With over thirty four million books in print, Jan Brett is one of
the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan
lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew
up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire
Hills of Massachusetts.As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an
illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. She says, "I
remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could
enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. Now I try to
recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm
drawing really exists. The detail in my work helps to convince me,
and I hope others as well, that such places might be real."
As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the
Museum of Fine Arts. "It was overwhelming to see the room-size
landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to
refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain,"
she says. "I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these
beautiful images come back to me in my painting."
Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband,
Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan
visits many different countries where she researches the
architecture and costumes that appear in her work. "From cave
paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the
traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting
point for my children's books."
With over thirty four million books in print, Jan Brett is one of
the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books. Jan
lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew
up. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire
Hills of Massachusetts.
As a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many
hours reading and drawing. She says, "I remember the special quiet
of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my
beautiful picture books. Now I try to recreate that feeling of
believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. The
detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well,
that such places might be real."
As a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the
Museum of Fine Arts. "It was overwhelming to see the room-size
landscapes and towering stone sculptures, and then moments later to
refocus on delicately embroidered kimonos and ancient porcelain,"
she says. "I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these
beautiful images come back to me in my painting."
Travel is also a constant inspiration. Together with her husband,
Joe Hearne, who is a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Jan
visits many different countries where she researches the
architecture and costumes that appear in her work. "From cave
paintings to Norwegian sleighs, to Japanese gardens, I study the
traditions of the many countries I visit and use them as a starting
point for my children's books."
"Handsomely designed and beautifully executed." -Kirkus Reviews
"The watercolor-and-gouache illustrations are stunning." -School
Library Journal
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