peep a thon
We’re slowly working our way through the candy loot. These three peeps are not just a metaphor for spring, but signal some good peeps about Nest, Nook and Cranny. Author Susan Blackaby has sent lovely reviews that quack nicely about our book. Here’s what Sheila Egan from Children’s Lit had to say: “Otters loll like whiskered boats,/Bobbing gently in the swells.” Utilizing similes and many other “figures of speech,” Blackby has created an enchanting tool for teaching as well as for pure enjoyment. Here her poetry covers five different habitats...
Read Morefriending
This little hermit crab appears in “Nest, Nook and Cranny” more than once and serves as today’s mascot…he reminds me of the song in my head: I get by with a little help from my friends. I can thank friend and former teacher at the Institute for Children’s Literature for a great opportunity: Kirby Larson interviewed the author, Susan Blackaby, and I on her blog. Read it here. I love when friends resurface from another chapter, a distant beach. Good friend, Kathy arrived on stormy seas to play catch-up in the world of art, elder care, and mothering. Former Peaks...
Read Moreobjects of affection
I have a little box in my studio that displays my collection of souvenir cameras and various objects of my affection. I have a thing for starfish and urchin shells, very rare to come across on the rocky shores of Maine. I draw them every chance I get. This illustration is on the title page of Nest, Nook, and Cranny. I used this drawing, titled “Urchin Experiment” for a postcard mailer awhile back. Backstory: I did a lot of diving off the diving board growing up at my parents’ Red Doors Motel, where the pool was my spot. No urchins there, though… When I brought my...
Read Morenook books are here!
Hooray! I got my box of Nest, Nook and Cranny books! O happy Pub Day! I worked feverishly a year ago on the illustrations for this book of poems by Susan Blackaby. About animal habitats, it was a delicious challenge to immerse myself in the wordplay and my own environment, my radar always on the look out for immediate reference. The book is punctuated by spreads that define a particular habitat: desert, grassland, shoreline, wetland, and woodland. Except for desert, I could mine my own territory, more or less. Since there is a beaver colony on Peaks, I thought I could do some direct...
Read Moreopen house hoopla
Three cheers for Charlesbridge! I buzzed down to Boston on Wednesday with fellow island illustrator and diva, Annie O’Brien, to celebrate our favorite publisher’s 20th anniversary. We shared good parking karma all day, and schmoozed with a bevy of creators, staff, and bookhounds. I’m not new to illustration (egads, almost 30 years!) but am relatively new to this children’s book world. It was a surprise to encounter some familiar faces from my distant early days, such as Leslie Evans, Robin Brickman, David Biedrzycki, and former student (from my brief chapter teaching...
Read Morebugs and birds over and over
Funny how my radar seems to pick up coincidental stuff. As I wrap up my project for Charlesbridge, I keep coming across parallels to my assignment. Just as I was drawing the egg for the jacket, Elena brought us fresh ones from her backyard chickens. I had to revise a beehive for one of the interior spreads. I made this one by inverting a single drawing, distorting it and repeating it. Then I went to the Gem Gallery exhibit, Think Pink, Give Love, and saw this assemblage by Carol Cartier. I also love this contraption by Tim Nihoff, a collector of broken tail-lights and consummate recycler....
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