Sunday, February 19, 2023

Cookie Fan Art Project, #2

     I had so much fun working on this second project of mine. The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats was one of my FAVORITE books when I was in kindergarten. I would have checked it out every week when our class got to go the library but there was a policy-you could not check out the same book two weeks in a row, you had to give other people a chance to enjoy the book the same as you. Sharing was hard concept for me.

    The story was super relatable for me at that age, snow was magical, it was fun to walk about the neighborhood making tracks in the snow, sliding on ice, and trying to be included with the big kids in their play.

    I thoroughly enjoyed the illustrations, as did so many others, from the bright colors, to the shadows. I had never seen collage used for illustration in a picture book before, and I loved it. This book won the Caldecott Medal in 1963, and deservedly so. This book was special in so many ways. It takes place in an urban setting, which had not really been featured before, and has as the main character a child of color. As one of my favorite librarians said, "It may be the best picture book every created." (Full disclosure-my favorite librarian is my sister.)

    I tried to mimic collage in my cookie art fan piece. I used different layers of frosting, transfers, candy melts, chocolate melts, and fondant to layer my piece, give it texture, and depth. I also tried using food safe brushes and food color gels to "paint" with on the cookie surface as well. Helpful tip for this week is that candy melt chocolates, once cooled, are NOT as easily carved as modeling chocolate, two very different things!

    Please also see the links below to learn more about what inspired Ezra Jack Keats and more about his work.





No comments:

Post a Comment