OH, HAP-HAP-HAPPY DAY!!!!


I've just signed with literary agent Anna J. Webman of Curtis Brown LTD!!!!! After years of illustrating, and quietly writing on my own, with Anna's assistance I am ready to take my efforts to market with picture books authored and illustrated by yours truly. Watch this site for (hopefully) exciting news about the publication of my books!

I GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS......


HAPPY THURSDAY....and thanks to all the wonderful people in my life who love, support, encourage and occasionally kick me in the behind, to make my life worth livng each and every day!
This illustration is from MY SPARKLING SPRINGTIME FRIENDS: LITTLE BUNNY, Piggy Toes Press.

SPRING IS IN THE AIR!
...and MY SPARKLING SPRINGTIME FRIENDS books are ready to blossom! With sparkles on every page, follow Little Duck, Little Chick, Little Bunny and Little Lamb through four springtime stories about kindness, patience, sharing and friendship.
Available now from Piggy Toes Press; online or at a bookstore near you!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Share a hot chocolate with someone you love......

"Be patient, Little Chick," said Little Bunny, "and soon winter will end."

Spring is just around the corner, and with it will come my new series from Piggy Toes Press, MY SPARKLING SPRINGTIME FRIENDS, featuring Little Chick, Little Bunny , Little Lamb and Little Duck.

....just workin'....as usual.......

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: SIMILAR
In the spirit of the upcoming holiday....
Ho-ho-how does Santa tell the difference between so many SIMILAR looking elves?!

This illustration is from SANTA'S SURPRISE... a fun novelty book I did for a British book packager, BOOK STUDIO, currently being sold exclusively at wholesale stores ( Sam's, Costco, BJ's, etc.) around the U.S. Press a button on the cover and there's a Christmas tune, a rotating window, AND a pop-up at the end of the book! All that fun.....and at a discounted price!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY:PRETEND
...It's alway fun to dress up and pretend to be whomever you want to be on Halloween night!
But who's scaring whooooooo?!
This is an illustration from my book Skeleton Shake, 2008, from Piggy Toes Press.

Just for fun......

INSIDE THE ARTIST'S STUDIO
Welcome to my humble hole-in-the-wall! My Happy Place, I call it. The place where I spend most of my days, so it's a good thing it's above the garage of my home.

Besides the hurricane-like mess, you'll always find my studio-mates, Dillon......

...and Gus.

I get a lot of questions about my style, that I affectionately call "cut-paper-mixed-media." Which means it's basically cut paper, but with a little bit of everything else mixed in. While I was working on THE BUNNY BALL, I took some process shots for a school presentation, so I thought I would go ahead post those now as a basic "How in the heck does she do that?" entry.
PENCIL FIRST
Everything starts with lots of pencil sketches ...which result in the final pencil layout that (hopefully) the client approves. That approved layout then becomes my "pattern" for the cut paper.

COLOR TISSUE
Yep, I still do it the old fashioned way---throw a piece of tissue over the pencil layout and quickly block out colors with markers.

PAPER SELECTION
I have two standing flat files filled with handmade and colored papers that I choose from.

CUSTOMIZED COLOR
I often create my own colors and textures using paint, brushes, rollers, rubber stamps, texturizing tools...whatever it takes to achieve the effect I need!

CUTTING BASIC SHAPES
I go through Exacto #11 blades like hot dogs at a baseball park! EVERYthing gets cut out of different colors and textures of paper.....

AND ASSEMBLED
First the small pieces are glued together with a very fine rubber cream glue that is painted on.
The larger pieces are then assembled on the background using Sprayment. I have a special hooded spray booth in my studio that keeps the sticky overspray and fumes from gumming up everything in my office (and my lungs!) !

DETAILING
Once everything is glued down and excess glue removed, I go in with colored pencils, pastels and paint for the fine details, faces, shadowing and highlighting.

VOILA!
The finished piece! ".....a billions bunnies bouncing in a field...." Actually there are only 54....or is it 55? I lost count.......

Do the Haunted House Hop.....


....the Bone Tappin' Boogie.....


....or the Witch's Waltz.....


...down to your local bookstore or over to your computer for your copy of SKELETON SHAKE,
now available from Piggy Toes Press!

YEEEEEE-HA SPLASSSSHHHH!!!!

THE BEACH BALL is here!
Count clams, seagulls, lobsters and a variety of other sea creatures as they gather for an after-sunset ball on the beach.
Now available from Price Stern Sloan;
online or at a bookstore near you.

Under the sea.....


Under the sea.....


In your hands!
NEW! In the Klutz Chicken Socks series: MERMAID'S PALACE
Illustrated by yours truly, with a little help from over 200 photos taken in the coral reef wing of Shedd's Aquarium, Chicago Illinois...and a LOT of imagination!

NEW BOOKS NEW BOOKS!!!!


For those of you in the snowy Northeast, thump-thump-galump on down to the bookstore for THE SNOW BALL!


.....and for those of you who would prefer to think spring.......

Just hippity-hopple along to grab your copy of THE BUNNY BALL. Written by David Steinberg, and illustrated by yours truly, both are now available online or at a bookstore in your neighborhood.

Ooogily-boogily biffely-bats-
THE WITCHES ARE HERE---with broomsticks and hats!!!
..A little ahead of the Halloween rush, THE WITCHES' BALL is now available in stores and online

HEY DIDDLE DIDDLE GETS MORE PUBLICITY
I finally got my complimentary copies of Picturebook '07, and look who's on the inside cover! SWEEEETTTT.....
But, just FYI---if you want to see my actual page in the book, and look me up in their index, I am NOT on page 138 like it says....I'm on page 183. so much for all that free publicity.......

FUN SURPRISE!
I just recieved a copy of Rising Moon's spring catalog and there, on the cover, was one of my illustrations----pulled right from the pages of Hey Diddle Diddle! To see more about Hey Diddle Diddle, as well as the other fine books published by Rising Moon, go to www.risingmoonbooks.com.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: THANKSGIVING
This is one of those subjects I just happened to have a bit to choose from....namely my book The Turkey Ball ( written by David Steinberg, 2006 Price Stern Sloan). This is the final spread...those crazy party animals....errrrr, birds.....after a night dancing their tail feathers off at the Turkey Ball! ....or are they just happy to have made it to the dance floor instead of the table??!!! Oooooo....that's just gross.....

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: SMITTEN
I did this one a while back for an SCBWI valentine poster contest. Based on my favorite book growing up, Charlotte's Web, I decided to flip flop roles and titled this one "Chuck's Web." Ahhhh.....amore.....

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: TROUBLE
I call this one DOUBLE TROUBLE. Twins Tim and Tom are at a picnic. While Tim is having trouble, his brother Tom is busy making trouble. Which is which? I think mom knows.........

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: QUIET
The very definition of QUIET was how my giant of a father could soundlessly float up a set of hardwood stairs, and catch us in the act each and every time. ( because we, of course, were being so quiet ourselves.....)

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: MATCH
Here I am with my studio-mates, Gus, Max and Dillon.
I'm the one who doesn't match.

PJ CLIMBED UP AND FOUND AN ALL-STAR RIGHT FIELDER!

THIRD PLACE
2006 SOUTHERN BREEZE
SCBWI WRITING & ILLUSTRATION CONTEST
Illustration prompt: "PJ climbed up and found....."

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: PLAY

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: CAPTURE
Our cat, Max, spends his sunny summer days outside terrorizing and capturing all small crawly things that dare cross his path. I often wondered what would happen if some brave creature decided to exact his revenge......