Sketchbook Project 2012—Accordion player in color #sketchbookproject

Here's that little accordion player girl in color. I wasn't thinking of this when I drew the sketch, but when I was figuring out what colors to use, that raincoat absolutely had to be yellow which automatically required this little girl's hair to be blue.

Don't all little girls who wear yellow raincoats have blue hair?

Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustration

I'm excited to be part of a three-woman panel at the Frick Art & Historical Center on March 28 which will coincide with their exhibit Draw Me a Story: A Century of Children's Book Illustration. Elizabeth Fitzgerald Howard and Elizabeth Perry will be the other two panelists. I will play the part of "The Person Who Is Not Elizabeth."

Our panel is titled Women of the Page, and the last I heard they already had around 70 reservations in the books, which means they're almost sold out. The event starts with a cocktail hour in the rotunda of the museum. The exhibit will be open for the cocktail hour from 7:00 through 8:00.

They're going to start our part of the program talking about favorite female children's book authors. Our panel will then share our experiences as authors and illustrators including our processes, how we became interested in the business, how we developed our styles and how we got our work seen, among other things they haven't thought up to throw at us yet.

I'm not nervous.

The Draw Me a Story exhibit runs through May 20, 2012.

The image above is a watercolor on paper by Charles James Folkard (1878–1963) called "King of the goblins." It's from the book The Princess and the Goblin, published in 1949. The painting is small, only 9 ¼ x 6 ¼ inches. It's part of the collection of the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco, CA. The photo of the painting was taken by E. G. Schempf.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Accordion player sketch #sketchbookproject

The next image I drew for my Sketchbook Project 2012 sketchbook was this little accordian player.

My illustrations @SCBWI Bologna

Each year, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) mans a booth at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, and they take along a portfolio of pieces from selected members. I entered my work and was selected to be a part of that portfolio, along with just 39 other people. I'm very grateful and excited that my illustrations will be participating!

Along with the physical portfolio in Italy, SCBWI also displays a gallery of art from the participating illustrators on their Website. Here's the link to this year's page. Bummer having a last name that starts with a letter of the alphabet that's toward the end and requiring a scroll down, but there you go. I'm happy to be there.

The image up above is one of the illustrations that will be included on my page in the physical portfolio, and it's the one I chose to represent my style on the SCBWI Web gallery.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Knitter in color #sketchbookproject

And then this would be that little knitter guy after he got himself a little color.

Tots. Made from taters

Anyone who knows me well enough knows I'm not much of a cooker. I'd rather be spending my time creating something that won't be coming out my other end tomorrow, if you know what I mean.

But sometimes, you just gotta do it.

I made some tater tots, completely from scratch which, I realize, isn't saying much, but it's more effort than I usually put out. I was proud of how they looked, and I got a thumbs-up from the hubby. But I don't know that I'll be doing it again very soon. It's just too easy to buy the little frozen guys. Here's the recipe I used anyway, if you're so inclined:


Tater Tots (from Can You Stay for Dinner—her post is funnier, by the way)

serves five, as a side dish

3 medium potatoes, finely grated and dried well
¼ C all-purpose flour
1 t salt, plus more for serving
½ t black pepper (I didn't use any pepper in mine)
¼ C Canola oil

Mix the potatoes with the flour, salt and pepper. Form into 1" logs.

Heat oil in a large pot until it is so hot that dripping a drop of water on the surface immediately sizzles and spatters. Add tots and fry until all sides are golden brown.

Serve hot with extra salt.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Knitter sketch #sketchbookproject

The sketch for the next page of my Sketchbook Project project: a knitter.

Sketchbook Project 2012—Wrinkly dog in color #sketchbookproject

Here you go. The wrinkly dog in color.

The further I get in the sketchbook, the heavier I seem to be applying the spray fixative. I started out worried about when I was working on the back of a page, how the page on the other side would rub and transfer to the page opposite it. So I've been laying on the fixative. Unfortunately, that seems to be messing with the transparency of the paper, so on this page you can see the Frankenstein showing through from the page before.

Not only that, I'm noticing that any green I use bleeds through the paper as yellow on the other side when I spray it.

I don't think there's much I can do about all that, so I'm moving on with the rest.

Damn the torpedoes.