Book Bandits

Hello, and welcome to the rebirth of my KaVoooM website. Thanks to Deb Slater for all these new and beautifully laid out pages!

Although not a big talker (I am, after all, a-not-so-vocal-local), I wanted to have a place to share new things as I work on them or to talk about my process and, perhaps, to explore just what the heck my work is about…so here goes.

Today I finished up a piece that I want to print as a poster for my grandson. I discovered some poster paper that I could order and use in my printer and thought I would make one for each of my grandchildren. This pandemic lockdown has kept me from seeing them in person, and although my husband and I get to video conference with them (thanks to my tech smart son, Gabe), I still miss them and want to send something that will help them think of me.

I went through my files and found some things that I could rework into poster formats for everyone, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do for Forrest. He is an avid reader and a guy who enjoys a funny idea.

I had this piece from before called “The Usual Suspects” in which a bunch of masked squirrels are struggling to get a ladder over to a bird feeder. Having created a wall hanging of OHIO cheerleading squirrels for Forrest when he was a baby, I thought they might be just right. Ah, but what to have them do? Books. Books. He loves books. I texted his Mom and Dad and asked for a list of his favorite titles. They sent one … boy did they send one!

So, I drew shelves and reworked my usual suspects with their ladder to be ready to ransack any library. I googled Forrest’s many books to create likenesses of their spines, trying to find fonts that might look familiar to him. I found some elaborate covers for a set of Harry Potter books and did my best to represent them. I loaded the shelves with the books I had drawn including a couple of art books (as he likes art) and a few books that might have particular interest to squirrels. I put them all together – and now I must wait for the paper to arrive.

This is how I think. This is how I work. I set up a puzzle to solve. I like to give my characters new jobs so that they don’t get bored. When I am in the middle and it is working, I am in heaven. Hopefully, Forrest will be pleased when he sees it!

Kathy Verner Mouton
aka KaVoooM