Happy Perfect Picture Book Friday, dear friends! Today’s author is a wonderful kid lit friend of mine…and we are both part of the New England SCBWI chapter. I love her books…and she has graciously offered a choice to whoever wins the giveaway: either a copy of JOAN MITCHELL PAINTS A SYMPHONY or a Picture Book Critique (nonrhyming under 600 words). So, please make sure you leave a comment.
JOAN MITCHELL PAINTS A SYMPHONY: LA GRANDE VALLÉE SUITE
Written by Lisa Rogers
Illustrated by Stacy Innerst
Published by Calkins Creek/Astra (February 25, 2025)
Ages: 7-10
Themes: Creativity, expressing emotions, experimentation, mindfulness
Synopsis: Celebrate the creative process of pioneering American abstract painter Joan Mitchell in this beautifully illustrated STEAM picture book, perfect for all kinds of young creators.
It’s 1983, and American artist Joan Mitchell is in her studio outside Paris, transforming her emotions and memories into a symphony of colors and shapes. Inspired by her friend’s description of an idyllic hidden valley in France, Mitchell creates 21 massive paintings—her Grande Vallée series —bursting with vibrant, energizing hues. But she doesn’t paint the valley’s flowers and meadows. She paints a feeling about them—abundance, freedom, liveliness—creating a harmonious blend of drips, splashes, and brushstrokes in rainbow colors. When the paint dries, it’s time to share her valley with the world.
This inspiring, poetic picture book about an influential yet lesser-known American artist provides a snapshot of a creator who deserves as much acclaim as better-known Abstract Expressionists like Jackson Pollock or Willem de Kooning. Author Lisa Rogers shares both the despair and delight Mitchell experienced throughout her career, while acclaimed illustrator Stacy Innerst’s bright artwork captures the movement and energy of Mitchell’s work, as her paintings develop from page to page.
Celebrate the creative process of pioneering American abstract painter Joan Mitchell in this beautifully illustrated STEAM picture book, perfect for all kinds of young creators.
From Astra: Celebrate the creative process of pioneering American abstract painter Joan Mitchell in this beautifully illustrated STEAM picture book, perfect for all kinds of young creator
Why I Love This Book
1. I love books that celebrate creativity!
2. I love books where the text and art work so perfectly together!
3. I love books filled with glorious illustrations – how wonderful for kids to see Joan Mitchell’s abstract paintings come to life in these pages!
I was chatting with Lisa and mentioned that we all love to hear about the path to publication for our Perfect Picture Book Friday books…and she graciously stopped by.
ME: Welcome, Lisa! Can you share a bit about why you wrote this story and how it came about?
LISA: Thank you so much for featuring JOAN MITCHELL PAINTS A SYMPHONY, Vivian. I’m thrilled to share about the spark for this book!
Since childhood, I’ve loved poring over paintings – from illustrations in my poetry and folktale books to the art in museums. I’m fascinated by how each individual brings something unique to their art, and how that act of personal creation can speak to others.
I didn’t know much about Joan Mitchell’s art when I was researching her life and work for my book DISCOVER HER ART: WOMEN ARTISTS AND THEIR MASTERPIECES. I read an essay about her inspiration for a series of 21 monumental paintings – a special valley in France that was a safe place for Mitchell’s dear friend and composer Gisèle Barreau. Mitchell became entranced with the idea of this valley. She began creating enormous abstract paintings using her own memories and emotions of places, people, poetry, and music that she loved—and even her dogs, who lounged in her studio while she painted!
I’ve long been interested in what sparks creativity, and in this book I focused on Mitchell’s process. I viewed a retrospective at the Baltimore Museum of Art that included some of her Grande Vallée paintings, and even after the manuscript was finished I went to New York to see another exhibition. Each time, I was struck by the beauty and power of her energetic brushwork and brilliant color palette.
Illustrator Stacy Innerst studied Joan Mitchell’s work while he was in art school, and he used acrylic paint to create the glorious illustrations in the book. You can almost feel the texture of the paint he used. The brilliant color jumps off the page. I love that he chose to end the book with an image of two children taking in a Mitchell painting. I hope that young readers take the time to not only study the illustrations but seek out Mitchell’s paintings in museums or online.
I have been awed by the power of abstract art—and I hope young readers will feel that power, too.
ME: WOW…thank you so much, Lisa. I loved hearing your path to publication for this book. And thank you for providing the painting activity! It’s a great way for readers to create their own abstract art!
RELATED ACTIVITY:
Paint like Joan Mitchell!
- Materials:
Paper bags, cut and unfolded to the largest possible size, or large pieces of watercolor or drawing paper. - Acrylic or watercolor paint or pastels, markers, crayons, paint pens –whatever is on hand.
- Large brushes
- List of emotions. Some examples: happiness, sadness, excitement, calmness, love. Add your own emotions to the list.
Steps:
- Spread the paper out on a protected surface. Play some music that you like. Close your eyes and think of a place or person or animal that is important to you. How does that place or person or animal make you feel? Let your mind drift as you put yourself in that place or with that person or animal.
- Open your eyes and choose a color that expresses how your place, person, or animal makes you feel. Make a few strokes that represent the feeling they give you.
- Leaving some open spaces, try another color and make more strokes. You are expressing a feeling, so there is no wrong way to paint it. You might make different kinds of strokes for different emotions. You might use different colors for different emotions.
- Try making drips, or layering one color partly over another. Remember to leave white space.
- Keep painting until you feel like you are done. No one can decide that except for you!
Keep all of your work, even if you don’t like it at first. Try another painting. Maybe you will create a series, just like Joan Mitchell!
This is a great activity for kids…but also for adults. Next time you are feeling stuck with your writing, why not try painting?
Thank you all for stopping by and spending your precious time with us. Please make sure you leave a comment to be entered in the FABULOUS giveaway! And please remember that the best way to tell an author or illustrator that you love their work is to:
Busy their books
Review their books
Tell friends about their books (please share this post on your social media)
Ask local libraries to purchase copies of their books!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I’ll be in Massachusetts at two school visits and then, on Saturday, at the Silver Unicorn Bookstore in Acton MA at 11am – if you are local to that area, please stop by for a fabulous story time! And then pop in to the blog on the last day of March for the #50PreciousWords Prize Winners and Honorable Mentions reveal!!!
VIVIAN KIRKFIELD - Writer for Children 