Art Notes

There is a special group of friends very close to my heart. They have been with me for a long time and we’ve been through a lot together.  It doesn’t matter to me that they exist only on paper or that they are products of my imagination; they all have unique personalities and I enjoy their company.  Vera the Mouse and her friends live in a world where most problems can be solved with a stack of pancakes and where someone is always around to make you feel better when something is amiss. Vera shares her small blue house on the edge of the woods with her dog Sarah and her doll mouse Dolly, and frequently welcomes a variety of guests. Just a few of her closest friends are Fritzy, a very handy shrew who sometimes forgets to clean his room and never makes his bed, a friendly wren named Chicky, a sociable ladybug named, well, Ladybug, the affable Mr. Mole and then there is Vera’s cousin Bianca, a fancy white mouse living in the city.  These characters have been with me long enough to feel like family, and I admit some may have been inspired by them!

– Marjolein Bastin