MY FAVORITE NATIVITY BOOK, ILLUSTRATED BY ONE OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS

Ruth Sanderson illustrated one of our family's favorite Christmas read-alouds, THE NATIVITY.  If you followed my blog over the summer, you know about her many wonderful children's books - fairytales and horse stories, as well as lives of the saints books.  


Ruth's luminous, detailed illustrations vividly portray the story taken directly from the Gospel books of Matthew and Luke; and with Byzantine-like iconographic elements and elaborate borders, her pictures take on the look of an illuminated manuscript.

In this post, I also wanted to include a recent artwork montage produced by Ruth Sanderson, set to music by Tchikovsky, from the ballet SLEEPING BEAUTY. It's a celebration of 100 years of artwork on the theme of Sleeping Beauty, featuring her own and many other artists' renderings. If you have any daughters, they will really enjoy it. And you can find THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, written by Jan Yolen, with Ruth's beautiful illustrations, at your local library, used bookstore, or on Amazon!  

FAIRY TALES, HORSES...AND SAINTS! FROM THE HAND OF ONE OF MY FAVORITE ILLUSTRATORS: RUTH SANDERSON

Ruth Sanderson says, "I loved two things the most when I was growing up - fairy tales and horses. And for the past 30-odd years I have been drawing and painting them both for the many books I have illustrated."

My daughter and I first discovered Ruth Sanderson when we found her picture book adaptation of a favorite fairy tale, TWELVE DANCING PRINCESSES. It is lavishly illustrated with page after page of some of the most beautiful and dreamlike oil paintings I've ever seen. Sanderson calls her art "romantic but realistic". She also did the illustrations for another of my daughter's favorites - a wonderful edition of HEIDI, by Johanna Spyri.

If you have a child that loves horses, you should check out Ruth Sanderson's blog: http://www.horsediaries.blogspot.com/ where she talks about creating the artwork for her chapter book series, HORSE DIARIES. (ages 9-12)

She has also beautifully illustrated some wonderful Biblical and saints' stories, including our favorites (several of which have a flavor of Byzantine iconography): SAINTS: LIVES AND ILLUMINATIONS (first millennium saints, includes martyrs and desert fathers);
TAPESTRIES, STORIES OF WOMEN IN THE BIBLE; and
THE NATIVITY: FROM THE GOSPELS OF MATTHEW AND LUKE

Some of her more recent adaptations (for preschool and up), which I can hardly wait to see myself, are MOTHER GOOSE AND FRIENDS and GOLDILOCKS.

For a complete list of her many books and beautiful artwork, go to: http://www.ruthsanderson.com/