Ravenstone Press Stories of Kansas and the Great Plains |
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| Marion Kundiger's
original watercolors for Izzie - Growing Up on the Plains in the 1880s Izzie paintings copyright Marion S. Kundiger. Drawings copyright Marion S. Kundiger & Jerri Garretson. All rights reserved. |
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| Izzie
as published by Ravenstone Press has black-and-white ink drawings and
photographs as illustrations and the text of the stories has been
rewritten and edited, though it remains true to the original stories
told by "Izzie" and interpreted by Marion, her daughter. However,
when Marion Kundiger first created the book over a span of about 28
years beginning in 1949, she illustrated the stories with her
watercolors. She had no artistic training and
painted on plain paper, using tape or paste to add typed text.
The
paper has yellowed over the years but the paintings remain vibrant and
inviting. Although Marion points out her lack of understanding of
perspective and delights in telling audiences that she got a D- on a
sixth-grade art assignment to draw a simple vase, the illustrations are
charming. We hope you will enjoy this chance to see them.
Marion's first text for Izzie began with a little girl asking her grandmother about her childhood. She used her mother (the grown-up "Izzie," now a grandmother herself) as the model for the grandmother and a picture of her as a child for the little girl. Together they looked at a photo album. |
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| As time passed, Marion realized
that the
time frame of the book, with the stories taking place in the 1880s,
meant
that the grandmother in the story would have become a
great-grandmother,
so she changed the illustration to make her mother older and gave the
girl
long hair.
The published version of Izzie did not use the framework of a child and grandmother looking at a photo album, partly because by 1998 when it was published, the "grandmother" would have been about 120 years old. Co-author Jerri Garretson, who rewrote and edited the Izzie stories, felt that the time period would be confusing to readers if this framework were kept, but those stories told from mother to daughter are how the book came to be. When Izzie - Growing Up on the Plains in the 1880s was published in 1998, it celebrated Marion Kundiger's 80th birthday and Izzie's 120th birthday. How we wish she had still been alive to see it! Below are two examples of Marion's original watercolors shown with the corresponding black-and-white drawings in the published book. To see all of Marion Kundiger's Izzie paintings, click "Next" here or below. |
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This is Izzie's first day of school. When she began
first grade,
her big brother, Ben, just took her to the first grade classroom and
shoved
her in! Sometimes the layout of the finished book required reversing a picture. |
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Izzie's brothers loved to play tricks on her. They told
her if she wasn't in bed when Santa came, he wouldn't even STOP at
their house! To see all the Izzie watercolors, click on "Next" below. |
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| Izzie Shop on CafePress Purchase lovely items featuring Marion Kundiger's Izzie watercolor paintings |
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More about Izzie and her family
Marion Kundiger's original watercolors for Izzie
- Growing Up on the Plains in the 1880s
Izzie's family album - photos from the past
Izzie's cookbook
Teacher Resources for Izzie -
Growing
Up on the Plains in the 1880s
Fun for Kids - 1880s activities
Marion S. Kundiger
Jerri Garretson
Izzie
themes - links
Links to Fergus Falls,
Minnesota websites - Izzie's home town
Last updated on September 15, 2007