A Child's Garden of Verses

I've been scanning in images from Robert Louis Stevenson's timeless "A Child's Garden of Verses" and these two struck me as relevant, given the big, late winter rainstorms we've been experiencing. The delightful illustrations are by Margaret Campbell Hoopes and are from a 1921 edition of the book published by the Henry Altemus Co. of Philadelphia. The poems were written by Stevenson for his children and are a favorite in our family. This edition belonged to my late mother-in-law but we have plenty of others. I'm trying to find a good source to link to for more info on the illustrator and publisher, and will add them when I do. So far, it's been passing mentions of them.

California Dreamin'

Is it just me or do the woman and children in the engraving appear not too thrilled? Their facial expressions are what launched me on a path of altering Victorian illustrations. "Bet they wish they were at the beach," was my first thought when I came across the illustration. So, why not add the beach? In this case, it came in the form of a recycled book publisher catalog cover. I colored their cheeks a rosy hue and added snow as scattered dots and large circles of acrylic paint.

I learned a valuable lesson after finishing: a map should be relevant to a narrative piece, not added for the sake of composition. Found that out when I made this into a card for friends Jon & Carol Falk, who took my husband and me on a fantastic trip to Napa Valley last fall. Carol, a former teacher, just happened to mention that she looked closely at the map, expecting to see California. Ouch. Lesson learned. 5" x 5" on acid-free watercolor paper.