Inspiration: Eric Carle

It's been a very busy last couple of weeks. It was good-busy----wrapping up the school year and preparing to have a whole bunch of friends visit us---but it did mean that my creative energies were directed away from Making Things. However, I did manage to make birthday presents for my two precocious nieces.



I've always enjoyed children's books illustrations and so I jumped at the chance to see an Eric Carle exhibit at the Tacoma Art Museum on our way home from Seattle one weekend this winter. I love the super-saturated primary colors he uses in his work. Seeing his work "live" surprised me with all the texture that doesn't come through in the reproduction of his work. He hand paints sheets of tissue paper and then cuts out shapes to create tissue-paper collages. It's so bold and sweet at the same time.

Bold and sweet. Sort of like my nieces. I used the Eric Carle illustrations as a basis for these appliqued t-shirts. They were a lot of fun to make. I packaged them up with a couple of Eric Carle books and sent them on their way and then I promptly forgot about them.



Apparently, my sister got the package because my nieces are wearing the shirts over here. Yay! That makes me happy.