Oh, the Places I'd Like to Go!

This week's theme for IF was "Intentional" and today happens to be Dr. Seuss's birthday.

I absolutely love his work (he is very much an inspiration to mine) and have drawn him in the past. I see him as a very "intentional artist" with his bright colors and bold lines. He created a whole new genre of children's books that were nothing like the traditional "Dick and Jane" stories his generation was used to. Once, when at a book signing, he disappeared into a back room, where they later found him striking out the prices on boxes of new "Dr. Seuss" shoes and repricing them because they were too expensive. He never read his books in public, got very angry if reproductions of his work looked "cheap," and created all kinds of personal work that never was published.

Here is my "intentional" entry in colored pencil:

The time had come,

But Marvin said "NO!"

So Walter climbed on the Crunk-Car

And set it to "slow."

But slow was no fun,

Slow would not do.

So he cranked it to "fast"

and, boy, that thing flew!

I'm a little disappointed in how the colors came out when I photographed that one - in the original the blue is bluer, the owl is teal and the tree is orange. Also, I wanted to include the portrait of Seuss that I did two years ago for a Museum show. I realized I never put this into a blog, so I wanted to make sure I did! :) It's all colored pencil (no ink or any other mediums) and it's 18"x24" (poster size). I was illustrating his less-know characters with a little of my own style and coloring - little did I know they'd be making a movie out of the Lorax!

It's framed for my Office:

Wish I could have met him!