If Picasso Painted a Snowman...Guest post by Amy and Greg Newbold

I had the privilege of receiving a copy of If Picasso Painted a Snowman a while ago.  I immediately had to share it with all the art teachers that I know....and I sent it to school with my wife to share it with her art teacher.  Of course, they all had to have a copy!  Besides being a great art resource, this is also a great story to just enjoy.  I was delighted when Amy and Greg asked if they could write for my blog.  I hope that you enjoy!

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Thanks to Kids Talk Kid Lit for the opportunity to share our picture book with you! We are Amy and Greg Newbold, author and illustrator of If Picasso Painted a Snowman. We are both huge fans of picture books, and still read them even now that our kids are grown. Our new book begins “If someone asked you to paint a snowman, you would probably start with three white circles stacked one upon another. Then you would add black dots for eyes, an orange triangle for a nose, and a black dotted smile. But if Pablo Picasso painted a snowman, it would look like…THIS!”  What follows is a brightly colored, playful introduction to seventeen important painters and how they may have painted snowmen. This book is suitable for ages 4 and up. Here is a little bit about our process and the making of a picture book.

Amy:    

Could we pull it off? Create a book about art and artists that taught kids about styles and encouraged creativity and read like a bedtime story? It was a challenge, but one we embraced, and one we hope we’ve accomplished in If Picasso Painted a Snowman.

Picture books are so deceptively simple it seems anyone could write one, yet the journey to take an idea to a completed book is so beautifully complex that not everyone tries it. We tell people the idea for this book came in a museum in Paris, which is true, but the idea for this book also began long before that. It began after taking our three young children to countless museum exhibits and working to keep them entertained while Greg spent longer looking at the art than they wanted. It began in gift shops, where we couldn’t find the book we wanted to bring home, to keep museum memories and art alive. It began in a preschool classroom where a child rebelled against the pre-cut, strict assembly instructions of art projects. All of that combined in a moment in a Paris museum where I stood looking at the art by Pablo Picasso and wondered what his snowman would look like.

I knew right from the beginning several artists that I wanted to include in the book – Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Georges Seurat, Jackson Pollock, Piet Mondrian. Greg introduced me to some other artists like Roy Lichtenstein and Paul Klee who were great additions to the book. We had many conversations about the artists, as Greg was the one who would have to produce all the paintings and imitate so many styles.

Greg:

Since I was young, I have enjoyed the challenge of learning new styles or techniques. Like most budding artists, I started by trying to copy other artists’ work. In high school I did Prismacolor replicas of album covers and copied drawings from guys like Frank Frazetta and the Hildebrandt brothers. I sold some of them for ten or twenty bucks. Once in college I had the legitimate option of creating an old master copy painting instead of writing a paper. My professor told me my Van Gogh was the best copy she had ever seen because I tried so hard to get the materials and surface texture correct.      

 

Because I like to experiment with new materials and processes, I also find it very instructive to paint these master copies. Studying and trying to recreate the works of great artists allows you to deconstruct and learn from the masters and it’s something I have done on and off over the years. This book gave me the opportunity to learn about the materials and processes of seventeen different artists. Some of those chosen for the book were quite familiar, as I had studied the likes of Grant Wood and Van Gogh. Others Like Jacob Lawrence and Sonia Delaunay were previously unknown to me.

Honestly, this entire project was a dream to work on. It was just so fun to try new things. I learned how to make a direct drawing monoprint for the Paul Klee piece, played with gold leafing for the Gustav Klimt painting but the most fun was probably the Jackson Pollock painting. As a young artist I scoffed at Pollock thinking that it was just a bunch of random drips on canvas, but as I dug deeper, I began to understand what his “action paintings” were all about. 

Amy:

                We hope this book finds its way into the hands of kids, families, teachers, classrooms, and anyone who likes to draw or paint. I chose a snowman because that is a simple shape most of us feel like we can draw. Also, to my knowledge, none of the artists represented in the book actually painted a snowman. Working on this project made me want to pick up a paintbrush myself. I think I will paint a snowman dot upon dot upon dot like Georges Seurat this winter, and after watching Greg have so much fun imitating Jackson Pollock, I am eager to try that in our back yard. Greg came up with the hamster as a visual guide through the book. If you look at him he has characteristics of some of the artists on different pages. This book is meant to be an introduction, and I hope it encourages kids and parents to explore art together. In high school, my art teacher had us choose an artist and copy one of their paintings. I think that type of art project can be done at any age. Have Picasso day in your classroom. See how many ways your kids can draw snowmen. Have some fun!

Greg:

This is the type of book we wished we could have found for our kids at one of the many museums we dragged them to. We wanted to put across the idea that the possibilities are endless when creating art and that you should not be intimidated or limited by what some people perceive as “rules”. There is no right or wrong way to make art, simply techniques that either help you to create or prevent you from achieving the vision you have for your art.

We have tried hard to make this book more than just an overview of different art styles. With its simple text, it also reads as a nice bedtime story, hopefully appealing to fans of snowman books, gift books, or art books in general. There are enough inside jokes to appeal to adults as well. At the end of the book we have also included expanded bios and art making tips. We hope that parents, teachers and children embrace this book as permission to explore art with freedom and joy.

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Greg Newbold is an award winning illustrator. His picture books include If Picasso Painted a Snowman by Amy Newbold,  Winter Lullaby and Spring Song, both by Barbara Seuling, The Touch of the Master’s Hand by Myra Brooks Welch, The Barnyard Night Before Christmas by Beth Terrill, and The Little Match Girl by David Warner. He loves painting landscapes in his free time. Follow Greg on Facebook and Instagram at gregnewboldart.

Amy Newbold lives in Utah with her artist husband, Greg. Together they enjoy hiking, camping, taking road trips, and visiting art museums. Amy learned to read at the age of four and has been seeking treasures in bookstores and libraries ever since. If Picasso Painted a Snowman is her first book.