About the Book

About the Artist

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Press Release



For press release and hi-res images, visit greenwichworkshop.com/media


Artwork © Scott Gustafson
© Greenwich Workshop Press

From nonsense to lessons learned, these forty five rhymes include the very well known (Itsy Bitsy Spider) and the somewhat familiar, (Hickety, Pickety, my black hen). The truly fantastic pictures speak more than one thousands words in details as artist Scott Gustafson riffs in paint on themes present and imagined in each verse.

Nursery rhymes are classic and so are some of artist’s interpretations but other paintings are surprises, like an anthropomorphic baking bear, a pelican sea captain and Peter Piper as a pug on two legs. Welcome to a world where “There Was a Crooked Man” is not about a hunched-back elder but rather a madcap, double-jointed dandy who might be “crooked” in more ways than one. Jack (Be Nimble) is a leaping cricket and Yankee Doodle a fun-loving chipmunk on a full-sized horse.

Scott Gustafson’s unique style, influenced by legendary book illustrators Arthur Rackham and N.C. Wyeth, makes this a volume to be treasured by children and illustrated book lovers of all ages.

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The art of visual storytelling has always held a certain fascination for Scott Gustafson; whether it be the moving images in animated films or the epic illustrations of N. C. Wyeth. Upon entering the Chicago Academy of Fine Art, Scott was 99% sure that he wanted to become an animator, but it was that 1% that ultimately drew him further and further into the world of stretched canvas and oil paint. "As an animator, "Gustafson says, "your contribution to a given film is, by necessity, limited to whatever character you've been assigned. But as an illustrator, you're responsible for locations, sets, costumes, props, lighting and character designs, not to mention the overall mood and emotion of a given painting. It's about the best job there is."

Over the nearly twenty-five years that have spanned his career thus far, he has had the opportunity to fulfill commissions for a number of varied clients and publishers such as Celestial Seasonings, Playboy magazine, Saturday Evening Post, The Bradford Exchange, DreamWorks and The Greenwich Workshop. His book include The Night Before Christmas, Peter Pan, Nutcracker, as well as two original titles, Animal Orchestra and Alphabet Soup. His book Classic Fairy Tales was awarded a Chesley award for best interior book illustrations from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.


To download a hi-resolution image of the artist, click here.