Your Choice

Another vote on what I’m working on! Here are progress sketches of two new portfolio pieces I’m working on. I could finish either first but, which do you want to see done first? Vote in the comments!

Just three more days of a Sale at my Etsy Store! Be sure to drop by and spread the word! If you share the news you are entered in a giveaway of my Animals in Alphabet Poster! The winner will be announced Saturday morning.

Celebrating Sales!

My first Fab.com sale has ended. It went well, thank you everyone who placed an order!

I say lets keep the sale going. This week only all letter prints and poster are 25% OFF! Additionally any order of $75 or more will get free shipping through refund.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

And there’s a GIVEAWAY!

Here’s how you enter!

Leave a comment below and share this post to be entered. In your comment let me know who you are and where else you shared the news of the sale. Then if you retweet this post with the hashtag #animalsinalphabet you are entered as many times as you retweet! If you share on Facebook or Google+ be sure to tag me those count too!

What do you win? A signed edition of the Animals in Alphabet Poster!

Thank you all for your support. Now I am going to get back to the drawing board and start drawing more letters!

Jarrett’s Choice

The community of kid lit illustrators in New England has always impressed me and warmed my heart. Everyone is so helpful to each other with fantastic support.

This past weekend I was very happy to be able to help with The River’s Family Music Meltdown and Book Bash! near Northampton.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka is the main force behind bringing in Children’s Book folks for the Meltdown 2012. This year he called in illustrators to help the event through a Sketch-a-Thon. For each sketch, a donation was given to a local library in need.

Here is me working on a caricature of a family.
Meltdown - Sketch-a-thon 2012

I took the hot seat after Eric Wight, whom I requested an Octo-Pus in Boots from:

And what a treat Lisa Yee was in town! I grabbed one of her cards because it is just so cool to have a photo of Peep!

In between bands, authors and illustrators took the stage to read their books, including, Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple, John Bemelmans Marciano and everyone above mentioned! It was the perfect event for families. We had a great day at the Meltdown.

—

Also just a little over 1 day more of my sale going on at Fab.com Get them while the sale lasts!

Sketchbook Snippet

Today isn’t coming together quite how I wanted. So, rather than rush finishing a sketch for you I have chosen a snippet from my sketchbook to share.

On the left is a little girl surrounded by legs so tall you can’t even see their torsos(hard to see this is a very rough sketch). She is a character I have been thinking about for sometime. I don’t know her story yet, but I know her now and some of the folks around her. Next to her is Sparrow, “who shot Cock Robin with her bow and arrow.” I want to take this to a finished illustration. I have actually sketched Sparrow a couple of times, this is my current favorite. I want to have the sketch’s looseness in the my finished piece because it seems to fit the rawness of the story. This is a  Sparrow, it is a variety from Costa Rica, the Rufous-collared Sparrow.

 

Fab.com’s Choice

Big news, my Letters are going to go on sale at Fab.com! To participate in the sale you do have to be a member of Fab.com which, is free. They have fantastic sales on beautiful items. I highly recommend signing up!

My items will be there March 28th – April 4th.

Here’s a preview of what will be available:

 

Third Visit to California

Hello Blog followers! I am so sorry for my complete lack of posting this week. It was unintended however, I needed the past couple of days to regroup and get my head somewhat back together. Last week my family and I were in California, the Bay Area. It was only my third time visiting the state, second time in Palo Alto. It certainly is a beautiful state though, the temperatures were amazing, everyday Lucien and I were able to play outside without our shoes on.

Here is a look back at our trip in a few pictures.

Hippo statues in the front yard of houses… #notinBostonanymore

Giant Trees that tell the sidewalk where to go…#notinBostonanymore (yeah that kind of happens everywhere but look at the care the city took to make the sidewalk work around the tree!)

A sunset I can see! #notinBostonanymore

The Palo Alto Junior Museum and Zoo with signs created by Tracy Bishop!

The receptacle for the garbage is the smallest, YES! #notinBostonanymore

A view from a house we visited in the Mountains of CA.

Lucien rocking out on a swing with the ridiculous cement slide in view. Children went down this on cardboard like they were snowboarding, parents were not concerned! #notinBostonanymore

Look at the size of those Pea Plants! It’s March! #notinBostonanymore

One more very memorable event that was very unlike Boston which, I did not get a picture of was crossing the street. You do not jaywalk in California. People look at you all funny. On the other side of this cars do give Pedestrians the right of way, even if their light is green and they are trying to turn right or left. AMAZING! #notinBostonanymore

In addition to the adventures spent with just Lucien, we also got to go to lunch with Laura Zarrin and Tracy Bishop. It was a real treat! It is always wonderful to meet friends from twitter in person. I hope next time in California we can hang out again.