Why is it that on the most beautiful days of the year I am up in my studio working? And why is that when there is next to no humidity and no need for an air conditioner I work more quickly and effectively. I just knocked out three sketches and character studies. And am pleased.
And because I am on a tight deadline that suits me just fine. Now I've got the modern witch to create and a few more sketches of the children. Happy... but wish I were outside.

Got my assignment last night for my next illustrator day project. Looks super fun and challenging. The cool thing is that I am picking Hansel and Gretel characters to reinvent. What is really funny tho, is that yesterday I listened to the opera on the radio and got all sentimental. Having lived in Munich as a child this story was a staple in my library.

I actually had the record album as a very young child and the cover terrified me... but the music enthralled me. The story actually terrified me until I became 6/7.

Then I accompanied my family for a day in Central Park (my young stomping ground) and the Upper West Side humming Humperdinck all the way.

Anyhoo... back to character creation...sketching, sketching, sketching.  Perhaps I'll lighten the story up a bit.  And make it funny? Watch out witch!!!

Back to the Blog

It is June. It is almost summer and life has calmed down. My goodness I've neglected this blog too long.

Looking forward to more news to share. More artwork to display. More stories to tell. More Conference and Illustrator Day news to share. And hopefully some good news around the corner.

Been busy with life but am now back on track with art

and book making.

With one kid in college (and now in Europe for the semester... I miss her but her blog and skyping thrill me... and nope... she is no longer yours and you have to return her to the library) and another one having readied applications for college(talk about stress but she got into her safety school...yay!), life has been a bit nutsy. But finally everything is done except the decision making which will come in April. Her stress not mine. I'm done.

Now it is my time again.

I am happy to say that I blocked out the text on a new dummy, another character driven story. I seem to gravitate to these and they to me. One for boys. I completed the postcard for it and mailed it out and now have to sketch out the dummy. I hope to have this done by June. I actually have another one for boys which I may dummy up as well after I finish this one.

Still plugging away on the nursery rhyme book ... no deadline goal will ever be set for this. It will be done when it is done soon enough... sort of a labor of love project (and funny food, too). This book could sell to more than booksellers I think.

I want to re-write/re-dummy my pb biography after I read a few award winning ones/best sellers to see what makes them special. No deadline for that either. This guy won't die.

And new samples and a new postcard for the June conference.

That is it!!

Oh... and a pitch which is always fun!!

Starting a new postcard

is like starting a love affair (I haven't had one since I've been married... I promise. But I still get to look at George Clooney).

You want to capture that big moment and be able to keep it in your mind for a long time. You want to see it from far away and be able to read it, and have it grab you and bring you closer.

And you never want to get tired of it. It always looks fresh even when you don't.

Happy postcard making!

(Maybe I'll make a postcard of George Clooney. I wonder what he looked like as a little boy.)

Well, I sent it out...

my second dummy ...

so there.

Time to finish up the next one and a new postcard. By the end of the year. I'll still be alive.

It is all about technique, hooks and knowing your audience.

Up the Down Staircase or Deja Voodoo

Yesterday, recovering from a flu of sorts, I lay in bed for a bit and turned on some Turner BS classic movie.

Of course, I started the film about 10 seconds into it and so wondered what the heck I was watching. This looked like a fun, light and edgy movie from about 1967. Featuring pretty teacher. English teacher. Naive, well-intentioned, determined, earnest.

First day in inner city school home-room. And here come the students. All forty of them. All types. Wild, spirited and not. Angry, silly, in-love, beat up, let down, out-there, anxious, eager, bored, day-dreaming, dangerous.

Enter handsome writer/ English teacher Mr. Barringer who meets the lovely Miss Barrett. And asks her out in a roundabout way.

And enter former student stuck on Mr. Barringer, the plain love-struck Alice Blake who when asked by Miss Barrett why we read books replies because books are about love.

And the sweet slow school dance with Alice and Mr.B.... spurred on by Miss Barrett.

and then...

the famous love letter scene....

Okay. Stop. How do I think I know what this movie is (but I can't think of the title)? And I will not cheat and look it up before it is over. I will go to the end. I will finish it. Plus I really like it for the most part. It seemed to take hold of me for some odd reason that I could not figure out.

What is this?

Okay moving forward to another great scene.

It is the in-class, in-action inspection day for the lovely Miss Barrett. And instead of choosing a sports related topic (apparently a sure way to have a quick inspection) for her class to discuss, Miss Barrett chooses to present "A Tale of Two Cities." (Great choice all around)

She has a student read the first page and introduces the word 'antithesis' and how our world is full of this antithesis. And the catatonic class wakes up.

Enter a disgruntled Mr. Barringer who has a tete-a-tete with 'writing what you know'. Did Dickens know anything about the French Revolution? Did Mr. Barringer know how to terrify a classroom into thinking that writing what you know is stagnant writing.

I think, Mr Barringer that writing what you know means writing what you believe to be true.

Okay fast forward.....

Miss Barrett breaks the rules in the final scene by going against traffic on the stairwell.

And now I know what this movie is. Duh.

But in my heart I knew in the scene when Mr. Barringer asked Alice to come closer as he corrected the grammar in her love letter. Because that was me on stage in middle school living that shy, awkward Alice.