Woodland Advent 2019, Day 24 - Here Comes Santa Claus

Woodland Christmas © Frances Tyrrell

Clara is home and safely in bed. The entire household is asleep now.  Even the woodland mice are tucked up for the night.  Just in time!

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 23 - The Way Home

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Even the little Raccoon attendants at the Great Bear's palace wave "goodbye" to Clara!

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 22 - Homeward Bound

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

"Time to go home now, Clara," said Prince Nutcracker.  "It is nearly Christmas morning."

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 21 - Applause

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Clara is surrounded by all the performers who have joined her in watching each successive display, and some of them are still up to merry hijinks!  The evening is drawing to a close and it is almost time for Clara to be home again.

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 16 - "the Lesser Panda"

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

The little Lesser Panda of Nepal was the next performer to appear before the Great Bear, Prince Nutcracker and our Clara.

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 15 - "Le Cirque des Etoiles" begins

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

A lively show of music and dancing by Bears of the World begins with Rosa and Paco, spectacled bears from South America.  All of this for Clara, for being Brave and Kind!

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 14 - "Ursa Major"

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

The revels are about to begin at the ice palace of the Great Bear, Ursa Major.

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 13 - Up and Away

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

"Up and away they floated, and Clara looked down at her island home growing smaller and farther away." 

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 8

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Nutcracker Bear "neatly mended" by Grandfather.  The party is almost over, and the magic about to begin.

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 7

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

The opening scene of The Nutcracker is the party, and what is a party without some music and dancing?  At the Bears' cosy island home the night was merry with Mother's "paw-tapping fiddle music."

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 6

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Here are Clara Bear and Grandpa, with the beautiful Nutcracker.  "Grandpa arrived with hand-made gifts from his workshop:  dancing puppets on strings, tin soldiers, and a handsome carved Nutcracker bear. "

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 5

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

"Long ago, far away from highways and city lights, where bright stars touched the tree tops and forest roots touched the edges of frozen lakes, a woodland family welcomed relatives and friends to a Christmas Eve party in their cosy island home.|"  Woodland Nutcracker, written by Avril Tyrrell

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 4

Woodland Christmas © Frances Tyrrell

"Four calling birds" from Woodland Christmas for the fourth day of Advent. 
Do "The 12 Days of Christmas" lyrics refer to "Calling birds" or "Colly birds"?  Our beautiful loons of the north are both, with their dark plumage and musical voices. 

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 3

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Three little Drummer Mice for Day 3 of Advent!  Little mice play a big role in The Nutcracker story and kept my brush busy all through the paintings for Woodland Nutcracker.  We'll be seeing more of them this Advent.

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell

Woodland Advent 2019, Day 2

Woodland Christmas © Frances Tyrrell

"Two Turtle Doves" for the second day of Advent, entirely surrounded by snow, as we are after the second early storm of the season.  It is quite beautiful, if rather too soon!

Lakeshore Woods, Oakville

Woodland Advent begins (again)

Woodland Nutcracker © Frances Tyrrell 

 Advent begins, the season of all good wishes and awfully long to-do lists. Hope and Joy are at the top of the list, and here is a Woodland cherub to celebrate the start of things. All the bears and creatures are from my two Woodland books, Woodland Christmas and Woodland Nutcracker, and Woodland Nutcracker is in stock in the Etsy shop.

Woodland Nutcracker book

On the domestic front, this little creature joined the household in June, at 6 weeks old: after an uncertain start they are getting along quite well.

Marvin and Merry

On the drawing board a lovely new book is in progress, details to be shared when all the art is done.  Last year's big illustration project is being published in the new year, The Generous Fish by Jacqueline Jules.  This beautiful story was a delight to illustrate.

"The Generous Fish"

More for Advent tomorrow! It is a dark time of year, but "Love, the Lord, is on the way" (from the Christmas hymn "People, Look East").

A Woodland Advent - Day 4, Rejoice and Be Merry

Round Reel of Bears, Woodland Nutcracker

"Rejoice and be merry, in songs and in mirth!", begins the old carol. It is the season for merry making, including dancing.  Here for the Fourth day of Advent is part of a vignette of the Bears of Woodland Nutcracker dancing a Round Reel of Eight.

"Dancing to Mother's paw-tapping fiddle music", Woodland Nutcracker

A Woodland Advent - Day 3, the Nutcracker

Clara Bear and Nutcracker

For the third day of Advent, the opening scene of Woodland Nutcracker with Clara Bear and the splendid carved Nutcracker bear. What a party it was!

Woodland Nutcracker is available in paperback and in hardcover, at TreasureSeekerStudio on Etsy.

Seventh Day of Advent - Visiting

Day 7 of Advent

(The Bears Cottage, Woodland Nutcracker)

"Long ago, far away from highways and city lights, where bright stars touched the tree tops and forest roots touched the edges of frozen lakes, a woodland family welcomed relatives and friends to a Christmas Eve party in their cosy island home.

 Softly falling snowflakes drifted into the cottage as the guests arrived."
(© Avril Tyrrell 1999)

" Woodland Nutcracker"

Our beautiful WoodlandNutcracker book, which was chosen as The Children's Picture Book of the year in 1999 by the Canadian Book Review Annual, was orphaned earlier this year when the publisher went out of business. We are fortunate to have obtained the remaining books from the publisher's warehouse, boxes of mint-new copies full of Christmas magic and adventure.


As with the earlier Woodland Christmas, the story was inspired by many camping trips and cottage visits in Canada's boreal forest, "far away from highways and city lights", where one can travel for days and not meet another human being or even a camera-shy bear. In a story that parallels the Nutcracker ballet, Clara is given a wonderful carved Nutcracker Bear who transforms into the dashing Nutcracker Prince. After settling a midnight battle between the tin soldiers and invading field mice with a Christmas Eve truce, giving the hungry mice food for their families, Clara and Nutcracker fly away to the Ice Palace of the Great Bear, Ursa Major.

At the Great Bear's palace an international cast of bears performs for Clara - juggling pandas and trapeze artist koalas and more, plus some of her dearest woodland friends. I have made two posters from the illustrations, grizzly bear Mother Ginger with her junior hockey team, and the polar bear Yuk Tuk dancing to the strains of the Russian Dance, pictured below. For the purposes of the poster I have placed a copy of the book in her gracefully extended paw!Sorting through the book images I rediscovered this little Nutcracker soldier, whom I have added to the title bar as a friendly exclamation point.

We are dedicating a portion of our sales of Woodland Nutcracker to benefit St. Matthew's House, a charitable agency in the Diocese of Niagara. We are taking the books to several Christmas fairs and the posters will show off the illustrations from across crowded rooms. The books will also be up on my Etsy shop shortly and I will be happy to sign copies or add a small embellishment for the finishing touch.