Señor Don Gato’s Funeral

Hat’s off to Dani Duck who started the “Bad” Picture Book Blog Hop last week. The idea is to share our earliest attempt at writing/illustrating picture books.

There are already lots of terrific posts to check out:

*Feb. 9: Dani Duck *Feb. 10: Becky Fyfe
*Feb. 11: Marcie Colleen *Feb 12: Mandy Yates
*Feb 13: Sylvia Liu *Feb 16: Rachel Elizabeth Cole

So now here we go. First, a big thank you to my mother who kept my pictures & books so carefully for these many years and who sent them guaranteed holiday delivery because my own stuff is so disorganized. First up is a collaboration with my younger brother Hans. He was almost 2 & I was 6. He dictated the text for AUTOS and added crayon color to my marker drawings:

My absolute favorite book when I was 8 was The Thirteen Clocks by James Thurber with incredible illustrations by Marc Simont. Here is my version:

I was terrible at spelling in 3rd grade, and I still am!

Finally, I’d like to share Count Rinaldo & Princess Salamanda. I think I was about 10 or 11 when I wrote/illustrated this one. Clearly, there are heavy influences from The Thirteen Clocks, plus, by now I was really interested in the Tudors. The count, depicted on the second spread with the red hair, resembles my then hero, Henry VII.

It is exciting to me to realize that I actually have not changed much in my tastes or style. And humbling to see that the problems that plagued me then still plague me. But now, I hope I can fix some of them!

Thanks again to Dani for putting this fun tour together and if you haven’t yet, check out her work as well as that of Becky and Marcie and Mandy and Sylvia and Rachel :) And definitely tune in tomorrow for the baaad book of:

Feb 18: Teresa MI Schaefer

Nefertiti-Hon

13 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by Annina Luck Wildermuth in Uncategorized

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To be a “hon” hon, you have to have BIG hair: piled high, teased, sprayed. There’s even a Hon Fest in Baltimore, Maryland to celebrate all kinds of big hair. So, because I love history, I got to thinking about some big-haired women throughout the ages. Here is Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile.

#GreekDinner in the Hall of the 19 Couches…

23 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Annina Luck Wildermuth in Uncategorized

≈ 7 Comments

Last week when people around the world celebrated #GreekDinner via Twitter, I thought about my Byzantine princess from the 12th century. She grew up in the great palace in Constantinople, and there was a banquet room there called the Hall of the 19 couches. I don’t know exactly what it looked like except that everyone ate in the old Roman style, semi-reclined on a couch and that the dishes & platters were solid gold. They were so heavy that servants had to lower them to the table from above.

What if?

09 Friday Jan 2015

Posted by Annina Luck Wildermuth in Uncategorized

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Tags

Ancient Crete, Minoan art & culture, Mycenae

As I’ve been researching the art of ancient Crete and Mycenae, I came across a lot of seal impressions that depict scenes from everyday life. I’ve always enjoyed creating decorative art, especially floor cloths and decorated pots, so I decided … WHAT IF I had discovered a Minoan gold seal that told the story of my scene?