Chickadee in Winter

IMAGE OF THE WEEK

This lovely little black-capped chickadee is just part of an illustration from my book of nature opposites Earth, Sky, Wet, Dry – published in 2000 by Orchard Books.  Unlike most of my other picture books, this one was illustrated by direct observation.  My previous project, the illustrations for  A Ride on Mother’s Back, entailed more library research than I had ever done for a picture book.  Now I wanted to get outside and work directly from nature.

The weather smiled on my work one day in February.  Fresh snow graced the branches outside my window; and as the clouds retreated, the winter birds resumed their busy activity.  I got to paint this image from the snowy scene right in front of my face!

I still think back on that day with a smile.

Earth, Sky, Wet, Dry is out of print – but if you want a copy, you can find it on Amazon.  The book was also published in Korea!

A good week to all.