"Children's books are enjoying their new-found success because adults like them as much as they think their kids will like them," says Gary Kelley,  "I wish there were more picture books for adults, even an entire market.   Maybe I can help create one!"

Kelley's already made a significant beginning with his skillful renditions of three classics: Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (Creative Education, $19.95) and Rip Van Winkle (Creative Editions, $21.95) and Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace.(Creative Editions, $19.95)   

"Maybe it's the generation," Kelley wonders,  "for better, or for worse, people don't read anymore. They watch television and movies, and need to see pictures more than they did.  If ever there was a time for adult picture books, with all the visual imagery around, this is the time!"

Powerful images are one of Kelley's specialties.  His artistry thrives on a story's conflict, whether it's for Playboy, Atlantic Monthly, or a children's book.   "My life wasn't full of any great tension or distress.  There's no pent up angst in my work because I had a good family and supportive parents.  But I like to do book or magazine pieces that have some kind of conflict... a story with teeth.  Whether it's a story about doctors with HIV positive, or the businessman literally working himself to death or de Maupassant's The Necklace.   Those are the kind of stories have an inherent need for drama and that's what I like."

Kelley's pastels revive the strength of Guy de Maupassant's meaning.   "In The Necklace, I played with irony.  I wanted to make sure that Madame Loisel radiated a glow and was definitely the center of attention and the necklace was almost shining, illuminating her face.  And when she discovers it's gone, I tried to to distort her as much as I could to let readers feel her distress."  

There are contrasting ironies even within a single illustration.  The night of Madame Loisel's ballroom success, she is awash with the inner light of beauty as the necklace sparkles at her throat and she basks in attention, oblivious to the darkness around her as background ballgoers cast baleful, wistful, and bored looks.    

Kelley was also mindful of The Necklace's "almost theatrically lit imagery" of mood.  "When they look for a necklace match, I decided to make it a rainy day to match their depression.  I imagine it's the same kind of thing that a movie director or producer goes through, trying to enhance the mood with weather. The story is a downer, so I wanted to maintain that, but I also wanted to express the feel of the period in the art."    

"I did take visual liberty with the style, I chose to set the story between 1910 and 1920 because I like the visuals better.   Cubism is my usual style.  It's distinctive, has a unique edge, and lets me break the rules more.  The Necklace's timelessness allowed me to use this technique for my story exploration.  I would have really broken the rules if I'd done Rip Van Winkle in that style."

"In Rip Van Winkle and Sleepy Hollow, I stayed close to the rules and drew my inspiration from the painters of the late 18th century.  It helped hold my interest through the entire book project  because I was continually finding out  new things about composition, color, and naiveties."  Kelley adopted the illustrative vision of the 1700's so that he depicted a horse galloping with front and back legs extended, as they were in the period.   "Artists didn't have photography to know that a horse doesn't gallop the way a rabbit bounds across a field, but I think all these things add to the period feeling."

In Rip Van Winkle, Kelley, uses his pastels in amazing oil-like representation. "I started painting in oils, but I use pastels because I can achieve the effects I want with a medium that's quicker. One of my secret desires is to somehow find the time to do some oil paintings again.  All of my heros are oil painters, except maybe Degas."

Kelley uses style, color and light to reflect the tones of the Flemish masters and revive the Hudson Valley life of the early Dutch settlers.  Green predominates, giving a woodsy feel while creating a strong sense of setting and time.  There is a softness of illustration that fit the long-ago,  fantasy story and is a dreamy representation for a main character who sleeps away so many years. 

There's also a sophistication appreciated best by adults, most strongly felt in the painting of the mountain gnomes where Kelley represents a painting that's become familiar to many as the cover on The Dutch Masters' cigar box.  "I do things that are sophisticated and researched to keep me interested.  I love the challenge of being given a certain set of circumstances and then seeing how I can react and stretch those to make it fit, to make it work and make myself happy."

Kelley stretches in life as well as in art.   "Right now I'm doing a story for Playboy and a new children's book by J. Patrick Lewis called Christmas of the Reddle Moon that will be released by  Dial in 1994.  It's the first book he's illustrated that's not a classic, "but it has that feel, maybe because the author was inspired by Thomas Hardy."

Kelley considers himself fortunate in being offered so many classics projects by Creative Editions.  "They're an artist's publisher. They send me a stack of 87 manuscripts and say, 'Let's do a beautiful book, you choose the one you want to do.'   They've just given me a new stack; I'm considering Edgar Allen Poe which would be rich in dramatic imagery."  

©Susie Wilde 1998