Shabby Chic Sis!

My sister's fledgling blog My Shabby Streamside Studio has been 'discovered' by one of the biggest 'shabby decorating' blogs in the US!  Please use the link below to see it.

http://romantichome.blogspot.com/2010/02/let-me-introduce-you.html

hand study

Found this...from when I was in a watercolor class at the Worcester Art Museum.

Found

Found some art I had done a long time ago...it's undated so I don't know when. Probably 2002-2005. Anyway...I did these on a different kind of paper. I think it was a strathmore watercolor pad - student grade. But I really love the way the color sits on the paper more than the expensive "artist-grade" Fabriano artistico I'm using now. I'll have to get another pad and experiment some more.

 

quick inkies

Found some old sketches, decided to play with the ink pens...keeping it loose. Some were really small - 2".

Hermit Thrush!

Wow!! A confirmed sighting of a hermit thrush in our yard yesterday! I had glimpsed them in the past, but never got a good enough look to be sure. Confused as to why they are here now, having read that they don't come into our area until April. I do so hope that they build a nest or at least SING this spring! I love their song. Haunting, echoey, spiritual.

pretty fairy!

Kirkus Reviews LUCKY BEANS!

Amazing as it is to even get your book reviewed, it's even more amazing to get favorable ones from sources like Kirkus. I'm chuffed!

Kirkus Reviews, Feb. 1

Birtha, Becky
LUCKY BEANS
Illus. by Nicole Tadgell

History proves cyclical with this story of an African-American family living through the Great Depression. “Marshall didn’t feel so lucky. The elbows of his jacket were worn almost all the way through. Dad had been out of work for months, and there was no money.” The story, however, is not one of depression. The family works together to survive and finds moments of love, appreciation and sheer happiness. This moving tale not only relates a little history but also some math, as Marshall helps his mother estimate the number of beans in the furniture-store jar and ultimately wins a new sewing machine, which helps alleviate their dire financial situation. Tadgell’s watercolor illustrations move the story and stir readers’ emotions. A two-page spread of the contestants in the store teaches readers everything they need to know about the characters without a letter of text. Many children today can relate to the family’s challenges, which makes the timing of this picture book sadly relevant. (author’s note) (Picture-book. 5-12)

School Library Journal Review

Yayy! Another nice review:

BIRTHA, Becky. Lucky Beans. illus. by Nicole Tadgell. unpaged. CIP. Albert Whitman. Mar. 2010. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-8075-4782-3. LC 2009023901.
Gr 2-4–Money is tight during the Great Depression, and Marshall is tired of eating beans for dinner every night. When a local shopkeeper announces a contest to win a new sewing machine, he seizes the opportunity to make his Ma’s dreams come true. The catch is that to win it, he has to guess how many beans are in a jar. Birtha effortlessly describes how Marshall and his mother use math to find their answer. Young readers thus will discover fun, realistic applications for the estimating and multiplication skills they learn in their classrooms. Math is not the only subject in Birtha’s lively lesson plan, though. She also confronts the racism of the 1930s when a white girl tells African-American Marshall that he might not be allowed to enter the contest because “only white ladies can win contests.” An author’s note provides a brief description of the Great Depression and anecdotes from the author’s family history. Tadgell’s colorful illustrations, many full page, give the book an old-fashioned feel and include many period details, strengthening the text’s usefulness for social-studies classes. Children will appreciate the story’s humor and happy ending. Lucky Beans can be used across the curriculum to educate while it entertains. Ideal for classrooms and school libraries, it’s also a strong choice for public libraries.–Mary Landrum, Lexington Public Library, KY

Lucky Beans Booklist Review

Booklist Advanced Review – Uncorrected Proof
Issue: February 1, 2010
Lucky Beans.
Birtha, Becky (Author), Tadgell, Nicole (Illustrator)
Mar 2010. 32 p. Albert Whitman, hardcover, $16.99. (9780807547823).

Math and wry comedy mix in this lively historical story based on Birtha’s grandmother’s memories of life
during the Depression. Young Marshall describes his African American family’s hardship when Dad loses
his job and then his relatives crowd into Marshall’s room. Worst of all are the beans Ma constantly cooks.
Then a local furniture store makes an exciting offer: whoever guesses the number of beans in a huge jar on
display will win a new sewing machine. If only Marshall could win the prize for Ma so that she could earn
money by sewing. He works out a system to estimate (not guess) by counting the number of beans that fill
a quart jar, and how many quarts fill up a crock . . . and his formula works! The expressive watercolor
paintings show both the racism that Marshall and his family endure as well as his final triumph, and
Tadgell folds in humor, as Marshall faces what looks like a lifetime supply of beans. An informative final
note fills in more about the era’s history.

— Hazel Rochman

Lucky Beans by Becky Birtha

 

Here it is at last! LUCKY BEANS by Becky Birtha.

Published by Albert Whitman & Co. Spring 2010

And here's a lovely review in the Horn Book.

ALA!

Wow, I'm going to be at the American Library Association's Annual Winter Meeting on Sunday in Boston, signing copies of my newest book LUCKY BEANS by Becky Birtha at the Albert Whitman booth.
I've never been to ALA and I'm looking forward to meeting people!

New art...or oldie but goodie?

I'll be participating in some upcoming promotions with my agent, so of course I'm back to my fighting my nemesis: deciding which piece to put in! Do I find an older piece, maybe done for another client? Or do I create something new? So in my search of archived art, I came across these pieces which viewers may not have seen:

Coming soon!

The F&Gs for LUCKY BEANS by Becky Birtha came in yesterday! (For those se of you who don't know, F&G stands for "folds and gathers" and is an unbound copy of a book)

It's my newest book coming out this Spring from Albert Whitman & Co. As with many of the books I illustrate, I have lots of mixed feelings while I work on the art - ranging from elation to despair! This particular book takes place during the depression, so I needed to do a lot of careful research.

I also like to challenge myself, so I drew scenes with more perspective, and layering. It was very difficult! So when I was finished with this one, I really wasn't happy. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't what I saw in my head. Months later, I'm seeing it again for the first time in context - words and pictures, trimmed and folded.

It really works, and looks nice! The team at Albert Whitman was great to work with, as well. Kudos to them! Hopefully the book will receive good reviews, too. :)

More reading

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

It's about finding motherly love, but it's also about forgiveness.

So why isn't Lily's forgiveness of her father addressed?

Horn tooting!

Neat! There is a book called the Encyclopedia of Writing and Illustrating Children's Books and my work is featured inside! I got my copy recently, and it looks great!

Neesha's post

I am going to need to re-read this PLUS the comments when I get home and can devote more time to this rich, thought-provoking discussion...

Shelftalker Follow-up

This is an amazing follow-up to Elizabeth Bluembe's blog about diversity in children's books - wonderfully well-written, and I am so heartened by all the comments. There are a LOT of people out there who feel the same as I do!

Totally off topic...

Okay, this has nothing to do with illustration...I just needed to vent! How can I lose 10lbs and still look the same?! All that work, being hungry all the time, and my clothes only feel a LITTLE looser!

Geez... makes me want to go eat a cupcake.

On the other hand, if the scale is wrong (and I suspect it is, being 15 yrs old), this would make sense.

More summer reading

I've also read:

THE WESTING GAME by Ellen Raskin
IT'S LIKE THIS, CAT by Emily Cheney Neville
JUDY MOODY SAVES THE WORLD!
STANFORD WONG FLUNKS BIG TIME by Lisa Yee
DRAGON'S BLOOD by Jane Yolen
HEART'S BLOOD by Jane Yolen

Digitally Created Artwork

There's a lot of buzz lately about artiss creating work digitally...as in some companies now have that as a requirement. Here are some examples that I created digitally 100%. But what I'm confused about is why. What's the difference between doing a painting and scanning it, and creating it 100% in Photoshop. I'd flatten the layers anyway. Do they want the "digital" look? Do they think they have better control over color spaces? I don't actually render the same digital vs. traditional. It's not fun to try to make a digital painting look like a watercolor.




Below is an image I painted traditonally and then scanned in and modified in Photoshop with layers and filters. . Is it digital? Why or why not?

Great article!

So well said!

Summer reading

Right now I'm reading DICEY'S SONG by Cynthia Voight

Recently read books: (in no particular order)
BABY by Patricia MacLachlan
THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY by Susan Patron
WE ARE THE SHIP by Kadir Nelson
KIRA KIRA by Cynthia Kadotada
GATHERING BLUE by Lois Lawry
ARCHER'S QUEST by Linda Sue Park
TANEESHA NEVER DISPARAGING by M. LaVora Perry
CRISPIN: The Cross of Lead by Avi
CRISPIN: At the Edge of the World by Avi
SHILOH by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
HOLES by Louis Sachar
RULES by Cynthia Lord


Basically, I go to the library planning on reading Newbery books, and I just sort of browse, and pick up other books that look interesting, or are by an author I know.

It SEEMS that if a book got a Newbery medal, it means somebody dies or something really tragic happens.

Here is an interesting article about this topic.

When people say that they want to "stretch a child's mind", I think they mean more emotionally and socially - not necessarily intellectually. I recall being an excellent reader at an early age - reading at levels a lot higher than my age group. I think I was reading at a college level when I was in middle school. But I didn't want to "stretch" in the emotional/social way. Intellectually, sure. Not a problem. But I could not deal with books about death (my younger sister died when I was a child) or poverty (I had already experienced being poor and it wasn't something I wanted to read about for fun) and politics weren't interesting (a lot of adults don't think they are interesting, either). Or about being black. I wasn't 100% comfortable with my race, and I didn't enjoy exploring things that made me uncomfortable.

For me, books were a way to escape what I couldn't. Children are largely powerless (can't control where they live or their financial status) so reading about faraway worlds, magical creatures, other planets, or other time periods were the most fun for me, and stayed that way well into my adulthood.

So now that I'm "grown up", I'm having fun reading these middle grade and young adult books. I love how refreshing they are. How clean the writing is. No unnecessary details going on about "how she tossed raven-black curls over her shoulders".

I can't wait to read the next book...and the next...and the next. Will I someday read "adult" level books? Perhaps. But not today.

Blue Rose Girls: so, where do I go from here?

Blue Rose Girls: so, where do I go from here?

Doing your best

What is your best?

Doing your best has more to do with getting your mind, body and spirit on the same page at once.
Performers and sports players know how hard this can be. Artists, too. It might seem, on the surface, that if you're a writer or artist, you can go back and re-do, rework, repaint. With deadlines, there's a limit. Or like a student taking a test. An answer that keeps eluding you – then you know it suddenly, hours after the exam.

So when I show my work, is it the best I can do? Yes and no. It WAS the best, at that time. Sometimes I overwork or overthink the art, and the art I did in a different state of mind is actually "better". That's why a lot of art artists do for themselves (as opposed to contract work ) is "better". No one to say what the subject should be. How the character is feeling, what he is doing.

impatiens

Ink and Photoshop Mice Characters

Awhile back, I did these illustrations for a local cable company. They were done in ink, and colored in Photoshop.

8-1-09

The flowers are beginning to really fade now. If I deadhead them, I could get more blooms.

Bee Balm Countdown - Final day!

Today I am finished!

Articles

The Horn Book article/review of Lucky Beans

Josias, Hold the Book articles and reviews

No Mush Today articles and reviews

Worcester Living Magazine interview


Central Mass Magazine interview

Bee balm Countdown - Day 15