King Log and King Stork 1908

Walter Crane made this illustration, King Log and King Stork, and I am so tickled by it! I love to think of him working in a cozy studio, dipping his brush in watercolor, carefully outlining each frog and blade of grass. The whole image is rendered in these delicate strokes and gentle hues, like a dream from a children's book. I’m thinking about the artist's hand moving across the page, building up the composition bit by bit. What was he thinking about as he painted those teeny tiny frogs? There's a beautiful flow between the text and the imagery, a kind of dance. His placement of the frogs on the page and the stork looming above them are just wonderful. I like to think Crane was having a good chuckle when he created this cautionary tale about power and leadership. Artists are always riffing off each other, swapping stories and styles across time, right?