Maximum Well-Being of All

This is a poster that Jill created for and donated to an after-school program for children of the homeless.

© Haller-Buchanan — Love and Work by All

The Chilrderens Meawseyom

As artists-in-residence at The Children's Museum, Jill and I had a multitude of fabulous projects, but none so satisfying to me, as the school outreach program.

The Children's Museum at the time had an exhibition of the art of Tomie de Paola, the amazingly prolific children's book writer and illustrator. His work was and is perfectly in tune with the psyche of young kids everywhere. Since Tomie wasn't available to travel to a bunch of regional schools, Jill and I were proxies. We represented The Children's Museum, going out to a number of 2nd grade classes. We didn't pretend to be Tomie, but we went out to share details about his life, and how he created his art.

During each classroom session, we set up a VERy large copy of a poster that we had drawn for the occasion (we gave it to the class after each session, creating GREAT excitement among the kids):

We proceeded to talk about Tomie and the characters that he was so loved for, drawn in a sophisticated child-like way. I explained the concept of 'icons' which most kids had never heard of before, but instantly understood—the symbology of hearts and stars and candles and so many more that Tomie used here and there in his books.

We told them that Tomie had a special talent above and beyond his art and storytelling: 'Remembering'. Tomie has said that all his good remembering has helped him in writing and drawing. And he had an interest in older folk, having learned from his grandfather.

Just about every kid was bubbling over with the love of books and stories, and most all said they would like to write and tell stories. We said that there was a lot to learn about storytelling, but one place to start would be to create characters that could be part of their story. We demonstrated how to draw like Tomie, with simple shapes, expressions and icons—and to put love into what they drew.

We told them that Tomie liked to draw himself, but always did so with a smile for his expression. We helped them draw pictures of themselves as if they were story characters, not worrying whether it looked like them or not, but to think about what they like about themselves. And then draw an 'icon' of something they love. They could give the character a name, maybe their own name, but could spell it differently. I pointed out how the name 'Tom' could be changed to be like 'Tomie', or like mine, 'Thom'.

Then we showed them how they could draw pictures of animals and turn them into characters, by using simple human props like hats and glasses and neckties:

and that they could start with a simple drawing and then add those props afterwards, and if they chose, could make them act like humans.

We were amazed and gratified at the deep levels that these 7 year old kids reacted and jumped into the activities with fervor. They had an instant grasp of new concepts and were rapt with fascination during the drawing demonstrations. At one point I slowed down the demo so that they could follow along, step-by-step, and see how simple shapes could assemble themselves into a character that they could give words to speak with.

Most every school sent us thank you letters afterward and even though maybe the kids were directed into a format, their thoughts were their own, and they brought great validity to our efforts. Below is just a random sampling that I have on hand of the many that we received.

It's interesting to think that all the children who wrote letters to us were the age of 7 at the time, and are now 21 and part of our functioning society. They may only vaguely remember, among many memories, that a man and woman showed them some fun things about drawing. But our memories are strong of the love and warmth these kids shared with us.

I thought the Children's Museum should change their name to reflect the spelling that Natasha, above, gave it.

Character

This blog jumps around, as blogs tend to do, so I leap to another subject, knowing that any time I may jump back to previous ones. This comes about because of having so many images, elements and phases of so many projects that I'm having a hard time organizing them in a cohesive sequence, while still turning out deadline after deadline.

This sketchbook page is going to be part of an upcoming set of posts regarding character development. This little girl was one of a set of characters we developed for a book that we illustrated and was published several years ago.

sketch ©2008 Haller-Buchanan — Omnia

Bonus Graphic

Instead of getting mad at our client for making us do it all over again directly on the wall, we added a bonus graphic to compensate for the misunderstanding: a pooh bear that would show up when the nightlight was plugged in (yes, painted directly on the wall — sigh).

Inspired by the art of E.H. Shepard

When the Kids Outgrow a Room

No matter how mundane the project is, we put our heart and soul into it.

For this 'Pooh' room, we were asked to put illustrated elements on all the walls in the style of E.H. Shepard's classic renderings. Yet we had a bit of latitude to interpret them the way we saw fit. Piglet's house was a fun choice because of the interior architecture, and Piglet's party was a funny sight gag, dull as a party could be.

We explained to the client that we were going to produce the art in our studio and then install it in the kids' room all at the same time. So we spent a week creating cut-out panel shapes, with the thought that when the kids outgrew the room, the elements could be moved, saved or salvaged in some way.

We were pretty happy with the results, and took a day to install all the pieces. The client wasn't very enthusiastic, but thanked us as we left. The next day, we got a call from them asking us to return to the house. Upon arriving, the husband and wife looked a bit sad, with a tincture of anger. "We thought you were going to paint all this directly on the wall . . . we don't want cut-outs. We want you to do it the way we were expecting."

Ouch.

We explained that we did indeed tell them what to expect. We explained about the concept of salvaging the artwork once the kids outgrew the Pooh theme, so that the artwork wouldn't just get painted out with a plain coat of paint.

Nope.

We came back the following week and spent three days at the house repainting everything directly on the wall, knowing that within a relatively short time it would be completely eradicated.

Below is the same Piglet party as painted directly on the wall. Jill and I donated all the cut-out panels to a foundation for children, for their fund-raising auction.

Below, the preliminary sketch, always a fun thing to produce.

All Pooh art inspired by E.H. Shepard

Making a Living

Okay, so if you've read one of the earlier posts on this blog, I've indicated that our studio has been a roller coaster existence lo these many years. There were some months when work was so scarce, that our track seemed to be leading to the edge of Mount Doom. We took on work that we weren't particularly proud of OR ashamed of. As I've said, when we're commissioned artists, our mission is to please the client (well, gosh, that's the mission of anyone who wants to stay in business).

So when the client wants a Winnie-ther-Pooh room for their kids, with art based on the original brilliant stuff of E.H. Shepard . . . well, that's what we put our heart into. We started with that premise and then interpreted from there.

This was just the first panel for the brother and sister, to hang above the kids' bathroom door. Next time, I'll show a few more things we did for that room.

Really, we had to make a living.

4 foot long panel, interpreted from art by E.H. Shepard

It's a Jungle in There

Until I started preparing these posts, I had no idea we created as many cut-outs as we have over the years. It was almost a specialty of ours for a while.

It's hard work using a saber saw to cut through one quarter or even one half inch masonite (hard board). To make inner cuts, one needs to make a large drill hole and then start cutting outward bit by bit. Very tedious labor, but especially so on large and intricate subjects such as this nearly life-size couple of orangutans AND their snaky vines, hanging in front of translucent painted murals.

This was one of many art elements, such as more cut-outs, murals and furniture that we produced for a childrens' museum jungle-themed cafe.

©1989 Haller-Buchanan — Orangutan cut-outs

B-Thump B-Thump

For a health and fitness exhibit at the children's museum, we had a component that demonstrated the differences of heart capacities. The kids would place a stethoscope on the cutout of the St. Bernard puppy, shown below, and hear a strong b-thump b-thump b-thump of a heartbeat, and then place it over a graphic of a canary and hear the hyper bip bip bip of its tweety pie heart.

©1998 Haller-Buchanan — St.Bernard puppy

Below, the first workup sketch for the cut-out . . .

Main Street

We're currently finishing up a lot of illustrations for a kids' book that may have a market for adults as well. This is one of the drawings in progress, inventing this town scene from scratch, with all the elements developed separately as we created the composition.

©2012 Haller-Buchanan — Mountain Town Main Street, ca 1920

Scuzzoids

This was the concept sketch for one of the panels of a science museum exhibit about germs, for kids to be germ aware, not germ-aphobic. We named the little guys 'scuzzoids' and showed where they were hanging out in a typical home.

©2000 Haller-Buchanan — Scuzzoids

Mr. and Mrs. Berber

When I first worked with the children's museum, it was in a ramshackle sort of building, but within a year it had moved to its current high-class custom-developed architectural marvel.

For its grand opening in the new location I was asked to paint a number of life-size 'cut-outs' to bring some life to the exhibits, including what was going to be an Arabian tent as a centerpiece exhibit. To start with, I produced a man and woman that came to be known as 'Mr. & Mrs. Berber', though their ethnicity was a bit less than authentic.

Before I delivered them, an executive decision was made overnight that the tent was going to be themed as a circus tent, and I had a new assignment for cutouts (yes, I was paid a 'kill-fee').

So right then and there I owned a desert couple that have been with me for now for more than a quarter century. Here they are in one of my early studios:

©1985 Thomas Buchanan

Far-Flung Cultures

These are preliminary sketches for part of a series of 12 pastel paintings demonstrating the use of baby carriers in far-flung cultures of the world, showcased in a baby care area of an international airport, sponsored by — surprise — a baby carrier manufacturer.

©1990 Haller-Buchanan — Baby Bedouin

©1990 Haller-Buchanan — Wodaabe Baby

Joy Ride

Our files are filled with idea sketches that never made it off the ground, so to speak.

This is our daughter and her life-long friend at the age of five, when they rode a flying saucer ride at the amusement park. I took a snapshot of them as they looked so joyful and unafraid careening through the summer air, and then made a charcoal sketch hoping to be the spark for a book or something. Alas, our files are filled with idea sketches that never made it off the ground. But at least the girls did!

© 1997 Haller-Buchanan — Joy Ride

Undersea Studies

Some studies for painting that occupied various sections of the room:

All studies on this post ©1999 Haller-Buchanan