This is a painstaking process where blocks of wood are carved and inked, creating the black outlines in the illustrations. Mr. Manson then paints the images with watercolors. He fells that the limitations of this medium are perfectly suited to the limitations of a picture book. Children's books are constricted in their physical size and the length of the text. This forces me to really concentrate on what's there, to fully examine the text that I do have which reveals so much about it.
Woodcuts work in a similar fashion.
I have only so much space to work with, and only so much detail can be included. In this situation, I'm forced to concentrate on what is essential. The final product, if successful, is really reduced to its essence. This style of producing a book is labor intensive, but it's a labor of love. Christopher Manson is a graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.