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This is from a recent book dummy of mine.
Lisa is bummed out because she has lost her best friend.
All she can do is remember the good times, now all in the past.
We’ve all been there, no?

NO- there is no cuteness greater than that exhibited by newborn lambs. To prove my point, here is a batch from Old Sturbridge Village, where we counted seven of ’em!
They are mesmerizing, we could have watched them for hours. They sound almost human. BwwaAAHHH!
Well, maybe like a human going, “BwwaAAHHH!”
And they are so much more pleasant than GOATS, trust me on this one.

This is one of my favorite instances of roadside Americana in this neck o’ the woods- the impressive Big Bunny of the Big Bunny Market.
This is in Southbridge, Mass. (as far as I can tell). It always makes me crack up.

I wonder how long the Big Bunny has reigned supreme over his Market? He looks very confident in his smart overalls.

I have fallen off the blog lately, blame a delightful case of food poisoning- glad that’s over!
The May issue of Highlights High Five magazine has 3 pages by me in it…here’s one of them.
This is a great magazine for kids who haven’t grown into the “big kids” version of Highlights, and also for lovers of childrens’ book art- every page is illustrated in full color. Check it out!

This is an old, old, old piece (circa 1988) from when I was in college. I recently went back thru some of this stuff to use in a presentation I was giving.
It’s a combination of Buster Keaton (who is, of course, in black and white), and the GREEN clad Yul Brynner as seen in “The King and I.” I vaguely recall the assignment being to combine 2 people into one illustration.
This was done in Luma dye (YES! LUMA dye! Does anyone use these anymore? Do they even make them??) and ink.
I still like this quite a bit, unlike some of my old art. This one really relates to my style now, with the black line, overabundance of pattern, and drawing style. I guess it was a foreshadowing of things to come. Never dreamed I would be doing this stuff digitally now, though!

…people like ME get sewing!
I don’t exactly know why, but the more work I have to do, the more I want to sew.
It’s something creative to do that specifically ISN’T work, and gets me away from the computer (since my illustration work is almost all digital now).
I recently made a bunch of pillow dolls based on vintage advertising type dolls that I love. I drew fun random illustrations on vintage fabric (from my huge collection) and then sewed them up.
Pillows? Illustrations? That’s right- they’re PillowStrations!
I can make these when I want to have something that isn’t flat art (or books) for arts and craft shows, festivals, etc. I can also do it while I watch The Office, for instance. Good times, very therapeutic!

I opened up an Etsy shop, too. Check out RecycleRabbit.

I love Etsy- it’s fun to see what everyone else’s craft obsessions are.
I know I’m not alone!
(More pillow dolls going up on Etsy when I get the chance!)

YES!!!

Nicely done, Mary Grand Pre!
The 5 residents of Maison Dubois can’t wait, we already anticipate some fights about who gets to read it first.
Maybe we should just get 5 copies.

Actually, I wonder how Mary holds up to the pressure of creating these covers. They are so highly anticipated! I think I would be going mental second-guessing my own art, starting it over a hundred times, knowing the world will be examining every speck of the illo in depth. But she must be used to that by now!

Here’s an image that I thought fit this weeks theme…two kids spying on sealife at the shore.
This was one of my favorite things to do as a kid!

This week’s box is the ultimate ode to the 80’s.

It’s a surprisingly graphic portrayal of Pac Man eating ghosts. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel bad for these particular ghosts- they have sad, horrified expressions while being eaten by the oblivious PacMan. Rather cruel compared with the real game- where both characters were oblivious! That’s how I remember it, anyhow. I also remember my brother and cousins being totally obsessed with the game.

This also happens to be among the last boxes made out of metal.
Apparently, at this point in history, metal lunchboxes were deemed “dangerous” and replaced with soft, safe plastic ones.
BLEAH. That’s also when box art plummeted to the lows that they currently are.

Pity the children!

Is this the children’s book equivalent to getting your picture on a Wheaties Box?

I think it probably is. Doesn’t the Hungry Catepillar look cute on Cheerios yellow?
It seems as though Eric Carle has teamed up with Cheerios to donate 100,000 copies of The Tiny Seed to whichever state answers the most trivia questions correctly at FirstBook.org Gooooo, Rhode Island!

Well, RI may not have the best chance of getting the books when there are big old states like Texas and California out there, but that’s OK- it’s a cool idea. Check it out and vote!

We actually have Eric Carle tiles in our kitchen. Eric and I had NO tiles in our kitchen for about 5 years, because we hadn’t found anything commitment-worthy. Then one day while at the Eric Carle Museum with the kids, we found these. Perfecto!