C.W. Anderson... a few drawings

since the beginning...

For me, I think it's always been about horses and dogs. When I was in kindergarten and the class went to the school library, I remember the two books I checked out the most:

Lonesome Little Colt written and illustrated by C.W. Anderson

and The AKC Complete Dog Book (the Irish Wolfhound was my favorite because it was the biggest. still want one. certainly Augustus would agree.)

C.W. Anderson wrote and illustrated a seriously long list of books about horses and ponies. I love these drawings. I'm putting some on the next post.

wesley dennis

After hunting around, I found some decent images of Wesley Dennis's illustrations.

In 2001, the National Sporting Library in Middleburg, VA had an exhibit of his artwork, showing drawings from familiar children's literature, like Misty of Chincoteague and Justin Morgan Had a Horse (both by Marguerite Henry).

If only I had known... I could've gone to see it! But then again, I was in 9th grade at the time... That seems like a weak excuse, but it works...

Wesley Dennis and Marguerite Henry collaborated on 15 books together, but Justin Morgan was the first.

In an interview in 1956, Henry said of Dennis, "This artist saw beyond hide and hair and bone. You could see that he understood and loved animals, that he was trying to capture their spirit, personality and expression."

I absolutely love that. His drawings are wonderful inspiration for me.

the eric carle museum of picture book art.

It's built in the middle of an apple orchard. That's definitely kid-friendly.

Actually, that could be a 2 in 1 field trip now that I think about it. Apple-picking and Eric Carle all in one afternoon.

If you're small enough, you can brag about sitting under The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

It's a lovely little museum, and nothing less than you would expect a picture book museum to be.

Let's see, there's a library, an arts & crafts classroom, a theater, a cafe, and obviously, the gallery.

In the gallery, there are two visiting exhibits, plus a room for everything Eric Carle. It's definitely a place for young readers and artists to learn, and it doesn't take long to get to the end.

I underestimated how lively a museum would be... and I know I would be bored if I had been chosen for the internship here. So that was my Pollyanna Moment of the day. I'm glad I'm not working there.

I think I liked the gift shop best of everything there. It was basically a bookstore, but the majority of merchandise being picture books. Which reminds me...

I always forget how much I like Wesley Dennis' illustrations of horses and ponies. But picking up Album of Horses made me smile. I love the drawing on the cover with the grey mare and the chestnut foal looking over the stall door.

Which reminds me of something else...

I'm instantly drawn to horses & dogs.

(Augustus agrees as he lounges beside me on the couch at the moment)