Illustration Friday # 21: SWIM

copyrighted art, not to be reproduced, painted by Cheryl Kirk Noll

Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators & artists of all skill levels. A new topic is posted each Friday and you have one week to draw, paint or doodle your interpretation.

I haven't done Illustration Friday in a blue moon, (almost a year, actually), but their prompt word for this week was "swim." I have a number of finishes that fit the bill, so I decided to try to get my feet wet again.  

I did this illustration a few years ago for a story about a woman who "swam with sharks." I was just starting to play with the textured style I've been adding to my traditional watercolor, which you can see in the coral.



The second piece is an exercise I did for an Adobe Illustrator class last year at RISD-CE with Bryan Rodriguez (great teacher), where I learned about vector vs. pixel, how to "live trace" my art, how to push and pull with that durn pen tool, manipulate with layers, and on and on. I can see why people like Illustrator for it's precision and flexibility.

Octopus, done in Adobe Illustrator, © Cheryl Kirk Noll

How to Stretch Watercolor Paper

As an illustrator using traditional watercolor techniques, I usually stretch my paper.
Here is a step-by-step tutorial for stretching watercolor paper, and the reasoning behind why I do it.


What is stretching?

Stretching means that you soak your paper and secure the edges so that the paper dries flat and taut, almost like a drum head.

Why stretch watercolor paper?

There are several reasons, but first and foremost is to keep the paper flat. When you wet paper, the fibers expand and the paper warps. The wetter you work, the more your paper will buckle. It's pretty hard to control your paint when it's cascading into a valley.

Even if you stretch your paper, you will have some warping as you work, but the paper will dry flat.

How do you stretch watercolor paper?

I was taught to stretch paper with Masonite and butcher tape, which always ended up as an exercise in frustration for me. (clunky boards and tape that didn't stick) Many years ago, I read an article in HOW magazine that recommended using cardboard and a stapler instead. I've happily followed that technique ever since.

Materials needed:

• Decent watercolor paper. I use 140 lb. Arches, brilliant white. Fabriano, Strathmore, and Winsor-Newton make good papers, too.
•  90 lb. paper is too flimsy for serious watercolor work. 
• 300 lb. paper doesn't require stretching, but it is expensive, and you can't see through it to trace up a sketch, which is a problem for me.  

• Cardboard. This is tricky. I got some triple corrugated cardboard years ago from Charette, cut it into various dimensions, and it has lasted for twenty years. Sadly, it's now unavailable. Try to find cardboard that's good and sturdy,  and larger than the paper you want to stretch. Chipboard is NOT sturdy enough. Corrugated is good, with no folds. If you have trouble with the cardboard buckling, you can staple two boards together.

• Stapler.  I use a Staples stapler. Any stapler that you can open flat will work. I don't need an electric stapler.

This is my technique:

I begin by tracing my sketch to the paper before I stretch it. I use a pencil and light-table.

1. Soak the paper.
You can do this in a sink, a bathtub, or a large container. I often softly fold my paper in half so I can use the sink. Whatever vessel you use, make sure it's clean! Watercolor paper is treated with something called sizing. It's purpose is to keep the paper from absorbing too much. You don't want to soak out the sizing, so use cold water, and let the paper soak for a couple of minutes... not more than five.

2. Remove excess water. Pick up the paper by a corner and let it drip, then lay it flat on your board and lightly blot it with a towel.

3. Staple the paper to the cardboard.
I use a regular office stapler that opens flat. Begin with one staple at the center of each side, to make sure you have your paper flat. Then staple about every 2 inches.

4. Leave the board flat until the paper is dry (unless you plan to work wet.) This takes several hours. I usually try to plan ahead so I can leave it overnight. If the paper feels cold to the touch, it's probably still wet, but you can check a corner to see if it's dry enough not to bleed.

Alternatives to stretching.

I find that soaking the paper makes it nicely receptive to washes. However, if you are not using wet washes over broad areas, you may not need to stretch good quality 140 lb. paper at all.
You can also just staple or tape the paper to a board without soaking it, and that will keep the paper relatively flat.
You can use 300 lb paper. No stretching required.
Some illustrators "paint" the back side of you paper with water, then staple it down to a board. That way they can start working right away.

A Trip South

Snow outside a Cracker Barrel in North Carolina.

Last week I logged in 3,072 miles on a one-week road trip. My husband drove every mile of it. We picked up my mom in PA, and hightailed it down to sunny Florida. On the way, we went through unusually cold southern weather, including SNOW in North Carolina.

 We enjoyed a quick lunch outside of Jacksonville, Florida with my dad's cousin, Helen, and two of her sons, Bill and Tom. We also enjoyed the homemade cookies Tom baked and brought.

Dave and Cheryl, Shirley, Tom, Bill and Helen Poje

Then we hurried to see a sunset at Anna Maria Island, where my parents had wintered for fifteen years.

Ahhhhhhh. 6:24 sunset (before 5:30 at home), aqua water, 64 degrees.

We headed off for Rotten Ralph's, a funky joint on a marina with great clam chowder, where the beer if always free (tomorrow).

Alas, it was gone. Gonzo!  :  (

Dave and Mom in the glow of a sunset at Leffis Key.

The rest of the week included a sunset walk at Leffis Key, where fish were literally jumping out of the water...


... and a walk at Robinson's Preserve in Bradenton. (It was built in 2008, with bike and walking paths, a viewing tower, boardwalks through mangroves, kayak and canoe launches. It's a great addition to the area.

Mom enjoying the view from below.

Dave enjoyed a few rounds of golf, and Mom and I enjoyed a few rounds of shopping. We also went to Historic Spanish Point (more about that later). And, of course, another sunset at Anna Maria, followed by dinner at the Anna Maria Oyster Bar, which, oddly enough, has 3 locations, none of them on Anna Maria. It has a bit of Rotten Ralph's vibe... paper towels on hangers for napkins, and a sign on the wall:

"No Mothers In Law.  
No Trouble Makers. 
 No Loose Women.  
No Drunks." 

Fortunately, then let my mother in, anyway! 

A fun detail on the viewing tower.

Shirley, Dave, Cheryl, Jim and Jo Heck

After a delightful dinner at the Crab Shack with our friends, the Hecks, they whisked Mom away for another week in sunny Florida, and Dave drove a thousand miles while I finished Lauren Oliver's YA novel, "Before I Fall," which I loved. I also read (and recommend) Barbara O'Connor's young middle grade book, "The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester," and a YA called "Fly Girl" by Sherri L. Smith.

It was a great trip, AND I'm happy to home. 

A book about Mom to Learn InDesign

Last spring, I decided to take a class in InDesign at RISD Continuing Education with Bryan Rodrigues. I loved it, and dummied up a few of the children's books I've been working on. Our big assignment was to do a book with 100 pages, so I decided on a scrapbook sort of project, and limited it by focusing it on my mom.

I had no idea how involved the project would become, or how much fun it would be to learn about my own family history, from the late 1800's to present.

In class, Bryan had us set up a book using a Blurb template. I chose a 9 x 12 size, and planned chapter layouts, formatting styles for headings, text, and captions. If you've used Adobe programs, InDesign is relatively intuitive, but there's nothing like having weekly instruction, followed by assignments to put what you've learned into practice. Bryan made it all seemed so easy!

One of my favorite pages was a montage of my mom modeling for Century Club. The pictures here span from 1976-2011... 35 years. She hasn't changed much, has she?

Mom modeling over the years

My niece helping Grandmom sort
family slides a few years back.

At home, I started by editing some of the 700 slides from our childhood that Mom had converted to digital a few years ago. I scoured the many scrapbooks I've kept over the years. During phone calls to Mom, I "slyly" asked about some of the old family stories we'd heard a million times, to make sure I had them right.

I didn't! What a surprise to hear the details of stories I thought I knew. I wrote them down, and started a hodgepodge text document.

A page in progress...
with lorem ipsum and lots of ????'s

Family photos from the 1920's

The book wasn't complete enough to give to Mom by the time my class ended, but it was chock-full of lorem ipsum (fake type used for placement) and photos that I'd scanned and formatted. By August, it felt like it was pulling together, but the text was nowhere near complete, so I made a PDF file and "gave" it to my mom for her 86th birthday.

Pictures from 1940

Happily, she was thrilled. From that time on, Mom and I collaborated on the text and captions. She searched her records for dates and details, and corrected my "gazillions" of mistakes. I collected some of her scrapbooks and photographed pages from others.



I began to turn to resources from other members of my family. My cousin, Jack Eiser, had continued the genealogy work his sister Joyce began, and I was able to access Rowe and Grant family trees on ancestry.com, complete with census records, birth certificates and more. (Thanks, Jack)
 I'd collected family reminisces over the years, and I pulled anecdotes from those. When Mom didn't remember details from her childhood, she called her sister and brother and gathered their memories. Not surprisingly, they often saw things through different prisms.

Photos from the 70's!

At Thanksgiving, Mom and I went through the text and trolled for missing pictures and information. My husband told me firmly that I needed to finish this never-ending project in time to have it printed for Christmas. I started working fifteen hour days, and for a few days, the project wasn't fun, with color conversions and uploading, spell checks, missing dates, and a deadline.

But then, miraculously, it was finished! One hundred pages, over 500 photographs, and a permanent record of my mom's history.

It was oh, so satisfying to see it arrive at Mom's as a hard-cover book, and to see the look on her face when she opened it at our Christmas celebration.

Of course, this project only whet my appetite for more. There are still so many photos! And there's still my dad's side of the family to explore!!!

Tooting My Own Horn, and Introducing Henry!

Henry especially likes juicy berries. ©Cheryl Kirk Noll

On September 29, 2012, I was featured on Kathy Teamen's blog, Writing and Illustrating. She has a regular feature, "Illustrator Saturday," with extensive interviews of dozens of fabulous illustrators, from Dan Santat to Brian Lies to Susan Jeffers, and many, many more.  I'm honored to be included in this treasure trove of information about the lives and creative process of children's book illustrators.

To read my interview, which includes lots of information about my student days at RISD, and my illustration process, go to:
http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/illustrator-saturday-cheryl-kirk-noll/

Kathy was on a retreat when she put up the information, and had a hard time with a bad internet connection. Consequently, you'll find several things repeated, and she wasn't able to put up my new  work, so...

 I want to introduce my latest project, a picture book dummy about a vivacious hedgehog named Henry. Working on Henry has been such fun that I wanted to share him.

There is never enough time in the day for Henry. ©Cheryl Kirk Noll

As I mentioned in the interview, I've been writing up a storm.  I dummied up this story, (that means I made a prototype of the book, with sketches, words in place, and a few finished illustrations) and it  is currently being considered by a few publishers.  I have my fingers crossed.

Henry loves to swim, and fish, and chase after whirlwinds. ©Cheryl Kirk Noll

Henry is always on the lookout for slimy slugs and chewy grubs. YUM! ©Cheryl Kirk Noll

Occasionally Henry likes to rest, but only if it's outside. ©Cheryl Kirk Noll

Highlights of Fall

What is it about fall that brings human beings back to life? Is it the cool weather? The fear of winter? Years of "back to school" conditioning?

At any rate, I've been wildly busy, and wanting to share some of it here. I want to post about an interesting historical structure I recently visited, and toot my own horn about being interviewed for Illustration Saturday, a feature on Kathy Teaman's blog, Writing and Illustrating. http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/illustrator-saturday-cheryl-kirk-noll/

The logo I created for "Brush Master"

But I'll begin with the Highlights for Children Illustrator's party.

I've had the honor of getting together with wildly talented and creative folks in the mountains of the Poconos for fifteen years now. Begun by Kent Brown, the party invites Highlights illustrators and their families to gather for a weekend of "Fun with a Purpose" each fall. We are feted with food, seminars, family activities, a square dance, a themed costume party, and more food. Every year we get to reconnect with old friends, and meet new illustrators. What a blast!

This year, the theme was "Superheros" and we were encouraged to dress as people who were heros to us (teacher, famous artist, dad, firefighters) or a Superhero with our own unique skills. I went as "Brush Master"!

My totally goofy Brush Master costume, and hubby as Clark Kent.

It's SO much fun to meet with these folks in such a great atmosphere. The staff is warm and welcoming. Highlights really is a family business, and they really do care about children.
The illustrators convene from far-flung places like Arizona, California, Texas, and more, and I go green with envy when we share our portfolios. 

I love all the events, but I'm always in awe at the costume ideas folks come up with.  

David Helton as Super Vincent, and Lyn Martin as Super Frida.

David Galchutt as... you guessed it! (thanks to a Facebook contributor for photo)

Robert and Jessica Squire... The Pink Pearl rubs out Evil Doers, and Duct Tape Girl saves citizens from Sticky Situations!

My friends Ruth Flanigan as "Pantonia" and Judith Moffatt as Frieda Khalo.

The Valiant family, of course, with Graphite Girl!

Three powerful SUPER women. Terry Taylor, Rebecca Thornburg and Sharon Vargo.

Super Girl, StarMan and Pantonia 

Don't know who. Justice, I guess. Isn't this a great costume?

Let's not forget Anni Matsick as "Wonder where-I-put-that? Woman" and her hubby as "Retired Super Hero". (thanks to Annie for the picture, and the one of PBAA below.)

Below is a very small sampling of the artists who attended. This group belongs to a listserve with about 150 members, all of whom have illustrated three of more children's books. It's called Picture Book Artists Association, and displays art of all it's members, which changes quarterly. http://www.picturebookartists.org/

Back row, l-r: Anni Matsick, Jennifer Emery,  Judith Moffatt, Terry Taylor, Laura Jacques, Cheryl Kirk Noll, Sharon Vargo.
Front row, l-r: Maggie Swanson, Sharon Holm, Sue Miller, Barry Gott, Laura Jacobsen, Sherry Neidigh, Layne Johnson, Paige Billin-Frye, Len Ebert. The very Front: Rebecca Thornburgh

 And here is the bucolic scene that awaited us each morning. Thanks to Highlights for Children, for caring about children, AND illustrators.

Children's Book Events in and Around Rhode Island and Southern New England thisFall 2012

There are several wonderful events happening in or near Rhode Island this fall that are geared towards those who love children's books, including teachers, parents, families, librarians, authors and illustrators, and young readers themselves.

Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors, Saturday, October 13, 2012

The Lincoln School is having it's (mostly) annual Rhode Island Festival of Children's Books and Authors on Saturday, October 13, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM.

This is an amazing celebration of children's books. It's perfect for kids. You will find music and activities, books to buy and authors and illustrators available to sign them. (It's a great place for families to get signed copies of books for holiday presents for kids, grandkids, nieces and nephews)
All of this costs $5.00! What a bargain!

World-famous authors and illustrators also give presentations, which run all day. It's always fascinating stuff. Speakers this year range from prolific illustrator Lynn Munsinger (Tacky the Penguin) to award-winning author Pam Munoz Ryan (Esperanza Rising)  to Newberry medalist young adult author Gary Schmidt. And don't forget, Polar Express author/illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, whose art graces the poster, will also be there. And MANY more!

For directions and a schedule of events, click here.

• Connecticut Children's Book Fair November 10-11, 2012 

I've never attended, but the Connecticut Children's Book Fair is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, November 10-11, 2012, 10:00 am until 5:00 pm. It looks amazing, too!
 Click here for more information.

• Children's Illustration Exhibit, November 11th, 2012 

The 23rd Annual Children's Illustration Exhibit is scheduled for Sunday, November 11th, 2012 from 4-6pm at R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, MA. Mo Willems is the featured illustrator this year, with lots of other favorites. Click here for more info.

Last years participants.

The Joys of Summer in RI

An amusing tree, seen in the park near RISD

I've been absent from the internet for the much of the summer because I've been busy. I just finished  teaching Children's Book Illustration for Summer Studies at RISD. What a great group of students! We spent 2 full days in class each week for 6 weeks developing the many skills needed to illustrate children's books.
I couldn't have asked for a better group... hard-working and talented. Here they are.

RISD Summer Studies Children's Book Illustration students

Students do a light study from a model.

We had child models, worked in multiple media, had Judith Moffatt as a guest lecturer, and more. We even had a video crew come interview us. If this Youtube video works, it's about the company that does the videos (Animal), and has a few seconds of clips from our class.

A fun and productive work day in the studio of artist and friend, Judith Moffatt

On the home front, I've been busy working on a picture book dummy, and getting lots of feedback from my writer's group , artist's group, friends and family before sending it off to my rep. She'll be shopping it in New York next week. (fingers crossed)

A fringe benefit of my writing group... blueberries picked fresh from Linda Crotta Brennan's garden.

 Hubby and I have taken many late afternoon summer jaunts to various RI spots. What a great state little Rhody is. From woods and lakes, to rocky beaches, to wetland coves, there is endless beauty in this remarkable state.

down Hopkinton way

a cove south of Pawtuxet Village on a cloudy day... Queen Anne's lace (ammi majus) in it's glory

Point Judith lighthouse. Always a treat.

Oh... and we're getting our house painted. So, there's the summer (so far) wrap-up.