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painting things and sketching things, remembering things and forgetting things, trying to keep up with end-of-the-school-year things, pulling weedy things and watching blooming things, going to things and cheering for things, wishing for things and hoping for things
My husband and I recently attended a book event at the Bell Museum for The Sibley Guide of Birds, Second Edition. David Allen Sibley is a very humble and unassuming speaker.
I ended up taking notes in my handy sketchbook because this lecture was super informative. David Sibley's father was an ornithologist, so he grew up birding. What impressed me the most is that David is a self-taught artist, he has worked hard over the years to perfect his skills. He spoke about how sketching guides your study, it is a great way to remember and learn as much as you can. The challenge in sketching is finding the few marks on paper that represent the bird in it's simplest form.
"Think of each sketch as practice." Through trial and error you figure out what is important and what is not.
"You absolutely can't draw something that you don't understand." In the field, he sketches. In the studio he works from his sketches and photo references. Once his outline of the bird is correct, he layers on his paint and adds in the details (he uses gouache, btw!). His paintings show the impression of the bird that you would get in the field whilst looking through binoculars. The value of illustration is in simplicity, shape, and proportion; while a photograph is a record of time and everything in that experience. David Sibley has branched out (pun intended) into tree guides! Visit his
website for all sorts of bird and tree goodness and be sure to pick up a copy of his
new field guide!
We checked out a garter snake at our local library on Monday.
Had a fun time playing with cousins on Tuesday and went to the
Minnesota Zoo on Wednesday. What a fabulous bullfrog. Don't you just love him! The
herps on the Minnesota Trail are my faves. I also luv that there are
three different otter
species at the MN Zoo. All of the critters were out and about, which was super lucky. Except for the
armadillo, which is asleep
every single time I've ever been to the zoo.... O_o
 |
| (This is Shawn) |
She was super nice and chatted with my kids about dogs.
Friday brought a foot of fresh snow and more play time with cousins. I participated in
Sketch Dailies for the first time and had fun sketching
Pele, the Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes.
It was a very nice vacation and we are really looking forward to
warmer temps next week! Aloha!
Doesn't it feel like Spring is right around the corner? I think so, too!
Energize Your Fingers Every Day, Book 2A has just been published! I have loved working on this series so much! Many thanks to all of the wonderful folks at the
FJH Music Company for letting me be a part of their music book family! xoxo
Do you know someone in need of a recorder book? Look no further!
The FJH Recorder Method for Everyone is just the book for you! I illustrated the girl playing the recorder and the close-up of her hands right below it.
Note: Click on the link to the book, it looks like you can get a free copy if you fill out the registration form. How cool is that!?!
Hello! This is an image I drew for
Sight Reading & Rhythm Every Day, Let's Get Started!, Book B. The title for this particular unit is "Weather Watching." It was fun to draw the rabbit, hen, and chicks throughout this book! I have just finished illustrating
Energize Your Fingers Every Day, Book 2B. Book 2A will be published mid-Feb. I have had so much fun illustrating these music books! It is still very cold and snowy in Minnesota, looking forward to picnics this summer! Stay warm, Friends!
My desk is clean. Hooray! I finished up the last batch of music book sketches and am sending them off today, so now I'm on to the inking. What else is new? I'm now one of
The Sketchables. I'll be posting every other Friday starting the week of January 27th. You can also find me today over at the
Design Juices blog. That seems like plenty of news! Hope you are well!
Happy 2014! Thought I'd make my resolutions publicly in hopes that it will help me accomplish them. haha
1) I am going to turn my cool desk (pictured above) into an actual workspace instead of a catchall for the kids' homework, etc...
2) I am going to bake a
brioche.
3) I will also try to drink more water and get enough sleep (thanks for that reminder,
Anne!).
Making some smaller resolutions felt better to me that tackling a great big one. Here's to a fab '14!!!
Hello! I just realized that I haven't blogged since October or thereabouts. My desk is a mess, covered with music book sketches, stuff I need to help the kids with at school, Christmas card envelopes waiting to be addressed, and a new
cookie recipe to try out this year. We are on that slippery slope to the New Year now and I am just doing my best to stop every once in a while and watch the snowflakes. Wishing you all a peaceful holiday season! xoxo
This was a super fun coloring page to make. Bats are so darn cute and it was surprisingly fun drawing a bunch of bugs! In North America, bats feast on between 2-6 THOUSAND bugs a night! What a treat for all of us! Thank You, Bat Friends! Be sure to check out all the
Bat Fun Facts on the
Organization for Bat Conservation website. Special thanks to all the wonderful people out there who care for bats in real-life (like my friend, Jean!). I will leave the flies and beetles to the bats and hope for Milk Duds. Please feel free to print this page up and share it with your friends (there are a couple more
Halloween coloring pages on my website, too). Happy Halloween!
Last week, my wonderful and talented friend, Courtney Pippin-Mathur, was kind enough to tag me in a blog hop where I answer a few questions and then pass it on to a few of my kid booky friends.
Here goes:
What are you working on right now?
My website has been freshly updated and I have a new postcard that I am getting ready to send out. I have also been busy revising my diner dummy, and I have plans to dive into some of my other dummies and polish them up until they shine because I really would like to be a writer and an illustrator someday. I baked a Dr. Pepper cake yesterday and am working on a Halloween coloring page today.
How does this differ from other works in the genre?This is a tough question and I don't really know the right answer... My hope is that when people see my artwork and read my writings, that they can see the real me in there somewhere.
Why do you write what you write?I was lucky to be born into a family populated with very clever people. My kids and family and friends and coworkers all inspire me. Some of the little ideas have grown into bigger stories, so that is super fun! I am also writing all of my little jokes down and maybe they will turn into a book of
Nina Jokes someday. Here is one I made up this weekend:
Where do you go to wash your yard?The Lawndromat.What is the hardest thing about writing?Trying no to use too many words, or not enough words, and choosing all the write words! Right? haaa
Happy to tag my dear friends:
Andi Butler
Sara Weingartner
Christina Rodriguez
Yesterday after my kids came home from school, they were having a snack and watching My Little Pony. My eldest said that my
cutie mark (if I were a little pony) would be Organization. I thought that was interesting, as I was sitting at my desk assembling folders for the upcoming MNSCBWI Fall Conference. Here is a pic from yesterday with my little helper, Gordy:
While I was essentially trapped at my desk chair by folders and papers and boxes and the dog, I guess I could see a bit of the method behind the madness. Of course, I am totally worried about missing things and making mistakes with all of the conference registration and folders. What if I forget to include someone's manuscript review time?!? So, I have been triple-checking everything, and I will just hope for the best. In my own life, I am not quite as organized, but I really wish I was. I read once that Albert Einstein had a very messy desk and he was a genius, so that made me feel a little better. I guess all we can ever do is do our best, and in the end, that just has to be enough. *fingers crossed*
Back to the ponies: We also discussed if we'd rather be a regular pony, a unicorn, or a pegasus. I knew that answer right away because being able to fly has been the superpower I have always longed for. If I were a pony, I would totally be
Fluttershy. Not sure what my cutie mark would be, probably one for making up lame jokes...
The kids have gone back to school and now I have time where I can work during the day again, which is super great. It always takes me a little while to slog through all the back-to-school paperwork and for the kids to get back into the whole homework routine, but we are getting there! I am handling registration again for the
Minnesota SCBWI Fall Conference (October 12-13, 2013), looks like we are in for another great conference this year! Busy drawing lots of hands playing violins, so that has been fun. My happiest, Save-The-Best-For-Last-News is that I have signed on with the fantastic
Teresa Kietlinski at
Prospect Agency! Oh, my gosh.... it still doesn't feel real. I feel so fortunate and am excited to work with Teresa and see what the future holds in store! *happy sigh*
The picture above is a little snippet from my new postcard. It is almost ready to send out. Hope all is well with you!
Well, it sure was pretty nice to be recognized for my hard work today. Summer is zipping by, can't really believe it is nearly August already. Along with keeping up with the kids, I am happy to report that I finished the new art for my next postcard and have started creating some line art for a series of violin music books. I played the violin very briefly when I was little and have no memory of it, so here's hoping I might remember traces of it on a cellular level... Oh, and I baked that cherry cobbler!
This is a teensy bit of what I am working on for my next postcard. I hope to someday make buttery croissants from scratch and can't wait to attempt a brioche. My kids are home for summer vacation and we are enjoying our lazy busy days together. I am determined to weed and mulch forgotten flowerbeds and make more art and find time to daydream and play frisbee and read and spend time with friends and fam. And also bake a gorgeous cherry cobbler. Happy Summer!
Are you a night owl or an early bird? I am a bit of a night owl myself...
Looking forward to hearing owls hooting in the night now that summer is nearly upon us. We don't live too far away from a lake, and every once in a while you can hear a loon calling in the early morning.
Could it be possible to be an early bird AND a night owl? Is napping the answer? Lastly, what is the term used for an individual who thrives mid-day: Day Jay? Noon Loon? Present Pheasant?
p.s. Check out my NEW POLL to the left and feel free to vote- thanks!
My whole family unplugged from Monday, 29 April to Friday, 3 May. The kids were surprisingly ok with it. I will honestly admit that I missed tv, I have a few shows that I like to watch, so it has been nice to catch up on them. My youngest had been obsessed with playing a My Little Pony and a Skylanders game on the iPad, so unplugging last week was a good way to get her to realize that she doesn't need to play those games, they are just for fun. We played card games and board games together as a family, the kids played together more, we all read more books, I did some knitting and lots of sketching. It was a very good thing. For myself, I found out that checking facebook had very much become a part of my morning routine, so it was weird to not go there. I realized that, while I like to post things there, I don't really need to post things, I mostly like to see what everyone else is up to: I love to see all the cute kid pictures, hear about fun book news, stay in touch with friends and family, and the like... Since I work from home, the connections I have made with other kid book folks online have really given me a feeling that I have coworkers again, and places like fb and twitter are where we can hang out together and cheer each other on. Another thing I realized is that all the social media had contributed to that "I feel so busy" feeling. I have become very chill about blogging as of late: I was way into it at first and was really great about posting and visiting other people's blogs. Now, I just post when I can and try to visit other blogs when I can, and try not to worry about it as much. I'm going to try to adopt that same philosophy with everything else. There are only so many hours in the day, and I can only do my best. Here's hoping that my friends and family know that I'm always going to love them and be there to support them in good times and hard times, whether I comment or reply or repin or retweet or hit the "like" button... :)
In other news, I just finished reading
The Light Between Oceans: It was very good, I am still feeling the weight of it. Here are some other books that I have read lately that I would heartily recommend:
The One and Only Ivan,
Wonder,
The Three Triceratops Tuff,
Maya Was Grumpy,
The Night Circus, and
The Boy Who Cried Bigfoot!. These are some of the books that I am looking forward to reading next:
Bad Girls,
The Hunting of the Snark,
Iron Hearted Violet,
The Quirks,
Elvis and the Underdogs,
The True Meaning of Smekday,
I Capture The Castle, and
The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry.
Mailed off my book dummy on Saturday morning.
That was a really great feeling!
Finished up a really fun project with my 4th grader's class, it is going to be auctioned off to raise money for the school at the end of the month. I am very proud of the kids, they made amazing chickens!
I won 56 bucks playing bingo!
Thanks to Sara, I am now addicted to and
completely caught up on The Big Bang Theory.
Went to sunny Florida two weekends ago for a friend's wedding. It was so fun to catch up with great friends and celebrate Lori and Rusty's new life together. Plus, I saw a wild iguana, tons of mini lizards, a flock of flying pelicans, swaying palm trees, and was bitten by my first fire ant.
I hope that all is well with you, thanks for stopping by!
This is Mel. I have been busy working on a little book about him.
He is quite a character.
This past weekend I was at the 38th Annual
MAVT Convention. I became a certified veterinary technician in 1997 and worked as a tech until we had our youngest and I became a stay-at-home mom. I find myself feeling like I am between worlds now: I can't take my pets to work with me anymore and have to go to the vet as a civilian, and I still consider myself a new illustrator and am trying to learn and grow and enjoy the journey without having any expectations... My hope is that my love for animals is evident in my work and that it also informs it. Even though it can feel pretty weird sometimes, the upshot is that I have very fortunate to work in fields filled with compassionate, intelligent, and amazing people. For that I will always be grateful.
My youngest asked me to draw a flying mermaid a while ago, and this is what I came up with... Wouldn't it be wonderful to fly? My head has been in the clouds a little bit lately, my book dummy is really (finally!) starting to come together and I am just having the most fun working on it. Wishing you clear skies and calm seas! nvc
Hey, There! There is another music book out there with little Nina pictures in it!
Spoiler Alert: Book 1 includes a little love story between a charming young squirrel and a lovely pig. There will be seven books in the
Energize Your Fingers Every Day series and I have had the most fun illustrating the first three, looking forward to working on the next four.
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Mel is AWESOME! So cute!
Cant wait to hear Mel's story.
Thanks for commenting, Michaele and Moira!
I'm really close to submitting Mel's story.... !!!