a child was certainly the snow. Playing, skiing, sledding, making snow animals, eating snow (pouring maple syrup into the snow and eating it), riding horses in the snow (it feels like you are riding on clouds!), all and all enjoying the winter weather. Also, sleeping on the floor in front of the fireplace in our family room on a wintry/stormy night when the electricity has gone off! My own children have experienced that many times in our own home in York. Worst parts of my winter as a child…carrying my ski equipment when I was really young…it is SO heavy and cumbersome! SO I would guess I was a bit WHINEY! Oh, and pond skating…my ankles would always fall “in” and hurt…yup… whining again! snowflake by Jeannie Brett, reproduced here with permission of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute What led you to be involved in the Robert’s Snow: For Cancer’s Cure project? First, I had the pleasure of meeting Grace Lin and Robert about a year ago at a book-signing event. I mentioned that I would like to create a snowflake and they remembered that. Shortly after I received information about creating a snowflake to be auctioned off. One of my children was diagnosed with a rare childhood cancer when she was 7. She is a now an 11-year survivor. She is 18 and a freshman in college. It took the wonderful care from the doc’s and nurses at Maine Children’s Cancer Program and the research and care from a doctor at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago (and the will and strength of my daughter) to beat her cancer! How did you decide what you’d create on your snowflake? I wanted to link it with my favorite book that I have illustrated, FISHING FOR NUMBERS. I included 2 of the animals that I had illustrated in FISHING and one from my other Maine book, L IS FOR LOBSTER. I also wanted to make it “light” in mood and a “hopeful feel”. Let’s “Race for a Cure!” What’s next for you? I have been busy doing some commercial artwork: an advent calendar for the Longfellow House in Portland, ME and an illustrative map of a beautiful children’s memorial garden in CT. I also am spending much of my time writing and creating my own stories. The writing is hard work for me, but I do have a lot of ideas! I retreat to my “Happy Place” when I am creating the pictures for these stories! Look how fun Jeannie signed it! You can win a signed copy of Jeannie's beautiful Fishing For Numbers! Just leave a comment to this post by midnight Monday night. And you'll be entered to win twice, if you tell me how many potatoes you have in your house right now (and yes, zero is a number)!  Current Mood: Let it snow! (21 Comments | Comment on this)

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