Venice - Venetian Graffiti

Venice - Venetian Graffiti
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

A different take on graffiti...

Venice - Venetian Graffiti

Venice - Venetian Graffiti
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Another Venetian wall illustration...

Venice - Venetian Graffiti

Venice - Venetian Graffiti
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

More graffiti from Venice, this time actually on a boat.... see my Flickr pics for more...

Venice - Venetain graffiti bw

Venice - Venetain graffiti bw
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Just back from 4 days in Venice, here's some graffiti from the city.... more photos to follow (I took about 1200!)....

Myron selected for "White Ravens 2006"

Just received some information from the author of Myron's Magic Cow, Marlene Newman.

"It is our pleasure to inform you that we have selected the book - Myron's Magic Cow by Marlene Newman and Jago, published by Barefoot Books - as one of the titles for The White Ravens 2006, our annual selection of outstanding international books for childrens and young adults, which will be presented at our stand at the Bologna Children's Book Fair.

The books for this year's exhibition (250 titles in 32 languages from 47 countries)have been selected from the thousands of books our library recieves as review copies from publishers, authors and illustrators from all over the world within the last year.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue containing bibliographical data and annotations for each of the selected books...."

You can see their website here.

Human Pyramid

Here's me, my dad and my brother attempting an incredible acrobatic feat on the beach the other day...be impressed!

See a photo here

Myron's Magic Cow - Reviewed again!

Myron's Magic Cow
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Here's another review of Myron, sent to me by the author.....

FROM THE CRITICS
Children's Literature - Elizabeth D. Schafer
Myron dislikes going to the store for his Mama, who never asks his brother or sister to run errands. An empty milk carton results in Myron heading once again to the store with a five dollar bill so his Mama can prepare pancakes for her family's breakfast. Leaving his apartment building, Myron dutifully maneuvers through his urban surroundings toward his destination. A blond woman resembling Goldilocks stops him and tells him she knows about his milk woes. Confused how a stranger could know his problem, Myron silently listens as the woman pulls an enormous cow from an alley. Referring to Jack, as in the magic beanstalk, she grabs Myron's money and thrusts the cow's rope at him, dashing away in a car with three bears. Myron, stuck with the predicament of dealing with the disagreeable cow, trudges home. He appeases the cow, discovering she is grateful Myron rescued her from the bears, and offers him more opportunities than as a consistent milk supplier. Illustrations effectively elaborate the fantastical situations Myron encounters. Read this book with Jon Scieszka's picture books, Colin and Jacqui Hawkins's Fairytale News (2004), and Tim Egan's Metropolitan Cow (1996) to discuss the use of puns, anthropomorphism, and appropriation of fairytale characters and themes in storytelling. 2005, Barefoot Books, Ages 4 to 8.

Sam Dooley

Me and Sam (1993)
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

My good friend Sam Dooley has a blog, go and look at it. He's creating lovely things and building a coracle....I'm very jealous.

http://chaggers.blogspot.com

The photo above was taken thirteen years ago when we were setting off on an expedition.

My cooler, younger, brother.....

Jonah at Polzeath
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

At Polzeath yesterday, enjoying our one-day-summer...it's raining again today :¬(

Lightbox

Just finished re-building my website and used the fantastic Lightbox javascript that allows pictures to open on a semi transparent "layer" above the website. Take a look at my portfolio pages to see it in action. If you want to download it for yourself head on over to the Lightbox site.

Our new house - a slideshow

Flash Slideshow

New website!

New website!
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Here's the menu bar from my newly re-designed website, take a look!

I've also moved back to Blogger, the WordPress affair didn't work out, so for the time being at least I'm back here. The WordPress blog will simply be a linkblog from now on.

This blog has moved!

I have moved this blog to Word Press because of their superior categories and customisability... I have added several galleries of new work there too.....

Here's the new site:

http://jagoillustration.wordpress.com/

and here's the link to the new feed:

http://jagoillustration.wordpress.com/feed/

Hope to see you there.

Alien Invasion?

Polzeath Sunset
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Went for a freezing walk on Baby Bay this afternoon, as we were leaving, it appeared that an alien invasion was beaming down over the headland....

(darker dragging and background marbling....) another Myron Review!

T H E B U L L E T I N

OF THE CENTER FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF LIBRARY

AND INFORMATION SCIENCE


December 16, 2005

Newman, Marlene M Barefoot, 2005 [40p] Myron's Magic Cow; illus. by Jago.

ISBN 1841484962 $16.99

Reviewed from galleys R 6-10yrs



During an ordinary (and reluctant) trip to the store for milk, Myron meets a pushy blonde who trades him a cow for money, then takes off in a bright pink car with three bears. Astonished city‑kid Myron (who has never seen let alone owned a real cow) is even more surprised when the cow begins to speak and grant wishes, Audiences will quickly recognize that there is some fairy‑tale spoofery going on; while this type of satire is familiar, Myron's tale highlights the absurd, bringing familiar characters (Jack, Goldilocks, the bears) to a city setting and confronting hapless but unfazeable Myron with bizarre circumstances, while never losing sight of the child‑centered concern that his mom is waiting for milk,… Myron's final wish that "someone else would have to go to the store once in a while" is pure kid‑think, and the story has just the right level of tongue-in‑cheek humor. Jago's striking illustrations offer a bold color palette (muted and textured by darker dragging and background marbling) and naively drawn figures and objects; the sparse layouts and skewed scale (the vast backgrounds and the large, boxy cow loom over tiny Myron) add to the surreal feel of the story. Imaginative kids who use make‑believe to counteract the drudgery of day‑to‑day life will especially enjoy seeing Myron's unusual encounter and eventual mini‑triumph. MH

NEWMAN, Marlene. Myron's Magic Cow‑ illus. by Jago. unpaged.

Myron Reviewed in Books For Keeps

Myron Reviewed in Books For Keeps
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

...and here's another review, sent to me by the nice people at Barefoot Books.

Foreword Magazine - Myron review

Foreword Magazine - Myron review
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Here's a rather nice review passed on from the author.

Myron’s Magic Cow
by: Marlene Newman with Jago, illustrator

Issue Year:
Category: Children's Picturebook
Publisher: Barefoot Books

Color illustrations

40 pages

Hardcover $16.99

ISBN: 1841484962

A yellow-haired girl, whose traveling companions are three bears, is bad news. A surprise is in store for anyone who takes her up on her offer of a great deal on a cow. In addition to the humorous tone of the story, this can be a lesson to children to be careful about talking to strangers.

Myron feels like he is the only one Mama ever asks to go to the store when she runs out of something. Little does he know, but when she needs milk for pancakes one morning, Myron will bring home more than he went to the store to get. After some crafty trading on the part of the golden-haired con artist, Myron ends up amazed by an offer of his choice of milk. (“What’ll you have—regular, skim, or one percent?” Well spoken for a cow.)

The author spent nineteen years teaching elementary school reading, writing, and library skills in New York, and enjoying every type of book that libraries had to offer. While Myron’s Magic Cow is her first children’s book, she treasured the times she read with her children, grandchildren, and many students over the years. This story about a magical cow who grants a little boy’s wishes was originally written as a play for students. The real magic that Newman shares is her love of words.

The illustrator’s art has graced many children’s books with fairy tale-like themes. While most of his work is at least partially digitalized, he adds a personal feel by harmonizing paint, photography, and pencil for his unique style. His artwork evokes a giddy reaction with mysterious undertones. Jago may be best known for his children’s artwork in Brave Tales, Ltd. books like Tom and the Giant, Madgy Figgy’s Pig, and Lutey and the Mermaid.

Throughout Myron’s Magic Cow, smart-aleck repartee from skewed fairytale characters erupts. (“‘Listen,’ the girl continued, ‘there are already three bears in my car and the cow just won’t fit. You need milk and I need money—so let’s cut a deal.’”) As one storybook figure after another shows up, Myron is in the dark about most of their identities. He just wants to get to the store and back so his mom can make the pancakes. Excitement is just around the corner when his newfound friend, the magic cow, offers him three wishes.

In the tradition of The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Myron’s Magic Cow will make reading fun, and some kids may offer to run errands for their mothers. (December)



Review by: Katie Klein

Rooftop Garden

Rooftop Garden
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

Just because it looked nice...

Just because it looked nice...
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.

...and cheerful and summery...when in actual fact it's bloomin' freezing here...brrrr, roll on summer.

Tree in sunlight

Tree in sunlight
Originally uploaded by Jagosilver.