Breathe deep, seek peace, Dinotopia fans, and don't miss Dinotopia: The Fantastical Art of James Gurney on view November 25, 2005 through February 5, 2006 at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

Now in her ninetieth year, this treasured daughter of New England continues to garner acclaim for her signature watercolors as well as for her distinctive lifestyle harking back to the mid-nineteenth century. Tudor’s way of living has always included significant time devoted to the enjoyment of holiday traditions, which she shares with family and friends. Beginning with the illustrations in her first book published for children, Pumpkin Moonshine, she has demonstrated in her professional life a continual interest in depicting holiday stories and scenes.

Tasha Tudor’s Spirit of the Holidays illuminates the season with outstanding and rarely seen examples of the artist’s original art for greeting cards and children’s books created for special holiday celebrations – from Christmas to Valentine’s Day and Easter. Original portraits of Tasha Tudor as a girl by her mother, Rosamond Tudor, delicate childhood drawings, original handwritten manuscripts, miniature doll cards, hand-decorated boxes and Easter eggs, photographs, and almost one hundred first-issue holiday cards dating from the early 1940s onward are among the heartwarming treasures to be enjoyed.

In story after story and picture after picture, her extraordinary art reflects the simple pleasures that can be had in this life by savoring each passing season, celebrating special days, and cherishing the most fleeting of moments.