Woodland Skunk

Woodland Skunk- 9" x 18" -by Greg Newbold

acrylic on canvas 

This week, I got one of those nice surprises in the mail- a royalty check. It was for my book Spring Song, which unfortunately has fallen out of print for the moment. I think the art in this book is actually stronger than the companion book I illustrated called Winter Lullaby, also written by Barbara Seuling. So how did I get a royalty check on a book that is out of print you ask? Well, the anthology rights to the book are still very much active and it was picked up again to be published in a children's reading textbook.Granted, the check was not huge, just a few hundred dollars, but it's always nice to get money when you don't expect it!

A few "vintage copies" of Spring Song are still available here.

Out of Hibernation

A Swimming Treat-  acrylic on canvas; 9" x 18"  by Greg Newbold

This painting was done for the sequel to Winter Lullaby called Spring Song. Both were written by Barbara Seuling. In rhyming couplets children learn about different animals as come come out of the winter hibernation. In this piece for the opening couplet, a bear wakes up to search out a "swimming treat". I thought it was a little funny that our bear friend is on the verge of gobbling up this poor fish and yet the publisher wanted it to look a little more like they were just old friends saying "Hi". 

Spring Plowing

Spring Plowing - Acrylic, 22" x 11"

The snow is gone and it's time to start thinking about cultivating my garden plot. Seems like more often than not, I get distracted and miss my early window for tilling. This year I hope to have the ground ready for planting by mid May. We usually grow everything from beans and squash and corn, to beets, carrots, potatoes and peppers. I grew a really sweet watermelon a couple of years back and I can already almost taste those late summer tomatoes. I am really looking forward to getting plants in the ground. Nothing like fresh grown veggies in the summer. This picture was from my picture book Spring Song, by Barbara Seuling.

Creating a Sense of Place

Wire Sitter- by Greg Newbold, Acrylic- 9" x 18"

Illustration is about telling stories. It's about creating something that makes the  viewer ask what happened just before this, or what will happen next? What is the story behind this place? Illustration, and art in general is about crafting an image that the viewer can immerse himself in, that he can relate to. Sometimes a picture takes you back to a place in your childhood memory that you have not visited in a long time.  Howard Pyle, one of my favorite illustrators, very eloquently touched on this topic in the following quote:

The stories of childhood leave an indelible impression, and their author always has a niche in the temple of memory from which the image is never cast out to be thrown on the rubbish heap of things that are outgrown and outlived. -Howard Pyle

The emotional response  we get from viewing a painting is often less about the painting than it is about the emotional connection that we as observers bring to the viewing of the work. I try to create in my work an environment in which one can visit for a while, perhaps rest or even contemplate.   I think great art of necessity is a participatory experience. If the viewer doesn't bring their own experience into the equation, if it elicits no response,  is it really art? I am not talking about art whose sole purpose is to shock or offend- that type of response is a subject for another day. I am speaking of a real connection, where you feel the soul of the work. Many times people will comment to me that something I have done "reminds them" of a certain place or time, that it speaks to them. This is when I know I have done my job well and that satisfaction doesn't come until afterward.

This painting is from the book Spring Song written by Barbara Seuling.