RSS

Illustrator of the Week

Ruth Sanderson has illustrated over 70 books including some of the most beloved childrens tales like Sleeping Beauty, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and Cinderella. Sanderson studied art at Paier School of Art in Hampden, CT and graduated in 1974 and has been illustrating ever since. She had won various awards such including the National Science Teachers Award for Five Nests, Young Hoosier Award for The Enchanted Wood, Irma S. Black Award for The Enchanted Wood, and Texas Bluebonnet Award for The Golden Mare, The Firebird, and the Magic Ring.




Sanderson grew up in Monson, Massachusetts, a place of great creative inspiration for both her and her brother and sister. She found the woods of New England to be an enchanting place and it was made evident when she illustrate The Enchanted Wood, a self-proclaimed tribute to her childhood. Sanderson painted her first oil painting at the age of 13, and her parents realized very quickly that she had a natural artistic ability. They nurtured this ability through painting lessons. For the first few years in and out of college, she did a little bit of this and a little bit of that, but always knew she wanted to work on children's books. Her first real children's book was Heidi, and she decided that since her deadline was a little longer than working on textbooks and advertisements, she would paint it in oils. As her illustrating progressed, Sanderson even had a chance to write & illustrate her own book, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, the first of many original works and retellings. Since 1999 she has been painting the occasional personal painting, mostly on themes of nature.














0 comments: