The Twelve Days of Christmas by N.R. Walker

(Oh, there were those wise men bearing gifts to the Bethlehem manger, too, that's a precursor). (Thanks, 'The Twelve Days of Christmas'! Love, Capitalism). from This is the classic illustration by Jan Brett of the classic Christmas gifting poem, one of the first texts to associate Christmas with gifts. '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.' 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. 'I'm delighted and surprised when fragments of these beautiful images come back to me in my painting.' '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.

The detail in my work helps to convince me, and I hope others as well, that such places might be real.'Īs a student at the Boston Museum School, she spent hours in the Museum of Fine Arts. Now I try to recreate that feeling of believing that the imaginary place I'm drawing really exists. She says, 'I remember the special quiet of rainy days when I felt that I could enter the pages of my beautiful picture books. During the summer her family moves to a home in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.Īs a child, Jan Brett decided to be an illustrator and spent many hours reading and drawing. Jan lives in a seacoast town in Massachusetts, close to where she grew up. With over thirty three million books in print, Jan Brett is one of the nation's foremost author illustrators of children's books.

The Twelve Days of Christmas by N.R. Walker