For a short story called "Where's Father?"

This is the jacket art I recently finished for A Very Little Princess,
a chapter book about a girl named Zoey who, one morning finds out she has a grandmother named Hazel (isn’t that a witch’s name?) She also finds out that friends sometimes come in unexpected sizes, and maybe with a little attitude. I also illustrated 22 interior pictures for the book. It was fun drawing Zoey's curly out of control hair, and the princess's snooty attitude. Marion Dane Bauer is the author.
Pub date: February 23, 2010
PreOrder

Back to Brooklyn

Looking forward to Friday night and the ABC gala– where? ... really? Brooklyn USA!!! Well, its nice to have an excuse to dress up & visit my old hometown.
Art from "A Very Little Princess" (Random House / Feb '10)

ABC at BEA

The b&w version of this picture is for a book I just finished illustrating entitled "A Very Little Princess" (Random House, Feb'10). This colorized version I donated to the American Booksellers for Children's (Mostly) Silent Auction which will be held on May 29th at their annual (not really a) dinner at BookExpo America, NYC.

Molly and the Prince

From Molly and the Prince, a book by Mary Pope Osborne that I illustrated a while ago. Sometimes its nice to revisit the back catalog.

For Earth Day

A deer used to visit our backyard regularly and eat my hostas. She even dropped by for a few of our bbqs. She limped on three legs and the fourth she could barely step on. Nevertheless, she managed, year after year, to raise 2 or 3 new fawns every spring. We used to wonder what happened to her foot, but I think I figured it out. This weekend, my family, along with my daughter's friends, took part in the Great American Clean Up for Keep Rockland Beautiful. We filled up 26 giant trash bags with litter from 1/2 mile stretch along our reservoir. Including: 12 bottles of pink lemonade (still full),  countless Smirnoff bottles (empty), a movie projector screen, a pair of size 14 sneakers, and some dirty diapers. Fast food containers, beer, soda, water bottles and cigarette butts, won for items most frequently tossed from cars. Our deer must have stepped on one of the numerous broken bottles we found and maybe that's how she hurt her foot. We haven't seen her in a while, and actually, I kind of miss her... I might just plant some hostas in her honor.

The Pond

Here are pictures of the skateboard deck I designed for the auction which will benefit Rockland Center for the Arts. Its not actually supposed to be used as a skateboard (no wheels...) There are 25 by different artists and they are great! The auction, which has an online component, starts on April 19 and ends April 30 at 5pm. View the skateboard decks now on facebook. I have been really busy with 2 big jobs and couldn't quite wrap my head around doing a painting, so I laminated an archival print from my book, Mother's Song. It is a triptych called "The Pond." Last year I painted one that featured a mermaid. Bid early and often.

This was for a collection of lullabies for Sony/BMG music. Art direction by Gina Bello of Bello Design.

Amelia

I am re-posting this image, because I have been too busy to upload anything new, and I can't show the projects I am working on yet because of client confidentiality... (although my students have seen some of them in progress.) So here is Amelia, a dreamer and adventurer.

The Lady of Shallott

...a ballad of obsessive, unrequited love, starring the Lady, Sir Lancelot, and a Curse; written by Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Happy Valentine's Day!

In the words of my daughter --- Woo hoo!
Godspeed USA!

For Inauguration Day!

Running the Dogs

This is a book jacket I illustrated for Farrar, Straus & Giroux last year and now the book is in stores. It was written by Thomas Cochran and is a beautiful coming of age novel. It takes place in Louisiana during a rare (and inconvenient) white Christmas. The snow challenges the story's young hero to confront his morals and fears as he "...learns that even though life doesn’t always follow your plans, things still sometimes turn out in a way that makes you glad to be in this world." -FSG
Running the Dogs by Thomas Cochran (FSG 2007)

Soap & Bubbles

This is another piece from "The Soap & Bubble Factory" series.

for Mumbai

One of my students called me from Mumbai on Thanksgiving to let me know that she and her family were alright. That they were under siege, but ok. She called again this morning to say that it was all over, that the Indian military had prevailed. She said Mumbai will gather up the fragments that remain, not all will be lost.

ProFile

Some of my images are now available as stock illustration. More images to come in the future. The website has work from some of the best illustrators working today. It is very easy to use-- just choose a picture, pay for it and download a hi res file right from their site. Take a look: Profile Stock.

thickets of fright

While working on the sketches for Jeoffry's Halloween, my editor hinted that "nothing is what it seems to be on halloween." I really liked that, and it helped me interpret the text which was very poetic and enigmatic.

"The Steady Investor" is the name of the cover story that I recently did for T. Rowe Price. There are 4 illustrations about how to stay the course when investing (if you have anything left to invest, that is....) It was a fun job that required delving into fairy tales for material and characters. The main character is a mash up of Red Riding Hood and Dorothy. She meets the Wolf, of course, and the Goose with the Golden Egg, a Witch, a Pig and a Bear... You can see more on my Directory of Illustration page.

Orphan Works: A Grimm Tale?

A troubling tale of dubious dealings in Washington from the Illustrator's Partnership...

The Orphan Works bill will make it more expensive for creators and provide less protection than the current copyright system. Our founding fathers charged the Library of Congress with protecting copyrights and it has been working just fine ever since. If it ain't broke, why are lobbyists for large corporations trying to "fix" it? Find out why Big Business wants this bill so badly. As David Rhodes, President of the School of Visual Arts has said, the Orphan Works bill would socialize the expense of copyright protection while privatizing the profit of creative endeavors.

Tell the House Judiciary Committee not to adopt the Senate version. PLEASE EMAIL CONGRESS TODAY.
If you've done it before, do it again!

It seems as though it has been raining everywhere lately, including my porch, so I am posting this image from The Sleeping Porchby Karen Ackerman which I illustrated a while ago. It takes place on a hot, stormy summer night, in a big old house with a very leaky roof.

August