Caldecott buzz

There's starting to be some talk about who will win the Caldecott this year. (The Caldecott is like the Academy Award for Children's Book illustration, in case you didn't know.) Here's a good article about some supposed contenders. I knew most, but not all of these (I'm ashamed to say) so had to go look them up. I thought you might be in the same boat, so thought I'd share these quick images and links (all pulled from Amazon). I've also put a link to the illustrator's website or blog (except John J Muth, for whom I substituted a video, since he doesn't seem to have a site?).

**This is not an Official List - just speculation by people in the know.**

(Also, the pictures don't link (thank you Blogger), so you have to just use the text link - I know its confusing with the "Click to Look Inside!" on the picture - like I said, I pulled them straight off Amazon and didn't bother to crop that bit off.)

Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes by Salley Mavor

Mama Miti, Donna Jo Napoli author, Kadir Nelson illustrator

Ubiquitous: Celebrating Nature's Survivors, Joyce Sidman author,

Beckie Prange illustrator

Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring,

Jan Greenberg & Sandra Jordan authors,

Brian Floca illustrator

Art & Max, by David Wiesner

(if he wins, it will be his FOURTH Caldecott)

A Sick Day for Amos McGee, Philip Christian Stead author,

Erin Stead illustrator

Here Comes the Garbage Barge, Jonah Winter author,

Red Nose Studio illustrator

Snook Alone, by Marilyn Nelson

City Dog, Country Frog, Mo Willems author,

John J Muth illustrator

Chalk, by Bill Thomson

13 Words, Lemony Snicket author, Maira Kalman illustrator

Hmmm. Well, I have my favorites, but I'm not telling. I actually haven't seen some of these up close and personal, so can't say too much.

I'm kind of surprised that this one hasn't been mentioned ~

The Quiet Book, Debra Underwood author, Renata Liwska illustrator

When this first came out I was so sure it had "big award" written all over it. It still may - we'll find out January 10th when the winners are announced!!

Dreaming up new art

I'm excited about a new series I want to do. Its all about The Pantry.

I've always been fascinated by people's pantries, and love to get a glimpse of a good one when possible (no, I didn't say "snoop". A good ploy is to be helping with dinner, and have the excuse to offer to get something from the larder.)

Very few (OK, none) that I have seen are as cozy and charming as this one.

© Jill Barklem from the Brambley Hedge series

(I believe its from Autumn Story)

To stock a basic pantry, one definitely needs some dry pasta.

And spices.

And chocolates and olives and capers and tins of things and anchovies and are those chocolate espresso beans in that middle row jar?

I'm not sure about storing the cooked ham in the pantry, but the plum pudding is OK (for a bit) and of course attractive serving ware always helps to dress things up.

This is too perfect and staged to be real, but I was taken with the white pitchers, since I have a collection myself (which I can assure you are not stored in the pantry).

Oooh, yummy looking things in jars.

And cheese! OK, this is not someone's larder, but its cheese! One could keep cheese in the pantry, I suppose, if its cool enough. In my fantasy there is cheese and plenty of it. You know Wallace and Grommit have plenty of cracking good cheese in theirs.

And fancy unreadable labels done with a calligraphy pen.

So anyways. This is what I've been doing - looking at larders and mulling over what I want to do with this series, exactly. When I get started I will post about it, you can be sure. It might be colored pencil, and it might be watercolor + pencil, not sure. Like I said, its in the incubation/dreaming stage. I love that stage.

Here's to your art dreams *clink*

Merry Christmas

Two Lords a Leaping - they've lept away from the pack of ten and are doing their own thing.
I can relate.

Here, the presents are wrapped (well, almost), the Christmas feast is shopped (well, almost) and other preparations are under way. At least the house is decorated. I look forward to having a warm and cozy time with loved ones. I doubt there will be much leaping involved (unlike over at the Fezziwig's), but there will be nog and sweets and a fire, to be sure.

I hope that whatever kind of holiday you celebrate is wonderful and fulfilling and satisfying and all good things that holidays are supposed to be.

God bless us, every one!

Cat books for Christmas

Hi - we're Paula's cats. She's busy knitting, and told us to blog something for her. So we're going to show you 2 books we like that have cats in them.

The first one is called A Pussycat's Christmas and it has a lot of really good paintings of a cat by this lady named Anne Mortimer. She's really really really good at painting cats. She's painted a whole bunch of cats and a whole bunch of books. We think if you go look at this one, there will be pictures of all the other ones too. There's another Christmas one with Santa, then another one with Santa and a kitten. Paula has these by the bed and looks at them at night while we're all snuggly and kneading on the blanket. We think the cat in this one looks a lot like Saachi, except the one in the book is a girl.

©©©©©© Anne Mortimer ©©©©©©©

We like this one too. Its called Cats and Carols and has pictures that were painted by some lady called Leslie Anne Ivory. (What's the deal with the name Anne? Do you have to be named Anne to paint cats really good or something?). Anyway. This one is really good too, and has lots of paintings of cats and has a bunch of Christmas stuff in it. This Leslie Anne lady has painted a lot of other cats books too which are also on the book website when you go look at this one.

©©©©©©© Leslie Anne Ivory ©©©©©©©©©

We're hungry now so that's all we're going to do. Its raining a lot and we are sooooo borrrrrred because we can't go outside and Paula is just knitting and we've pestered her a lot but she's just ignoring us. She said to tell you she'll check in later in the week maybe and hopes everyone is having a nice holiday week. Whatever. It has to be dinner time, we need to go poke her or something. So guess we're done here.

Meow meow meow meow and meow.

#5

Who lives at #5? What is the letter pushed under the door about? Who is the woman walking away? Questions to ponder.

I'm getting warmed up to watercolors again after not using them for quite a while. I do of course still love my colored pencils - but doing this same piece in pencil would have taken twice as long, at least. For my children's book work I want to be able to work faster, so am going back to this medium. Oh, its not fast - just faster than my pencil technique. I actually don't mind spending time lingering over an illustration, not at all. Its just that deadlines require one to move it out of low gear pretty frequently, and with pencils that's kind of not possible. One just has to work longer to get the same result.

I had to get used to, all over again, how watercolors dry differently than how you put them on - they get lighter, and duller (not shiny, like when they're wet). Well I knew that, but after using pencils for so long, where what you put down is what you get, it was an adjustment.

Its like exercising a different part of your 'art brain', using a different medium. And I think that's good.

Salley Mavor's work

{{{ SQUEAL }}}

©©©©©© Salley Mavor ©©©©©©©

I've always loved Salley Mavor's work. And now, there is a wonderful blog post on Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast about her and her work, with an interview, and about a bazillion really wonderful photos of her fabric/needlework illustrations. Go see!

(P.S. I didn't ask permission to share this - hopefully no one will be mad at me. I was just so excited to show you!)

That's it. Go enjoy your day.

Little Square Cards

They're done.

There are three 'assortments' - Christmas, Candy, and Food (which are really just fruit).

You get 24 cards and envelopes in a little square box.

There's a picture with all the images included in each assortment in the etsy listings. If you're keen on these and would like a custom assortment made up, I'd be happy to do that for you. Just send me an email or convo me through etsy.

Once I had all the supplies I needed, and got a system down, they went smoothly. It was that first fumbling around with the idea that had me tearing my hair out. I found some cool round white stickers to seal the envelopes with, which you can leave white, or do your own thing on. I did actually set up and print out a whole sheet of them with images that matched the cards ... kind of crazy. It was a good idea, but overkill. The plain white ones are muuuuuch better.

I'm proud of myself for following through with the idea. I think they're really cute, if not very practical from a money-making point of view. I'll spare you the breakdown, but let's just say, if I charged what they're really worth (mostly in time and effort), I'd be adding a zero onto the current price. Seriously. But its gauche to talk about money, so I won't.

So anyways, that's what I've been up to. And now I need a bit of a break.

Christmas picture books

At Christmas time I always pull out all of my holiday picture books and 'read' them (look at the pictures) in bed at night. Really.

Thought I'd share a few with you.

I love Peter Collingon's work. He does wordless picture books.

© Peter Collington

A Small Miracle is really moving - about an old woman who is alone and the nativity scene characters who befriend and help her.

© Peter Collington

On Christmas Eve is about how Santa delivers presents to a girl who doesn't have a chimney for him to come down.

His books are quiet and full of detail and really draw you in. I just love his painting style (gouache maybe?).

I have a couple more that aren't Christmas, but worth mentioning.

© Peter Collington

The Tooth Fairy is about what you'd expect it to be about - but its also very not what you would expect. The whole process the fairy goes through to leave the coin under the pillow, then also what she does with the tooth are really neat.

© Peter Collington

Clever Cat is hilarious - about a cat who gets a job to support himself when his family falls a bit short. I know I've suggested that very thing to mine on more than one occasion, but so far, no takers. ** This one isn't wordless like the others, just fyi.

Shortbread

I finished my entry for the They Draw and Cook holiday recipe contest. Shortbread!

(click to see this bigger)

This was a lot of fun to put together. I did a little demo of it on my website, if you're interested.

I still start out working with paper and pencils, but the final art is all digital.

In the last post I was talking about this 'reindeer style' and how I liked doing it - but that version was pen & ink plus watercolor. I've updated it to be all digital, and I love working this way.

I do try to make at least one batch of this every year at Christmas time - usually a few batches, actually. Its sooo good. It goes well with coffee or tea or milk, and isn't too sweet. I like that its so deceptively plain, but that you can also jazz it up by dipping it in chocolate or sprinkling sugar on top. Go make some!

Let's see, what else ... tomorrow looks like its going to be 'getting the tree' day. That's always fun (kind of NOT). Oh, I know, I sound grumpy. I just wish I had a magic wand to have it all done is all - the "schlepping of the tree and making a mess of needles in the car and house, sticking it in the stand, trying to get it straight, and then discovering all of last year's lights don't work" part of the process kind of makes me nuts. After its all decorated and I can sit with a plate of shortbread and enjoy it, then I'm OK.

Also, I finally received the wee little envelopes to go with my wee little cards I was making, so now I have to squeeze in time to get those all put together.

Fa la la la laaaaaaAAAAA. Tis the season!!

Deep ... breaths ...

Illustration Friday - Savour

This week's Illustration Friday prompt is "savour". I did this illustration a while back for a Chinese restaurant in San Francisco - they used it as their Christmas card (click on it to see it bigger). Santa is savouring a plate of dim sum while the reindeer, working as waiters, serve him. I know. Pretty silly.

I'm resurrecting this style for a new piece I'm working on. I've always loved these reindeer and this pen and ink plus watercolor style. Last night in bed I was reading "Artist to Artist" (23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children about Their Art), and in it Maurice Sendak says its important to have more than one style, which I thought was refreshing, and goes against everything everyone else usually says (more than one style will confuse art directors, they won't know what to expect when they hire you, etc.). He says "...develop a fine style, a fat style, a fairly slim style, and a really rough style." So I'm not sure how I'd define this 'reindeer style' but its definitely different than everything else I do. And its fun!

I resisted Black Friday like the plague, and will now gradually ease myself into the idea of Christmas. Actually, at this time next week I'll probably have bought the tree and have it all done up. But this weekend I will still savour the Thanksgiving leftovers and this very brief 'in between time' and get some work done.

Inspiration

This is where I went today~





And this is what I saw ~

The amazing wonderful work of the amazing and wonderful Wayne Thiebaud at the Crocker Museum. The new addition is open (and is not blue like in my pictures, but rather, all white) and is impressive.

The art - well, what can I say. (I hope Mr. Thiebaud doesn't mind me sharing these pictures on my blog - copyright and all that.) There were pieces he did in the early '60s all the way through this year. I was able to get this close to them all and see the brushstrokes and how he layered the paint in places. Some are almost abstract up very close, then magically turn into a basket of fries or a bit of landscape or something when you stand back. The paintings are simple and complex at the same time. A real treat.

Illustration Friday - Sneaky

She's sneaking up on some lucky person who's about to get beaned with that snowball. Glad its not me!

~~~~~

Still working on the little cards. Turns out the envelopes were on back order, but no one told me, so I have to wait until next week for those to arrive. After that I will have to hustle to get them all put together, since some are for Christmas. Talk about 'last minute'!

Thanksgiving Day preparations are starting to happen. Next week will be full of hustle and bustle, so I may or may not post. I hope everyone has a lovely holiday filled with good company and good food and lots of warm fuzzies.

Its never as easy as it looks ...

(warning: whining ahead)

How hard can it be to make little cards - right? Well I'll tell you ~

First you get that cool idea. "Oooh, I know - I'll make little tiny cards!!"

Then you start the actual process of figuring out how to make them.

Lay them out in Photoshop so you can print several on one page. Not hard.

Test (aka 'waste') different papers, determining just the right combo of the image looking good plus foldability. Settle on something after printing way too many on paper that will now be used to line the bird cage.

Trim them all. Start with a trusty utility knife and straight edge and cutting board. Think "this is crazy" and go buy a 'cutter' at the crafts store. Decide the cutter is a cheap piece of crap, and go back to the utility knife. Think "this is 10 cent an hour slave labor - is this really what I went to art school for?".

Ruin several cards, and realize the knife could probably use a new (aka 'sharp') blade. Change the blade and be momentarily amazed at just how sharp a new utility blade actually is, and realize this is a job that needs to be done while very WIDE AWAKE with no distractions. Do quite a few, until attention starts to wane, and pack it up for the night.

Think it might be cute to have rounded corners, so use the cute little 'corner rounder thingie' that was also purchased at the craft store. Practice diligently on 'bad paper' until confident to move on to the real cards. Make several 'just slightly off' cuts which produce a notched effect rather than a perfect rounded corner (usually on the 4th corner of a card, which looked like it was going to be successful).

Throw bad card into basket. Try not to calculate just how much this is costing, what with paper, ink, printing and cutting and folding time (oh we haven't even gotten into folding yet!). Go pour a drink. Ponder what made us think this was a good idea to begin with. Wonder how all those people on etsy just whip this stuff out like its nothing. Question our very existence. Eat something.

This is the evil, EVIL, corner rounder thingie. This is the little orange machine-like punch thing that not only doesn't work perfectly every time, but also can give you carpal-tunnel in the punching arm after about 10 minutes of use.

I'm still waiting for the envelopes I ordered to arrive. And figured out after the fact that they are 'ungummed', meaning you can't lick them to make them stick shut. Will anyone care? There isn't a 'gummed' option in this size. A lesson in "read the fine print". I knew it was too good to be true when I found them. If I don't use them, I will have a box of 1000 wee tiny envelopes taking up space in my closet. What to do, what to do ...

So that's what's been going on at my place. And now you'll know why I'll be charging $25 a card when they finally get up in the shop. Oh I'm kidding but not by much. Lets add in the 'joy' of experiencing the craft store with its 3 different awful songs playing simultaneously over the loudspeaker in different parts of the store to get all of us shoppers 'in the mood' (one was Christmas, the others were just everyday annoying - and if you stood in the right place you could hear all three of them at the same time!).

But let's see if I can end this on a positive note. The amazing genius computer guy came and fixed my Photoshop issue. YAY. And did some other fiddly stuff while he was here.

I'm working on some art I can't show, so that's a drag, but the way it is.

And I just bought some new candy to draw - some new taffys and other goodies, so that will be fun.

So hopefully the next time I post I will have something to show for my trouble, and there will be less whining.

Pumpkin ice cream awaits!

Ugh, computers

... they can make you cry.

I'm having an "I can't open Photoshop" issue at the moment (which no doubt has something to do with the new printer I set up yesterday). Long story short, tomorrow someone will be here in person to sit down in front of this machine and tinker with things, which I hope is more successful than the poor online tech help people who have been walking me through steps of opening folders, deleting, uninstalling, testing, ad nauseum that you'll be familiar with if you've ever had something like this happen to you).

I'm grateful that I at least have the internet and mail! - but no Photoshop is like not having lights or running water to an artist these days. One can scan in images, but not open them up or print them out. Or if one actually does their work using Photoshop, its much more dire a situation. Thankfully I can still use my colored pencils, but am a little shocked at my own dependence on this one program!

So I thought I'd better post something, just in case (knock wood) more things crash and burn - fingers crossed they won't!!

I'm doing little 2 inch square cards with my candy art ~
I ordered wee little square envelopes and can't wait until they arrive. They're so cute!

Of course getting the cards actually made is on hold until I get things sorted out with this machine (as is all other art production type of stuff, phot0-making, posting on etsy, etc.)

Sigh.

In other news, I received a copy of Childhood Wonders, a new book out by National Geographic, which is using one of my illustrations - Cozy Quilt.

Its a sweet book. (My piece is the laaaast one in the book, page 128, if you do the "Look Inside!" thing on Amazon.

Here's another link - to Random House, who has a neat 'look through the book' feature.

And I think my Spaghetti alla Caruso recipe is going to be in a cookbook - not sure of the details yet.


I'm pretty pleased with myself, considering that piece is the first real 'pen and ink plus digital color' whole illustration I tried! Maybe I won't give up on that style quite yet after all ...

And there you have it. I have to go tidy up my workspace, then do some 'coloring' - and praying to the photoshop or computer gods to put everything right. Wish me luck!

Plaid Season

Now that Halloween is over, we can really get into the part of Fall I love. Today I pulled out my Indian corn, preserved Fall leaves and cedar and little pine cones and decorated up the house. I love this time of year, its like New Year's to me. I get a real battery re-charge when the air gets a bit chilly, sweaters come out of hiding, and rich plaids appear. I go all funny over a nice Pendleton wool plaid anything, and collect 'fat quarters' of cotton and flannel plaids. Once when I was gushing over some stack of holiday plaid squares I'd just bought, my Mom asked "what are you going to do with them?" and I said "just look at them, for inspiration". (insert raised eyebrow look here)

These two pieces were painted with watercolor. They're roughly based on actual clan tartans - with good bit of artistic license thrown in! The 'decorative side' of me could just sit and paint this kind of thing all day long.

So Happy Plaid Season everyone! - just remember to wear them responsibly.