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In about two weeks I'll be standing on a stage, hopefully blinded by the lights, dancing a tango in Act One and that much-feared Broadway number in Act Two—all as part of the DanceSport showcase. It's always about now in these scenarios that I ask myself, And what, Beth, were you thinking? When I wake from a dream (I mean to say nightmare) purely certain that there's an elephant turning a pirouette on my chest.

Graceful beasts, those elephants. And so heavy.

Every time I think about getting out there with those jumps and lifts, that impossible Quickstep, that prickly tele-spin, those many cortes, I remember my final ice skating competition, when all I wanted was to be perfect. By the time I took the ice however, I was so clutched and crunched with fear that when the music started my legs were ungreased tins. The rink seemed huge and the audience vast, but most of all I was aware of my parents in the stands—deeply cognizant of their generous investment (time and money) in my ice skating career. I needed, I thought, to skate for their sakes. I needed to be lovely.

I fell on the first jump. I skated tall after that. I brought speed and height into my jumps, kick into the footwork, patience and lean to the spread eagle. I lost, in the end, to my rival, Holly Archinal. But I had skated, I had, and that's what I hope for in two weeks—to find a way past the inevitable errors and to finish tall.

In addition to refreshing my website I have added one new page devoted to the PICTURE BOOKIES the professional illustrator's group of which we are all members. The Picture Bookies is a group of 8 dedicated children's book artists. While we will no longer maintain a full website for the group we do host an online blog as well as a SHOWCASE gallery for other professionals in the field. Since we are removing the website I will still feature a page on my website that can link viewers to the blog and showcase. All the original icons with the names of the Picture Bookies will be preserved.

This page is linking back to the blog and showcase, so that all the artists in our group can be represented.
This is a great group with enormous talent and the individual member blogs and websites are worth a visit.

The Picture Bookies, a group of illustrators dedicated to creating imaginative stories and art for children began a group blog about two years ago. This blog featured the artwork of 50 talented children's illustrators. As a weekly feature we have enjoyed the particpation of so many and been amazed at the magnificent artwork presented there. For the time being the gallery is closed to any new submissions, but will remain online as a show case well worth visiting. Be sure to stop in and spend some time wandering the halls of the Picture Bookies Showcase.