red clogs studio news

all or nothing

2012-01-24T16:29:00.001-05:00

"A lot of people have the notion that all contests must be zero-sum games; if one wins, the other must lose. A satisfactory romance is the very opposite of a zero-sum game; unless both win, both lose. I sometimes wonder if the root of the more vociferous discomfort and negative response to romance by these readers is in the mistaken notion that if the woman has won, the man must have lost."

::Lois McMaster Bujold (entire essay here)

and now for you

2012-01-06T17:25:00.000-05:00

Our Friendship Rules is now available in paperback.

I got copies of this edition from the publisher this week

and would like to share with you.

Leave your name in comments by January 31st, 2012 to to enter

and I will post names of the 3 randomly chosen winners on February 1st.

Each book will be personalized, signed and mailed to you (or whomever you wish.)

chose seventeen

2011-11-30T09:00:00.000-05:00

first the cleaning them all up off the floor,

then the sorting

and the editing

because when there are too many choices it just ends in a mess

windfall: collecting names

2011-11-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

hackberry, maple, sycamore, maple

reminding myself that I don't have to draw every leaf to show a forest

2011-10-26T13:44:00.000-04:00

I have been drawing maps as a form of outlining, as a form of checking up on the movements of characters, to check myself, to answer: Could they meet in time? How far would it be there and back? Where was he went he wasn't with them? Several modes of travel are involved. This page on travel in Jane Austen's time has been so helpful.

Seeing the maps makes me see everyone's movements all at once. I can see where there are breaks, even when scene after scene tumble along just fine in the MS, with characters popping in and out like actors on a stage, who were just waiting in the wings.

It is fun to draw maps--the composition of oceans and continents, finding this wiggly hand-movement that makes shorthand "coastline." I look at maps-- from google earth to an historical atlas. I love novels with maps. (This one of Chalion helped me keep all the countries straight.) I love the way they are drawn. (Earthsea like a medieval woodcut, Middle-earth hand drawn with pen and black (and red!) ink, the Wood in Carson Ellis's folk art style.)

For me, the geography comes out of the story. There is an ocean because a character is to be shipwrecked. The strange place where she lands, where she came from and where she was suppose to go all come into existence at the same time. (I have been making family trees in the same way. These two characters are cousins, but have different last names, how?)

I have these empty continents, which make me think of the empty map in the Name of the Wind and I wonder if Rothfuss has his own filled in version for reference. Sure maps can be spoilers. There are two maps that appear as props in the MS. I think about drawing them, how I might draw one for myself and then make an edited version for the illustration.

Of course, there are maps that can't really be drawn, though a prop master can try. But it is a sort of testing, that I do with my map drawing, a questioning, a prompting that make me look at the story

mirror

2011-07-19T11:28:00.000-04:00

from the new yorker

2011-04-05T16:58:00.000-04:00

February cracks and thaws

2011-02-18T09:34:00.000-05:00

"And this is why
Why we fight
Why we lie awake"

the decemberists

In which, I ask how to write without a paper trail and I let the birds do the drawing for me

2011-02-03T17:16:00.000-05:00

I keep my current manuscript in two pink binders. I have a third binder, in which, under tab 5, is all the pages that have been revised out of the current manuscript.

I write like I draw.

I write once, then again, cross out and again. I recopy sentences--pages, so it is clear for all the cross outs because I don't erase, I strike through. I pick the best for the pink binders. All this rearranging--this literal rewriting--is a fruitful process, so much comes out when I put words together outside of my head and then read them back.

And this is all well and good, the romance of ink and paper and red date stamps. When writing by hand, I have a fluency that I do not have as a typist.

But first readers hundreds or thousands of miles away (and manuscript guidelines) preclude the pink binder format. And there is so much to be gained with a word processing program (spell check, copy and paste, find and replace for character names, searchable text.)

As I type my first draft into the computer, revising as I go, I find that I think more, write less and delete my failed attempts. There is no paper trail to look back at. The pages behind tab 5 are about as organized as a pile of leaves. I have spent hours searching for one sentence I thought I remembered writing down, but it was there to be found. This makes me wary of delete.

I've thought about saving copies with each change, like photographing the bird tracks before the wind blown snow covers them. I've thought about having a tab 5 file.

But I wonder, how do you manage your electronic manuscript? Especially those of you, who write exclusively on the computer?

still typing up that handwritten manuscript

2010-07-03T09:38:00.004-04:00

I am sort of editing as I go, which can feel like making a pattern from random colors.
For me, a poor typist, it is slow repetitive work like hanging out laundry,but I love rediscovering details.

before the last leaf falls, the first draft is done

2009-10-22T13:14:00.003-04:00

376 handwritten pages.
oh, how i love loose leaf paper.
the fifth grader in me is wowed by that many pages FULL.
she is also pretty sure my handwriting is still at C level.

this was decided long ago

2009-09-09T13:59:00.004-04:00

While I plan to read all the stories in the forthcoming Zombies Verses Unicorns, I think my team affiliation was decided long ago.i

it isn't actually a graphic design museum

2009-07-26T15:15:00.005-04:00

visited the National Air and Space Museum Steve F. Udvar-Hazy Center and fell a little bit in love with all the graphics painted on the planes.

the view from July

2009-07-23T17:23:00.009-04:00

It is July and everything is growing. Our cloudy garden is starting to produce tomatoes. we've gone blueberry picking and sprouted alfalfa seeds for summer sandwiches.
my manuscript is also growing, this month I passed page 300. Currently, I am writing the climax and I can finally see my way clearly to the end.

the story is leaking into everything, like this collage for the cover of my current moleskin. (they make them in colors now!)
And how is the writing in this first draft? as awkward and promising as my son's handwriting.

too far afield

2009-05-28T13:40:00.001-04:00

where am i?
way out in the last third of the first draft,
collecting buttercups and trying not to think about ticks.

fiction and more fiction

2009-05-01T20:07:00.000-04:00

today i was drawing happy book sale readers, making up imaginary books for them to read and showing my love for the library with typography and colored pencils.

how do you squeeze writing a novel into a full schedule?

2009-02-28T10:49:00.009-05:00

write after bedtime--a carefully crafted bedtime that segues into at least 20 minutes (often more) of uninterrupted writing time. one child asleep, the other (also possibly asleep) down stairs with Papa (thank you, ergo.) It is a whole family effort. (thank you, family.)

So the page-a-day plan* is totally working. (89 pages in 58 days actually. having a surplus makes the nights when i absolutely cannot get to my desk or once at my desk produce nothing but crossouts a lot easier to bear. also giving myself all of 2009 to finish a first draft helps, too.)

if i was writing for food this would be way too slow but as this is on top of everything else it feels like a bonus, fun even (on the "good days," anyway.)

i wonder a lot about how mothers with small children get creative art/writing things done. (family help, babysitters as Hillary Lang explains, and as i am finding a small bit of work everyday that builds up and keeps you going. also not letting myself talk me into quitting on the "bad days.")

And how am i even writing this? one asleep in the ergo carrier, the other downstairs with Nona.

--
*not my invention. cory doctorow explains it well

on the ipod: the submarines. you can check out how i listen to the same thing OVER AND OVER AND OVER at my last FM page. i am definately one of the reasons for which headphones were invented.

Friday from the pages of: the current issue of the New Yorker

2009-02-20T20:57:00.005-05:00

tree drawing with vines and shadows

2009-02-18T20:07:00.004-05:00

Note to self: check camera battery

2009-02-17T16:08:00.006-05:00

Update: The Kids ♥ Authors Day event at the Eric Carle Museum was fun. Though not without a few technical problems. My camera died after allowing me one shot. (Luckily, others were better prepared. Thank you, Nicole.)

And we all love books

2009-02-11T10:24:00.003-05:00

This Saturday is Valentine's Day and it is also Kids ♥ Authors Day. Bibliophilistic* events are happening all over New England.
I will be at the Eric Carle Museum Event, in Amherst, Massachusetts, signing books from 11-noon. Come by my table and I'll draw you a bird.

*is totally a word.

something old...

2009-01-31T10:04:00.003-05:00

Anna posted about illustrating her own wedding invitations and it got me thinking about when I did that myself (almost 10 years ago now.) Artistically, it was a weird period between graduation from art school and my first book, winnie (dancing) on her own. I was trying to find my "style." It was a time of experimentation and so I insisted on doing odd things like painting on vellum even though it wrinkled horribly.
Looking back I can see the roots of what would become my style. I can also see that though it felt like FOREVER, it was only a brief 26 months after graduation before I was working as an illustrator.

this is still my favorite bit--to paint and because it is the truest detail about me:

Dropped Scones are American Pancakes

2009-01-23T12:13:00.001-05:00

addendum to last post:

I realized that while Mr. Chabon will never know about my invitation to an Imaginary Tea Party, an intern at McSweeney's could totally find my last post. And understanding what a potentially dangerous foe a scorned sconeless intern could be, I extend the invitation to everyone who worked on the production of this book. I better get baking.

friday: from the pages of

2009-01-23T09:47:00.007-05:00

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger*

"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."

In my world, it would be a chat over tea, not a telephone call on a black rotary phone.

It is reading Maps and Legends Reading and Writing Along the Borderlands by Michael Chabon that has me thinking about that quotation and about how I Heart McSweeney's Books. That is one awesome book design! So while I am making Imaginary Tea Party guest lists, I'll say Uncredited Book Editor, Uncredited Book Designer** and Jordan Crane, cover illustrator, please come, too. I'll make scones from scratch.

*I know you you know this one but just in case Mr. Salinger is running Google Alerts.
**Or was the triplicate book jacket and case dye art all Mr. Crane's idea? Nancy Drew time. Stay tuned.

friday: from the pages of

2009-01-16T12:46:00.002-05:00

Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card

"You know how writers are. Like Hikari, they create themselves as they create their work. Or perhaps they create their work in order to create themselves."

"It's to remember you in the entire"*

2009-01-03T13:07:00.005-05:00

i have this tendency to listen to a new song or a new album over and over and over again. (have i told you this before?) Nelson asks if i am trying to memorize it. And yes, i suppose in a way i am,. i listen until all the surprises are known and then until it becomes background music.

the latest is the Decemberists Always the Bridesmaid single in particular "Record Year" and because it had me wondering and i did guess, well, almost--Proserpina is the "daughter of Ceres and wife of Pluto, L. modification of Gk. Persephone (q.v.), perhaps infl. by L. proserpere "to creep forth" on notion of the germination of plants."**

*Record Year, the Decemberists
**thank you to Mr. Douglas Harper (entry #3.)
photo: december sunset from the car on 1-90 upstate new york.
how are you still reading the tiny print and not going to download the song?

for furture reference

2008-12-16T09:10:00.003-05:00

someone else was already inspired.

page fifty-six

2008-11-30T13:27:00.005-05:00

"Later when all the Welsh were dancing in their ring he stood watching them." -- the Half-Time Gypsy by Joyce Varney, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman, 1968 (first edition.)

now it is your turn:

Grab the nearest book.
Open it to page 56.
Find the fifth sentence.
Post the text of the sentence in your journal along with these instructions.
Don’t dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual one: pick the CLOSEST

(thank you, Richard, for the game)

in the silence

2008-11-11T19:35:00.001-05:00

of two asleep in their carseats, I had some time to write.

found: at a library book sale

2008-10-26T12:49:00.002-04:00

when the light starts to slant and the drawing turns into painting

2008-09-21T16:24:00.002-04:00

Well, they got Posy's hair right...

2008-09-07T11:55:00.000-04:00

The BBC's film adaptation of Ballet Shoes in now available on DVD here in the US.
Having illustrated Pauline, Posy and Petrova myself, I was rather interested in the casting and costumes.

on the way home from buying a watermelon

2008-08-28T22:29:00.003-04:00

i was thinking about annie patterson in artic alaska and siri (knitting iris) in montana and how i should blog what i love to see from others--in this case--a sense of place.
our valley is farms--sunflowers, pumpkins, a newly empty potato field, a freshly mown hayfield

Door and Richard Mayhew

2008-08-22T22:41:00.001-04:00

so as i am painting, i have been listen to neil gaiman read his neverwhere. (i own a paper copy and read it a very long time ago so this is almost like the first time.) as i listen my illustrator's brain catalogues physical descriptions out of habit and when i heard that Door has auburn hair (not black like in the bbc mini series) i suddenly wanted to draw my version.
(after this drawing i got to a part that mentions that Door's hair is rather short.)

found while researching

2008-08-16T21:22:00.003-04:00

"There is nothing as exciting as the wind. New love -- and then the wind. But the wind has always been there. Even before you knew of love, you knew of the wind."*

an ice skating bonnet?

school girls, england 1953

*Rick Bass, Winter: Notes from Montana

two things

2008-08-13T18:06:00.006-04:00

"We conversed with our own souls till we lost the art of communicating with other people. The typical family grew up strangers to each other....It was awfully high, but awfully lonesome."*

"I do not really understand what the big hubbub is about linear narrative. Life is not linear....To me, dreams are much more important then daily stories, and I believe we have enough news around us, and way too little dream."**

*Samuel Ward--from a letter after reading Emily Dickinson's poetry.
I found it in the print version of this.

**Stacy Kline, Artistic Director Double Edge Theatre

silver for alexandra

2008-03-26T10:50:00.003-04:00

Just got news that OUR FRIENDSHIP RULES is the 2008 Silver Recipient in the Developing Social Skills Category of the Mom’s Choice Awards.

i have been missing the act of painting

2008-01-29T21:28:00.000-05:00

studio has been all drawing lately, so i been getting my color fix in fabric.

a long ago borrowed book found its way home recently. i flipped through trying to remember reading it and found an underlined passage, which reminded me how much i have been missing the act of painting.

"the purpose of the craft is not so much to make beautiful things as it is to become beautiful inside while you are making those things." from the knitting sutra by susan gordon lydon

a window into the library of congress from my studio

2008-01-23T20:33:00.000-05:00

the library of congress has put up photos from their archives in a flickr set.

"so third grade"

2008-01-04T16:49:00.000-05:00

there is a great review of Our Friendship Rules in the hidden gems section of the january Ingram newsletter. thank you, norma lilly for saying "The real delight of this book is Alissa Imre Geis' imaginative illustrations...Her touches are so third grade." because that was exactly what i was going for.

consider yourself invited

2007-12-09T12:27:00.001-05:00

Come and Meet Children's Book Illustrators

Anna Alter, Alissa Imre Geis, Grace Lin, Anik McGrory, and Kelly Murphy

at the Opening for the Art of the Book Exhibit

Just in time for holiday gifts, the opening will include a book sale and book signing. Children with parents and grandparents are especially welcome.

December 14th from 5 - 8 pm
at the Old Court House Gallery
99 Main Street
Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 584-1300

The Art of the Book Exhibit will run through January 30th. It features the work of five published children's book illustrators in watercolor, gouache, and acrylic. See drawings and painting created for children's books.

don't miss out!

2007-12-04T12:43:00.001-05:00

my snowflake, hope in winter, is up for bidding.
to see the process behind the creation of this snowflake, go here and here.

the bidding has begun

2007-11-19T12:10:00.001-05:00

what actually happened

2007-11-06T11:38:00.000-05:00

elaine took many pictures at the danforth museum on sunday and then blogged all about it.
go read what actually happened.

one last chance

2007-11-04T21:15:00.001-05:00

the snowflakes are on display at the danforth museum of art in framingham, massachusetts until december 2nd. it is wonderful to see them in person. the colors are so much more brilliant than a photograph can show. up close you can see the tiny brush strokes, the miniature details and the texture of the paint. seeing them, made my fingers itch with a wish to go home and paint.

Blogging for the Cure

2007-10-29T11:02:00.001-04:00

For this year's Robert's Snow there has been a blizzard of illustrator interviews.
Poet and kid-lit blogger Elaine Magliaro of Wild Rose Reader interviewed me and it is up now.
Bidding on my Hope in Winter begins December 3rd as part of the 3rd round of snowflakes. (First round starts November 19th so go pick out your favorites.)
other interviews today:
Monday, October 29 Dan Santat at Writing and Ruminating Joanne Friar at The Longstockings Diane Greenseid at Just One More Book!! Sean Qualls at Brooklyn Arden

this week's schedule is here.

alexandra gets a gold star

2007-10-23T13:24:00.000-04:00

The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards results are out and Our Friendship Rules won the gold medal in the Best Picture Book - All Ages Category.

owl post

2007-10-11T15:25:00.000-04:00

so i sent my owl off to keene state today. i had such fun drawing an owl. at first i was rather intimated by the idea of drawing feathers. they made me think trying to draw fire or waves. tricky. i got all side tracked in my research reading about athena (notice the olive colored paint above) and then my emily dickinson reading spilled over from my snowflake.

but it all tied together last night after i was finished and thought about the quotation and athena, who grew up inside zeus's head. she would have a rather interesting take on "the Brain - is wider than the Sky."

(p.s. click on the keene state owl label below to see the post with my original sketch)

it's suppose to snow on saturday

2007-10-03T12:37:00.000-04:00

come see all the snowflakes at Child at Heart Art Gallery this saturday, October 6th. the open house runs all afternoon. several artists will be there. (i will be signing books from 4-5.) hope to see some of you there.

And if you don't happen to be in newburyport area, you can now see all the snowflakes online at the Robert's Snow site.

alexandra out in the world

2007-10-02T17:53:00.000-04:00

i just got an email from my publisher that OUR FRIENDSHIP RULES is a semifinalist for the 2007 Moonbean Children's Book award in the Picture book - all ages category.

just for one day

2007-08-24T15:57:00.001-04:00

a picture of me is on the front page of the fairfax county public schools website. it is from a school visit i did at franconia elementary this month. (i also spent 4th-12th grade in the system so it is doubly cool.)

Hope in Winter

2007-08-01T14:29:00.000-04:00

snowflakes are due today and according to UPS mine arrived this morning. thank you for the hair color suggestions and winter bird research. i chose a purple finch for the song bird. it sounds like this. i see them at our bird feeder. i'm not sure why they are called purple when they are actually red, pink and brown.

i can't wait to see the other snowflakes. hopefully they will be at the robert's snow site soon. anna, julia and kelly have previews up. so while we wait, here are links to the snowflake galleries from 2005 and 2004.

so close, so wait what color should her hair be?

2007-07-30T13:17:00.001-04:00

on my desk

2007-07-26T15:23:00.001-04:00

here is the back of my snowflake for robert's snow. it is a little slow working on a painting that is two sided.
so while the mod podge dries, a sketch for my owl for keene state's parliament of owls.

snow in july: paper into snowflake

2007-07-16T15:49:00.001-04:00

snow into july: canaries and emily

2007-07-12T17:46:00.000-04:00

the idea for my snowflake for Robert's Snow 2007 has been developing in a wandering sort of way. i find that blogging as i go, i have less of an idea how to tell the story.

i scanned in my pencil sketches and have been resizing the girl and the bird.

here is how the sketch of the front looks at the moment. i have been swapping out reference images for the background landscape.

as an illustrator, i have been looking for a text to match with my idea. words for the swallow to bring. i thought of emily dickinson's "hope is thing with feathers" and got a copy of the full poem.

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I 've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.

i love the way research brings ideas together making connections that build into a narrative. i wanted a winter landscape and there in the poem "the chillest land." but--wait--my bird is a swallow, it doesn't sing. (it actually makes this call, which is a bit like the sound of scissors opening and shutting.)

i like my idea. i like the swallow, the sketch, but i like the poem, too, except that it needs a songbird, like a canary. this had me caught, i thought that my idea was forking into two options. i stewed.

then i remembered i had the whole back of the snowflake and started to plan.

snow in june: first the idea

2007-06-28T15:19:00.000-04:00

now that i am all done with the gesso, my next step on my snowflake for Robert's Snow 2007 is an idea of what to paint on it.
i am still in love with swallows and envelope paper, so this is where i start.

(detail from OUR FRIENDSHIP RULES)

here is my first sketch. just trying to build a story as i scribble. snowflake--winter--long coat, scarf, earmuffs? a barn swallow or maybe a purple martin against the snow? wait, don't swallows fly south for the winter?
ok, just looked it up. barn swallows: "winters costa rica to argentina" (thank you, mr. roger tory peterson.)
so, yeah, they do. hmmm, perhaps that the story right there...

snow in june, knock wood

2007-06-11T16:02:00.001-04:00

so i am working on my snowflake for Robert's Snow 2007. i thought that i would blog a step-by-step.
i'm so excited to be able use my paintbrush to help fight cancer. (100% of the proceeds from the auctions benefit Sarcoma Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/The Jimmy Fund) robert's snow was started by grace lin.

(and hey, no comments on my poor gessoing skills. i'm not a habitual gessoer, usually i start with white paper, not brown masonite that i have to gesso into submission.)

already available

2007-05-31T17:53:00.000-04:00

so a little birdy told me that OUR FRIENDSHIP RULES is as of now--already available. you don't have to wait until May 31st and for those of you who pre-ordered it may already be in the mail.

the mystery of the april witch

2007-05-06T23:54:00.000-04:00

on tuesday, i'm headed to virginia. while there, i will be doing a school visit at my old elementary school.
tonight, while putting together the slide show i found this painting from an old cicada assignment. it was for the reprint of a ray bradbury short story called the april witch. it is a magical story, the kind that fills your head up like the memories of a vivid dream do. i was completely overwhelmed at first. did such a story even need pictures? but this thought was quickly followed by the delight that it was my job to illustrate a story that so inspired me. (and a bit star-struck. Ray Bradbury,who like me lived in LA) it also dawned on me that my illustrations would (hopefully) encourage readers to read this story. for them my pictures would come first, the greater thrill of the story second.
i delighted in teasing out details from the manuscript and tucking them into my drawing, hinting, hinting at what was in store. (do you see the profile in her hair? don't you wonder why it is there and what they are saying? don't you want to read the story now?)

out of the frying pan into the fire

2007-04-29T12:52:00.000-04:00

linda's handless maiden has been haunting me. i didn't recognize her at first because i was thinking about capture by pirates and the questionable success of an escape that lands you lost in a labyrinth. but there she is (though it says something about the sort of stories i write that her hand are only bound not severed.)

daydreaming

2007-04-29T12:27:00.000-04:00

what writing looks like

2007-04-18T14:12:00.000-04:00

things are pretty quiet right now.
i am just starting new projects so everything is new and vague. hard to talk about and even harder to photograph. but after neil gaiman posted this i thought i would show you what my first drafts look like.
i usually write in pencil (the same staedtler lumograph HB pencils i use to draw with) on lined paper. i love stamping the date in red ink on each page with a library style date due stamp.

drawing our heroes

2007-03-30T12:13:00.000-04:00

here is an illustration of ramona quimby that i got to do for a playbill. (when i reread the book, i was delighted to rediscover that she wrote and drew her name with the Q as a cat.)

at the time i was working on my ramona, i didn't search for all the other illustrated ramonas. now it is fun and it makes me see what makes my work my own. from my childhood, i think of this one. here are a few others: an old ramona, the newest ramona, german ramona

p.s. thank you to julia at whose lovely painting of anne of green gables got me think about this.

conversations of artists

2007-03-22T18:00:00.000-04:00

i got this request from fellow artist, alexander:
thank you for asking and in such lovely printing!
my new book Our Friendship Rules is about a girl named Alexandra, who is an artist and her best friend Jenny. the book is full of Alex's sketches, drawings and paintings.

(this is a alexandra's self portrait.)

(this is alexandra's drawing of her and jenny)

the idea of what i look like

2007-02-28T13:24:00.000-05:00

my publisher asked for a photo for the back flap on Our Friendship Rules.
i submitted this:
not a photo but to my mind a much better story, the idea of me. and a story (not a yearbook picture) is what a reader comes to book for, isn't it?

i love illustrated author photos like this one grace did with origami paper. i'd love to see more. if you know of one or did one yourself, please post a link in the comments.

little surprises

2007-02-21T14:25:00.000-05:00

the art is finish (as of 6.01 am monday morning) and has arrived safe and sound at the publisher. it is out getting its photograph taken and i am cleaning the very untidy studio.

so what now? besides catching up on my sleep and playing duplo with my toddler, there will be much updating of my website, including previews of art from Our Friendship Rules. Until then, here are two details from the book.

a quick introduction

2007-02-11T18:35:00.000-05:00

(I am madly trying to get the art finished, so must be brief.)

Our Friendship Rules is the book i have been i have been sharing here.
i just noticed that the cover is up on amazon. check it out.

working in an igloo

2007-01-27T14:19:00.000-05:00

it is so cold here. there is only a dusting of snow but the windows are covered in ice.
my desk as i get ready to work today.
my palette is a modified diptych picture frame. at art school, they had us get a sheet of glass and duct tape it to a piece of foam core. this design wasn't very portable and they often broke.
when i went home for the summer, i told my father about it. i was thinking he could make me something out of wood that could fold in half like a clam shell. he thought of the picture frame, which he modified with new countersunk hinges so it would open flat, a latch to keep it closed and a handle to carry it. after over ten years of use it is encrusted with paint and nicked but i have never had to replace the glass.
and having a palette that can be quickly closed is great with a curious toddler in the house.

paper and paint

2007-01-26T13:49:00.000-05:00

something small to share

2007-01-14T21:34:00.000-05:00

running flat out until dawn

2007-01-14T16:53:00.000-05:00

my deadline is the 1st of february. and so time and i are racing.
it is all finishing now. every little drawing and piece of paper is getting pasted down. then i have to wait for the glue to dry under the weight of a pile of books.

there is a flurry of activity in the studio. i know it doesn't look like it but there is.
soon so much to share!

golden thread underneath

2006-12-17T22:27:00.000-05:00

tomorrow the final art for the cover will be shipped to the publisher in maine. (i realize that this project has had no title here, yet. but soon, soon i will make the introduction.)

on the cover is the main character's sketchbook. so getting out my rather rusty book binding skills, i built a book for the cover.

i used a golden colored cotton to sew the signatures together. when the book is closed and glued down no one will be able to see. i find that the joys of making art and seeing art are two separate creatures like a bird and a bear.

i've been listening to Ys by joanna newsom which gets better with every repeat.

revisions

2006-12-12T12:03:00.000-05:00

armed with my scarlet pencil, it has been a week of revising sketches. this flurry of work has been fueled by music, including the excellent regina spektor (begin to hope, soviet kitch) and the decemberists (the crane wife.) the decemberists' beautiful site is illustrated by carson ellis, who’s illustration here expresses just how it feels to wrestle with revisions.

so busy, see the desk

2006-12-03T23:46:00.000-05:00

the book is in many stages at once. i'm drawing,
painting, picking materials for collage, and as always
looking at other books for reference and inspiration.

my desk is an L-shape (somewhere under there)
to the right is my lightbox for drawing, to the
left my palette and brushes wait for painting
and in the middle is my laptop.

i love the national audubon society field guide to north american trees,
esp. the little leafless tree silhouettes in the back.

gravity as a designer

2006-11-19T21:06:00.000-05:00

found this on a visit to a local college greenhouse. i always fall for complementary colors contrasting each other.
this week has been more sketch revisions and a certain amount of necessary organization (a phrase here which mostly refers to tidying up my desk, but also printing out emails and high-lighting things i am not suppose to forget to do. )
romantically put, it has been more like being a library clerk and less like being rembrandt.

behind the scenes

2006-11-12T20:42:00.000-05:00

for the new book, i have been building collages as part of the illustrations. (similiar to my work here )
as i am making sketches for approval nothing is set, so everything is held together by the low tack magic of yellow post-it notes. The backs look like this when i set them on the scanner:
i am quite excited about this book because it is a chance for me to combine my paintings, my drawings and my collage work in one book. if it goes well, it could be a watershed book.
so stay tuned. there is more to come including the front of the collage above.

sketches

2006-11-06T15:13:00.000-05:00

i love sketches, even when like these, they go in the wrong direction. i love when they are incomplete and still mysterious.

when i set out to draw, my ideas are vague. it is not like athena coming fully grown out of zeus’s head. i am not copying out an image from in my head. drawing is rather more hiking in the woods and following a sense of direction. i know i am going over that way, because the text is like a loose map. i keep correcting my course with ideas of what i think i want, with what the text requires but mostly just with those little tugs of instinct. almost always i listen to music while drawing, which distracts the overly critical part of my brain enough that i can feel those little tugs and keep going. and keeping myself going is critical, because each mark, each sketch builds on the previous and it takes many many sketches to get to the right one. just like it can take miles of walking to get out of the woods.

but when i do get there i am often surprised and say to myself, “so this is what it is? is this what my work looks like? i hadn’t thought...”

one down, many to go

2006-10-29T23:14:00.000-05:00

i've finished the first painting for a new book.