Roxy "Bebe"
Pencil drawing by Kimberly M Voss
For you Mom. I love you!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Friday, March 2, 2012
Teaching in disguise
One very important thing I've learned during the writing process is not to let your stories become sermons. Don't teach or preach to children in your stories. The idea is for your message to be relayed through the story itself and never in a direct way. Kids get enough teaching and preaching throughout the day, they don't need story time to be another time where they feel restricted by rules and lessons. Children learn best when they are taught in disguise.
You may notice that there are many stories where there are no parents at all in the story line. They aren't needed. Kids tend to learn from mistakes or accomplishments of others. The problem with sticking a grown-up in the story line is that it may hinder a character's problem solving skills by parental assistance. The lesson is for the child to solve the problem in their own way, without looking at the wise parent to fix it for them. How do adults know the answer?.... Well, at a young age they learned from trial and error. Author's must follow this rule to write successfully.
It is very important for writers to get in touch with their inner child. Relive the environment, emotions and lessons we learned through trial and error. It's a great approach to understanding how to best reach children through your stories.
Before you turn the page during story time, ask your child, "what do you think will happen next?" They usually answer, "I don't know." But when they come to a certain age, they may just give you a problem solving answer. That makes them feel smart and eager to read on. That's the outcome we love to see.
You may notice that there are many stories where there are no parents at all in the story line. They aren't needed. Kids tend to learn from mistakes or accomplishments of others. The problem with sticking a grown-up in the story line is that it may hinder a character's problem solving skills by parental assistance. The lesson is for the child to solve the problem in their own way, without looking at the wise parent to fix it for them. How do adults know the answer?.... Well, at a young age they learned from trial and error. Author's must follow this rule to write successfully.
It is very important for writers to get in touch with their inner child. Relive the environment, emotions and lessons we learned through trial and error. It's a great approach to understanding how to best reach children through your stories.
Before you turn the page during story time, ask your child, "what do you think will happen next?" They usually answer, "I don't know." But when they come to a certain age, they may just give you a problem solving answer. That makes them feel smart and eager to read on. That's the outcome we love to see.
Friday, February 24, 2012
For the love to color
Characters and plot are thought up in the strangest places. I can be driving, showering or lying in bed for some shut-eye, when *BAM.....an image of a character or story line pops into my head. Sometimes I jump towards a piece of paper and pen to get the thoughts down. Sometimes well.....if I don't have a free hand (showering for instance) the idea just vanishes from my mind as quickly as it appeared. That really frustrates me.
When you have a mind set on illustration and writing, it consumes your thoughts most of the time. Where do you start? Do you sit down and get an image on paper of a character you've dreamt up, then stare at it giving it life. A story can be built around an image just as an image can be created from a story.
As I sit putting a character on paper I hear the love of my life saying "boys, leave mommy alone, she's coloring." I had a big chuckle with that one. A thought came to mind while "coloring," that there are some people out there who don't understand the desire some of us have to dream up characters and build them into life-like beings that have a story to tell. It's like creating a family and sometimes turning your real family into caricatures is a hoot as well!
DREAM BIG, LOVE and "COLOR"
Monday, February 20, 2012
Illustration
Color Pencil Illustration
by Kimberly M Voss
I remember back years ago when my baby girl wanted to hang a swing from a tree outside our home. We tried everything. Mom wasn't the most successful person to ever hang a swing from a tree using a rope. Eventually Dad came to the rescue and she had a tire swing. This memory came to me and I wanted to put it on paper. This is an illustration of that mental snapshot of my baby girl.
Doodle-Day
Boy playing Mini Golf
Pencil drawing by Kimberly M Voss
My Boys playing in their fort
Pencil drawing by Kimberly M Voss
Poem: The Road Not Taken
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
*
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-Robert Frost
*
Monday, February 13, 2012
Art = Therapy
I have mentioned many times in my life that drawing, painting, crafting and even writing serves as a great form of therapy. You just get lost in the moment. You're so focused, you have taken your mind into a place that is stress free and relaxed, fit to bring out your creativity. I recently have spoken to a few people who have expressed how much they enjoy their hobbies and how it is their therapy. For one who reads, it's like an escape into another world. You get lost within the words and become part of the story. For one who loves to bake, they get lost in the task of perfection, creation and finding that magic touch. We each have our own form of therapy. We get lost in the task. Time seems to stand still, the world fades around us and nothing else seems to matter.
Author, teacher, and artist, Betty Edwards has a way of explaining this theory about art therapy. She calls it "states of consciousness." She explains it like this- "The slightly altered consciousness state of feeling transported, which most artists experience. You may have observed in yourself slight shifts in your state of consciousness while engaged in much more ordinary activities than artwork. Most people are aware that they occasionally slip from ordinary waking consciousness into the slightly altered state of daydreaming. People often say that reading takes them 'out of themselves'. Many people find that they do a lot of creative thinking while driving, often losing track of time and experiencing a pleasurable sense of freedom from anxiety."
Her explanation is a little confusing at first but think about it. When do you find yourself lost in a daydream or when did time stand still while you were engaged in a task. She goes on to discuss how like when driving, sometimes you don't know how you got to your destination. You were in such an altered state of consciousness because driving has become so ordinary to us and we get lost in our thoughts.
Take a minute and think about what your form of "therapy" is. What takes you into your zone where nothing else matters and you get lost in the moment.
Author, teacher, and artist, Betty Edwards has a way of explaining this theory about art therapy. She calls it "states of consciousness." She explains it like this- "The slightly altered consciousness state of feeling transported, which most artists experience. You may have observed in yourself slight shifts in your state of consciousness while engaged in much more ordinary activities than artwork. Most people are aware that they occasionally slip from ordinary waking consciousness into the slightly altered state of daydreaming. People often say that reading takes them 'out of themselves'. Many people find that they do a lot of creative thinking while driving, often losing track of time and experiencing a pleasurable sense of freedom from anxiety."
Her explanation is a little confusing at first but think about it. When do you find yourself lost in a daydream or when did time stand still while you were engaged in a task. She goes on to discuss how like when driving, sometimes you don't know how you got to your destination. You were in such an altered state of consciousness because driving has become so ordinary to us and we get lost in our thoughts.
Take a minute and think about what your form of "therapy" is. What takes you into your zone where nothing else matters and you get lost in the moment.
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