More WIP. And February.

Another rough sketch from a work-in-progress.

I've been a drawing fool lately. My walls are covered with sketches for the middle grade novel project I've been working on... SO much fun it is! There's nothing more enjoyable than hunkering down in my little studio or in front of the fire with drawing board, pencil and paper, and getting to know new characters. Kind of makes me forget it's February. (Not that there's anything wrong with February. If only it wasn't so cold. If only I was motivated to wear something other than sweatpants when it's so cold!)

Meanwhile, I could really use more wall space.

Sketches. And Lists.

And yet another rough sketch from another new idea.

Time to make a list of my project lists to see where everything's at. Maybe each little list within one big list to hang on the wall. Or a list of what's in each project pile. Oh... piles! Don't get me started...

One Definition of Irony

Irony is working on garden map illustrations in this bitter cold weather. Good news: it's supposed to warm up to the 40's this weekend.

I must have a word with my assistant. She's shedding on the watercolors.

It's January So I Must Be Hibernating

(Well, not really hibernating, although the scale seems to think I've turned into Mama Bear. I'm just busy.)

A belated Happy 2010, everyone!

And another year whooshes by...

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season, whatever you may celebrate.

2010, here we come!

I *Heart* Books With Maps

Hello there, blog, it's been a while! Remember that Cool New Map Project I started working on back in June? As I was catching up on blog reading this weekend, I happened across Macmillan's Spring 2010 Librarian Preview over at Fuse #8, where I scrolled down to see this stunning cover:



















Yay! It's the new Kimberly Willis Holt novel, due out in May of 2010.

And here's the map I did for the endpapers:


















(Click to see a larger version.)

I can't wait to see the actual book.

Got Arc?

Darcy Pattison has posted two great pieces about story arc for short picture books, here and here. (Her Fiction Notes blog is one of my writing favorites.)

Dept. of Miscellaneous (Good) Stuff

Hmmm... haven't been posting much art lately. There's just not enough time in each day to do everything, and I've been working on making progress with a new picture book idea. Slow going, this one, with lots of bits and pieces to puzzle out, but it's coming along.

Also still forging ahead with NaNoWriMo and PiBoIdMo. They've become part of my beloved early-morning-with-coffee routine. I'm up to 11,571 words for NaNo-- way behind the count needed to hit 50,000 words by the end of the month-- but still possibly more than I've ever written on one project in my life, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. More on that another time.

And in the Department of Good News: Can't say too much yet, but I've been commissioned to illustrate the cover and B/W interior of a new middle grade novel! Happy dance time!

New Map! The Iditarod Trail

Here's a new piece for the November/December issue of ForbesLife Magazine.

(Sheesh, how did it get to be November already?)

Dept. of Things I'm Working On: New PB Idea

Who is this new character and what kind of big adventure is she going to have? I'm figuring her out...