Our picture of the week was inspired by the story: Anansi and the Talking Watermelon and drawn by 7 year old Noelle from Detroit in Michigan. I love how bright your painting is, and particularly like the way you’ve painted elephant’s trunk and the cheeky little monkey hanging from the tree. And I think that’s Anansi hiding inside the juicy watermelon, and tricking monkey and elephant into thinking that the watermelon is talking. What a scamp Anansi is! Well done Noelle for capturing that trickster story so perfectly.
Noelle’s artwork shows a deft handling of space: the orange tree brings the viewer’s eye into the picture. From there the black critter superimposed on green and the green “leaves” at the tree’s top with the orange monkey with the black mouth, all of this shows seven years Noelle to be an exceptional colorist and designer.