I is for Itsy

        (My theme for this year’s April A to Z Blog Challenge is traditional English language nursery rhymes, and their block printed illustrations.)

The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the water spout.

Down came the rain and washed the spider out.

Out came the sun and dried up all the rain,

And the itsy bitsy spider climbed up the spout again.

        Her friends called her stubborn, but she liked to think of it as persistence.

        When you consider it, this is really an epic tale ranking right up there with Frodo’s march to Mount Doom, Captain Ahab’s hunting of the White Whale, or the forces of nature in The Perfect Storm.  The movie will include plenty of action, pathos, and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit… I mean the arachnid spirit.

        This was one of the last nursery rhyme illustrations I did, and unfortunately it was too late to be included in my book.  It is also apparently one of the most recent nursery rhymes I’ll be featuring this month, possibly no more than 110 years old.  That means that it isn’t illustrated in any of those old wood-block-printed books, so I have found only one block printed illustration beside my own.  You’d need to know the rhyme already, I think, in order to make out the order of the words in this piece, but it’s all there.

        I have always loved the little hand play that goes with the rhyme.  (If you’re unfortunate enough not to be familiar with it, see this video.)  Most people give directions for making the climbing motion with thumbs and index fingers, but I assure you that it is far more satisfying to use thumbs and middle fingers.  Give it a try and you’ll see.  Also, there are those who will try to tell you that the spider is “eensy weensy” or even “incy wincy” (including my fellow artist today), but they’re just plain tragically wrong!

        Do you - or your children - have a favorite hand play?

        A final note for impressionable children: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.

[Pictures: The Itsy Bitsy Spider, rubber block print by AEGN, 2006;

Incy Wincy Spider, 3 colour linocut by Caroline Nuttall-Smith (Image from Etsy shop cnuttalsmith).]