Make Art While the Sun Shines*

Sketches filling up the wall:

Roughs piled on the table:

And final art accumulating in the drawer:

Not really sure how much I can share right now, but more details about these projects to come soon, I promise!

(*Okay, the sun is not literally shining today. I just like the proverb.)

Dates & Links

Here are some upcoming Sled Ride events I'll be attending with my wonderful author, Rebecca Rule! We'll be reading, talking, showing art and signing books. Hope you'll stop in!

Saturday, January 19th ~ Pineland Farms
15 Farm View Drive, New Gloucester, Maine
12:00 - 2:00 pm - Reading & signing

Saturday, January 19th ~ The Children's Museum and Theatre of Maine
142 Free Street, Portland, Maine
3:00 pm - Reading & signing

Sunday, January 20th ~ L.L. Bean Flagship Store
95 Main Street, Freeport, Maine
11:00 am – 2:00 pm - Reading & signing

Friday, February 22nd ~ The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art
125 West Bay Road, Amherst, MA
2:30 pm - Storytime & signing


And... here are some links I've been meaning to post:

• Sled Ride received a nice mention in a New York Times article about the Let It Snow exhibit at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT.

• A fun interview with Rebecca on the Kirkus Reviews blog.

Fun stuff!

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:

Full Inbox

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!

NaNoWriMoPiBoIdMo

November is:







National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

and





Picture Book Idea Month! (PiBoIdMo. Read more about it here.)

I'm doing both. (Or trying to, at least.)

Why not? I like deadlines. I need deadlines. I especially need deadlines when it comes to writing. We'll see if I can keep it up for the whole month. But even if not, writing something is better than writing nothing. And though I never write nothing, I can always write more. Right?

(Of course, once I committed to giving these two worthwhile activities a shot, a Department of Freelance truism kicked in... lots of good things are sprouting around here. Busy, busy, busy. Just the way I like it!)