about the book
Author and illustrator Lois Ehlert offers her readers a behind-the-scenes look at her creative process. Sometimes it seems like a how-to book, as Ehlert offers tips and advice for how to be creative, to really write and draw something.
Lois gives credit to her parents for encouraging her creativity from early on. Her parents, both creative types, made things with their hands. Her mother worked as a seamstress and often shared her scissors and scraps of colorful fabric with Lois. Meanwhile, Lois’s dad had a workshop in the basement with scraps of wood, a selection of paints, and of course the tools to work with them. Together, all these things led Lois to her favorite medium—taking such scraps and making a collage out of them.
Mother Nature also played a part in Lois’s love for creativity and beauty—with free supplies for her collages, of course! So, the message at the end of the day is to have a colorful life and to create something that delights you.
about the author
Lois Ehlert was always creative. In fact, everyone in her family seemed to be making something all the time with their hands.
Born in 1934 in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, she never outgrew being a messy artist. Her mother said she had to keep all her art “stuff” on the old card table! More than painting or sculpting, what she loved to do was make collages. Her mother, a seamstress, gave her lots of brightly colored fabric scraps, and her father, who had a basement workshop, gave her bits and pieces of wood.
Lois studied English and psychology at the University of Wisconsin and later went to the Layton School of Art. That battered old card table ended up in her dorm room. Later, she worked in an advertising art studio, and that old card table became her dining room table. It even ended up at the Milwaukee Art Museum along with a show of her illustrations. There was a pad of paper and colored pencils on the table, and every time Lois went in, she found it occupied by young artists creating their own masterpieces!
At one point Lois was asked to illustrate books for other writers, but she found it too frustrating. The writers seem to take offense when she suggested that they change their text so she could draw what she wanted! To fix that problem, this Caldecott Honor winner started to write her own books.
Lois is still a very messy artist. She spills paint on her shoes and always has glue under her nails. She rarely cleans up her works space, and when things get too cluttered with bits and pieces of collage materials, she works on the floor!
Lois lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And she’d tell you that she did not choose to be an artist…art chose her!
Sources:
Author biography: McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Author biography: Wikipedia
Author interview: Reading Rockets
Also by Lois Ehlert:
RRRalph. Beach Lane Books. 2011.
Lots of Spots. Beach Lane Books. 2010.
Boo to You! Beach Lane Books. 2009.
Oodles of Animals. Harcourt Childrens Books. 2008.
Wag a Tail. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 2007.
Leaf Man. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 2005.
Hands : Growing Up to be an Artist. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 2004.
Pie in the Sky. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. 2004.
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