Nuts, I missed posting yesterday! Maybe I can fit in two today.

Slowly posting all my favorite books for the year so far.

First up:

Sweet, sweet Buster is back! Buster is an adorably emotive pup crafted by super dynamo Denise Fleming. She paints with paper pulp and relishes bold color, great nouns and exciting verbs.

This is hand's down Logan's most favorite book ever. He, too, is often homesick like Buster. But when Buster gets to play with bouncy balls, make art projects and eat beans and bacon at a campfire cookout the days and nights at camp fly by. At the back of the book there is a glossary of all the fun cowboy words used.

Denise has a lovely website full of activities. While there you can make your own Buster and sign up for her excellent newsletter which is run by sock monkeys.

Here is Logan reading a favorite page where the dogs gather sticks for the campfire. And no, that isn't my furry finger in the picture corner above. That is Bebop once again ruining Logan's quiet reading time. Bebop would scratch our eyes out if we interrupted him while reading HIS favorite books: No Kiss For Mother and Rotten Ralph.

And today's related good news via Fuse #8 that all the Ungerer books are being reissued!

(Does Bebop think he's looking in a mirror when he reads this book?)

(Was Bebop Jack Gantos's cat in another life?)

Aaron channeled Richard Dean Anderson for a little bit yesterday afternoon. We had a mini-emergency with his motorcycle which required us to use:

• fuzzy crafty pink pipe cleaners
• a paper coffee filter
• a one cup Melita plastic filter
• half a plastic water bottle
• torque wrench
• gardening gloves
• bucket o' gasoline

We are all still alive and the bike is fine. Next time he'll only be allowed to use:

• fox
• chicken
• bag of seed

To get away from all the gas fumes we went for an evening stroll and saw this car. A Packard Clipper. I think it's the perfect car for the Bun Family. Or else they drive a Smart Car? You can't tell from the picture, but the Clipper is actually ten feet in width and like, thirty feet long. It is way big. Two SUVs wide and ten SUVs long. I'm sure the Bun Family would have a steam powered one that uses carrot tops instead of gasoline, so maybe it is okay for them to have such a big car?

Goodness! Technological advances here at Chompoblog HQ. I'm making this post from my new iPhone to see if it might be fun to post like this at the LA conference.

And... It isn't. It is kinda difficult.

But the phone is fun to use otherwise -- my custom ringtone is "A Alligators All Around!" and there's all sorts of crazy applications and GPS stuff and iTunes on it -- insane!

Oh, jeez. The rest of this post is from a dull as dishwater normal old computer. I don't know how to upload images from the iPhone to the blog. Above is a photo I took from the phone of our hallway. I got a packet of variety art pencils and wanted to see how they all compared to each other and how watercolor effected them. It is all bunnies all the time around here right now. Maybe Aaron will discover the secrets to phone blogging, but I'm going to go find some lunch.

I'll try to post while I'm in LA, but the postess with the mostess at last year's conference was super stylish Alice Pope of CWIM fame. Be sure to check her blog out regularly.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Jaime

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.

One of the best things about moving has been the chance to have a real studio space. It is a dream come true and I wanted to share a little bit of it!

Here is the Before Picture when it was a lowly, exposed studs tool shed, 8 by 12 from the outside, ant colony included:

Continue reading "My new studio" »

Today's post is only for mature readers or people like Lisa Lutz or Kalama Jon.

Read on if you don't mind stuff like this.

Continue reading "Not for bunny lovers" »

A little sketch of a scene I witnessed a few blocks away.

Here are some things we've been enjoying so far this summer, most of them are semi-sinful or vapid:

Aaron becomes a man transfixed when Wipeout or I Survived A Japanese Game Show comes on. I watched every episode of Suburban Shootout while sewing up an enormous twin-sized cushion cover.

A Posie post reminded me of the joys of light reading -- I read Rose Cottage. I thought it would be more funny and fantastical like Eva Ibbotson's books, but those are only for Eva Ibbotson to be like and they aren't really guilty -- just a pleasure.

And a surprise package from Karen! Thanks, lady! We both have a great new textbook and should be posting our homework from it this summer in a regular fashion.

Two albums I've listened to at least once every summer day are Koop Islands, which is full of great standard Koop noise, but my two favorite tracks sound like they could have been in the Twin Peaks soundtrack, too. And Anne Dudley might be the coolest lady around! There's nothing to put a spring in your step like Hugh Laurie singing songs from the twenties. Sadly, it is out of print and you'd have to search around for it, but it is definitely worth looking for.

All my other summer things are food related:

Aaron got new after shave which makes him smell irresistible -- JUST like a waffle! I'm digging some lotion I got at the grocery store. Says it is Herbal, but smells like bubble gum. Herbal bubble gum?

My summer drink is a Kermit colored Iced Matcha Latte with Rice Milk. I'm not sure if it is hippydippy or totally fashion forward to be drinking this. To make it properly requires accessories that are specialized and a bit intimidating. I had my first one at Flying Apron. I know they sell the supplies at Uwajimaya, but in googling recipes I guess Starbucks makes one, though I bet it is ultra-sweet. I love the colors on this site and look forward to trying out some of the recipes. Here's a picture of their matcha starter set:

I shouldn't be eating these cookies and mostly I just gaze at the box. But everything about them reminds me of the sweetest cutest people we miss across the pond. Cutest cookie box ever? I wish they credited the artist like Theo Chocolate does on its bars.

And finally, dark chocolate coconut milk ice cream is the best thing ever.

I'm taking my favorite class again, at the UW Extension with superhero Brenda Z Guiberson. The class is called Illustrating Children's Picture Books and our big focus is dummy building. Brenda does amazing edits of manuscripts besides kick butt art and dummy critiques. This is the THIRD time I've taken the class -- it is really a super boot camp for projects that need a bit of toning. I can't recommend it highly enough.

And it is my third time because...I love it! The other two times I've taken it I had stories that didn't quite sing to me and no amount of Brenda-izing could save them. But THIS time around I'm digging the story and art I'm working on and feel like singing that song from West Side Story "Something's Coming" (before all the fighting and death happens when Tony is about to meet Maria and not his impending doom.)

Here Brenda shows us examples of picture book art styles...Raul Colon's scratching and some scratchboard samples.

I turned in my manuscript again after receiving some great edits/comments at the last class. I also turned in a redo of some character designs I've been working on for my bunny brothers story.

Here they are as they've been since, hmm, November or something? And Brenda wanted me to get the bunny on the left, he's a 3rd grader, looking different from the middle guy who is a kindergartner. And the baby of the family, who is in the 2 to 3 year old range, needed to look less beefy compared to the kindergartner. Brenda also suggested sticking the eyes of the younger two bunnies below the half way points on their noggins. Below is my redesign:

The one in the middle is named Cheeky. I like that his ears mimic the arcs of his eyebrows (I'm not sure if that will work for every pose, though.) He, the budding thespian, is delivering an impassioned monologue. I think he looks angry in the redesign so that needs some tweaking -- he's not angry, just acting. I feel like the three characters are three parts of my own personality, though Aaron will tell you I most resemble the middle guy who is predominantly a whiny pain in the patoot. Just wait till I write Aaron, The Naughty Farting Dog Who Dies In A Horrible Way and we'll see who's so funny then.

That is the view from Shangri-Lar. The amazing new home of my favorite Lar couple!

Sooooo beautiful, so happy, cheerful, eco-friendly, delicious, warm, and inspiring a home has never been built before.

And above is the lovely couple: Kirby is wielding two knives while Neil protects a wine bottle. Look at those happy kitchen colors! Even the lights are exciting -- some repurposed South American glass seltzer bottle halves. Incredible! And this is only 1% of the gorgeous and unique things that make this house so special.

The food and company are amazing at Shangri-Lar. We went out at low tide to walk in the water and look for shells and pretty rocks. We stepped on horse clams spouts and got our toes tickled by little crabs and fast fishies. Kirby and Neil made the most delicious dinner. Wine flowed. And then at sunset Neil returned to his ancestral urges and made a big blazing fire for our s'more dessert. It was heaven!

Thank you, dear friends, for such a great time.

I think I am in Blogadoon -- where you only make a blog post every one hundred years to chronicle briefly seeing Gene Kelly before going back to sleep for a century.

I'm not sure why blogging is a habit I can't start. Maybe I should do it in conjunction with starting smoking? That would make blogging seem exciting and dangerous. Or maybe I should pretend that Martha has hired me to blog everyday. She's a brutal task master and one should be frightened of ever disappointing her so I'd be motivated by fear. Or maybe I should just be an adult about this and find some inner motivation?

Here's my public declaration to start a 21 day challenge to blog everyday for the next 3 weeks and see how that goes. I would like every post to have a point or relate to illustration, but many of the blogs I like don't always stick to a narrow theme or have a point... Those blogs are simply chronicling a slice of the blogger's life with pretty pictures -- often of cake. That's what I like. And they post regularly which is key.

How is everybody's summer going? Mine is fine, thanks.

June I spent just eating broccoli and rice and rice flavored rice milk to determine some food allergies. I think I am allergic to bread and cupcakes and pasta. My three favorite food groups.

July I've been working on my art studio/office and taking the best class ever (my third time!) We also went to the most magical place on earth outside of the Disney properties -- Shangri-lar.

The inspirational beauty and wondertude of Shangri-lar
+
The need to decorate someone's baby shower
+
A new craft (linoleum/rubber block carving) to explore
=
Veggie Baby Alphabets!

I hand-printed these on banner flags, some onesies, some present packaging, and some dishtowels. Block carving and printing is soooo much fun! I can't stop! I like it more than knitting or sewing. I especially like it in conjunction with PBS Masterpiece/Mystery watching and baking (now gluten-free :{ )

I'm researching what sort of items parents of the 0 to 3 crowd might enjoy seeing these designs on:
Framed art prints for a nursery?
Onesies?
An alphabet poster?
Pillows?
Bowls?
Bibs?

If you e-mail me in the next few weeks with some thoughtful suggestions I'd be happy to send you a print of one in thanks (in lieu of cupcakes which don't mail well in manila envelopes (Oh! There are two other veggie baby print choices, too, which I'll post in one of my next 21 daily posts and you can pick your favorite.))

I do wish the t is for tomato was scratch and sniff -- just pruned my tomato plants and I smell like one hot tomato now!