Happy Fall!

Today is the first day of Fall!

Getting Ready...

I'm so excited---

The Inventor's Secret, What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford will be born on September 8, which is very, very soon. And it really does feel like having a baby.

A year of research and work went into its creation. Then lots of waiting and waiting. And in just a little over a week, I'll hold it in my hands.

Preparations are underway. Events are lined up, postcards are printing and I have some lovely bookmarks and bookplates. Two designs for bookmarks... I just couldn't decide?

"tis the Season

Here we go!!!!

xo

Picture Book Builders!

I am really excited to be a contributor to a new group blog called Picture Book Builders consisting of 8 picture book authors and illustrators. 

Here's the talented group: Linda Ashman, Kevan Atteberry, Jill Esbaum, Pat Zietlow Miller, Barb Rosenstock, Tammi Sauer, and Eliza Wheeler.

We will chat about what (we think) makes the picture books we love really sing. 

Please visit often and sign up to follow it for posting updates!
http://picturebookbuilders.com

Thanks so much!!!

Happy Birthday, Rabbi Benjamin!!!!!!!

Wa---hooooo!!!!!!

Today is Publication day for Rabbi Benjamin's Buttons!

Written by Alice McGinty and published by Charlesbridge Publishing.

 I got to meet Alice on board a Mississippi Riverboat Cruise at a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrator's conference about a year ago. I couldn't stay too long at the conference because I was working hard to finish the illustrations for this book.

I know all of us involved in this loving picture book are very excited today!

Welcome, welcome, Rabbi B! 

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

xoxo

May Day

May this May Day bring you happy surprises and exciting new beginnings.

xo

Happy Earth Day!

It's a beautiful day here today! 

Enjoy!!!!!

What Inspires Us Stays With Us

 

For the last several months I have been working on a picture book about Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. It's required lots and lots of reading and research and now I'm a babbling fountain of disjointed trivia on the two great inventors. 

An interesting thing happened. I remembered 7 years ago when we went to The Henry Ford Museum in Michigan. I was mesmerized by Thomas' Menlo Park Laboratory. Not just 'gee I liked that', but obsessively not leaving and sending my family on their way without me. I was transfixed by the chaotic order of everything. The patinaed wood and steel juxtaposed against Victorian scrolled ironwork. 

Brass and iron and fluorescent concoctions.

Blown glass test tubes and things under domes.

Crazy curly wires coming down from the ceiling... it was staggering. 

Look at those amazing apothecary jars, lined up like characters, all different shapes and colors!

And so I've gotten to revisit these pictures, and the memories of that wonderful day. A long time ago, yet tied to my present. 

Funny how inspiration finds us, follows us, and stays with us?

What no one will ever know...

I am thrilled to be working on a picture book about Henry Ford as a young inventor. 

This week I have devoted several days to research, trying to find out what his first "tractor-ish" (that's my technical term for it) contraption looked like. After countless hours and consulting with the author, editor, and art director, we have come to the conclusion that no one really knows.

So, I am free to interpret (and hope the expert readers when reviewing the sketches don't reeeeaaally know either)…

And in the Fall of 2015, when a young reader is looking at the small, "tractor-ish" contraption in the lower corner of a two page spread that child won't know that this illustrator spent countless hours trying to figure out what no one really knows :-)

Also, just a personal note…

I had the most incredibly annoying helper today!

 ZZZZZZZZZZZ

This is What A Picture Book Looks Like...

This is what a picture book looks like...

...or at least the illustrator's part of it.

All packed up--- Rabbi Benjamin is walking out my door.

The little Rabbi has been with me for over a year and a half and I'll miss him.

Bye, bye Rabbi B, see you in the Fall of 2014!

(there is nothing speedy about the making of a picture book!)

"Draw the Corgi..."

I mentioned to my friend, Claudia, a very talented illustrator (check out her blog, here), that a friend brought over their new Corgi puppy to meet our poodle (and us) last night. 

This morning I awoke to a text from her, "Draw the Corgi when you have time". 

Of course, one never has time, one must make time, so here are a few little sketches from memory that I did before I set to work on my book deadline today. 

I was struck by her funny proportions.

What a regal cutie!

Puppy love!!!!! xo

Read Aloud Day

Read Aloud Day is today---

Hope you can take a moment to get lost in a book!

A Show, A Show, An Illo Show!

 "When Bows Were Big"

I am participating, along with 10 other illustrators from across Iowa, in a SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) exhibit at the Gilded Pear Gallery in Cedar Rapids. 

The opening is this Saturday, September 29th from 4-6:30 pm and will run through November 10th. 

The opening night will have all of us there displaying not only our gallery pieces, but many of us will have our portfolios and published work on display at that time as well. If you have kids who are at all interested in a career in illustration, this is a great opportunity for them to see a varied range of styles and applications, so please bring them along!

The illustrators who are exhibiting are:

Jeni Reeves

Claudia McGehee

Dorothia Rohner

Natalie Groves

Patty McGrane Harms

Jane Metcalf

Becky Wirfs

Peggy Gratton

Erin Taylor

Candace Camling

and me

If you can make a day of it, I'd like to suggest a visit to the great New Bo neighborhood and a visit to New Bo books (the new Prairie Lights affiliate in Cedar Rapids). Also, take in the fantastic Alphonse Mucha exhibit at the newly renovated Czech Museum. 

If you can't make it to Cedar Rapids this Saturday, it would be wonderful if you could visit our show and the restored Cedar Rapids neighborhood some other time.

Again, thank you for your support of the Arts!

Bravery

Today I submitted my character sketches to the publisher. No matter how many books (or whatever) one has published, no matter how much fame and fortune one has achieved, I feel that sending your work out for critique is always a very vulnerable thing to do. 

So, if you are reading this little blog of mine, and you, too, seek to bring your creations to life, give yourself a little pat on the back for having the confidence to share your work with the world...

It is, in my opinion, a very brave thing to do.

The Elephant in the Room

Here's to the proverbial elephant in the room. 

I found him appropriate to feature on my blog as I apologize for being away for a while. I'm sure it's the same as for many of you--- I find myself in the chaotic throws of summertime. Pulled this way and that as I mourn the loss of my peaceful work-from-home weekdays.

This is a piece that will be going out on my latest promo. It is from an assignment given to us by an art director at a recent SCBWI conference. It is from an excerpt from Kate DiCamillo's, THE MAGICIAN'S ELEPHANT. It was really fascinating to see how other illustrators saw the same scenario.

So here's a big shout out to all of you who love your families and kids dearly, but who also suffer the loss of spontaneous creative expression.

Happy, happy summer!