THE MAGIC OF ART

Meet our new author Judy Mastrangelo and check out two of her books!

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I’ve always loved to create paintings, even as a child, and writing about my graphic art has always been enjoyable to me too.

How long does it take you to write a book?
I “Daydream” about my work in the beginning, and create what I call a “Mind Painting” of my ideas. So my illustrations and writing for a book go hand in hand together. I always illustrate all of my books. I don’t paint very quickly, since it’s a labor of Love for me, and I try to make my art as good as I can. So that sometimes it takes me several years to complete a book that I’ve both written and illustrated.

What is your work schedule like when you’re writing?
Some of my work time is “in my mind” in the beginning of my workday. So doing actual painting and writing varies throughout each day. My creative process is very enjoyable to me, and as a result, I don’t usually keep to a strict schedule.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?
I suppose the answer to that is my process of combining the art of painting and writing together to create a book.

Hello everyone! This week, I’m thrilled to introduce you to an award-winning illustrator and author: Judy Mastrangelo. I asked her to pick three or four questions from my huge list.

Your book covers are works of art! What did you want to become when you were a child?

Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a graphic artist.  The world was a magical and inspiring place for me then, and it still remains so now that I’m an adult. I wanted to paint the lovely faces I saw in flowers, the sparkling morning dew in the grass, and clouds reflecting the glorious colors of twilight.

Animals have always had fascinating and unique personalities to me. And within my colorful imagination, my fellow humans seemed to evolve into gods, goddesses, and any number of otherworldly spirits.  So in a few words, the World was and still is my inspiration for my imaginative fantasy artwork that I love to depict in my paintings.

Even as a youngster, I would develop my art first in my mind as a picture rather than doing preliminary sketches.  Later on, as a grownup, I came to term this method “MIND PAINTING”.

I always have an idea of what I want to create before I begin a project.  I use my method of “MIND PAINTING” in which I conceive of ideas and accompanying paintings in my mind as one total vision before I start.  It’s an exciting way to create, and I’m sure many other authors and Illustrators do the same.

Another term that can be used for this method would be “inspiration”.  I don’t really labor over trying to think of an idea.  Concepts just come to me as “Visions”, and I dearly welcome them all gratefully.

What I wanted to become when I was a girl was a “Painter of Visions and Words”, and that is still my goal.  It is my spiritual passion.

My guest today is an author and talented illustrator of children’s fantasy books. She seems a bit shy, but I was able to coax a few answers out of her, regarding writing for children and creating beautiful illustrations. Because, after all, at least half of writing for children is creating visual images, so an author who can do their own illustrations comes into the game a step ahead. Please help me welcome author and illustrator Judy Mastrangelo.

Kaye: When did you know you wanted to be an author?

Judy: I’ve always enjoyed writing, ever since I was very young.

Kaye: Would you share the story of your own publishing journey?

Judy: As a child I would write little stories from my imagination, or about my everyday experiences.

Coming from a fine art background, I’ve always loved the wonderful artists of the “Golden Age of Illustration”, who illustrated books from about 1850 to 1925.  I like to think that I continue along this line in my own small way.  I enjoy writing stories that I illustrate, and also love illustrating classical stories in the public domain.

Many of my paintings have been licensed for various markets, such as art prints, wall murals, greeting cards, jigsaw puzzles, oracle cards etc.  I have written and illustrated several published books.  And I have both illustrated and written the text to a new inspirational Oracle Card Deck which will be on the market next year, published by “RED FEATHER MIND BODY SPIRIT”, a division of Schiffer Publishing.

You can see and hear podcasts about my artwork on Youtube.

These include some radio interviews, plus several teaching podcasts about the steps I take in the creation of my Art.  To learn more about my Art and products, you can visit: www.judymastrangelo.com

Kaye: What’s something most readers would never guess about you?

Judy: I am a “movie buff” and enjoy many genres of film.