Festivals

May is the month where the weather is just right, the flowers are in bloom and there are fun festivals to go to every week-end. There's the Pungo Strawberry Festival, the Greek Festival, the Blackbeard Pirate Festival and the Stockley Gardens Art Festival.

Today we went to Stockley Gardens and the kids had a blast! There were clowns blowing balloon animals, a face painting booth, Abrakadoodle Art and live Bluegass to dance to. It was a PERFECT day.

The mailman brought my birthday package with 2 books that I am very excited about. Play Pen by Martin Salisbury has a sampling of new childrens book illustrations from around the world. It's only recently that children's book art has become highly inventive and seems almost limitless with all the "cool" diverse forms of media used. Yes, it's soooo true, there are way too many mediocre picture books published in recent years and as an artist, I tend to agree with Mr. Salisbury that "pictures in picture books have a far more important role to play in the development of the child than a mere aid to reading." "The smallest owner of books has his special, private art gallery and a unique relationship to it, for he pores over his favourites endlessly, staring at them with a fascination that guarantees indelible memories of scenes and subjects. " It is important that children are exposed to GOOD ART !

This book showcases some of the most exciting work emerging in our generation from a wide range of cultural backgrounds and both digital and traditional media. From Alexis Deacon's delicate monster family to J Otto Siebold's crisp cartoon creatures and Shaun Tan's surreal picturescapes.....(these are just a few of the works included.)