|
Ringwood
author and artist releases a children's tale
Suburban Trends, 10/29/2003, Carol Fletcher
Ten years
ago, Linda Doty took an early spring walk with her two young
sons and the memories of it would become her first published
book,"In Search of the Robin." "One winter
in particular had been very long and snowy, and we were all
so weary and just longing for spring." said Doty, children's
author and artist. "So we decided to make it into an
adventure and go searching for signs of spring." Fortunately
for Doty, she recorded many of her experiences while raising
her sons, Peter and David, in a journal, which she pulled
from for the robin story. "It started as a journal, when
the boys were young," said Doty. "I wrote about
the boys and raising them. I have always been better at writing
my thoughts than verbalizing them." The simple story
about finding spring's first robin caught the attention of
Publish America, publisher of Doty's book, but only after
Doty tried unsuccessfully with several other books and publishers.
"It's "interesting," said Doty, "I was
focusing all my engergies on my story, The Witch of Daisy
Down Ditch." That one got me on the Division of Youth
and Family Services {DYFS} television show. I didn't really
submit "In Search of the Robin" until later when
I sent out a few others." She says the story is really
about hope. "Spring brings hope. It's a new season, a
new beginning." Being both the author and illustrator
for "In Search of the Robin" allowed Doty see her
vision for the book brought to fruition. "I wanted it
to have a folk arty and antique feeling of going back in time,"
says Doty. I feel the book has a very 50's look. Having the
park so close and feeling close to nature reflects a simple
way of life, and I wanted someone from the city to feel like
they spent the afternoon in the country {when they read the
book}." Over the course of six months Doty worked closely
with the publish america design team with layout of her water
color illustrations and text placement. The cover picture
shows the purpose o fthe story's exccursion into Ringwood
State Park, where Doty says she visited regularly with her
two sons. "When I became a mother I put my art career
on hold and needed a friend," said Doty, "and I
found nature and the park, to help me raise my two sons."
In fact while many acknowledge their family and friends in
their books, Doty acknowledges the park and its botanical
gardens. Doty's career as an author came out of her career
as an artist, she says by telling stories about her illustrations,
which are reminiscent of children's drawings with elements
of folk art, to people who visited her exhibits. Now Dot's
oldest son Peter is also studying to be an artist and will
be attending the School of Visual Arts, as Doty did. However,
says Doty, his style is completely modern. Doty is now in
the process of promoting, "In Search of the Robin"
which will be released on Nov. 8 to Borders, Barnes &
Noble and online sellers like Amazon,com and through publishamerica.com.
|
