Posts Categorized: Art

Thoughts to make your heart sing for Valentine’s Day

THREE SMALL WORDS “Treasure these words of mine in your heart and in your soul.” DEUTERONOMY 11:18 (ESV) What words does God want you to treasure in the deepest part of you? “Be good”? “Do it better?” “Try harder”? Are those the words God wrote in the Bible for us, to rescue and free us?… Read more »

Ten favorite picture books for Christmastime

Do you love Christmas stories as much as I do? What is it about a story? It’s a feeling, an image you can return to, year after year, when you’re little and when you’re grown. A picture book is a place to connect with the ones you love, to dream about years past or years… Read more »

Thoughts for today: Still shining

CLOUDS AND MOUNTAINS AND STARS Have you noticed that when it’s cloudy you can’t see the stars? And that sometimes clouds can hide even mountains from you? (Or even skyscrapers?!) For a moment it seems as if there are no stars shining, no mountains standing. Have the mountains moved? Have the stars stopped shining? No…. Read more »

is it spring yet?

For when winter is feeling long… or a winter in your life is. For when hope is hidden… and spring is nowhere to be seen. A message for you! Below the snow Hidden in every root, Inside every bud, In every seed, A secret is stirring… The lost flowers are only hidden, not gone! And… Read more »

workspaces to inspire you

Where do you make art? write? compose? create? When I started out I thought it would be in a library. So I found the perfect one. It was very beautiful. And very silent. And very serious. And all I could think was, “GET ME OUT OF HERE!” I kept looking around at everyone writing great… Read more »

a thought to make your heart sing this Memorial Day

    MISSING SHOVEL In World War II prisoners of war were building a railroad. After their days work, the shovels were counted. The guard became enraged. One was missing. The prisoners were lined up and ordered to stand there until someone admitted they’d stolen the shovel. No one said it was them. The guard shouted…. Read more »

Connecting children with books!

Good news! You get to drop everything and read a children’s book! Why? It’s Children’s Book Week! What a great excuse (although did we really need one?) to share a favorite children’s book with someone you love–be they little, big, young, old. (I don’t think we ever grow out of them do we? Not the… Read more »

Following Clues with Jane Dyer

With many picture book projects, the author and illustrator never meet — or even communicate with each other. And that was how it was with THE HOUSE THAT’S YOUR HOME. I didn’t share any notes with Jane about what I’d had in mind as I wrote. Jane was sent the text and then it was… Read more »

The front door of a book

I learned early on, as a picture book writer, that the illustration is like the front door of the book. If the illustration isn’t right, then no one will even pick up the book (let alone read your text). Without the illustration, my text would not stand a chance. So you can imagine how grateful… Read more »

From a child’s mouth

I trust the idea that I get from a child. And never more than in this book because, one day on the corner of Amsterdam and 76th Street in New York City, I heard a little girl, riding her father’s shoulders, say: “A girl is Daughter And a boy is a Son.” And I knew… Read more »