by Jutta Bauer (NorthSouth, 2014; originally published in Germany, 1998, as Die Königen der Farben.)
I love the work NorthSouth is doing, and this book in particular has stuck with me for a while.
So it’s a funny little book, but it’s also literally little, and there’s a lot of mayhem happening in such a small package. I think that’s smart.
Color’s been on the brain a lot this week because I’m in the thick of teaching an Intro to Photoshop and Graphic Design class to kids. This has been a fun one to show them, because the colors in this book take on such a clear identity.
Blue is soft and gentle. I love how the Queen is giving it a hug and kiss.
Red barrels in and nearly knocks her over. It’s wild and dangerous.
And then there’s Yellow. Warm and bright and sunshiny on her toes.
These colors have purpose, but when Matilda can’t control them, the whole mess turns Gray.
It’s the same in art. Too many colors competing leaves you a whole lot of buzz and confusion. It doesn’t work.
(image source.)
This Gray sticks around for a while. It doesn’t work. 
But it does make the Queen of Colors sad. Not gentle, not wild, not warm. Not colorful.
So she cries. You’ll have to see for yourself what her tears do to the gray. Here’s a hint: it’s scribbles and stars and swirls. It’s a happy ending.
Color has a story, and it’s a story that matters.
P.S.—Does Queen Matilda remind you a little bit of Queen Ursula from the Little Mermaid? I think it’s part her bossiness, and part her curves. I’m awful at remembering lines from films, but this is one that has stayed with me a long, long time. I think it’s thanks to the bubbles that shimmy out of her hind parts!
Tagged:
color,
color theory,
jutta bauer,
north south 
Earlier this month Jutta Bauer received the Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Award at the at the international IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) congress in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Interested to find out more about this German illustrator I tracked down one of the books she has illustrated – When We Lived in Uncle’s Hat By Peter Stamm.
Just as the book arrived I found out that Tutti Frutti Productions, a UK theatre company whose work is aimed specifically at family audiences was about to start touring with a stage version of When We Lived in Uncle’s Hat. Such a lovely coincidence ensured we read the book straight away, and were then quick to buy tickets for the production which is touring to a theatre local to us in a few weeks’ time.
The auspicious signs didn’t end there – upon reading the book for the first time with M and J I experienced a rather strange sense of deja-vu – as if the book had been written for me, right here, right now.
Photo: erix!
When We Lived in Uncle’s Hat is a series of cameo descriptions of different homes a family has lived in, in their search for the right place for them, the home that would suit them all. They try living in the forest, on the church roof, in a hotel and even on the moon, amongst many other places, before finally ending up in a house that makes the perfect home for them. The book closes with the lines:
Now our house has four corners.
And our year has four seasons.
We moved here four years ago…
So … this is where we’ll live for a very, very long time.
This book spoke to me as I too have moved very many times in my life – on average staying in any one place for only three years. But it just so happens that this month we’ve been in this home, where we are now, for four years. A funny case of life mirroring art, but one which further endeared me to this book.
The structure of the book opens up lots of opportunity for flights of imagination and connective moments of empathy. What different places could you live in? What would it be like to live in given circumstances? For example, at one point the family find themselves living under a bridge, where “it smelt strange and the names of people we didn’t know were written on the pillars.”
The simple illustrations using a lot of coloured pencil (in addition to watercolour and collage) didn’t immediately grab me. Perhaps my expectations were too high given her recent accolade? They did, however, intrigue me. I imagine there were some interesting editorial discussions as a result of the content: several illustrations include German words, and these have been left in German in the English language translation, and there is also a (very small) drawing of a naked woman sunbathing – not something I imagine would be welcomed with open arms by most English publishers of picture b
Today at the Bologna Book Fair the 2010 the Hans Christian Andersen Award Jury of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) announced the winners of the 2010 Hans Christen Anderson Award. PaperTigers was there to hear the exciting news and we send our congratulations to David Almond from the United Kingdom, winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Author Award and Jutta Bauer from Germany, winner of the 2010 Hans Christian Andersen Illustrator Award.
Also announced at today’s press conference was the winner of The IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award. This award is presented to projects run by groups or institutions that are judged to be making a lasting contribution to reading promotion for children and young people. 12 projects were nominated for this year’s award and two winners were selected: Osu Children’s Library Fund (Ghana) and Convenio de Cooperación al Plan de Lectura (Medellín, Colombia).
Click here to read the press releases from today’s announcements.
by Jen Kulman
We live in Michigan, where the snow flies thick and often. People here scramble to put up their exterior holiday decorations just as soon as the turkey carcass has been discarded. We spent the weekend doing just that. Tree in, lights up, snowflakes secured in the windows. Can you see the
Christmas spirit and brotherly love here?
After all our hard work, we gathered an armload of books and plopped down in front of our cozy fire. One of our selections was
Selma, by
Jutta Bauer. This is a simple book about a sheep who is perfectly happy with her lot in life. Even if she had more time or a million dollars,
Selma would still choose to play with her children in the afternoon and chat with her neighbors in the evenings. Reading this is a good reminder to take stock of your life and be grateful for what you have. So we did.
Taking a page from
Selma's book, we slouched down in our chairs and just relaxed. I concentrated on enjoying our family instead of the list of chores that needed my attention. The laundry will wait for me, a four-year-old will not. It was wonderful to feel the fire toasty at our toes while the snow swirled wildly outside.
Aaahh.
Paul and Babe (IF-Tales and Legends)
Originally uploaded by Trophiogrande.
I haven't posted in awhile. Here is a recent piece I did in my Moleskine for Illustration Friday...I notice that he is wearing a hat also...
My Blog
I spent some time catching up on my "Monster of the Week" series for Halloween. These are three examples, all on done on post-it notes.
Check out the flickr set!
My Blog
A little sketch from my Moleskine, check my blog
by Jutta Bauer (NorthSouth, 2014; originally published in Germany, 1998, as Die Königen der Farben.)
So it’s a funny little book, but it’s also literally little, and there’s a lot of mayhem happening in such a small package. I think that’s smart.
Color’s been on the brain a lot this week because I’m in the thick of teaching an Intro to Photoshop and Graphic Design class to kids. This has been a fun one to show them, because the colors in this book take on such a clear identity.
Blue is soft and gentle. I love how the Queen is giving it a hug and kiss.
Red barrels in and nearly knocks her over. It’s wild and dangerous.
And then there’s Yellow. Warm and bright and sunshiny on her toes.
It’s the same in art. Too many colors competing leaves you a whole lot of buzz and confusion. It doesn’t work.
But it does make the Queen of Colors sad. Not gentle, not wild, not warm. Not colorful. 
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that hat is soo cute and pretty
Thanks, Welcome to our wonderland! It helps that the mohair we started with was so beautifully dyed.
What a fantastic hat!!!