Hans Rasmussen Jr.

It's Only Been Six Years

Tue, 01 Sep 2026 13:44:08 -0700

So, it's only been six years since my last post. How time flies. I totally forgot I even had a blog until I decided to resurrect this website. I wanted to put some of my art out there for anyone who might be interested in taking a look. Maybe try to sell some.

Speaking of selling art, I'm going to participate in the Strathearn Art Walk here in Edmonton in a couple of weeks. Sept. 11-14, to be exact. It's an annual art and music festival. I'll only be there Saturday, Sept. 12, though.

I bought one of those canopies you often see at festivals and such and practiced setting it up with my daughter. Also got a Square reader for transactions as well as a few other things we'll be needing, so I'm all ready for the big day. Have no idea how it will go, but we'll see.

I'm glad Dana will be helping me, she also has some paintings of her own that she'll put up for sale. Looking forward to it, and everyone is welcome, of course!

It's Been a Lot of Work!

Sat, 17 Oct 2020 16:15:46 -0700

I have finally completed my first-ever children's picture book and it is now available on Amazon. The whole thing was written, illustrated, and designed by me. OK, I got the idea for the story from my 10-year-old daughter, but she was alright with that. I found her story, when she first told it to me, to be just so funny. She has such a great sense of humour.

I guess that making a book like this has been deep down inside for some time, just waiting to come up. I think it was a result of all those years of reading bedtime stories to my daughter. I really admired just how clever so many of those stories were. As well as studying the pictures and wishing that I could try something like that too.

So, the time has finally come to put the book out there and I have decided to go with self-publishing. The manuscript was sent to quite a few publishers, but there were no takers. This book is my first attempt at this sort of thing, so that's OK. I believe that I have made a fun children's picture book that most kids will really like, so I want to give them the chance to be able to enjoy it. Therefore, self-publishing is a workable means for me to make my book available.

Well, the book turned out to be a lot of work to create. There was a pretty steep learning curve with writing, illustrating, and formatting it. Not to mention my website and marketing and lots of other things. I rather enjoyed the whole process, though. Now I am happy to have my book available for anyone to check out, especially kids.

I still want to make my book available on some other sites, so there's still some more work to do. And then some more marketing needs to be taken care of. I will keep working on that. Of course, I also have my second children's picture book to keep working on as well. Anyway, it's keeping me busy. I hope to keep learning how this...Read More

Grandpa Green

Mon, 14 Sep 2020 15:49:11 -0700

Grandpa Green by Lane Smith, Roaring Brook Press

I still pick up children's picture books at the library on a regular basis, borrowing two or three every week or so. I used to read them to my daughter every night at bed time but now that she's in grade six we don't do that as often. Now we'll read mostly chapter books as well as a chapter from a children's Bible. I think I'll talk more about that book in a future post.

Now I continue to borrow children's books as research because I am really interested in creating these kinds of books of my own. Studying how other authors and illustrators approach their craft is very inspirational and informative as well as being discouraging at times as their mark is set so very high. How could I ever reach that mark? However, this has led me to understand that although most of these books are aimed strictly at children there is a sub-section that can easily be appreciated by anyone including adults as well.

Grandpa Green is an excellent example of that kind of book. In it a young boy talks about his grandpa and in just a few brief words describes his life but in such a pensive and loving way such as a young child really would say it. The grandfather's fading memory is then woven into the story in a very kind fashion. Something that just usually happens as one grows older, at least to some extent or another, but does not in any way take away from the remarable lives that have been lived. The child's story is then illustrated with the most beautiful drawings that not only capture but subtly expands on the story as it is being told.

There are many other children's books like that. I think of Where the Wild Things Are, Madeline, Winnie the Poo, and many others where the story and illustrations are just so perfect...Read More

My Dad at Sixteen

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 13:54:24 -0700

This is a bust of my dad at age 16. It was made by my grandfather who was, as I have previously mentioned elsewhere, a professional sculptor and artisan. My grandfather sculpted it in clay and then a plaster of paris cast was made which is pictured above. That was then handed down to me when my dad passed away a few years ago so I am now the proud owner. I have a few other works by my grandfather, mostly drawings and sketches but also some watercolors and one other small sculpture that he made. He was a very talented artist as you can see from the picture above. Of course, I treasure all those works that I now own.

Thankfully, the artistic talent of my grandfather was also handed down, first to my dad and then to me as well as two of my brothers. It's a wonderful thing to have, a talent like that. To have an idea in your head and then to work it out on a piece of paper, something to see. To have nothing and then with a bit of work there's something to look at and enjoy.

In the end, when I think about it, the talent was ultimately handed down to us from our creator who also began with nothing except an idea and then a whole universe was formed. It's wonderful to have a little bit of that feeling of being pleased with what you make. Something like the Creator had at that time of creation when He saw that it was good.

Me and My Book and Marketing

Mon, 17 Aug 2020 18:29:39 -0700

'Nuff said.

Den Lille Pels-Familie

Sat, 08 Aug 2020 09:14:21 -0700

When I was a child my mom would read me the Danish version of Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by the great Garth Williiams titled Den Lille Pels-Familie. She didn't read me a lot of bed time stories so this one kind of sticks out in my mind. I still have that book which is pictured above and now belongs to my daughter. The book was very tiny and had such a lovely story and charming pictures.

One of the first things I did after my daughter was born and things settled down a bit was to purchase a copy of that book on Amazon so that I could read it to her. I think she was only a month old when I got it. I used to hold her in my lap and read her a bedtime story every night, a cherished memory of mine. And we still read bedtime stories, the tradition continues to this day.

I believe that reading bedtime stories is one of the really positive things that a parent can do in raising a child as it is not only a good way to wind down but also leads to discussing all kinds of other things in a comfortable space.

When I look at a book like Little Fur Family I think that it's just the type of book that I want to make. Something that is sweet and pleasant and somehow makes a child feel protected.

The Beginnings of a Manuscript

Sun, 26 Jul 2020 19:07:57 -0700

The way I usually like to start a manuscript for a children's picture book, after I have the basic idea in my head, is to just write it down on note paper with a pen. I like to double space it to leave lots of room for scribbling out and adding stuff between the lines. Then I'll just keep going over it and refining it until it gets to a point where I'll re-write it in a somewhat more neater fashion. Then it's off to Google Docs to begin writing on my computer where spell check is a blessing, I'm definately not a very good speller.

Lately I like to sit at the dining room table with my daughter to write my manuscript while she is writing in her journal (a dream journal right now, she has the most interesting dreams) or reading or something like that. I'll also have other picture books around for inspiration while I write or work on illustrations.

The Next Hill To Conquer

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 15:35:01 -0700

I've written the book. I've illustrated the book. I've even made an authors website (still a work in progress) and blog. The next hill to conquer is going to be the social media and marketing part. It feels like the most daunting part, by far. But because it's part of the process I guess I'm just going to have to do it. Fortunately, there's lots of advice available on the internet to access. Blogs, Youtube and authors groups and forums. I plan on setting aside a certain amount of time every week just for that. Right now I'm still waiting to see if any publisher picks up my book. Not too likely, so then I'll be self publishing on Amazon. But that will be later this fall. That gives me time to get my feet wet in this social media and marketingauthors'YouTube,,author's thing. And it's fun!

Tomorrow will come.

Wed, 01 Jul 2020 13:09:46 -0700

I took a look back through my blogs and noticed on May 10 that I wrote I was going to start working on my next children's book "tomorrow." Tomorrow hasn't come around yet, I'm afraid. Could give a bunch of reasons but that's probably not necessary. I have given it a lot of thought and do have the story and images in my mind and will be starting to put them down on paper very soon. The characters are going to be fish (and one worm) in my story. I plan on having them wearing clothes, I think that will work. The drawing above is a concept just to get ideas going but the final drawings wil be quite different, I'm sure. Getting rather excited about it and can feel the creative juices flowing. I never knew that writing a children's book could be so much fun but it is.

I Have Three Brothers and a Sister

Mon, 15 Jun 2020 20:03:13 -0700

I have three older brothers and one younger sister. They're spread out across the continent from coast to coast, as so many families are nowadays.

My oldest brother lives in the interior of B.C. I don't see or hear much of him but I always looked up to him, growing up. He's a very meticulous artist and has been making his living in stained glass for years. Does beautiful work and I have one of his stained glass pieces hanging in our living room window. Makes me often think of him.

My next oldest brother lives in Vermont, U.S. He started out, as a teenager, working as a deck hand or some other bottom rung job like that for the coast guard in B.C. He worked his way up all the way from that to being a captain of a shipping tanker on the Great Lakes. It's impressive, not just anyone can do that. I also think often of him.

Luckily, my next oldest brother lives not too far from me so I can see him more often. He's also a gifted artist, I would call him a natural. We like a lot of the same things so I'm always happy being together with him, whenever we can. We are fortunate to have a couple of his works hanging on our wall.

That leaves my younger sister and, luckily, she also lives not too far away. She was adopted into our family and I can still clearly remember, like yesterday, when my parents brought her home. I was 10 years old at the time and actually had to go to school that day, it was really the same as sending a kid to school on Christmas day, I was so excited. I came home for lunch break that day and there she was. I just remember it so clearly. She's a born farm woman and a hard worker.

Well, I'm thankful for my family and thy're all often in my thoughts and prayers. I'm glad to have three brothers and a sister. May God bless them.