THE AFRICA TRIP, 50th ANNIVERSARY: Celebrating 10 Years of My Travel Blog

The 10th Anniversary of The Intrepid Tourist  

Exactly fifty years ago this week, in April 1971, I arrived in Kampala, Uganda for a four month stay in East Africa, while my husband Art participated in a field course in animal behavior.  Still my most memorable travel experience, a repost of the blog I wrote for the fortieth anniversary seemed a fitting choice to celebrate ten years of The Intrepid Tourist. My plan when I first launched The Intrepid Tourist was to share some of my own travel writing, but it has expanded over the years to include the photos and travel adventures of friends and family as well, for a total of more than 500 posts to date. I am deeply grateful to everyone who has contributed to the blog and for all my dedicated readers.

Trip of a Lifetime, East Africa, 1971
 In 1971, Art, along with four other graduate students at Rockefeller University in New York, embarked on a four month field course in western Uganda.  I didn’t want to miss out on a chance to go to Africa, even with a year-old baby (our daughter, Jennifer) to look after. One other student wife went along on the trip and we became traveling companions. During the first six weeks of the course, while our husbands were doing research in the Kibale forest near the town of Fort Portal we traveled in Kenya and Tanzania.  Then, for the second half of the course, conducted in Queen Elizabeth National Park, we were able to join our husbands. (To read the full post about the trip, go to The Intrepid Tourist.)

Impact on My Life as a Writer
As a wife, I was not involved with the course itself, but without it I would never have had the opportunity to go to Africa. At the time, I had not yet begun to write books for children, but my experiences seeing wildlife, meeting people who lived and worked in Africa, and just being there has been important for many of the books I’ve written since then. In a larger sense, the trip also greatly impacted my world view. Before then, I had never traveled outside the United States and had no idea what it was like to live in a third world country or in a place so rich with wildlife. From the time I was a child, I had always dreamed of travel and adventure. The trip to Africa certainly fulfilled that dream. When I do school presentations and kids ask me what was the most exciting place I’ve ever been, the answer is always the same–Africa.

My memories of the three months in Africa are vivid, reinforced by the hundreds of photos we took (some appear in my books) and by letters and diary entries. My parents eagerly awaited my weekly letters, vicariously traveling Africa with me. My father typed all the letters, making them legible, and put them into a book. A few excerpts are in my post at The Intrepid Tourist. I used my diary mostly to record animal sightings, brief reports of the events of the day, and our dinner menus. One entry says we ate stewed waterbuck, from meat given to us by a park ranger!Now, fifty years later, as I reread my letters and entries in my diary, I am reliving the Africa trip once again.

My Africa Trip Diary

 

Kangaroo Coloring Page

A sulphur-crested cockatoo looks on as a young kangaroo stands up tall and punches with its paws. During play fights, young kangaroos do not hurt one another.
Did you know that an adult grey kangaroo can jump 30 feet (9 meters) in a single bound and leap over a fence 9 feet (2.7 meters) high?  Its long, heavy tail keeps it from tipping forward as it hops. To jump, a kangaroo springs forward on its hind feet.  Inside each leg is a tendon, which acts like a large rubber band.  When the kangaroo lands, each leg bends, and the tendon stretches.  On the next forward leap, the tendon contracts as it snaps back to its resting position.  This pushes the kangaroo forward.
Click here for a downloadable coloring page.  You can find out more about kangaroos in my book A KANGAROO'S WORLD (Picture Window Books, 2008) and in KANGAROO (StarWalk Kids, 2013) downloadable to your Kindle.

ANIMAL PRINTS AND CARDS--Perfect for Holiday Giving

My prints and cards are still available from my Etsy site (www.etsy.com/shop/CarolineArnoldArt) and make an ideal gift for the holiday season. Each image is a high-quality giclee print of one of the cut-paper art illustrations from my Day and Night books or my Animal World series.
Take a look and check it out!

SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION IN THE 19TH CENTURY: The Animal Kingdom Illustrated by S.G. Goodrich

I love this drawing by S.G. Goodrich for the preface of his book, The Animal Kingdom Illustrated, published in 1867. The elephant doesn't look too thrilled about having his portrait painted! But perhaps S.G. Goodrich identified more with the owl as he worked to accurately portray the animal subjects of the book.
The rest of the 1400 drawings in the book are serious scientific illustrations, providing an exhaustive look at what was known about the animal world at that time. I came across the drawings in a box of old books when I cleaned out my attic. In the days before photographs, drawings like these were the only way that people learned about exotic animals except for those that they saw in zoos.

Cut-Paper Animals by Students at Coastal Grove School

I was away for the month of December and came home to a pile of mail including an envelope with wonderful cut-paper art and note from Jenny Hales, the Education Coordinator at Coastal Grove Charter School in Arcata, California. I had visited the school in October as part of the Humboldt County Author Festival. After my visit, the fifth grade students were inspired to create their own cut-paper art in the same manner I use for my books. I absolutely love the art--the students did a fantastic job of making the animals realistic and colorful. I especially like the texture of the paper and the use of watercolors to create various color shades.
Thank you so much for sharing!

Listen to A WOMBAT'S WORLD on YouTube

On a recent search of the internet I discovered a YouTube video of Dr. Mira Reisberg reading my book A Wombat's World. It is part of her Mondays with Mira blog. Mira is the founder of the Children's Book Academy.
A baby wombat is born deep in an underground burrow. After seven months in his mother's pouch he is ready to explore. As evening falls, the mother and baby wombat come out of their burrow. Using their sharp claws, they spend the night digging up grasses and roots to eat. Soon the young wombat will be big enough to live on his own. 
Click on the link above and enjoy learning more about wombats! 
A Wombat's World is available on Amazon and as an e-book at Capstone Publishers.

JAGUAR: Coloring Page

In the Amazon rain forest, jaguars slip through shadows on silent paws. Their spots help them hide. When a jaguar gets close to its prey, it pounces and bites it with powerful jaws.

For a printable page with a drawing of a jaguar you can color, click HERE.

You can learn more about rain forest animals in my book A Day and Night in the Rain Forest.

Cut Paper Art Workshop with Fifth Graders at St. Timothy’s School, Los Angeles, CA

A week ago I conducted an art workshop with fifth grade students at St. Timothy’s Elementary School in Los Angeles, California, sharing some of the techniques I use when I am creating the illustrations for my own books.

Earlier in the year the students had written poems about animals. For the workshop they were asked to bring a printout of a photograph of the animal which they would use as a pattern for their cut-out art. The animal in the picture should be about 6-8 inches long and preferably a side (rather than a front) view. So the pictures needed to be expendable--either a Xerox copy of a picture in a book or other source or a picture of the animal printed from their computer.

The students then cut out the animal and traced around it on a piece of construction paper chosen to match the main color of their animal. They then cut out the animal, added details and chose a large piece of paper for the background.

I was amazed at the variety and creativity of the students’ pictures. Everyone had chosen a different animal so no two pictures were alike. Some had chosen to focus on just the head of the animal while others chose the whole animal and placed it in an environment. We had allotted an hour for the project. When the bell rang not everyone was finished although most had made a significant progress. They would have a chance to finish the following day.

Supplies needed for this project: animal picture, scissors, paper punch to make spots and eyes, glue sticks and pencils and a supply of 9 x 12 colored construction paper, especially blue, green and brown.

Project: Paper Plate Animals

Paper plates may have been invented for eating, but they make great beginnings for art projects of all kinds.  In my school visits I have seen many creative use of paper plates to make animals.  Here are a few examples:

• You can use just one plate to make a head or body.  
• You can use a combination of large and small plates to make a whole animal.  
• You can add features by either drawing or painting on the plates, or by decorating them with cut-out pieces of paper or other materials such as yarn or cotton balls.  

          Let your imagination be your guide!

Projects Build Excitement for an Author Visit

Welcome poster with Wiggle and Waggle drawings

Recently, I did an author visit at Vintage Magnet School in Los Angeles.  When I walked into the auditorium to set up for my presentation, I found the walls covered with all sorts of posters and projects the students had made to prepare for my visit.  Younger children had read my book Wiggle and Waggle and had learned the Wiggle and Waggle song, which they had listened to on YouTube.  Some made their own illustrations and others colored Wiggle and Waggle pictures downloaded from my website.

Older children had created 3-D posters of the Taj Mahal, mounted on silver paper.  And, there were all kinds of pictures of animals–from zebras and killer whales, to bobcats and koalas–inspired by my many animal books.  One classroom reproduced the cover of my book A Penguin's World with pieces of torn paper.  Every child contributed!

When the children came to my presentation, they were excited and eager to hear more about the books.  I can always tell when students have been prepared for my visit, because they respond with such enthusiasm.
My day at Vintage was organized by librarian Karla Forbes, who did a superb job getting the kids ready for my visit.  Librarians like Karla are the key to helping children make the connection between the books they are reading and authors like me.  Perhaps, someday, some of them will grow up to be authors or illustrators too!

Etsy Anniversary

February marked the one year anniversary of the launching of my Etsy gallery, CarolineArnoldArt, offering cards and prints of my book illustrations. I now have 74 items listed, 48 cards and 26 prints, and plan to add more in the future. I am sometimes asked which of my images are the most popular. Platypuses, koalas and wombats are surprisingly popular. Perhaps it’s their exotic nature. After that, pandas and penguins seem to be well liked. Their black and white markings certainly lend them to decorative designs. That said, all of the animals get plenty of views. Etsy has been an ideal way for me to market my artwork to a wider audience. I’d love to hear what you think of my Etsy site!