authors – Liz Macklin — Writer & Illustrator

Everyone Can Make a Book

artists, authors, books, children's art, illustration, writing

Start with an idea and a piece of paper, and you have the beginning of a book. Fold the paper in half. Then draw or write or create secret code or mark with musical symbols. It’s your idea, so express it in your own unique way.

Interior of child's book showing a person and a house with a tall chimney

Colored paper adds pizzazz! Don’t forget that paper has two sides. Be sure to remember the name of the author and illustrator.

The cover of a child's book showing a handwritten name, Alex

Stories can be told in many ways, and the tale might change each time. Young children often like to make audio recordings of stories. Adults who want to help might also write down the words.

You’ll find a million ways to embellish and add to your books. Check back and we’ll look at a few of them here.

A child's book with a figure that has a pop up nose and long arms made from paper. The text says, "He help other."

A a child's book with a figure embellished with a pop up nose and paper hair, arms and legs. The text says, "I am rober forever."

The cover of a child's book decorated with a rectangle of corrugated paper. The text says, "the Book UV the."

Poems and Snow

animals, authors, books, environment, nature, poetry, watercolor, writing

Do poets wander alone “scribbling in notebooks, peering across moors, feeding ducks…?” In “Mary Oliver and the Naturesque,” Alice Gregory suggests that Oliver writes and invites us to ramble with her. As the poet says, “the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting.”

So … yesterday I wandered. After watching reports of far away blizzards, I followed sidewalks dusted with snow. It was my first time out taking photos, because last October I chipped a bone in my foot. Since I am just beginning to paint again, I’m posting this sketch.

Gregory’s article appeared in Poetry magazine on February 16, 2011.

Sunflowers

authors, garden, painting, plants, watercolor, writing

We have a bumper crop of pumpkins this year but absolutely no sunflowers. I guess the squirrels ate the seeds.

My friend, author Jackie Jules, grew sunflowers on her deck. Her seedlings vanished once, then twice. But did Jackie give up? No. In fact, I bet that she sang as she watered her plants– songs of maidens and magic seeds. Her flowers bloomed in the brightest gold.

More than a thousand miles away, I dreamed of blossoms and howling guards that chased away the squirrels. In the morning I’d walk the dog and sneak past a neighbor’s house for a glimpse of her sunflowers.

Then one day Madelyn Rosenberg came to my rescue. She was typing away. I imagine her looking like a brunette Katherine Hepburn — author/ journalist. She took a break to bring sunflowers to everyone at our writers group. Madelyn, how did you know? I just had to paint them.

————— Even if plants can’t hear storytellers, what do we know of how plants respond to sound? A study of caterpillar crunching! From the California Academy of Sciences.