In my college art classes, I initially trained to paint in oils, but for most of the past 50 years, I’ve painted in watercolor, which is a much less forgiving medium–especially for loose, expressionistic painters. For quite some time, I’ve wanted to try oils again, and I’m finally doing that again. I’ve spent the month…
Category: Night
Zoo in the Sky by Jacqueline Mitton
Zoo in the Sky was illustrated by Christina Balit, and that is one of the reasons that I recommend this book. I own several books that Balit illustrated. She is a master of design in illustration. Beyond that, I recommend this book because it introduces several of the constellations in the night sky. The constellations…
The House in Faulkner’s Story “A Rose for Emily”
The House in Faulkner’s Short Story “A Rose for Emily.” “It was a big, squarish frame house that had once been white, decorated with cupolas and spires and scrolled balconies in the heavily lightsome style of the seventies, [1870s] set on what had once been our most select street. But garages and cotton gins had…
Something Wicked This Way Comes Chapter 3
For this post, I’ll be quoting from the following edition of Ray Bradbury’s masterful novel Something Wicked This Way Comes: Bradbury, Ray. Something Wicked This Way Comes. Large Print edition, Center Point Publishing, 2000. The page numbers will be different if you are reading from another edition of the book. Will and Jim as a Pair–Two Boys…
Loss of Inner Light in Women Who Run With the Wolves – Learn to See in the Dark
Over the past week, I have explored the theme of darkness in literature. In the Bible, we are told that in the beginning, the world was nothing but darkness. There was no moon. There was no sun. We are told that water moved across the darkness at that time, and therefore, I imagine that in…
Hello, Moon – A Picture Book by Julie Downing
“Hello, moon. Goodbye, sun. Night is near. Day is done. In my opinion, Julie Downing’s Hello Moon is a perfect short picture book. The literary theme of Night versus Day plays heavily in this book. But in Hello, Moon, the nighttime is not sinister or evil. It Dark versus Light – Night versus Day –…
The Moon & the Stars — Things That Light the Night
Darkness versus the Light or Night versus Day are themes that frequently appear in the arts. In most cases, when the theme of the night is employed in a literary piece, the darkness of the night alludes to something sinister that is present in the story. Dark versus Light – Night versus Day – Themes…
Small in the City by Sydney Smith – A Picture Book that Looks at the City [as Opposed to Nature]
Small in the CIty Sydney Smith 2019 Holiday House Rated as One of the Best Picture Books of 2019 by School Library Journal This book has become one of my all-time favorites. But I won’t give away many of those reasons. This is the kind of book that you absolutely MUST read for yourself. There…
Winnie and the Wood in Tuck Everlasting
In Chapter 1 of Tuck Everlasting, we read that the Wood is the hub [of the wheel of life]. In this comment, Winnie is acknowledging the fact that Nature is of utmost importance in the book Tuck Everlasting. In Tuck, Nature is an important Theme. Nature as a Theme in Literature When Nature is a…
Darkness Slipped In – Picture Book by Ella Burfoot
Image Credit Macmillan “Daisy was thinking of a game to play When Darkness slipped in at the end of the “He came in through the window and spread out on the floor. While Daisy danced and laughed and played then danced around some more. “Pretending that he wasn’t there, he slid along the wall. But…