Robert’s Snow-Meet John Abbott Nez!

Welcome to Blogging for a Cure!
Here’s where we, the Bloggers of the Kidlitosphere, are chatting about the fabulous artwork that’s showing up on snowflakes these days. Each piece of art is available to buy through Robert’s Snow, with proceeds going to cancer research. If you know anyone who has fought this disease, then you know how important research funds are in finding new treatments and an eventual cure. It’s great art for a great cause, so bid like crazy!

Today’s featured flakemaker: Author-illustrator John Abbott Nez!
Here’s an illustration that will get you in a snowflake-y mood:

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From My Cherry Tree, by John Nez

John is an artistic dynamo- his whimsical art can be found in literally tons of books and magazines for children, and also paints his favorite natural subjects on canvas in his “spare” time. He’s also one of the few people I know who’s been a “ghost illustrator” for a few popular book series. For his children’s work, he works traditionally to a point, then digitally enhances it for his trademark look.

His handpainted snowflake is a gorgeous homage to winter birds:
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Here’s the guy himself and a small selection of his books:
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Robert’s Snow-Meet Joe Kulka!

Welcome to Blogging for a Cure!
Here’s where we, the Bloggers of the Kidlitosphere, are chatting about the fabulous artwork that’s showing up on snowflakes these days. Each piece of art is available to buy through Robert’s Snow, with proceeds going to cancer research. If you know anyone who has fought this disease, then you know how important research funds are in finding new treatments and an eventual cure. It’s great art for a great cause, so bid like crazy!

Today’s featured flakemaker: Author-illustrator Joe Kulka!

Joe’s been having some major e-mail trouble lately, so I wasn’t able to connect with him for an interview just now (I’ll update the post when I can).
But that’s OK, he’s been in my critique group for about 7 years, so I know a few things about him!

For one thing, he’s an amazingly talented illustrator, and has been successfully working for years in the fickle world of illustration. To his credit, he can do all kinds of art, from goofy cartoons to technical and medical illustration wih equal grace. While he works digitally most of the time, he is also an accomplished oil painter, and has returned to this favorite medium for his new book called The Rope, coming next year.

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This year marked Joe’s debut as both author and illustrator- Wolf’s Coming, published by CarolRhoda books has garnered great reviews and recently won a Bronze Bronze Medal in the “Picture Book – 4-8 Year Old” category of the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards.

Joe’s flake this year is wolf-based:

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Joe lives and works in Pennsylvania with his lovely wife and three children. As his family has grown, so has his arsenal of books, and it has been wonderful seeing both blossom forth. I am sure there will be many more Joe books to come- now’s your chance to pick up a piece of his original art while you can, and raise important funds for cancer research, too!

Go bloghopping! Check out all the other Robert’s Snow flakemaker features this week!
Visit Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast for the complete lo-down.

Happy Halloween!

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In the true spirit of the season-
Get out there and get some candy!!

A Keene Time in New Hampshire

Eric and I had the good fortune to go to the Keene State College Children’s Literature Festival last weekend. A little rain didn’t interfere with the amazing lineup of speakers!

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Dr. David White is the enthusiatic organizer and MC of the event.

First up was author-illustrator Kathy Mallat.
Kathy had the daunting task of stepping inas a conference speaker at the last minute, and she really rose to the occasion! Her artwork and stories are sweet and right on target for the youngest audiences. I was particularly interested in how she starts with lots of words, then pares them down to the essence of what needs to be said in the book, and what can be “said” in the pictures. I know what that’s like, and it’s not easy! My own upcoming book has 50 words in it, but it started with plenty more!

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Kathy and some of her charming books!

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Michael Dooling is a writer and illustrator who really likes to get into his characters!

He works in oil paint, and even painted in front of us all. He owns a collection of costumes that he uses for reference in his highly accurate but accesible work. (more…)

It’s a Complicated Life, Charlie Brown

Did any of you happen to catch the American Masters episode on Charles Schulz last night on PBS?
I had heard that there was some controversy about this documentary because it showed Charles as too much of a downer, and focused too much on the negative aspects of his life.

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Well, that may be so, but I found it to be incredibly moving and well done. He was a complex guy; like most artists I know who are truly involved in their art, it’s not always a bed of roses. I applaud the series for “going there”, so to speak.

Charles Schulz had a big impact on my childhood; I remember diligently cutting out comics every day and pasting them into my own scrapbook, so they would stay in order and tell the whole continuing story. There has probably never been another comic that was so driven by one person as Peanuts.

Catch this show if you can…and if you did, what did you think?

Robert’s Snow-Week 3

Blogging for a Cure continues! Here are this week’s profiles of illustrators participating in Robert’s Snow.

Missed some of the previous interviews? Fear not! Visit special page at 7-Imp containing a comprehensive list of links to the profiles posted so far.

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Monday, October 29

Tuesday, October 30

Wednesday, October 31

Thursday, November 1

Friday, November 2

Saturday, November 3

Sunday, November 4

Robert’s Snow- Meet Kelly Murphy!

Welcome to Blogging for a Cure!
Here’s where we, the Bloggers of the Kidlitosphere, are chatting about the fabulous artwork that’s showing up on snowflakes these days. Each piece of art is available to buy through Robert’s Snow, with proceeds going to cancer research. If you know anyone who has fought this disease, then you know how important research funds are in finding new treatments and an eventual cure. It’s great art for a great cause, so bid like crazy!
Today’s guest: Author-illustrator Kelly Murphy!

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Kelly with some new pals at a school visit.

Kelly lives and works in Massachusetts, where she has been pursuing her illustration career since graduating from Rhode Island School of Design in 1999. She also teaches illustration at Montserrat College of Art, and works with all kinds of clients on toys and products. A Renaissance woman!

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Kelly is dedicating this year’s snowflake to her cousin’s son.

“This year, I dedicate my snowflake to Connor Ciesielski, a very gentle, adventurous little boy who was truly, a great crab hunter. Connor’s true love was being on a Cape Cod beach. He enjoyed the hot days in the sun and the early evenings on the beach. It was on the beach that “Conman” was his happiest. He would fish and hunt for crabs all day. He always made sure that any sea life that he and his brother caught was always returned back to the sea so that they wouldn’t be missed by their daddy and mommy and could grow bigger in hopes of catching them again on another day. Connor passed away due to Leukemia this July 15th. He was a very brave warrior.”

I am sure Connor would have loved your painted tribute to him, Kelly. I also had a young cousin who died of leukemia; the impact of these special people who have lost their battle endures. Kelly’s snowflake goes up for bid from Dec. 3-7. Let’s raise some research money! (more…)

Rhode Island Festival of Children’s Books and Authors

Oh, happy day! Lincoln School once again organized and hosted this fabulous one-day event.

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Lincoln School seems like a really nice place to learn.

This is pretty much my favorite book fest for many reasons:

1. AWESOME authors and illustrators. Top-notch, every year! This year, Mary Jane Begin, Peter H. Reynolds, David Weisner, Giselle Potter, and Chris Van Allsburg were there, plus plenty more.

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Here’s Peter H. Reynolds quick-sketching his character Vashti from The Dot.

2. Small, wonderful presentations by the participants. You actually feel like they are talking to you, and you alone.
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Here’s David Weisner, talking to me and me alone, about his Caldecott-winning book, Flotsam.

3. Other fun stuff: crafts for the kids, book characters walking around, and this year, BIG NAZO!

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The incomparable Big Nazo Band.

4. You can get your books cheerfully signed!
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Peter is one of the cheerful-est guys I’ve ever met- and he stuck it out until every one of us got our books signed. We were last in line, but so help me, he was still cheerful!

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Look- a hundred signatures later, and David is still cheerful, too!

5. It’s cheap! Only $3 to get into all the events, or a family rate of $10. For real! That’s always nice for those of us with bigger families.

As much fun as this festival is, this is the second year in a row that it conflicted with Escobar’s Highland Farm’s Harry Potter Day.
So, after a great half-day at Lincoln School, there was a cornfield beckoning us…

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Snape took this picture.

Here’s hoping the two events don’t overlap next year…we love them both!

Way Cool Nature Update

We had a close encounter of the natural kind a couple of weeks ago:

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This lovely praying mantis was on top of our grill outside our studio, which gave us all a great view of it. Every time we brought the camera in close, it attacked as if it were trying to eat it!

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After gawking at it for a while, we brought it over to a flowering sedum plant, where it proceeded to snag a bee from mid-air about 10 seconds later. And then another. And then another, and so on. That thing was hungry!

We watched it every day in the sedum plant for about a week. Apparently, this turned out to be an excellent hunting ground; then it dissappeared.

Remember the Biggest Spider Ever??
Here’s what she looked like after creating the biggest egg sac ever!

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You can see that her body mass was greatly reduced by this effort. After this, she made another web nearby, but I don’t think it saw too much action before she died, right there in the web. It’s sad, just seeing her there now, falling apart.
Truly, it reminds me of Charlotte’s Web, and I am hoping to see Joy, Nellie and Aranea next year!

Illustrator Interviews= FUN!

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The above snowflakes were made by me, and are now owned by wonderful people who supported the search for cancer’s cure through Robert’s Snow.
You- that’s right, YOU- could be one of those wonderful people THIS year! Here’s the list of the illustrators who have been inteviewed this week as part of this year’s fundraising blitz. I’ll have more upcoming interviews, too. Go forth and enjoy, and of course, bid when the auctions start on Nov. 19th!

Tuesday, October 16

Wednesday, October 17

Thursday, October 18

Friday, October 19

Saturday, October 20

Sunday, October 21