Visiting Illustrator Melissa Sweet
This past Sunday afternoon, author and illustrator, Melissa Sweet came to The Carle talk about her newest books, A Splash of Red: The Life and Art of Horace Pippin and Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade.
In addition to giving a color-mixing watercolor demonstration, Melissa had the great idea to offer a mini kite workshop to celebrate spring!
Guests decorated colorful pieces of crepe paper, and after a few simple steps, many kites flew wildly on the patio and in the apple orchard. Fortunately, most of the snow from last week’s storm melted, the sun was shining and there was a nice steady breeze to guide the kites through the air.
We added the streamer tail with construction flag tape and colorful plastic bags for some extra pizazz to the kite’s simple design.
After the kite workshop, guests gathered in the Reading Library to hear Melissa discuss her process, read her books, and even do some facial expression sketching exercises in mini sketchbooks. Melissa told us that for her newest book, A Splash of Red, in addition to working with watercolor and collage, she carved and painted pieces of wood to include in one of the illustrations of Horace’s paint brushes and pencils, how cool!
Below is a large pop-up Melissa made from old posters attached to a folded piece of cardboard. She encouraged everyone to use materials around their own homes to make their own towns, jungles, or underwater habitats.
Melissa, thanks for such a special day!
