Unity, Art & Renewal in Fort Collins, Colorado

This week I'm returning to the studio energized by the excitement of painting a community mural. I'm greatly inspired by my compatriotas Carlos Merida, Diego Rivera, José Orozco, Siqueiros and the Mexican mural movement of the 1930's that brought art to public places as a cultural, social and political tool. In 1989 I worked to develop a mural style that would invite people with or without formal art training to participate in the monumental process of creating murals. The initial murals were part of the Urban Art Trail project to reclaim the East Village neighborhood of downtown San Diego where I live and work using art. I believe that Iarge, public murals can bring a sense of place and engage residents of the neighborhood. Involving the community in the art making creates a genuine sense of ownership.

Here I am meeting the wall for the first time and taking in the scale of the space. The 61 foot long by 15 foot tall mural is at the Civic Center Parking Structure located on Mason and Laporte Avenue in downtown Fort Collins.

Demonstrating to the team how to transfer the original drawing into the large scale mural once the grid has been snapped.




















A challenging aspect of mural painting is working with the architectural elements of a space to create a composition and concept that integrates with a location while communicating an authentic spirit and purpose. A year ago I met the amazing Irene Romsa at a book conference at the University of Alabama. She talked about a unique outreach program Rincon de Cuentos that brings bilingual storytelling, theatre, and puppetry to underserved communities. The goal of the program is to promote literacy and help these families discover the library. I knew I wanted to contribute my work and time to support these efforts.

On June 17th, 125 children and community volunteers came together to breathe life into the mural celebrating unity, art and renewal. It was a big fiesta rich with diversity, singing, dancing and food. I worked with enthusiastic children, librarians and families of the remarkable Poudre River Public Library District who sponsored the project. I'm grateful for the support of the City of Fort Collins, Art in Public Places Program and several sponsoring agencies and businesses.
I will long remember the hospitality of the people of Fort Collins. The music at the Museo de las Tres Colonias, the tamales and new friends.

My deep appreciation to fellow artists, Bill, Karol, Terry, Chris, Lisa, Mary, Francisco and others who showed up on Tuesday to help me snap the lines, grid and outline the larger than life project. With their help and expertise we were able to prepare the mural for the community in just four days! Special thanks to Irene for her organizational abilities, dedication, vision, and kindness. I am proud of the result that celebrates the library district’s outreach efforts to connect and enrich the lives of underserved groups. I hope the community of Fort Collins will enjoy the mural for many years to come.

The captivating photo above of 6 year old Hallie Gordie painting the mural is courtesy of Rich Abrahamson and The Coloradoan. To view a dynamic slide show they created of this event click here.

You can also watch news coverage of the event on Channel 9 in Colorado and meet some of the amazing kids who made it happen by clicking here .

!Bienvenidos!

Thanks for stopping by. I created this blog to connect with old and new friends about my passion for children's books and art making.

You can also visit the studio blog at: rafaellopezstudio

To view more of my work see my website at: rafaellopez.com

One World, Many Stories

I hope you will click on the orange link below to listen to a voice tape I made about this poster created for the 2011 Collaborative Summer Library Reading Program.

The Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) is a grassroots consortium of states working together to provide high-quality summer reading program materials for children at the lowest cost possible for their public libraries. Go to your browser and type in One World, Many Stories to find out about the exciting activities for kids where you live.

Make it a great summer and fill it with reading. Thanks to teachingbooks.net for putting this audio tape together.

It's called One World, Many Stories.

Discovering Dubai

I want to sincerely thank my new friends in Dubai who share a great passion for books.

I had the chance of a lifetime to discover the beautiful emirate of Sharjah, which overlooks the Persian Gulf. This region has an impressive array of cultural and traditional projects, elegant mosques, fascinating souks [markets] and many outstanding museums. I was invited by the gracious Bodour Alqasimi, the daughter of the Emir to visit and give a workshop for children. Her incredible renovation of the Casbah area includes restaurants, offices, galleries and a cultural center where the workshop was held.

What a thrill it was to see Book Fiesta translated into Arabic by my good friends at Kalimat Publishing. I discovered friendly, worldly people and had a magnificent time exploring the city with Omar, Amani and Tamer. In 1998 Sharjah was named a UNESCO World Heritage site for being the cultural capital of the Arab world. My appreciation goes out to Marwa for organizing the trip and especially to the inquisitive, energetic and talented children I met in the workshop. I wanted to share some of my photos including the library bus that goes out to the far reaches of the region bringing books to children. The Emirate of Sharjah is also known to be the Cultural Capital of the UAE. The Expo Centre Sharjah is well known for the annual book fair that is famous all over the region. The Emir personally takes keen interest in this event which brings together hundreds of publishers from all over the world and thousands of titles. I look forward to working with my new friends in the future to promote literacy and Arab literature for children.

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Exploring Chicago and Minnesota

I'm just returning to the studio after dynamic trips to Northern Minnesota and Chicago where I had the great opportunity to talk about books and participate in workshops with children.Thank you to all the librarians, teachers and students I met along the way.

I traveled 1000 miles by car from Duluth to Grand Rapids. I spoke in Mount Iron, Hibbing, Virginia, Babbitt and Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Imagine driving for miles on end without seeing another soul where wolves and moose run freely. I enjoyed connecting to students, talking about the process of making children's books and we had fun brainstorming ideas together. I wanted to share some of my photos documenting this land of 10,000 lakes.

The state's name comes from a Dakota word for "sky-tinted water". The forests, wild salmon swimming up river and vast wilderness areas will stick with me.

This was my second visit to the wonderful Harold Washington Library in Chicago and once again I enjoyed meeting the children and families who came in by bus each evening to talk about our shared love for books. It was a rainy day so I spent a very memorable day getting inspired at the incomparable Art Institute of Chicago.

The journey of creating books

Image from

Yum! MmMm! !Qué Rico!

by Pat Mora

Growing up in Mexico I learned to speak the language of color at a very early age.

No dar color is a popular expression that translates to an inability to give off color or emotion. For me color and texture is an expression of my identity, my heritage and
I've learned it is the most direct route to the emotions of children and families
who turn the pages of my books.
I live and work in two places: an industrial loft in downtown San Diego and in the 16th century colonial town of San Miguel de Allende in the heart of Mexico. My process begins by wandering the urban landscape of the city or winding cobblestone streets of my native country with a camera.

I work to catalogue the colors and rich textural history of well worn doors, and peeling paint. If you listen and look closely you can hear their stories in my work.

Image from

Book Fiesta

by Pat Mora

The skies, backgrounds, or the surface of the skin of an elephant in my books reveal secrets of places where I have been.

Image from my latest book:
The Cazuela that
the Farm Maiden Stirred by
Samantha Vamos.

I buy my vivid paints from a little tiendita in San Miguel and they come in big jars that look like they should hold pickles. There is no chromophobia in Mexico which makes it the ideal place to shop for the essential ingredients of my paintings. The force of these intense colors is like sampling authentic Mexican chile and I've learned to blend colors like salsa into different combinations to achieve the desired result.

Image from

Our California by

Pam Muñoz Ryan

For the past 20 years I've been painting on pieces of wood. There are tactile emotions associated with selecting just the right piece, hand sanding it and letting the grain speak to me.

When I receive a story I make word lists of key themes or search for poetic parts to post on my wall. I am fueled by the author's words but don't want to mirror the text verbatim. For this reason I have always searched for symbols to represent the emotions or spirit of the text. A favorite quote by Marcus Aurelius says, "the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts." In My Name is Celia the bird is a metaphor for joy.

Image from

My Name is Celia

by Monica Brown

I'm lucky to live close to the library and like to search for books or use the internet to research subjects for my art. On walks I gather rocks, shells, leaves and document found objects and textures that inspire me then bring them into my studio.

I make mood boards for my books and these collages help me to channel the right spirit for my paintings. I'm looking for more than a visual likeness of my subjects but explore patterns, decorations, clothing or the way an animal moves, a person dances or makes music like Tito beating his timbales.

I wanted to share some of my process by showing you the evolution of a painting from my upcoming book My Name is Tito by Monica Brown. Character development is essential and it all begins with sketching to get the right spirit for each person, animal and object. To get it right you have to make boatloads of sketches and put pencil to paper. I am passionate about travel and am inspired by indigenous groups because they synthesize the important traits of living things in a simple, direct way. I believe everything has a personality if you work to find it. I want to communicate on that magical level as it will speak to children in a clear voice and capture their imagination.

I start with gestural sketches to make major decisions about where elements should go. In this phase of drawing I consider the direction of things and use arrows and scale to create a focal point. Then I refine my drawings to evolve the character using references on my mood board to create details.

I always make a miniature book with all my drawings as I want to see the flow of the story and look for inconsistencies in the visual storytelling.

The next step is to prepare my boards with a surface that will receive the carbon and this is how I transfer my sketches from tracing tissue to the wooden boards.

I like to mask things with tape so I can paint selected areas of my composition.

Surrounded by the photographic references of colors and textures I've explored I apply colors to the board randomly and in an intuitive way. I then use spatulas, pottery tools, shells and twigs to scrape the wood and reveal secrets of the surface texture. I keep painting with a variety of brushes to bring in the details and bring visual flavor, color and texture to the story.

Image from an upcoming book

My Name is Tito

by Monica Brown

Please click here to read more.