It’s long overdue that I added some black and white art to my portfolio. I have been trying to get to a couple of black and white follow up pieces to my cover of The Dark is Rising from the NESCBWI Poster Showcase, since May. Any repeat viewers notice a change to my cover? I finally got two down. Although, I am probably going to make a quick change to the image of the rider, hopefully tomorrow before I fly to LA. (If you see my portfolio page after 3pm tomorrow the change is most likely made.)

Drawing in black & white turns out to be a source of joy. I had so much fun working on this that I lost all track of time and stayed awake much too late. I point the finger at the brush pen for opening up this new love. Once I am back from LA I am planning to draw more.

Yes I am going to the SCBWI National LA conference. I can’t believe it, I am so nervous. Well, I’m not nervous of being there. I am looking forward to being at a conference just as myself and not responsible for planning or presenters. This is not a complaint about working a conference, I do love that too. However, for this big conference I appreciate not having that added pressure. So, the nervousness I am wrangling is my travel anxiety. I don’t know if others of you out there get this but, I get it bad. I had a terrible time eating dinner and that was a full 24 hours before I even leave to get on my flight. I’m not afraid of flying; I worry about missing my flight or delays or the general discomfort of being too much in other people’s space for hours. I wouldn’t want to miss out on the grand adventure of LA so, I do what I can to get past it. Hopefully as I continue to challenge myself by traveling it will get better and better.

LA should be a blast! I love that a meet and greet is planned with us all in comfy pajamas. I am looking forward to meeting all the people I have only spoken with online. Be sure to come up and say hi!

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I feel like mixing things up! I always loved playing the quote game (guess what movie this quote is from) in the car with my Dad on car trips. We watched a lot of movies so it was fun trying to find the most obscure quote possible to try to stump each other. I still love to play so I’m bringing it to the blog. For the people that come back regularly. Over the course of a season, every three months, you can earn points via a guessing game. I will leave a movie quote at the end of my blog posts and whoever leaves a comment with the correct movie title first gets 5pts. After three months I will tally the points and whoever has the most gets a free print. First quote:

“Why are you wearing these clothes?”
“Because I’ve lost my clothes”
“But why are you wearing these clothes?”
“Because I just went gay all of a sudden!”

Currently Reading: Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson
Currently Watching: Season 3 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer