If Tomie had chosen a different path, would he have become a fashion designer?
Here’s a drawing from age “12 1/2.”
The note in the upper left (spelling is young Tomie’s):
A dress for a teenager
Derivation: - desigined from a mediaeval gown
Materials: -
Gray wool jersey
Chartruse voile
(careful washing or dry cleaning)
Accessories: -
Gold belt with jade-colored studs
Gold chain and jade-colored key
Jade choker
Black suede ballet slippers
(Bob)
Pray for Peace, Justice, and Equality
Tomie loved the beech tree in this 2016 photo.
Here’s an excerpt from his 2005 blog post, “Where Did September Go?”
“September is almost over. October is fast upon us. Everywhere you look in town there are pumpkins - at the farm stand, the supermarket, even the convenience store at the bottom of the hill from where I live. There are pumpkins in front of houses, by the front doors, in displays on the lawns, some very simple - others very elaborate. And it’s not even Halloween yet! That’s when the pumpkins become glowing goblins everywhere. But not yet.
“We haven’t had a frost. (I’m writing this on September 26.) The leaves are just beginning to change. The big question is, ‘Well, what kind of foliage season will we have THIS year? It hasn’t been spectacular in five years. We’ll just have to wait and see.’
“The other thing about October is that it’s darker at 6:30 a.m. when Bronte wakes up. The autumnal equinox was last week. That’s when there are twelve hours of daylight and twelve hours of darkness.
“But, the darkness is now beginning to win. Soon it will be time for me to light votive candles all over the place in my NEW ROOM!!! I didn’t do it before, because of the long late spring and summer days. Candles only look fantastic when there are shadows and pockets of dark scattered throughout the room.
“I’m glad September was ‘Candle Month’ at the place where I buy my candles. It’s called Cathedral Church Supply in Manchester, New Hampshire.
“They call me ‘Tomie of the Candles,’ because one year they gave me a ‘church discount’ since I bought more candles than the cathedral in Manchester.
“So, October, the month of the Harvest Moon, of pumpkins, squash, apples, flowering kale and brightly colored leaves (if we’re lucky) is here, in a few days.
“Happy October and - oh yes - SPOOKY HALLOWEEN!” (Bob)
Pray for Peace, Justice, and Equality
Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH, exhibited Tomie’s early work, in 2013, and called the exhibition “Tomie dePaola: Then.”
His human figure drawings from Pratt were featured. Tomie had spent hours of classroom time drawing the human figure from observation of live models.
Though he chose a career of stylized drawing, such as, a round-shaped Strega Nona, he understood proper body proportions from his figure drawing classes.
So, it was amusing to him at the opening of “Then” when a woman standing next to him, looking at the figure drawings, turned to him and said, “I didn’t know you could draw. I thought you did children’s books.” I recall that he laughed and chose not to comment.
Here’s a video clip of “Then.”
https://www.wmur.com/article/thursday-november-29th-tomie-depaola-then-and-now/4847760# (Bob)
Pray for Peace, Justice, and Equality
Tomie said to me in 1979, “Tell me if you ever think I don’t look quite right with what I’m wearing.” At the time of the remark, he was 45 and wearing low waist, hip-hugging, flared white pants. I didn’t say a word.
This was his outfit for an art exhibition opening at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, NH. The intent, I believed, was not to fade into the background.
Again, I was silent. (Bob)
Pray for Peace, Justice, and Equality
This photo of Tomie’s mother, Flossie, as a girl, was the inspiration for the character “Marianna May” in the book MARIANNA MAY AND NURSEY, recently brought back into print by Simon & Schuster.
The story is about a little girl who was always dressed in white. She was sad because she was made to sit on the porch so that she wouldn’t get dirty. The iceman, Mr. Talbot, thought up a clever idea to cheer her up. (Bob)
Pray for Peace, Justice, and Equality
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