Dear Liza,
I am still working in the illustrations for your story, Adventure Grandma, and have changed gears a bit. Instead of drawing the pictures of our imaginary adventures in Denmark, I am playing with collage and acrylic paints.
As I go along, I am discovering all sorts of new possibilities and difficulties. Finding the right colors and patterns is tricky. I found some in my collage box and am creating others. You never know what will work. All the circles for my moons, suns and bicycle wheels came off Kleenex boxes.
I need to make sure that all the illustrations are cohesive, as Tim Gunn says, so they look like they are going to the same party. I am doing this by using some of the same colors on each page. Red and yellow from our Portland Art Museum magazine are featured in flames, bicycles, sails, and the Peacock Theater.
Then there are the actual shapes and sizes of all the bits. Trying to make sure that the unfortunate cyclists are believable lead to a sort of accidental circus.
The process of collage involves making a thousand decisions. You get an idea of what your picture should look like, then hunt for paper that will get closest to that. There is a lot of reconsidering and rejecting along the way.
I am having such fun with this project! My only worry is getting it all done before we visit you in the spring, so I will go work on it now.
Love,
Grandma Judy
Dear Liza 