The latest painting is now available in my Etsy shop! For each print sold, $10 will be donated to Rescue Haiti’s Children.

“I Was Hungry and You Gave Me Food” was created in watercolor and colored pencil. The prints are reproduced with toner on Archival-quality, 80lb bright white card stock. Print will not have watermark, and will come with artist’s hand-written signature. Please note that the coloring may slightly vary due to your monitor.

Print size: 8″×10″ on an easily-framed 8 1/2″×11″ sheet.

Click here to order your copy!

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For I was hungry and you gave me food,
I was thirsty and you gave me drink,
I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
I was naked and you clothed me,
I was sick and you visited me,
I was in prison and you came to me.’
- Matthew 25:35-36 (ESV)

Illustration by E.H Shepard

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, ‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, ‘do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

- G.K. Chesterton, in Orthodoxy

Time is ticking and the Zimmermans need your help! The deadline to pay the neonatal bills is fast approaching, and if you would like to donate the the Little Tait preemie fund, you don’t have to just buy a print. Donate directly by clicking here.

To buy a print of the Library and help, click here.

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From May 9 - June 1, $10 from every “Library” print sale in my Etsy shop will be donated to the Little Tait Preemie Fund. To order, click here.

Little Tait was born on November 6, 2008 at 3:29 pm, a 27 week preemie weighing 2 pounds 9 ounces, and 14¼ inches long. He and his family spent several months in the hospital as God used the doctors to help sustain his life. After 3 months he was allowed to go home, doing very well.

Tait’s parents, Tait and Lauren Zimmerman now have to pay the neonatology bill. It was originally $186,769  but was negotiated and reduced to $51,644.35. If it isn’t paid by June 4th, it will be raised to the original amount. Tait and Lauren have decided not to accept government support, as this would restrict their control in the care of their little boy.

Would you like to help Little Tait and his parents? I will be donating $10 of every “Library” print sale to the Little Tait Fund! If you choose to help them by buying a print, be sure it’s before June 2.

For more info on Little Tait, visit www.LittleTait.com

Thank you and God bless!
-BreezyTulip

The other day I was playing around with some sketches for a painting, and a few familiar but nearly forgotten friends appeared. Fond memories often contribute to my ideas and drawings.

One of the most memorable stories from our early homeschool days is “The Josephina Story Quilt”. Its a story about a girl named Faith who begs her parents to bring her pet chicken Josephina out West.

The old chicken never laid eggs and was too tough to eat, and no one would take her, so Josephina was allowed to come on the condition she made no trouble. During the journey West, Faith records the story and adventures of Josephina in a patch work quilt.

“There is nothing in all the influences and surroundings of the home of tender childhood so small that it does not leave its touch of beauty or of marring upon the life. . . . Wherever a child grows up it carries in its character the subtle impressions of the home in which it lives.”

- J.R. Miller, in Home Making

-Beatrix Potter’s Journal, 17 November 1896

I received a comment the other day and thought it would make a great post:

“…I have a 4 year old boy who has shown great interest in drawing and painting. Several people have suggested we pursue his love of art. This may be a question for your mom but I figured I would start at the source. Can you recommend some starting points for us. I am creative but I can’t draw. I want to develop this talent but would love suggestions. I will be homeschooling him so I have time to pour into this skill….Thank you. -Amy”

Dear Amy,

It is so encouraging to find families who want to develop the gifts God has given them! The Creator of the universe made us in His image, and through our lives of creativity and honoring Him we glorify Him.

There isn’t any one formula that works for everyone, but there are some ideas that my parents implemented in my childhood that really made an impact. Looking back, I am very thankful for their gracious approach to letting us discover and create a lot on our own. Here’s a peek into what my childhood looked like:

I spent a short amount of time in a public school (kindergarten and half of first grade) and my teachers’ main concerns were that I drew on my assignment papers! They made sure mom knew about this “problem”. I even got in trouble once for not drawing braids on my Thanksgiving Indian like everyone else.

Once we were homeschooling we had all the time in the world to be curious, adventurous and creative. Emily and I spent much of our time reading (or looking at) books, playing, and (mostly me) drawing pictures. Our parents knew the value of keeping our young minds busy and learning through creative outlets, so plenty of crafting materials were always on hand. Mom and Dad gave us a few rules:

• 1) Whenever we were watching a movie or Mom was reading to us, we had to keep our hands busy
• 2) Whenever we had free time to play, it had to be “constructive free time”, not mindless video games or senseless movies, and…
• 3) We always had to clean up our mess after we were done creating.

~

By the time I was 9, and Emily 7, Mom had introduced us to basic sewing, embroidery, and crocheting, as well as watercolors and colored pencils. She had us keep each of our supplies in shoe boxes; one for embroidery, one for crochet…(Click here for a great post on art boxes!). When Mom would read aloud to us, or Dad was leading family devotions, we would pull out our little crochet project or paper and pencils.

Our encouraging parents made sure we had a few art supplies always within reach. It was a good combination of encouragement and creative support. The force that pulled all of these resources together was being inspired. One of my largest sources of inspiration has always come from books.

From the time when we were wee little girls, we have been going to the library. We would come home loaded with books on our favorite animals, crafts, countries we wanted to travel to, fairy tales, art, and especially children’s books with illustrations we couldn’t resist. The best thing of all, we were encouraged to spend lots of “quiet time” with books.

Being allowed to sit and look at books for hours nurtured my love for reading, learning and art. Through this appreciation I was able to learn a bit more on my own. Once Mom got a DickBlick catalog for me, I discovered a whole new host of art books. I wrote down a handful of titles and authors I wanted to check out at the library or find through inter-library loan.

In the world of books I can pursue and learn about my interests, whether they be acrylics, wood burning, cake decorating, caring for animals, sewing historical costumes, oil painting or watercolors.

This is where my greatest developments have sprung from; knowing what inspires me, and knowing how to learn. Mom and Dad gave me these resources by wisely teaching, guiding and protecting me wherever we were.

This is where I’d encourage parents: a healthy dose of fresh air, books, crafting materials, “constructive free time”, encouragement and prayer, all within a guided and structured schedule.

God bless you on your journey!

Recently I have come to the conclusion that if I have in mind to become a well-rounded, well-informed children’s book illustrator (and possibly even a writer), that I had better catch up on all those books I had passed up on as a child.  I did read plenty of books as a wee girl, and still do. But somehow I did not read all the classics. Don’t ask me how it happened in the first place. Maybe I thought I was too mature for those “kid” stories, or they just weren’t my type, or I didn’t think they were very important in my overall upbringing. Whatever it was, I have pushed that aside. I am now very appreciative of all the imaginative, and creative work that goes into these tales.

I have decided to take you all on this adventure with me! So, every now and then, I will post my reviews on various children’s literature and illustration.

And for my first review, I bring you, James and the Giant Peach!

• Author: Roald Dahl

• Illustrator: Lane Smith

• Publisher: The Penguin Group

• Copyright: Text, 1961; Illustrations by Lane Smith, 1991

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The only memories I had of this story was the sticky, gloomy peach filled with creepy-crawly bugs poking fun at a poor little boy.  Of course, like any good modern American child, I had only seen the movie, and never read the book.

James’ story officially begins when he is seven years old.  As a lonely little orphan boy, he must live with his gruesome and detestable aunts, Sponge and Spiker.  One day he discovers a peach, grown to the size of a house!  Finding a hole in the side, he climbs through, and entering the door at the end, finds a surprise.  Several Surprises!  And they are all as big as he is!  Inside, awaiting his arrival, is Centipede, Earthworm, Green-Old-Grasshopper, Miss Ladybug, Miss Spider, Glow-worm, and Silkworm!  It’s only a matter of a good night’s sleep before the peach rolls away with them all to an adventure.

Throughout their journey, James’ clever resourcefulness continually saves the day. It is full of whimsical songs and poems, adding a charming touch. A journey across the Atlantic Ocean full of hungry sharks, past the ferocious Cloud-Men, and into New York City, eventually lands them all into happily ever after. I must refrain from giving away the ending for those who haven’t read it yet.

The illustrations by Lane Smith completely capture the feel of the story. Black and white may be boring to some, but I enjoyed its simplicity and room for my own imagination. If you ever get a chance to take a close look at them, see if you can find anything a little interesting in the last illustration. If you look close, you may notice something kinda cute.