Interpretive Watercoloring of Anita Jeram’s Illustrations from Guess How Much I Love You

I cannot tell you how excited I am to be part of this Colorado Craft Company October release: they secured the licensing rights to the designs of the world renowned children’s book illustrator, Anita Jeram, and I have spent all of last week coloring these amazing illustrations!

Anita’s and Sam McBratney’s beloved children’s book, Guess How Much I Love You, has sold over 43 million copies and has been printed in 57 different languages.

Today, I share with you all the images I painted, with more detailed photos of each on my Instagram and Facebook accounts between the 3rd and the 7th of October.

I painted each of these images with distress ink reinkers and finished them off with Faber-Castell polychromos pencils. 

You’ll notice that I took some creative liberties with the images, turning the hares into female protagonists. My six-year-old daughter is always asking difficult questions about our patriarchal society and often gives me pause … so, of course she saw a mama hare and a daughter hare in this book. And she inspired me to say, “well, why not?”

I love that the book isn’t limiting. It is the love between a big one and a little one (no matter their gender), or could be between a couple in love or two friends. To quote the website: “there is a universal truth at the heart of Guess How Much I Love You that enables it to have an extraordinary relevance to many different people.”

The Colorado Craft Company has brought home to crafters one of the most beloved book of all times "Guess How Much I Love You" and I am beyond excited to share my creative interpretation of the wonderful illustrations.

I hope you’ll like my interpretation — it’s my first time painting animals, so go easy on me. 

To celebrate their new release illustrated by Anita Jeram, Colorado Craft Company is generously giving away a $35 gift certificate to their store for each blogger participating in the reveal! Simply leave me a comment telling me which of the new sets is your favorite. I will leave the contest open until the end of the day on October 7, 2020.

Please also make sure you visit each of these artists below. Each one of them has some amazing inspiration to share. Lastly, don’t forget to shop for these stamps and, in Anita’s words, “create something delightful today!”

Supplies

Curious about the products I use? I have listed them below. (These are compensated affiliate links at no cost to you. Thank you for your support! Affiliate and product disclosure can be found here. As always, I was not paid to do this post and I only use products from companies I love.)

Published by mansimakes

Hi there, I am Mansi, a self-taught artist based in Silicon Valley. I was a full-time communications professional for two decades, with a desk job and a six-figure salary until I decided to become a mom. Motherhood, as many will attest, can be extremely exhausting, especially in those first years. Art became my quiet place. It restored my sense of self. It gave me renewed energy. It helped me become a better mom. I was led down the path of creation by instinct and “discovered“ in early 2019 by a fellow kindred spirit at one of my art pop-ups who asked me to join her entrepreneurial venture. While I immersed myself full time in the role of CFO and co-founder of this women-led venture supporting local women makers, I missed experimenting with mixed-media. So, in 2021, I've decided to focus my energies full time in finessing my craft, producing more online tutorials and offering in-person art workshops for both adults and children. Thank you for joining me on this adventure as I experiment, learn and continue creating custom pieces of joy.

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