Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

a day at the museum

My novel has been all-consuming the last few weeks, as you might have been able to tell by my intermittent blogging. But I did try to leave the house a couple of times. The Chihuly exhibit at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts was ending plus I wanted to do a little more research for my writing, so I decided to make some time to go to museum with the Sasquatch.

The sculpture in front of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts reminds me of someone...

Did I mention there was a Chihuly exhibit going on? There was a really, really long line to get into the museum:


We were in line for about an hour when we saw other people just walking right in. Curious, the Sasquatch followed them to see what secret they had that gained them such easy admission. He quickly found out that there was an automated kiosk which allowed you to buy your tickets immediately!! We jumped out of line, bought our tickets from the machine and got in within minutes! Crazy! I wanted to go back outside and yell to everyone waiting in line about it, but Sasquatch thought it might make a mad panic.

Because it was an extremely crowded and busy show as it was. It was very, very beautiful but hard to enjoy with the constant squeeze of people.

This was one of my favorite pieces. I thought it looked like a bunch of carrots, but the Sasquatch thought it looked like intestines. I guess that is why I am the children's book author and he is a Sasquatch.


After the Chihuly exhibit, we went to the Asian Art wing so I could do a little research and get some inspiration. It was not crowded at all in the Asian art wing, which I am not complaining about. I was able to look at everything at my leisure, looking for details that could help my story:

A possible setting for a scene.

This bowl was particularly helpful, especially when compared to the bowl I saw during my research trip to the Met.


These are asparas, kind of the Asian equivalent of angels. They aren't in my book, but I'm intrigued about them now. Maybe they'll make an appearance in my next novel!


This was actually vey helpful as well. I wasn't sure what saddles looked like in ancient China!

It was a lovely day at the museum!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

san fran!

I was in San Francisco! It was an extremely brief trip! I went mainly for personal reasons, but I was able to mix a lot of fun and a bit of work too. It was rather inspiring to see the things on the left coast--like the buildings,
I love the colors of some of their houses!

And a baby! I met my friend Anna's new daughter.
Isn't she adorable? I gave her the Tiger onesie...she's kind bursting out of it, though!

I also got to visit the Chronicle Books office. They are the publishers the books I illustrated a while back-- Round is a Mooncake, Red is a Dragon, and One is a Drummer. They do such beautiful books! I hope someday to work with them again.


Anna at the Chronicle Books reception area, which is also a bookstore.

Editor Melissa Manlove & me. Before this, she had only been a name in e-mail--such fun meeting her!

And I also did a little research for future books. Anna, her little family and I went to Chinatown and I saw the fortune cookie factory I've been meaning to see for a long time:


It was so small! I felt awkward poking around but it did reinvigorate a novel idea I had many years ago...so a new seed is sprouting!

Of course, I can't work on that idea until after "Return to Sky" and my other projects are finished; but considering how long I think before I write (usually 3 years) this is a good thing.

And we also went into a Chinese tea shop, which had hundreds of kinds of tea. It reminded me of the tea shop I went to in China, but this was better because I could read all the signs.

Including the one that priced one tea at $800. a pound!!!

They let us try little samples, too. This is me trying the $800 tea:
It was good...but I don't know if it was worth $800. I left with a $12 canister of lychee tea, instead.

But the whole thing was fun and very helpful because I *think* the main character of "Return to Sky" may work in a tea house.

It was a great visit to San Fran! Hope to go again soon!