About the Artist:

A show of illustrations for both children and for adults who have held onto their love of children’s fantasy .

A mouse appears and then, disappears “like smoke from a pipe” in author and illustrator, Sharon Wooding’s picture book,  ARTHUR’S CHRISTMAS WISH (Atheneum Publishers); a cat feels abandonment, jealousy and appreciation as intensely as a human in THE PAINTER’S CAT (G.P. Putnam’s Sons).
 
ARTHUR started with a Christmas card Sharon had seen showing a little girl playing the piano, and with her ten-year-old son’s frequent desire not to practice his cello.  THE PAINTER’S CAT began with a trip to Venice with a cousin.  “Around every corner we’d some upon a cat or two; everyone seemed to want to care for these cats who were clearly strays.  Stories would begin to form in my head, and eventually book projects would take on lives of their own.”
 
On display are several pieces of finished artwork from the books, as well as original book dummies, printers’ proofs and several drafts of the manuscripts showing various steps in the production of a picture book.   Also in the gallery are paintings and an unusual gameboard by Sharon Wooding. 
 
Sharon will be in the gallery on December 2, following the church service to read ARTHUR’S CHRISTMAS WISH to the children.