Collage masterclass in picture book form

A page of Ezra Keats book Jennie's Hat, showing Jennie in a red, black and gold dress, with bold red tights feeding birds in a green field.

First published in 1966 this picture book is still fresh as a daisy.

Ezra Jack Keats lived from 1916 - 1983 and you might best know him for the winter beauty of “The Snowy Day”.

His life story reads like a movie, his family having survived extreme poverty in East New York.

A page of Jennie's Hat by Ezra Keats, photographed on a yellow background. Jennie, dark haired and young, holds a white hat with green ribbon out of its box. Jenny appears unhappy with the hat.

Ezra wrote over 85 books in his extraordinary life as an author and illustrator. This book stands on a life long practice of observation as an artist. If you have a search for the portrait he painted of his parents you will be astonished!

A knock-your-socks-off bonnet!

Ezra has captured a mixture of wonder and pride in his little character’s face.

Check out the mixture of cut paper and inked drawing.

That man knew how to use a pair of scissors.

Jennie leans on a table, holding her chin, gazing at a wrapped up package. Page from illustrated picture book, Jennie's Hat, by Ezra Keats.

He was an artist who used every single means he could to create interesting surfaces and intriguing marks. He used cut out paper, handmade stamps, India ink and toothbrushes, you name it.

Front cover of Jennie's Hat by Ezra Keats

Take a look a the Ezra Jack Keats foundation for more information about this groundbreaking artist. He has enriched the lives of so many children, their book-loving parents, and their read aloud bedtime stories.

sketchbook, watercolour, cake, mixed media, collageHazel Vellacottsketchbook, art journal, baking illustration, illustration, collage, watercolour, watercolor, ink