Speaking of speaking....

I spoke at an Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators conference yesterday. My slot was 4:15, the last 15 minutes of a long day of many speakers. By 10AM all the points of my talk had already been covered, much more eloquently and thoughtfully by talented people from the industry. Sometimes you get what you get, a tired audience in a half filled auditorium, who doesn't know you from Adam. I screwed my chipperness to the sticking point and was perky as possible. (And hopefully not too boring or annoying.)

A month ago I would have probably melted into a puddle of goo, but after traveling for two weeks and non stop speaking it wasn't a completely daunting task. I've learned a lot from people who are actually good at speaking. The wonderhub, for example, is an incredible speaker. I envy his ease in front of an audience. He gets the info over and makes people laugh, making learning fun. (He used to do stand up comedy.)

I've also learned a lot from my studio mates at Studio Five.

 

J. H. Everett has years of diverse experience from speaking at Christ Church College to musical theater.  Years of teaching at the university level has given him a polish an the ability to communicate complex ideas clearly. 

Lesson learned = Prepare your speech with a beginning middle and end and tailor it to your audience.

 Bob Singer is basically a shy person, a behind the scenes kind of of guy... that is until you get him in front of a drawing board. Then the magic happens. He is a super star. Watching him draw is like being at the Olympics and seeing the figure skaters.

Lesson learned = Showcase your superpowers.

 

Kim Dwinell and J.R. Johnson gave a talk at the University of SF on storyboards and sequential storytelling. Kim worked as a Disney animator on Mulan and Hercules. She does hilarious voices when she is teaching. J.R. has years of art director street cred and is great at breaking down ideas into bite sized steps. 

Lesson learned = Experience makes you a better teacher.

 One of the presentations I did was with Bob for a crowd of kids. We made monster posters. these photos don't do the art justice. With Bob drawing pictures of Scoobie Doo and talking about monster design we hit a home run. I showed the kids how to make letters out of a strip of paper to do their typography. 

Lesson learned = Surrounding yourself with talented people makes you look good.

 

 Another talk I did was on "Growing Your Creativity" to group of college art students. I gave them five minute challenges like, "make the tallest structure you can from a single piece of paper" Here's the winning piece....

Lesson learned = A successful presentation also means interaction. We learn by doing.

Andy Michell, Katie McDee and Alice Provensen couldn't make it up to San Francisco for the trip. Hopefully next time. Andy wrote a wonderful speech for the tour that I will share in my next post. Lesson learned = Do what you can. It may be more than you think.

So I'm actually looking forward to  the next chance to speak and teach. The idea of speaking in front of a large group isn't as formidable as it was a month ago. Bring it on!

Marilyn.

--

“You can speak well if your tongue can deliver the message of your heart.”  ~ John Ford 

The Toymaker's Cat

I'm back from my whirlwind tour. When I got back from Saint Paul, I found that we had a new family member. He is the most exceedingly friendly cat in the world. At the conference I scored a small pair of Fiskars folding scissors so I asked Mr. Friendly to help me test them out them. (Since he was stretched across my keyboard and wouldn't get the heck out of the way.)

 

Unfold your scissors. Find a square of paper.

 Fold your paper diagonally, fold again and one more time. Draw on a design with pencil. Make sure that the design connects on the sides.

 

Cut out your design. Now, for the fun part!

 

Play with the scissors for a bit. (Do not try this at home.)

Carefully unfold the paper. What do we have here?

 

Admire your art. Hmm, interesting.

Glue your design to a piece of paper. Pet the cat.
Wander off to chase the laser pointer around the living room.

The end.

Pleasantly surprised...

The Wonderhub's guitar teacher sent me this photo that he took yesterday at the Getty Museum.

It's a scrapbooking calendar that I did for Orange Circle Studios. It contains 12 toys from the website printed on nice paper as well as a lot of tiny and cute stickers.

I am delighted. :-)

Marilyn.






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"I urge you to please notice when you are happy,
and exclaim or murmur or think at some point,
'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is.'"

~Kurt Vonnegut

A few random drawings from nowhere in particular....

THE CELTIC TWILIGHT.

“What is literature but the expression of moods by the vehicle of symbol


and incident? And are there not moods which need heaven, hell, purgatory,


and faeryland for their expression, no less than this dilapidated earth? 


Nay, are there not moods which shall find no expression unless there be


men who dare to mix heaven, hell, purgatory, and faeryland together, 

or
 even to set the heads of beasts to the bodies of men, or to thrust the


souls of men into the heart of rocks? Let us go forth, the tellers of


tales, and seize whatever prey the heart long for, and have no fear.


Everything exists, everything is true, and the earth is only a little dust
 under our feet.”

~ Yeats

.

I neeed to lie down...

 A peak at some of my pieces for the upcoming art show.

For the last year I've been working on art for a gallery show at the Thacher Gallery at the University of SF. The show is titled Monsters on the Bookshelves and is the art of Studio Five.

 

Here's a photo of the awesome glass workers at Affordable Glass & Mirror
(949) 548-2122
647 W 17th St, Costa Mesa, CA 92627

They were so wonderful lining the insides of one of my Bookhouses with mirrors.

 

The inside of the Monkey House.

Angry Little Girl

Bird Book

Dream Tigers

Inside the Polar Bear House

Creatures of the East Indies The wonderhub did the gorgeous frame.

 

I miss these panels that were in our living room. They were so colorful. They are sixty paper cut outs laminated on wood. We are already planning the next one.

If you are in the Bay Area put September 21st on your calendar. I hope to see you there!

http://studiofiveart.org/gallery-show-downloads.html

“And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight in a bud was more painful that the risk it took to blossom.” ~ Anais Nin

Summertime!

Studio Five

I haven't posted in a while because things have been zinging along at a frantic pace. Most of my time this last few weeks has been spent finishing pieces for a show with my art group, Studio Five at the Thacher Gallery up at the University of San Francisco. The Wonderhub has spent his summer vacation building frames for the art and they look real spiff. Here's a sneak peak...

 Creatures from the East Indies

 Bird Book

 Doing some touch up.

 Prayer Flags

 

There is going to be a case filled with paper toys.

 

 My completely adorable nieces helped me put them together,

 The Toymaker's Christmas

 

The Toymaker's Workshop (Coming out in two months!) 

The show, titled Monsters on the Bookshelves will be opening in San Francisco on September 21st, 2011. If you are up in Bay Area please come and see the show. There is going to be a lot of  wonderful things to see and do.

More soon! Marilyn.

Lotus Blossom

Last year the Wonderhub got me a Lotus plant for the pond and it finally bloomed. It only blooms in the morning and I have no idea how long it will last but it is very beautiful.

 --

The Lotos blooms below the barren peak,
The Lotos blows by every winding creek;
All day the wind breathes low with mellower tone;
Thro’ every hollow cave and alley lone
Round and round the spicy downs the yellow Lotos-dust is blown.

We have had enough of action, and of motion we,
Roll’d to starboard, roll’d to larboard, when the surge was seething free,
Where the wallowing monster spouted his foam-fountains in the sea.

Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind,
In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined
On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind.

For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl’d
Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl’d
Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world...

 The Lotos-Eaters  Alfred, Lord Tennyson