It has been a while since I have posted anything new. I have done a couple of Spanish readers and some black line work for workbooks. I am looking forward to working on a new job for Ladybug Magazine. Here's a page from a book I was calling Cesarin the cat. I am not sure what it really was called.

Edie and I were home sick with the stomach flu. I drew her while she was watching Fly Away Home. I realized that I have all kinds of posts about Edie and not too many about Thomas. Just to assure you that I am not neglecting him, I thought I should say that Edie has half day kindergarten and that we spend the afternoons together. Phew, got that off my chest!

I finished the art for an early reader in Spanish last week. Here are a couple of samples from Viaje de Primavera.

Happy New Year! After Edie got back from school, she wanted to look at the dolls that my mother gave her from her childhood collection. My mother (and her family) traveled and lived around the world with her father who was a colonel in the US Army. These dolls were from her own travels and gifts from friends and family. I decided to photograph some of our favorites to share.

Last weekend, I went to a needle felting workshop. It was easy and incredibly satisfying. I have added a little something to the mitten, and made two bears, too. Photos don't do the bears justice. Edie dressed the gray bear in clothes she took from her other animals, but I made the white bear's Christmas skirt.

I am trying to figure out little Christmas presents. This is my first attempt.

The past few weeks, our cat Althea's health has gone downhill fast. She died peacefully yesterday afternoon. She had a good long life- 17 1/2 years. I drew this picture right before we took her in to the vet's office. She will be missed.

Meow! I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving.
Here's a little something I made with Edie. I highly recommend the book Softies by Therese Laskey. It has 25 easy projects, but this simple cat I made on my own.

Here's this week's roster of interviews. Check them out!

Monday, October 29

• Dan Santatat Writing and Ruminating
• Joanne Friarat The Longstockings
• Alissa Imre Geisat Wild Rose Reader
• Diane Greenseidat Just One More Book!!
• Sean Quallsat Brooklyn Arden

Tuesday, October 30

• Ann Koffskyat Book Buds
• Bill Carmanat A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
• Gretel Parkerat Finding Wonderland
• Matt Phelanat A Year of Reading
• Stephanie Rothat Writing with a broken tusk

Wednesday, October 31

• Shawna Tenneyat Kate’s Book Blog
• Adam Rexat Booktopia and Welcome to my Tweendom
• Mo Willemsat MotherReader
• Rolandas Kiauleviciusat a wrung sponge

Thursday, November 1

• Karen Leeat sruble’s world
• Diana Magnusonat A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
• Melissa Iwaiat Brooklyn Arden
• Victoria Jamiesonat AmoXcalli and Cuentecitos
• Molly Idleat The Shady Glade
• Meghan McCarthyat A Fuse #8 Production

Friday, November 2

• Tracy McGuinness-Kellyat Sam Riddleburger’s blog
• Sarah Kahnat Kate’s Book Blog
• Sylvia Longat Whimsy Books
• Jeremy Tankardat the excelsior file
• Holli Congerat Please Come Flying

Saturday, November 3

• Susan Millerat Your Neighborhood Librarian
• Ellen Beierat What Adrienne Thinks About That
• Hideko Takahashiat The Silver Lining
• Judith Moffat at Jo’s Journal
• Wendell Minorat Wild Rose Reader

Sunday, November 4

• Joy Allenat Check It Out
• Robin Brickmanat Greetings from Nowhere
• Lauren Stringerat laurasalas
• Nancy Wallaceat In the Pages . . .

A group of children's book enthusiasts/bloggers have put together something they're calling "blogging for the cure". Every day, an artist who participated in Robert's Snow is being featured on a different blog.
Check out some of the interviews. It's pretty cool to have a chance to hear from each artist. Here's this week's schedule:

Monday, October 22

• Mark Teague at The Miss Rumphius Effect
• Sharon Vargo at Finding Wonderland
• Christopher Demarest at Writing and Ruminating
• Rose Mary Berlin at Charlotte's Library

Tuesday, October 23

• Carin Berger at Chasing Ray
• Marion Eldridge at Chicken Spaghetti
• Sophie Blackall at not your mother's bookclub
• Erik Brooks at Bildungsroman
• Brian Lies at Greetings from Nowhere

Wednesday, October 24

• Elisa Kleven at Rozzie Land
• Consie Powell at Becky's Book Reviews
• Jimmy Pickering at Shaken & Stirred
• Frank Dormer at What Adrienne Thinks About That
• Sheila Bailey at Lizjonesbooks

Thursday, October 25

• Julia Denos at Interactive Reader
• Rebecca Doughty at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
• Brian Floca at A Fuse #8 Production
• Margaret Chodos-Irvine at readergirlz

Friday, October 26

• David Ezra Stein at HipWriterMama
• Juli Kangas at Sam Riddleburger's blog
• Ginger Nielson at Miss O's School Library
• Margot Apple at Jo's Journal

Saturday, October 27

• Julie Fromme Fortenberry at Your Neighborhood Librarian
• Sarah Dillard at The Silver Lining
• John Hassett at cynthialord's Journal
• Abigail Marble at Please Come Flying

Sunday, October 28

• Ashley Wolff at A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy
• Barbara Garrison at Brooklyn Arden
• Kelly Murphy at ChatRabbit

I realized when posting my blog address that I haven't posted art recently.
Here's something from one of my last projects. I am always happier getting readers with more space for art. It is almost impossible to create something interesting in a long narrow horizontal space.

Last night, Tom and I had the great pleasure of hearing his high school friend, musician Piers Faccini play at the Flynn Theater in Burlington. His music, a unique blend of celtic, west african and eastern influences, is amazing. Not to mention the fact that he is just a thouroughly nice guy. If the chance to hear him (touring with Ben Harper- also fantastic) comes along, be sure not to miss it. You can check out both his music AND his paintings(!!) at his website: www.piersfaccini.com

The snowflakes are now available for viewing at: http://www.robertssnow.com. Take a look! There are some great ones out there and all proceeds go to Dana Farber Cancer Institute. Unfortunately, this year's auction will be bitter-sweet, as Robert Mercer, for whom the project is named, succumbed to cancer in August.

Here's the backside of the snowflake. I have finished and am just about ready to pack it up and put it in the mail.

For the third year, I am participating in an online auction called Robert's Snow for Cancer's Cure. This is an online auction organized by children's book author/illustrator Grace Lin (www.gracelin.com) after her husband was diagnosed with cancer. The proceeds of this auction of beautifully illustrated snowflakes made by children's book illustrators go to Dana Farber Cancer Institute. You can find out more at: http://www.jimmyfund.org/eve/event/roberts-snow/default.html
This is the front of my snowflake.

Spring is here and we are raising chickens for their eggs. We have four adorable chicks. Believe it or not, you can order the chicks online and they arrive in the mail. I got a phone call from the post office at 6:45 am and went to pick them up right away. They were only two days old. We had split an order of chicks with two other families since there is a 25 chick minimum.
Here's a photo of Edie and the Black Australorp chick, and one of me with a chick roosting on my shoulder.

This is a thumbnail image for a promotional piece. The size will be about 1" square, which required me to strip all unnecessary detail.

There's something so charming and interesting about the art of children. Edie who is four is interested in drawing animals and rainbows, while Thomas, who is six, is interested in things with engines and wheels. Here are a couple of examples of their art. Edie's is a quiet scene of ducks in a pond. Thomas' is accompanied by his invented spelling describing the scene as: The monster truck went off the jump.

So, I have had a little free time and have gotten out the sewing machine. This is a dress I made for Edie's doll out of old fabric that my friend's mother had once intended to make into curtains.

Happy Spring!? Today is the 12th of April and it is snowing again! I am thinking ahead to warmer days and working on a May Day invitation for my friend. Though I do love snow, I hope it will all be gone by then. Here are a couple of gnomes that I came up with:

Edie went to a party on Sunday where there was a face painter. Here she is modeling her dog face.

Today, Edie and I got to go visit my friend Tiny's baby goats, Luna and Prank. They were born at about breakfast time this morning. It is amazing to me that they can walk around and have a full coat of fur at birth. Thomas was bald until he was about one, I think.

I was sorting through all of the art that my kids bring home from school and I found this. It's just a doodle that I did at the end of the day when they were a little younger. Maybe a little glimpse of parenthood at the witching hour.

On my most recent project, I've decided to do something new with color. I discovered a way of working using only a warm and a cool shade of each primary color (6 colors total- cerulean blue and french ultramarine, etc...), supplemented by a couple of extra colors that aren't mixable.
Theoretically, mixing only the same temperature primaries together will produce clean bright secondary and tertiary colors. So far I have been able to mix just about every color that I have wanted and a black that has far more depth than anything I had previously used. I found the information on the Daniel Smith website: http://danielsmith.com/
Choose the learn tab, and you will find all kinds of useful information.

The frustrations of planting a pumpkin.

Here's a recent sketch from a reader. Can you guess what the story might be?

I am working on a project that needs to be done in pen and ink and watercolor. This is my old style, and now I know why I switched. I much prefer the warmth of pencil line.

I am trying to infuse a little personality into the mice I have been drawing. Here's a little spot I finished for my trip.

Darn, I wish I knew what the future will look like. It would make this job a whole lot easier.

Color version of homepage. Unfortunate scanner shadow-must eliminate...

Here's the home page image with text:

Here's a sketch that I intend to use on the homepage of my website:

Hooray! With Todd's help, I figured out how to put two pages together without a seam.
Thanks Todd!
Anyone who wants to see some seriously great paintings and illustration, check out his blogs:
http://painting-life.blogspot.com/
and
http://toddbonitaartblog.blogspot.com/

This is my latest art for Ladybug Magazine.
I am going back to watercolor for the time being. Gouache is much harder than I thought.
Hats off to all the Gouache painters out there.

Material from a recent reader:

I am working on my latest project with gouache. I like the softness and looseness, but I need to work on my palette.

Here's the cover illustration for the National Arbor Day book that I work on every month:

One more new goauche sample:

Here's my new promo sheet: