Max, the lizard, charges onto the desert scene just in time to see his friend, Art, complete a formal portrait of his subject, another lizard. Max is ready for action. He too shall create art. But what to paint? His friend, Art, or Arthur as he much prefers to be called, suggests that Max paint him. So he does.
He paints Art many colors which suddenly crack and explode leaving Art a vivid orange, yellow and green and eventually reducing him to a mere line drawing. In the process of painting Art and then trying to reconstruct him, Max goes through quite a process and we watch the master, David Wiesner, play with line and color and dissolve into a pointillist mode.
This story offers a lively look at the creative process.
Max's humorous mistake leads to unexpected results and opens up a whole new world of creativity for both lizards. There's a dash of Mo Willem's Elephant and Piggie in this story but these are clearly their more sophisticated cousins. So, my friends, we know Max is a lizard, but what is Art?
40 pages Ages 5-8
