Monthly Archives: November 2016

A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt, Guests-Ken Slesarik and His Daughter, Catherine

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Brenda at Friendly Fairy Tales is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today. If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.

Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Hello, Great Readers of our series! Just In case you haven’t visited before, let me tell you a little about A Great Nephew and A Great Aunt. My great nephew, Landon (a seventh-grader) and I (his great aunt) collaborate. I write a poem which he illustrates. We started this collaboration in the fall of 2014 and have had so much fun with it that we decided to invite others along. Landon and I will continue to have a new episode on one Friday of each month. The other Fridays are filling up quickly with guests. I have created a page on my website to view all the episodes of A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt. Click HERE to visit the page and enjoy past episodes.

Today it’s my pleasure to share a creative collaboration from . . .

Ken Slesarik and His Daughter, Catherine

From Ken: As far as the collaboration process, at first I tried to write a poem that matched a beautiful drawing that Catherine had done. The problem was I kept going towards subtle humor and that just did not do the beautiful art justification as that particular piece called for a more moving, less humorous approach. So then we went with plan B where I mentioned to Catherine a poem I was working on and then I asked her to draw something she thought would work with what I was trying to do. When we were both done I was very pleased with the results and feel the art and poem complement each other much like an illustration in a book. We hope you enjoy our efforts.

Catherine and Ken’s Collaboration

Art by Catherine Slesarik

Art by Catherine Slesarik (click to enlarge)

      My Favorite Train Car?
 
The railroad engine, red and bright?
Is this the one I choose tonight?
I can’t decide, oh what’s the use?
I guess I’ll pick the blue caboose?
 
I feel a tug within myself
then take the engine off the shelf
and put it back to call a truce
but pick again the blue caboose.
 

Each night I try without much gain.
I just can’t choose betwixt the twain. 
I can’t decide, I’ve no excuse.
The engine or the blue caboose?

© 2016 by Ken Slesarik All Rights Reserved

Many thanks to Ken and Catherine for sharing their talents with us today.

ken-and-catherine-slesarik-ppk-blog-post-copyMeet Catherine: Catherine Slesarik is an award winning artist and collage student from Arizona. She enjoys sharing her talents with people of all ages. An avid reader and science buff, Catherine plans to incorporate science in her work as a children’s illustrator to inspire girls and women everywhere.

 
Meet Ken: Ken Slesarik is an elementary school teacher and children’s poet from Phoenix, Arizona. His “Heroes and Poets” assembly program has been well received by teachers, students, parents and administrators. When not teaching or visiting schools Ken writes poetry for children with poems published in several world-wide anthologies and magazines. Ken’s mission is to empower students through the medium of poetry and he is a poetry advocate to children and teachers alike.
http://kenslesarik.com/

A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt: Klaire and Penny

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poetry friday button

Jama at Jama’s Alphabet Soup is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today. If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.

Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Hello, Great Readers of our series! Just In case you haven’t visited before, let me tell you a little about A Great Nephew and A Great Aunt. My great nephew, Landon (a seventh-grader) and I (his great aunt) collaborate. I write a poem which he illustrates. We started this collaboration in the fall of 2014 and have had so much fun with it that we decided to invite others along. Landon and I will continue to have a new episode on the second Friday of each month. The other Fridays are filling up quickly with guests. I have created a page on my website to view all the episodes of A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt. Click HERE to visit the page and enjoy past episodes.

My great niece, Klaire, is collaborating with me today. She is one of Landon’s sisters. She’s been in the series before and I’m excited to share more of her work with you.

The Poemslide1

Klaire’s Art

klaires-turkey

art by Klaire

Thanks so much for joining us today. I appreciate all of you who read this series. See you next week when I’ll have guest collaborators.

A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt, Guests-Dave Gray and His Daughter, Erin

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poetry friday button

Laura Purdie Salas at Writing the World for Kids is hosting the Poetry Friday Roundup today. If you’d like to know more about Poetry Friday, click HERE for an explanation by Renee LaTulippe.

Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Ants may rule the hill, but they don’t rule here! Art by Landon (Click to Enlarge)

Hello, Great Readers of our series! Just In case you haven’t visited before, let me tell you a little about A Great Nephew and A Great Aunt. My great nephew, Landon (a seventh-grader) and I (his great aunt) collaborate. I write a poem which he illustrates. We started this collaboration in the fall of 2014 and have had so much fun with it that we decided to invite others along. Landon and I will continue to have a new episode on one Friday of each month. The other Fridays are filling up quickly with guests. I have created a page on my website to view all the episodes of A Great Nephew and a Great Aunt. Click HERE to visit the page and enjoy past episodes.

Today it’s my pleasure to share a creative collaboration from . . .

Dave Gray and His Daughter, Erin

From Dave: When I mentioned the idea of a collaboration my daughter Erin (9) jumped at the chance! She loves being creative so I let her lead by writing a poem about anything she wanted. She came up with a great idea about wishing and I liked how she touched on something that I recognise in my own behaviour – letting desires get a little out of control before eventually realising that the people around us are more important than any material things. I thought the idea was great, so once Erin had finished her poem I started sketching some ideas. Usually an idea forms in my head quite quickly so I took elements from the poem and decided to develop the star idea. One of the secrets illustrators use is to limit the number of colours on a page. It makes images more striking so in this case I chose to use a single colour. Hopefully the image compliments the poem and helps to set the scene that I imagined when I read it. It passed the final test – Erin was mostly happy with it (and she is my most honest critic!)

Erin’s PoemerinpoemDave’s Art

davegray-art

Art by Dave Gray

The Collaborators-Dave and Erindave-and-erin

Many thanks to Dave and Erin for sharing their stellar talents with us today.

dave-image
Meet Dave: Dave Gray is an award winning author/illustrator living and working in the UK. Recent work includes illustrations for The Unstoppable Maggie McGee by Juliet Clare Bell and Save Our Stories by Nick Walker. As well as children’s books, Dave also works commercially for companies like the BBC, CITV, BMW MINI, BFI, Channel 4 and can sometimes even be found tinkering with a new invention in his shed.
Instagram/Twitter: @iamdavegray
Website: www.iamdavegray.com