The Star Spinner's Daughter - Paperback

Woods, N. J.: - N.J. Woods grew up in a shotgun house in Orange Mound in Memphis, Tennessee, and, as a little girl, she became enchanted with color and how it could affect one's perspective. Her family spent a lot of quality time together in Mississippi, fishing, visiting her grandmother, and picking cotton. N.J. can still hear the sound of the screen door slamming as she and her eight siblings would run to-and-fro from her grandmother's house. It is the Delta landscape, unlike any other, that reminds her of her dear parents. These influences often creep their way into her paintings by way of a shotgun shack, rows of cotton, and warm colors inspired by Delta sunsets. The subjects in her paintings may lead simple lives, but they are secure and content, just as she felt growing up in and around the Mississippi Delta. N.J.'s work has been shown in the Kate Freeman Clark Gallery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, the Memphis Botanic Garden, and the Memphis Dixon Gallery & Gardens. N.J. is exploring a new technique: acrylic dirty pour painting. When she combines this technique with her folksy style, it adds an interesting texture and breadth to her work. She is excited to see where this new exploration will lead.Reese, Alysson: - Alysson Reese, originally from Memphis, Tennessee, lives near a beach with her husband and their four enchanting and spirited children whom she homeschools. Her love of words and their magic was awakened at her grandaddy's Pontotoc, Mississippi, newspaper office with its smell of ink on still-warm paper and the whirring and clacking of the old-timey printing presses. She is a former classroom teacher known for her challenging, five-paragraph essays and many tea parties. It was her time living and teaching in Devon, England, that led to her hobbitish ways and folksy, imaginative storytelling. The Star Spinner's Daughter is her first book.