Deadlines and Elves

Argh... feeling a bit overwhelmed this week! I'm doing the B & W final art for Maggie & Oliver, have a big map due on Monday, and am yearning to put the final tweaks on a picture book dummy I've been working on forever. But I have to laugh. In almost 17 years of working for myself, this feeling has become familiar. And the work has always gotten done. (Must be those magic elves that drop in at night.)

Meanwhile, here's a sketch from Maggie & Oliver:

New Map

This is a map of the St. Regis canoe wilderness area, for an upcoming issue of Adirondack Life magazine.

Facebook

I've made a page here for my illustration work, if you'd like to "like" it.

("Like" it... be a "fan" of it... both words seem weird! Just the way Facebook is, I guess.)

Spilling the Beans!

Wow-- time flies when you're having fun, for sure! I can finally talk about the middle grade novel project I've been working on.

Last November I was commissioned to illustrate the cover and black & white interiors for a forthcoming novel by the award-winning author, Valerie Hobbs. (You should have seen my happy dance!) The book is tentatively titled Maggie and Oliver, and is the story of an orphaned girl and dog who cross paths in turn-of-the-century Boston. It will be released by Henry Holt Books for Young Readers in 2011.

It's been wonderful getting to know these characters, and I will be blogging about the process of creating the illustrations in the months to come. But for now, the interior sketches are done and I've been given the go-ahead for final art, so deadlines call!

(Above: Meet Maggie and Oliver! These are chapter head sketches.)

I Must Keep the Messiest Sketchbook, Ever

I really do admire artists whose sketchbooks are filled with beautifully designed and drawn images. That's not me, though. Mine are more like secret messages to myself. Sometimes I have to decipher what the heck I was thinking about at the time. Oh well. Better to get it on paper than not.

(This is my vegetable garden plan. It's a work in progress.)

Eager

Full Inbox

More Spring Art

The Spring edition of the Picture Book Artists Association website is up!

Spring! Art!

Fine art prints at Imagekind.

(Happy April, no fooling!)