I registered for the Winter Conference and the Illustrator Intensive!

Watch out Rice To Riches! Watch out Books of Wonder! Watch out Liz Lemon!

PS Sorry for the sad cat post yesterday, my Nana DID call and sing me the birthday song, but now she's set her phone to 'fax' which is always fun, so I hope they got the flowers we sent.

I woke up this morning around 2 am, two hours into being 31, to a stabbing pain inside my knee that wouldn't stop. It felt like a demon was in my knee cap trying to rip its way out of my body. I think it was just a muscle cramp! But I didn't know it could happen in a knee, do knees even have muscles? Thanks, aging body.

Around 9 am, nine hours into being 31, my family called. I was waiting for the "Happy Birthday Song," but instead my mom told me our family cat, Tod Blankenship, had passed away in the night. It happened really fast and it sort of sounds like it was something he ate outside, but he was surrounded by people that loved him at the time and he'd had a really good life.

Here's Tod on the couch with a surprisingly docile Calvin. I named Tod when he was a freshly-rescued-from-Episcopalians kitten. Tod only has one 'd,' because I knew Tod would be a frugal and pragmatical cat that wouldn't need the decadence of double letters.

TEN GOOD THINGS ABOUT TOD:

1. Tod, when he didn't way 30 pounds, would let me play 'Rollercoaster' and 'Peter Pan' with him and never complained.

2. He let Wiley (our dearly departed golden retriever) play 'Mop' with him. 'Mop' was a game Tod and Wiley invented together which required Tod laying on his back on my Nana's shiny kitchen floor. Wiley would shove his nose into Tod's rear and push Tod around on the floor like a mop. No cleaning ever came of this, but both animals really enjoyed themselves.

3. Tod had a cute habit of sitting on a tiny step stool in the kitchen when he wanted snacks or food.

4. Tod didn't shed too much, just the right amount.

5. Tod's breath was never too pungent, just pleasantly gamey.

6. Tod never had dingleberries, maybe see Good Thing #2 above.

7. Tod was an on again off again snuggler, not too needy like another cat I know.

8. Tod respectfully slept on the furniture areas my grandmother approved of.

9. Tod never had a bad thing to say about anybody.

10. Tod was a good friend through and through.

We'll miss you, Tod. I hope you and Wiley are together playing 'Mop' and eating loads of crab cakes and roast chickens.

Happy Slapsgiving!

I've been studying my favorite illustrators. Here's a practice piece in the style of Alice and Martin Provensen. I read they use oil on vellum, but I don't know if that's what they've always done. This is based on the art style/palette they used for their fairy tale book from the sixties. I used what I had on hand: fake water-soluble oils and fake canvas and did the line with a black sharpie.

My mom and Nana and their dog, Calvin, joined us for turkey day and it was super delicious. We watched Ratatouille and it was trés bon, bien sur. I gave thanks for not being a cook in the middle ages. Or a middle aged cook. Yet.

Recently I found out I won a contest put on by one of my favorite new books! Eeeeeee!!!!!
The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz.

I remember entering the contest -- writing a paragraph on why I'd want to win, but I'm pretty sure it was a random drawing. The prize is a trip to San Francisco to meet the author and her former boss...no, really, it is totally awesome to meet someone's former boss, see below:

I never reviewed it here because technically, it ain't for kids. But I did talk about it at my writing/illustrating critique group because the book, a cozy mystery, is freaking hilarious and I highly recommended it to everybody. I'm getting ready to re-read the book to back the following claim up, but am currently convinced that: this is absolutely the sort of book I would have read as a teenager. I'd nominate it for an Alex Award if I thought fun books ever won.

The Spellmans, a San Francisco based family of private investigators, are the heroes of the book. The main character, Izzy, is only 28 and a big part of the book revolves around her teenage sister, Rae. The Spellmans remind me very much of Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpes, my favorite series* as a teen. The dialogue is cereal-milk-out-your-nose funny. Lutz's background is screen plays. The scenes between Izzy and her parents, which I could visualize perfectly, had me cringing and laughing at the same time. No wonder Spellmans is already bought for a future movie.

The mystery elements had me guessing until the very end. I hadn't read reviews so I had no idea how far the crimes would go -- whether things might turn grim and bloody. Just a few days ago while reading Will Write For Food I found the definition of a "cozy." I guess I like "cozy mysteries" and the Spellman Files fit that definition in that there's not a lot of blood shed, except maybe while a character is shaving (so far, the next two books might be gore-fests, who am I to know!) There's also probably less sex and swearing than in most edgy YA which makes me think the Spellmans are a great choice for a winter vacation book for teens. Perfect for snuggly blankets and cocoa, and, really, for anyone in need of a good laugh.

So the CONTEST I WON!

I DO judge books by their cover and loved The Spellman Files on first glance. Thank heavens I enjoyed the innards, too, and took a gander at whether the author was touring or if there was a website for the book. I missed Lisa when she stopped in Seattle, but I found the book and found the contest and enjoyed the limited run of her blog.

The contest grand prize, which I'll be enjoying in February (when the paperback comes out, the sequel comes out in March) is a trip for two to San Francisco to meet Lisa and her former boss, a private investigator. We get to be schooled in the art of private investigating for a day -- watch out Seattle! Because I'll be watching you.

Continue reading "I'm a Spellman!" »

I was thrilled to drive to Kirkland yesterday and see for myself -- Parkplace Books and the Lake Washington IRA put up a banner with my art on it for their kid storytimes and events! I designed a banner, but then Aaron made it 800 times lovelier. Thanks to Marion and Mary and Aaron -- it looks great.

Phew.

Inside Story is done for this book season. We had a lovely time at the large yet inviting Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park. The staff there is top notch (but, truthfully, I think the staff at every independently owned bookstore I've been to is the bee's knees of good people.)

Everyone did a stupendous job of presenting. One of the folks responsible for begetting Inside Story was there to present his wonderful new book. George Shannon, the Grand Poobah of Picture Books, ended the evening talking about the 'inside story' behind Rabbit's Gift. If you live on Bainbridge Island you should absolutely go to his book event at Eagle Harbor Book Co...but if you are mainland bound that day, please consider coming to the Secret Garden Books Holiday Author Celebration!

OH, and for a book event this weekend go to Portland and help me wish Laini oodles and oodles of good wishes and success for her reading on the Children's Stage tomorrow!

This Sunday Sara and I got to sign copies of our fashion book! We took part in the 13th Annual Inglewood Presbyterian Church Book Fair. The always wonderful Kirby and ever dapper Neil help organize the event. Being the only book at the fair that came with a light box and colored pencils we had lots of fun watching kids and adults draw outfits that were the height of fashion.

Here's one of my favorite artistes, Mika, with her mom, Kelly, another of my favorite artistes. Mika drew an inspiring fall ensemble that is sure to be the envy of Project Runway.

Neil took his time making a very punk rock outfit. You can barely see Kirby standing, but Sundee Frazier and Rae McDonald signed books on our right.

And on our left was Joni Sensel, Dave Patneaude (he's chugging a Starbucks beverage), Bonny Becker, and Kirby (not pictured because she was busy being generous somewhere.)

Selling books is fun.
Hopefully we'll be doing another book fair thing at Secret Garden Books in December and I'm already looking forward to it!

I recently illustrated a wedding poem and it was a difficult job. It was for a former client, not someone I know personally, so I had to approach it more like a picture book manuscript and hope that the photos they sent and the tenor of the poem would result in images that resonated for the couple. The poem was written by the bride's father and the photos they sent were great, so it went really well. I hand-lettered the 60+ lines and did seven spots.

Here are some of them:

Jack-o-lanterns bring out the best in people.

Aaron is really clever and made his jack-o-lantern's mouth also look like a bat.

Dana and her family had a pumpkin throwing up pumpkin guts and another one squinting because a knife was still stuck in its eye.

Karen grew a bunch of nobbly gourds and arranged them around her yard looking like little animals with the gourd stems as beaks.

Maybe they will start blogs and post pictures of their creations.

Karen is also the reason for my new favorite fall dish -- a tian.
She puts potatoes, apples, beets, yams, sweet potatoes, olive oil, herbs, and shallots or onions in a big casserole and bakes it up.

Here is a tian before being baked. Mine has a turnip instead of a sweet potato and it is darn good. We've been eating this all week and don't want to stop.

Here's my pumpkin and Aaron's bat-mouth pumpkin on the right. I'm trying to be adopted by these people because of this meal and thought having exciting hair might make me look more like one of the family...Is that a monster peaking out from our front door?