The Art of the Humble Horse

I’ve known Micheline’s daughter, Hannah since she was about four years old. In the decade I’ve known her I’ve watched her grow and into a lovely young woman. While it’s normal to outgrow the things you loved as a child there’s one love Hannah has never outgrown; her love of horses.HannahRiding Hannah 13 years_02If you’ve been following our blogs you already know this. You’ve probably seen pictures of Hannah’s horse, Lady and pony, Babe. Maybe you’ve even read some of Hannah’s stories or seen some of her beautiful drawings.

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Hannah isn’t alone in this passion; there’s something special about horses that continues to draw us to them from a very young age. We devote shelf space to Classic books like Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty and watch timeless movies like National Velvet. Famous artwork owes its inspiration to this gentle beast from the stunning The Large Blue Horses painting by German artist, Franz Marc to the bronze sculptures by Frederic Remington.Booksthe-large-blue-horsesWhimsical Publishing has also been inspired by the simple horse. In fact,  WE’RE PUBLISHING A HORSE COLOURING BOOK! With original artwork by house-artist Micheline Ryckman and newcomer Hayden Wolf, this book will also include a step-by-step guide for budding artists and horse enthusiasts everywhere to draw and colour their own stunning horses.

Stay tuned for a sneak peek inside the book and details of how you can win a copy of our new colouring book due out this fall! In the meantime, check out this cool website from Horse Channel on their 30 favourite children’s horse stories: Horse Channel. 🙂

~ Trina

Congratulations Mrs. Hammond!

Two of Micheline’s paintings hang in my dining room. My first acquisition hangs on my feature wall and was painted by Mich especially for my fortieth birthday. The second –and equally treasured painting—is a simple ladder leaning against a stone wall.

Both paintings are large, bold and imaginative and they suit my living space and my personality perfectly. But lately I’ve been admiring much smaller and quite different yet equally impressive works of art by Mich and wondering “aren’t they just as worthy of framing”? I’m referring of course to Mich’s amazing illustrations for our Miss Emily Goes to Bat children’s book.

Colourful, animated and well, yes…just a bit whimsical, these illustrations are so delightful I just couldn’t imagine confining them strictly to the pages of our story. And so I decided we wouldn’t. 🙂

Instead, Mich and I decided to offer up a contest to all of the wonderful teachers, librarians and booksellers who’ve opened up their classrooms, story-times and bookshelves to Miss Emily with the chance to win a signed, framed and numbered print of Miss Emily Goes to Bat.

We invited everyone who supported our Kootenay Child Development Fundraiser by hosting a reading to review our book for a chance to enter the draw. On Wednesday my son (and loveable story character), Thom, drew Marysville’s grade two elementary teacher Mrs. Josie Hammond as our winner. Congratulations Mrs. Hammond, and thanks for entering!

We’ve posted her review –along with a few other favourites—on our blog under the “News & Reviews” section. We had so much fun doing this contest that we’d love to do another one in the near future.  If anyone has an idea for a fun and creative contest, we’d love to hear from you!  Who knows, maybe you’ll be the next person to sport a signed, numbered Miss Emily print as part of your art collection…

~Trina