For years and years, I have had the mental image or concept of babies hatching out of eggshells in my head, and I had NO idea where it came from or what it meant. I could have sworn I'd seen it in a painting, but I didn't know what it was, and everyone I'd talked to thought I was nuts.
Well, lo and behold, when my 6-year-old nephew visited my parents this summer, he pulled out all of my old children's books. And what was in one of them? Babies hatching out of eggshells!
'Outside Over There' is by far one of the most surreal and slightly disturbing children's books ever, and always scared me a little when I was a child. It looks NOTHING like what you'd expect a Maurice Sendak book to look like, and it's really just odd and dreamlike– which is possibly why I never remembered it was actually a book, just some vague images I somehow had in my mind. The babies in the eggshells, the goblins, Ida's French horn and yellow raincoat, and the terrifying-looking Ice Baby (which REALLY frightened me when I was little) are some of the most amazing art I've ever seen and clearly stuck with me for years. I think I remember my parents telling me that I looked like Ida (the girl in blue) and that's why they got the book.
I've been looking at children's books, the ones I remember reading when I was little, and I find it really interesting to go back and see where I might have gotten some of my inspiration from. It's like finding an old toy or piece of clothing that you've completely forgotten, and the moment you see it again all the memories and feelings you had about it suddenly come back. It's kind of overwhelming.
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