Oh, Brenda! Don't leave me!

We had our final picture book illustration class last night and I wish it would never end. There were so many different kinds of baked chocolate goodness I swooned. And even Pina Colada licorice!

Everyone made great strides in their work. I laughed out loud at the hilarious and quirky dummy of Jaime Patneaude, daughter of super writer Dave Patneaude.

I am still working on my bunnies. Laboring over the first double page spread and working out how to paint and finish the art. I made a ghastly version with pink and purple bunnies that looked sort of like Seuss Vomit. And the drawing kept getting farther and farther away. I can't even show you because my scanner thinks it is too ugly to scan.

So now, the bunnies are natural bunny colors according to my loose color sketch and I've cropped in on them for this double page spread (at top of post -- yes, that is a straw up the baby bunny's nose, I promise it all makes sense in the book dummy.)

Finding the last version of the manuscript I made is on my list of things to do (maybe it didn't save in stupid Word?) in addition to redoing the dummy and a piece of finished art. All by next Wednesday (!) in order to have something exciting and new to take to LA. I have one more trick up my portfolio sleeve, but who knows if it will be ready in time. Wish me luck.

Ooo, I loooove Melissa Sweet! I love Carmine, I love what she does for eeBoo, I love her earlier work with adult titles and now I can love her every time I bake.

Got the above back around Xmas time. Problem with an alphabetical recipe box is: I don't cook alphabetically. I wanted to use the adorable index cards, though, so I got some tab markers and made my own categories -- notice the separate categories for Baked Goods, Cookies, and Desserts??? I didn't get much farther than that in the recipe box since baking sweets is my biggest concern in the kitchen (Eggs, Soup, Booze and Meat are my only other categories.)

Ooo, and notice the recipe out? My Nana's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cake! Yes, I'm baking it for my last class with Brenda.

Tonight's class we'll mostly share the work we've done and celebrate. No alcohol allowed as per UW policy (even though I'm pretty sure the MBAs in the classroom next door are always tipsy) and zucchini is the next best thing. It is usually a plain bundt cake, but I'm making it in cupcake form for tonight with cream cheese frosting.

Unfortunately, the zucchinis in my garden aren't quite big enough to harvest yet -- BUT my three plants are the size of a baby elephant. If you live near by expect to find some zucchinis on your doorstep in a few weeks.

I'm fighting a losing battle with blogging today and have opted to have you all go look at Betsy Bird's blog, instead, and think about covers while I go paint.

Betsy spent some time at a major chain checking out new kid books and posted a bunch of great cover comparisons. I've already complained about covers here and here and here and wonder if I'm just a curmudgeon when it comes to the older covers getting updated?

Reissues with original covers are super ideas, though! One of my all-time favorite books, The 13 Clocks, is about to be reissued NEXT week with the lovely Marc Simont art intact AND an introduction by Neil Gaiman -- how cool is that! I can't find my copy anywhere and it was about to turn to dust anyway. The version illustrated by Ronald Searle was probably just lovely, too, but I'm sticking with the Simont one.

Last night in class, guest speaker Julie Paschkis (Caldecott deserver extraordinaire) gave an amazing Amazing AMAZING talk/slideshow. She showed some of the picture books she loved as a child and how they're still influencing her today. I'd say, definitely, that The 13 Clocks is one of those books for me.

Lately I've been digging working late into the afternoon/evening. Making dinner puts a cramp in my style, man, so I enlist the help of my trusty crock pot. Yesterday after lunch I threw:

1.5 lbs of pork loin cut into 1 inch cubes
2 1/2 cups of store bought salsa, thanks Costco
1 small can diced green chiles
salt and pepper

In a crockpot on high for 4 to 6 hours. If I'd remembered early I could have cooked it on low for 8 hours. Right before dinner, while prepping some lettuce and tomatoes and stuff I threw a can (drained) of small red beans into the crock pot.

Once the beans were heated through we made tostadas that were super dee-lish and watched, you may smite me down now Lord, our version of church -- The Vicar of Dibley.

Still lots of leftovers, so no cooking today. Maybe a nap because of my experience ALL LAST NIGHT -- here is a one minute sketch:

Note mouth-smothering paw, chest-poking paw, crotch-poking paw, and the paw that always manages to find the most tender or bruised part of your leg to step on. Maybe it is the full moon, but Bebop is on my list.