Beautiful, richly detailed watercolor illustrations capture the aura of long ago times in this enchanting old Chinese folktale
Liang longs to paint, but has no paintbrush. One day he mysteriously comes by a magic paintbrush. He finds that whatever he paints with it comes to life! Liang is delighted. "I will paint things for my poor friends," he decides, and with his paintbrush he paints many beautiful and useful things for the villagers. When he paints pictures of birds to sell in the marketplace he leaves something out—an eye or wing—to make sure the birds do not come to life.
One day, while painting a crane, Liang accidentally spills a drop of ink where the second eye should have been and accidentally completes the picture. The crane comes alive and flies away Now everyone knows about Liang's magic brush—including the greedy emperor who seizes Liang and the magic brush and tries to paint gold and other treasures for himself. How Liang and his magic paintbrush outsmart the evil emperor makes for a splendid, satisfying tale. The beautiful, detailed drawings will delight readers of all ages.
About the Author
A student of Corita Kent in California, Demi has traveled and studied art throughout the world. She has received several art awards, including a Fulbright Scholarship to study in India, and her diverse range of work has been exhibited from coast to coast and even abroad. Among the mediums she works in are serigraph, watercolor, mobile, collage, and textile design. The author and/or illustrator of numerous well-received children's books and magazine articles, she makes her home in New York City
—from the dust jacket
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