THE LITTLE BOOK OF TREES

This post may seem like a duplicate from one a few days ago, but read on.  THAT post was actually what spurred on THIS post.  My first, "Little Book of Trees", is a one of a kind, accordion book that will belong to my little grandson when his hands get a little bit bigger!  

The new book will be professionally printed, bound, and for sale in my Etsy shop. 

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So, to explain.  After a recent and miserable attempt at putting trees into a landscape watercolor, I decided to work on my drawings of trees.  

One thing led to another.  

As I was practicing my drawings, I found myself thinking about the trees of my childhood and realized the huge part they played in my day to day life as a little girl.  There was the enormous elm in the middle of my mother's flower garden that gave me shade as I looked at a new stack of library books.  And the tree in a friend's yard that I coveted because of the long swing it held. 

All this led to a new little book I'm working on, all about children playing outdoors, and the character trees played in so many of our pastimes.   This was before the era of hand held devices and color television.  A time when we looked at the outdoors in a different way than many children do today.  No one shuffled us off to soccer games and lessons.  We were often on our own to get creative, nurture our friendships ("play date" was not yet in the dictionary), and use our imaginations to explore our neighborhoods.  Most mothers were at home, most families only had one car, and neighborhoods were a safer place for children to be on their own.  The shopping mall was not invented yet, and our feet took us where we wanted to go.

So, here is the beginning of a new little book, for little hands.

 And the story begins . . .

This may seem more like a book for adults to reminisce about the way things used to be, but reading it to a little person will also facilitate conversations about the never changing need for children to play . . . and imagine.

I'm loving the memories that surface as I draw each picture and write each poem.  I hope you'll enjoy remembering too!

Thanks for looking!

-Nan