4/27/12

IF: Jump





These illustrations first appeared a few years ago as two spreads in Babybug Magazine, they seemed perfect for "Jump". 
We have had frogs on the brain all week around here, Nora's Kindergarden class was working on a "frog unit".

4/26/12

outside my window



I looked out my window yesterday to see where the squeaking sound was coming from, and ended  up face to face with a frightened chipmunk nestled in the camellia bush. 

4/25/12

yarn bombing


this is a little sketch I did for a call to "yarn bomb" a local park as part of the decorations for the annual Arts Festival. Get out your needles and sort through your stash if you're in the area. If you can't knit or crochet, tree wrappers are welcome, the more the merrier!

4/24/12

Book Review

A Giraffe Did One 
Jerry Pallotta, illus. by Tatjana Mai-Wyss. Sleeping Bear, $15.95 (32p) ISBN 978-1-58536-641-5
In the tradition of Everyone Poops, Pallotta’s gently mischievous story features cute animals that share one thing in common: occasional flatulence. “A flock of birds flew by. OK, who did it? We’ll never know which one it was.” Meanwhile, a fox, seen peering coyly around a tree, “was sneaky when she did it,” and a frog, who stares up at readers with a guilty smile and a few bubbles in the water around him, “was slimy when he did it.” Mai-Wyss’s pale watercolors imbue the animals with more than a little anthropomorphism, with many wearing adorable “Who, me?” expressions. If readers are unclear about what the animals did (it’s never specified), there will be little doubt when, in the final spread, a human boy “did one too,” and his mother asks him to say “Excuse me.” Ages 4–8. (Mar.)
Reviewed on: 04/20/2012
thanks, it's always nice to be noticed :)

4/23/12

on my desk

a page from my sketchbook


Hey, it's all new over here, I must have been gone a while....
I'm taking notes and coming up with grand new plans for spring.
Expect to hear from me more often, poor neglected blog...

4/20/12

IF: Heights



This is a page from a new book I illustrated, "A Giraffe Did One", It seemed to fit the topic well. Although my daughter is getting ready to go to camp and the idea of a "zip line" is looming large at our house. Maybe I need to do some more sketches for "heights"

4/17/12

a little privacy

before

after
After wrapping up my last large project, I just had enough time to knock the studio into shape to serve as guest room before my parents came to visit.
Although we like tease each other through the kitchen window, I wanted guests to have a little privacy. In the long run my plan is to make a dense papercut to block the window but let the light in. This quick stop gap measure was as simple as a large piece of rice paper and some laundry starch. the tricky part is getting it to fit perfectly and keeping the edges sharp.

4/6/12

IF: vocal


I am up to my ears in work this week, but I did want to contribute. This is the cover concept drawing for a book I illustrated that will be out this spring:  A Song for My Sister, written by Lesley Simpson.
Since it's about a baby who doesn't stop crying until her sister sings to her I thought "vocal" applied pretty well.