‘Uncle Wally’s Old Brown Shoe’

The latest whimsical watercolors from Wallace Edwards have the same quirky styling that has characterized his books since he won his first Governor General’s award for children’s illustration a decade ago. You see some of the pages in that prize-winning work, called Alphabeasts, by going to this video.

Above: The Passing Parade (2011) 29.5 x 41.5 watercolor, colored pencil, and gouache

The King of Candyland, 2011

His last book, Cat’s Pajamas was full of the whimsical illustrations that have made him one of the country’s best known kid-lit illustrators and authors. It explains idioms to children in engaging pictures (like A Lot to Draw on, below, left; and Frog in his Throat, below, right).

Edwards spent 20 years as a commercial artist, notably at the Metro Toronto Zoo, where the signage and animal identification plaques bear his original artwork.  A recent exhibit named from the title of his newest book – Uncle Wally’s Old Brown Shoe –  at Ingram Gallery highlights his capability with detail.  (The two works at the top of this blog are also from that show).

Wallace Edwards passed away in 2022. See his obituary here.