The story behind "Animals Get Scared Too Just Like You!"
Every night when my children were small, we would read stories. Inevitably, they would ask me to stay and help them go to sleep, or call me in after I had left, saying they saw or heard something. How could I help them deal with their fear?
I envisioned a children’s book entitled, “Animals Get Scared Too, Just Like You!,” that would address these emotions. Being an artist, I wanted the book to be creative as well as informative. It should give children methods to deal with their anxiety. Children love animals, they are fascinated by their behavior, the sounds they make and how they uniquely move through space. The book combines that love for animals with a method for handling fear. As the young reader goes through the book, they see that animals experience fear too, and they see visually, in a decorative context, how animals adapt.
These examples show children that other living creatures feel fear and they are not alone. It also provides them a mechanism to control and manage that fear by using their imagination and creativity. A total of fourteen animals will be featured; each has a unique way of dealing with fear, such as: a bear, a raven, a seal, a puffer fish, a snake, an elephant, a hyena, a frog, and a chameleon.
I am inspired by organization. How elements of life are organized and re-organized. My grandfather's store was great visual stimulation for me as a child. I believe it guides my skills in seeing today. He was blind and couldn't place products in their proper visual place. His placement was based more on touch and memory. I can visualize those elements today and they influence how I come up with my works. I have a picture in my mind and I have an intense drive to complete the structure. The most interesting and appealing are those images that seem incomplete. These thoughts allow for the most growth and expansion. I also search out opportunities to create works with separation: inside vs. outside and exterior vs. interior. These provide situations to be complex, but do not force me to resolve how these different aspects and contexts can work together.