Squangles - Art and Poetry for the Kid in Us

In 2006 Charlotte Franck put together a collection of her favorite children's poems and then asked me (her friend and an artist, Sheri Garvin) to illustrate the book in watercolors.

Together, we forged through the world of self-publishing and produced a book that reflected the soft childhood of times past.

In 2007 we began to offer workshops to kids about writing and illustrating using the Little Rhymes book. This was done through local libraries, schools, and bookstores.

We had so much fun we began to think of other things we could do together!

Charlotte has been a professional IT consultant for many years and owns her own project management training company.

She has been writing poetry for most of her life, but has not pushed to be published until encouraged by a small following of fans in recent years.

The collection on children's poetry seemed a very fun way to start.

Charlotte's inspiration comes from the events and impressions around her, from raising her daughter, and from her own youth.

I have been painting since I was in high school. My most common medium has been oils until recently when, with the arrival of 18 nieces and nephews, I switched to children inspired art subjects and acrylic and airbrush paints.

As the kids began to arrive I wanted to create an heirloom for each of them. I began to paint the wooden children's furniture and create quilts for the quickly arriving kids (I had no idea there would be 15 born in 7 years or I may have re-thought that idea!) I have recently branched out into airbrush for the furniture painting in order to "hurry" it along and keep up with the influx.

My inspiration for the children's illustrations definately comes from the delightful crowd of 18 nieces and nephews and my own natural love and childlike joy of the world around me, whether it be on a piece of furniture, a book, or a quilt.

I can often be found in my studio working on some new inspiration (or here with a cat in my lap writing on a Squidoo lens or my blog!)

- We create one-of-a-kind special request furniture, as mentioned
- We are involved in various fundraising efforts with both the book and furniture (Example of one such charity: Restoring Lives West -homeless children drop-off shelter)
- We are beginning to use the combination of poetry/art for other fundraising events (more to come on that.)
- We facilitate workshops for kids ages 6-10 through libraries, schools, and bookstores
- A single poem with illustrations can be used for special order Christmas cards
- Posters for non-profit organizations
- More books are in the pipeline

Note: The photo is of 16 of our current inspirations! 2 were just born, so another picture will have to be made!