On The Desk & In The Queue

I'm working away on final art for the Sled Ride book and thinking (again!) about how to decide when a piece is finished. It's one of those questions you have to figure out over and over...

And, two more exciting book projects are lined up in the queue! (Yay!) I'll post more about them in the coming months...

(Also, fortunately, my drawing arm was not strained by the amount of pie it shoveled into my mouth this past weekend...)

Happy Thanksgiving! And a Worthy Cause.

 
Islandport Press is teaming with the Maine Credit Union League for their first ever Online Literary Auction, starting November 28th, to raise money to fight hunger. Authors, illustrators, and artists from around the New England area have contributed works, and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to this worthy cause. Please take a look...

And, Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This year, I'm thankful to have enough. (Family, friends, work, food... and so on. Enough is good.)

I See, You See

What you see: Two adorable kitties.

What I see: Eight little paws just waiting to pitter-patter across the art on my drawing table.

Yesterday's Field Trip...

... was to the Big Apple, to see the Society of Illustrators Original Art show. Wow. It's just plain inspiring to see works of art up close and personal. The variety is wonderful– traditional, digital, a mix of both... there's room for everything. Here are some of my favorites:

(And this is Grand Central Station. I have a thing for the architecture. It's spectacular.)

Painting, Happily.

(And, we finally got our power back! After eight days without. 7 days of no electricity because of Irene + 8 days due to Alfred = way too many days without electricity! I'll spare you my rant.)

Whohoo, Reviews!

So, we are powerless yet again, after Saturday's Epic October Snowstorm. I'm posting from my town's municipal center. (Free wifi and Starbucks, yay!) No worries. Other than the heartbreak of seeing so many beautiful old trees destroyed, none landed on our house, fortunately. And, we have a generator and wood stove. Water and heat rock! (We also managed to polish off all the Halloween candy ourselves, since they cancelled trick or treating. Well-deserved chocolate, I say!)

I'm thrilled to be posting a few lovely reviews for Maggie & Oliver. One from last week's Shelf Awareness, (scroll down), and one in the November/December issue of The Horn Book Magazine! Here's a snippet:

"This is Victoriana with no steampunk shenanigans and no tongues in cheeks, just well-orchestrated, straightforward storytelling for newish readers– with a bonus of warm pencil drawings reminiscent of Lois Lenski."


Wow. (Lois Lenski!) Just wow. Thank you, Shelf Awareness and Horn Book!