Lindsey Manwell Illustrations

January

2012-01-24T09:53:00.000-08:00

What I love about January are the awards that come out encompassing the whole past year. The children's literature awards (including the Caldecott and the Newbery) were announced yesterday! I just finished Inside Out and Back Again, and it was so moving. I'm really happy it won a Newbery honor. Next I'm excited to read Where Things Come Back, and Heart and Soul.

While waiting for the story from HarperCollins, I've had lots of time to work on my own projects. This is a first illustration for a story I'm writing about an artist that eventually goes to... Paris! (what a surprise). The story has a long way to go to even be readable by people other than me, but it's been fun to draw what's flickering around in my head.

Now... a Paris update! Last Sunday my husband and I went to the Natural History Museum in the Botanical Garden. I'm surprised to say that of all the museums we've seen in Paris, the Natural History Museum was our most fascinating museum experience.

Natural History Museum, The Jardin des Plantes

Right when you walk in the door you are overwhelmed by a beautifully laid out showroom of skeletons. We were glad to find out that all the animals died of natural causes. Along the walls in glass encasements are organs. I know it sounds gross, but it was really interesting to see a monkey, llama, and elephant brain side by side floating in jars. Things got a little uncomfortable though in the far end of the museum when we saw animal fetuses and human body parts in formaldehyde, as well as human baby skeletons (those were the worst). But I can safely say that I've never seen anything quite like a 3 month-old porcupine fetus. And I appreciate that this museum is about studying science and you have to take the emotion out of it. I kind of related it to being an artist and how people are always ~~repulsed by~~ interested in how we endlessly draw nude folks in class. So many weird questions arise during those conversations! Anyways, this museum would obviously not be legal in the US, which made it that much more of an experience.

Happy January!

Farewell 2011

2011-12-31T13:00:00.000-08:00

2011 favorites:

Things that made my heart glow.

(Read)

Long Life, Mary Oliver

The Fir Tree, Hans Christian Anderson

The Paris Wife, Paula McLain

(Be Read to)

The Secret Garden, by Francis Hodgsen Burnett, read by Helena Bonham Carter

The Magician's Elephant, by Kate DiCamillo, read by Juliet Stevenson
At Blackwater Pond, by & read by Mary Oliver

(Listen)

Soundtrack, Miss Potter, Nigel Westlake

Soundtrack, Finding Neverland, Jan Kaczmarek

Soundtrack, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, Danny Elfman

(Watch)
Tangled

Jane Eyre

The Invention of Hugo Cabaret

Remember the elephant drawing?

Hello December!

2011-12-02T09:28:00.000-08:00

I have this newfound appreciation of each month because we are only here for one year. November was particularly different than back home- mostly because there is no Thanksgiving. This means they are setting up for December all month long. On the Champ Elysees there is a beautiful holiday festival. Around a hundred vendors have set up in matching sheds selling spiced wine and sausages, and gifts like handmade music boxes and russian tea dolls. Being Paris of course there is also a twinkle light display in most of the trees. On the bigger streets they even put a showering of little thumbnail-sized glass mirrors dangling from the branches to catch the twinkle lights and sparkle in even more directions. It's magic. 'Tis the season!

Here's a new illustration. The Musee d'Orsay is just 3 short blocks from where we live, so right when we got here we got year-memberships (for only 13 Euros). Sometimes we even just go for lunch. Whenever I go I see something new, and not just the paintings, but the way people are relating to them. One morning I saw 3 separate groups of french school children staring in awe at the artwork and listening to every word their teacher had to say about the marvels of a particular painting or sculpture. Meanwhile some of the older people were whizzing by paintings, or worse- on their cell phones. Of course not all the adults, but you'd be surprised by how many- especially in a museum. One day I saw a family with a young girl just after ballet class, and this is what came of that.


Musee d'Orsay

And here's this years holiday card that I did for LitWorld. I love that penguin reading his orange book.

Holiday Festival on the Champ Elysees

November

2011-11-08T02:47:00.000-08:00

It’s getting cold in Paris. Down jackets are starting to pop up around town and the mornings are much darker now. I’ve begun to take a mental note of the shops that boast of having the best chocolat chaud (hot chocolate). The locals here tell us that drinking hot chocolate is a daily ritual during winter. I love this time of year so much- I think the anticipation of seeing the Eiffel Tower covered in bits of snow and seeing my breath every time I step outside is all part of why, everyday, we are so excited to be living here.

This is my latest illustration. It’s hard to be surrounded by all the relics of a fairy tale and not fall into one. This I did for The Frog Prince.

Recently I headed to see Delacroix’s studio. It’s in a charming square and it sits back off the street behind vine covered walls. I would go to his beautifully sky-lit studio and sit in the courtyard and draw a leaf. Fall and all it’s dried up leaves get me every time.


Delacroix’s studio

Happy November!

Cornicopia

2011-10-15T04:08:00.000-07:00

In honor of Fall, here's a cornucopia of goodies...

Here's a sneak peek of next year's World Read Aloud Day google doodle. Mark your calendars- March 7, 2012!

Here's another sneak peek, this one's a sketch of a bedroom idea possibly going into the first book. Still waiting on the text, and my excitement is overwhelming. It's a waterfall world and I'm envisioning lots of open air huts for all the little creatures to live in.

This is a new character page I've been working on. A human not an animal- gasp! She's way tougher than me, with worse eyesight.

AND- Exciting news- I am meeting one of my art heros James Jean tomorrow at a small gallery in Paris! He is on a tour/book signing of his latest art book which I think is called 'Rebus'. I love that I have to leave California, where we both live, to meet him. Hopefully by Sunday there will be an uber nerdy picture of us right here if I can swing it. Either way I'll post something about that.

Finally here's a picture of Paris in the Fall (because pictures are nice).

Tuileries Garden

**Update: I met James Jean yesterday! It was a small crowd at Gallery Arludick (about 30 people), so he was able to spend around 10 minutes with each of us, and he drew a little picture for all of us in our books. I learned a few things about where he's at in his career right now, so I thought I'd share in case there are any other superfans out there:

- He is strictly working on fine art now, which is what he always wanted to do anyway. He feels that his illustration career was a detour that gave him 'good chops' and a following.

- It sounds like he has a big career-defining Fine Art show show in the works, which he was reluctant to talk about as he didn't want to jinx it.

- His sketches from his sketchbook take many many hours, often 2 weeks (on and off) to complete. The fastest he has worked was one he did in 6 hours after mapping out the illustration beforehand (which is this one)

- He just started driving this year. AND HE LIVES IN LA!

Alrightie so here's the picture I promised and his new book, as well as the drawing he did in my book.

I know, I know- it's hard to tell who's more excited about taking this picture...

Paris sketchbook

2011-09-19T09:52:00.000-07:00

There are a handful of parks with views of the Eiffel tower. This is the park just outside a museum called Les Invalides where Napoleon's coffin is held on public view. It's not as macabre as it sounds- the french celebrate this mausoleum with grand galleries dedicated to Napoleon. You can view all kinds of armour, cannons, and miniature models of ancient towns. I fell in love with the fairy tale gardens outside. Who is their gardener?? It was lovely.

Les Invalides

At Luxembourg park there's live music, merry-go-rounds, and all kinds of kids playing in the sandboxes. I loved these two because they reminded me of me and my older brother. No matter what I had going on his world was always just better.

Luxembourg Park

If you've been to Paris then you've probably seen the glorious waterways (my pictures do them no justice). The whole city spreads out from the central Seine river, and all along the river you can wander on the sidewalks and under the tunnels built ages ago. I tried to sketch right here on the canal, until the Fall rains came. Then I got hot chocolate and went home to finish.

The Seine River

Celebrate!

2011-09-09T08:32:00.000-07:00

I'm excited to announce that I have been offered a 2 book deal with Harper Collins!

I wish I could let you in on more details than that, but this is where we are at. There is still work to be done on the story by the writer, but above all things are up and running with the deal and I'm really excited to be working with an exciting team over at HarperCollins. Big thanks to Phoebe Yeh, and my agent Josh Adams for bringing this all together. The timing of the deal and the move to Paris are unrelated, but all part of the fun I think. I'll keep you all posted as things unfold.

And while we're waiting, here's some really happy balloons.

P a i n t i n g s

2011-09-06T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am adding a new page here to gather my paintings into one section.

I really love to paint from photographs as a hobby- it's a nice change from creating an illustration which involves creating a unique world and characters. With a photograph you don't have to create anything, you just get to focus on interpreting the color, lighting & texture, and things like what to blur and what to focus in on.

P A R I S !!!

2011-09-01T05:31:00.000-07:00

My first big announcement (if you can't already tell by the new banner) is that my husband and I have moved to Paris for a year!

My husband is working here remotely with his Palo Alto-based company, and I can work easily from just about anywhere, so here we are. Paris is a special place for us- we were engaged here, and honeymooned here. The banner picture is from a shot I took on our honeymoon about a year ago now.

I hope you'll enjoy seeing a bit of this year through my eyes. It's going to be an incredibly inspiring time for us and me and my work. This morning we woke up jetlagged long before the sun came up. This is what 6am looks like along the Seine.

Musee d'Orsay

I have one more BIG announcement to make, this time actually involving illustration, and I'll be making that next week. Until then, Bonne Journee!

Luxembourg Gardens

Infinity tails

2011-08-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

I try to make every piece of art I do special, but these last 2 pieces I've done have been really special to me. They've been for really special people in my life. The painting from last week's post was for my best friend's parents, who are a second family to me. And this little illustration above with the elephants I did for one of my dearest friends Taryn, and her husband Alex. Taryn is one of the few friends I have where I feel honored to be her friend simply because I think so highly of her. She's having a little baby girl this November. I sense that doing work like this- work that no one is paying me for, and that I'm doing for people I love just because I love them- is one way to get myself to remember why I'm an artist in the first place. Pouring love into my work makes me feel like I'm new at this again.

I have some incredibly exciting announcements to make soon, and I am gearing up for some changes around here. First up you may notice a change in the SIZE of things. The blog is way bigger. In the coming weeks I'll be sharing my news.

p.s. those tails sure do make a cute infinity sign.

A summer painting

2011-08-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

2 of the very best people I know, Nannie and John.

New York

2011-05-31T10:44:00.000-07:00

I spent some time in New York this month, and as usual I came home inspired. This time I found myself inspired by the least likely thing- the Alexander McQueen exhibit at the Met. It was more than just an exhibit about fine clothes. It was this unforgettable show about passion, and art. There was a whole room devoted to his most famous accessories: a massive peacock-feathered headdress, an iron-cast backpack, and my favorite- an impossibly tall wooden crown carved with little spring branches and blossoms. Anyways the best part of the exhibit was finding out what his greatest inspiration was: nature. Just like so many of us, Sir Alexander McQueen relied on things like 'starry skies, stormy seas, turbulent waterfalls and vertiginous mountains' to create his masterpieces. Needless to say if you can make it to that exhibit, I hope you do. Oh but be warned- the crowds were disneyland-ish and it was a Wednesday morning. Here's some fun recent sketchbook stuff anyways:

Fireflies and Sirens

2011-04-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

dragon bed

2011-03-28T10:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a new sketch for ya

I'm working on some two-toned illustrating for a project. It's nice to limit your color options once in a while especially all the way down to 2 options.
Green and Orange. Rawr!

Happy World Read Aloud Day!

2011-03-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

Here is our Google doodle that sadly no one will see today (except you!) as we missed the deadline to get it up. Next year!

And here is a pic of the action live in Times Square today. I hope you and your family have a great World Read Aloud Day.

Updates

2011-03-08T09:26:00.000-08:00

Sooooooo... tomorrow is the BIG day! WORLD READ ALOUD DAY 2011 is upon us. In fact, it's already upon us in many parts of the world. And thanks to so many wonderful bloggers- from Arianna Huffington in the USA, to the Santi School Project in Nepal, to the unstoppable network of mommy bloggers all over the place the word is out and all hands are on deck. I can feel the energy mounting. As of today, 55 countries are actively participating- which is already up from 35 last year! And, once again, if you stop by Times Square in NYC and join in the 24 hour Read-A-Thon you will get one of these rad buttons for participating. Let's all join together tomorrow and read aloud in our own communities and raise our voices for sake of literacy everywhere. "A book is the most effective weapon against intolerance and ignorance.” - Lyndon Baines Johnson.

In other exciting news, I have signed on with Adams Literary! Since I don't tweet, and I think it's a fun way to make announcements, here is a blog post of a tweet :).

2011 is already shaping up to be a wild ride- in a good way. Also, I have an updated website with some new imagery, some old imagery, but all in all a cleaner, faster way to see my work. Check it out HERE.

Inspiration is for Amateurs

2011-03-02T10:51:00.000-08:00

I had a great weekend in Asilomar at my first SCBWI conference. I even won an award!

Here is a (very blurry) picture I took of the panel of speakers for the weekend... David Wiesner & Mark Holmes (from Pixar- he worked on WALL-E!) were the 2 working illustrators on the panel.

The highlight of the weekend in general was being in the presence of David Wiesner. He gave the keynote speech on Friday night and spoke about some really poignant things for artists to know about this profession. He opened his talk with this quote from Chuck Close: Inspiration is for amateurs, the rest of us just show up and get to work. I have heard this idea from so many other artists, including Elizabeth Gilbert from a TED talk, Janet Fitch from an old Oprah mag article, and even Thomas James from the Escape from Illustration Island podcasts. And every time I hear it I want to stand up and shout YES that's me too! (but that would be weird). But I couldn't believe in a general working principle more. You just have to get up and work everyday and immerse yourself in the process. Even when you couldn't feel less inspired, you have to just work through that, and trust that the ideas will come. David draws his way to his ideas. David's book Tuesday came from an assignment with Cricket Magazine. All they said was Frogs, Go. He drew a frog, then he drew frogs on lillypads, then a frog floating on a lillypad and then the whole story was there and it just came rushing in, but he had to just get to work for that rush to come. His influences for his books range from The Shining to Star Trek to Morandi, and he believes our works as visual artists are a great melting pot of things we've liked visually throughout our whole lives. Our taste, basically. All in all he strives to reach a place in his work where he feels there's nothing he can take away, and nothing he can add.

Some other highlights for me of the weekend were talks by Josh Adams, a literary agent who cleared the way for me to understand some of the key business points in this industry by giving a plain and simple speech filled with humour and truth. He noted the various rights that book contracts are comprised of these days- including some new ones specifically regarding children's aps. Who knew there were Theme Park rights? And Namrata Tripathi from Simon and Schuster, aside from being someone I just wish I was friends with because she's nonstop hilarious, spoke about how we need to stretch ourselves to be interesting people in order to be interesting artists, and likewise, how Editors need to be interesting people to make good Editors. We need to get out of our studios, explore, be good friends and good family members, be curious, etc. Again, something I could not believe more in- YES that's me too!

Finally- I won the Annual Golden Gate Portfolio Award at the conference! And David Wiesner himself was one of the three judges. The other 2 judges were Namrata Tripathi (the funny one mentioned above) and Kate Jacobs from Roaring Book Press. I won some $, a trophy and everything. It was really nice. I had 14 images in this bamboo portfolio that I thought was really cool until oh ya, it gave everyone splinters. whoopsies.

OK back to the drawing board... oh, and even though Inspiration is for Amateurs, here's a few inspiring photos of Asilomar.

Tall windows, Asilomar and a WRAD Update

2011-02-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Here's a new illustration for a personal project... another story I've been whittling away at in the morning hours.

A few exciting updates-
I am heading to Asilomar this weekend for a Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI) conference. Asilomar is a beautiful lodgey place here in the bay area where inspiring conferences take place. I'm excited to check it out. David Wiesner is scheduled to speak, so I'm really excited to check it out. I'll be sure to report back next week.

Also- World Read Aloud Day is speedily approaching, and LitWorld has been given the honor of a special spot at Times Square on March 9 for a 24 Hour Readaloudathon! People are lining up to schedule the 15 minute reading slots already (including the Chancellor of NYC and the Deputy Mayor). If you live in NYC, and have the chance to swing by Times Square that day, I just know it's going to be magical.

Dungeons and...

2011-02-09T16:46:00.001-08:00

DRAGONS!

A fresh, new project

2011-02-01T09:41:00.000-08:00

The beginnings of a new project- a series! We are just in the baby stages of this but here are a few sketches to brighten your day... unicorns abound!

Favorite Things

2011-01-20T11:33:00.000-08:00

These are a few of my faaaaa-vorite-things! (...sung Mary Poppins style): my new studio, a panda in a tutu, and a little portrait. 2011 is going to be a beautiful year... lots of exciting new things on the horizon. Hooray!

WRAD 2011

2011-01-10T16:01:00.000-08:00

LitWorld’s World Read Aloud Day is coming on March 9, 2011. Here is the image I was honored to create to celebrate this truly meaningful day. All it takes to participate is to take some time to Read Aloud to someone you know, to a group in your community, or to join in one of the amazing LitWorld events scheduled throughout the world nearby you- many of which will be electronically linked to each other. Check litworld.org for more information.

Nearly one billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book. On this day, by raising our voices together, we show the world’s children that we support their future... that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their stories to change the world!

oooooh, for the Holidays...

2010-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:00

Make 2011 a year of Illustrations! I've collaborated with these 5 lovely ladies to create a diverse and inspiring calendar for 2011 (we're so excited!):

Kellie Charlton
Angela Dominguez
Lindsey Manwell
Linda Olafsdottir
Angela Willits
Sun Young Yang

So head over to my friend Angela's Etsy store and pick one up. Ang has some completely wonderful things for you to look at and buy over there.

In other news, I'm all married now (October 23rd!), and settling into a new life with a new apartment and a new studio. Life really is beautiful. I am still sprucing it up, but I will be sure to debut some new studio photos soon. I have an actual room now- not just a half-kitchen nook. Pure luxury.

i heart fall

2010-10-11T12:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Fall!

Early morning Farmer's Market

2010-08-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

Just a little chameleon taking it all in.

Illustration and Inspiration

2010-07-08T14:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a finished illustration I've done for a story that I have been writing for a while now. This character, even though I haven't finished the story, she's so clear to me in how she looks and acts in my mind that I wanted to get her drawn out onto the page.

The other photo is a close up of my inspiration shelf. I have a shelf in my studio that I arrange with small gifts others have given me. The picture frame with the acorn is the first addition I've made to the shelf that is from me. A little gift to myself, I suppose. The acorn is a drawing I did a while back for an invitation- one of many- and I didn't think much about it really, just onto the next thing I went. But I pulled it out the other day and suddenly I found it to be really lovely. So simple, so peaceful. and so humble. So I bought it a little frame, and nestled it in with the other things. And now it reminds me of a quote by one of my favorite tennis players, Rafael Nadal, from a few weeks ago at Wimbledon~ "The important thing is to keep things more simple... to have enough motivation to keep working all the days with humility and just trying to be a better player than the day before. I am going to try to continue doing this..." Love that Rafa!

techniques!

2010-05-31T17:27:00.001-07:00

Did this illustration a few times to practice different styles to see which one I thought might fit the story best. It's safe to say that these were the only blog share-worthy one's I did.

"To be BRAVE is so important..."

2010-05-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

It's such a deep and humble joy to see my artwork contribute in some small way to LitWorld's completely brave activism.

FuN WiTh LeTTeRiNg

2010-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Baby Announcement

2010-05-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

I've been working on some images for a Greeting Card company and here is the one I did for a baby announcement.

Flying Frog

2010-05-03T23:11:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you have been working on somewhat literal drawings during the day, somewhat non-literal drawings happen in your sketchbook at night.

Bai Yun and Yun Zi!

2010-03-19T10:09:00.000-07:00

Thank you Anastasia at the San Diego Zoo for letting me hang around with the pandas yesterday and draw.

LitWorld Activity Book

2010-03-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

Here is a short book I created to thank those who participated in World Read Aloud Day across the world this past March 3. It was a great success, and lots of artifacts from the day can be found here http://litworld.org/wrad/storysharing. We wanted to create a coloring book that children could color on, as well as possibly come up with a story themselves for. Although we hope to work out a version with words, too. The small globes on each page indicate where the animals journey has taken them.

"Nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." - Anne Frank

2010-02-20T10:25:00.000-08:00

March 3rd is right around the corner, and wow- what an amazing job LitWorld is doing getting ready for the big day. I am just so honored to be involved in such a meaningful project, and it's really beautifully overwhelming to see it all coming together. Here are a few other materials for World Read Aloud Day that I have worked on- a certificate, a coloring book page, as well as a T-Shirt design. I think the most heartwarming part is to actually see these things in action with the kids. This past week LitWorld's Founder, Pam Allyn, traveled with Anne Foley and Jonathan Thurston to Kenya to create a week of storytelling and writing that culminated in a writing celebration at Red Rose School. And she brought with her the T-Shirts. Here are some pictures I have seen so far of the trip that I just had to share.

Also, the World Read Aloud Day Committee received an email from Pam while she was traveling in Kenya, and here is a powerful excerpt from her letter:

The children here are mostly extremely hungry, have no school supplies whatsoever and life is full of intense and unspeakable hardships. yet are open and loving to all the world.

... Today I read aloud Charlotte's Web to a fifth grade class. They LOVED it. could not stop. wanted more and more and more...

I was thinking about how Fern carrying that ax and stopping her father from killing Wilbur is one of the most extraordinary scenes in all of literature: that an eight year old girl would have such strength of mind and be willing to stand up to someone much larger and stronger than herself.

... I know only how to use this one tool, and that is the tool of words. but they really work: they bring peace and connectedness, humor and happiness. and even health and safety. If what we can convey thru children's literature is the stories of girls only eight who can change their worlds, well, that would be transformative for children who get just one meal a day (at school) and whose communities have been thoroughly and totally ravaged by poverty and AIDS.

... The potential is really in the children and in their capacity for stories: stories they hear, stories they write, the story of their own lives that they too can create for themselves.

Please, wherever you are in the world on March 3rd, pick a book up and read it outloud to a loved one. Words really can change worlds.

I am currently working on a short book for LitWorld as a follow up gift to all those who participate in this amazing day. I will be visiting Robertson Intermediate School in South San Francisco on March 3rd, and there are so many other events going on around the world. Here are some of the highlights:

Three events in New York will be held on March 3: morning at Marva Allen's wonderful Hue Man Books, midday at Children's Village, and at 4:30 pm at the Harlem Community Center at the Old Polo Grounds. Members of the NBA & NFL to join.

In San Francisco, at Books Inc at 6pm on Wednesday, March 3 in Laurel Heights we will be having a World Read Aloud Day pajama party. Stop by in your PJs!

Head Sketches

2010-02-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

Just playing around.

Love

2010-01-21T17:33:00.001-08:00

creative holly color

2010-01-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

I am featured today on my friend Holly’s Color Blog! I have followed her blog for a while, and I adore it. It is a place where you can check out which colors inspire your favorite artists, and maybe a little about why that is.

Here is the a copy of the Post:
lindsey manwell is a san francisco children’s book illustrator who creates some of the most enchanting scenes. her soft little characters appear to lead such charmed lives. my favorite illustrations include windup, tort, shelf, and one of her new characters, wart. you can follow her blog for recent work and activities.

"i don’t really know why anyone is drawn to the colors that they are drawn to, but i do know that the most emotion for me, from any picture, comes from the color compilation. i’ll never forget seeing sargent’s fumée d’ambre gris—it was perhaps this image that made me become an artist all together, it was that powerful. i tend towards lighter, muted colors all over with highlights of deep, rich color."

If you like this blog as much as I do, be sure to check out some of my favorite people that she has featured in the past: Will Cotton, James Jean, and Kate Wilson. Check out their colors… and their brilliant work!

World Read Aloud Day is March 3, 2010

2010-01-11T08:50:00.001-08:00

For more info, visit http://litworld.org/wrad!!

World Read Aloud Day

2009-12-14T09:22:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! Some exciting news is that I have recently joined forces with LitWorld- an amazing organization based out of New York whose mission is to fight illiteracy worldwide. Founded in 2007, LitWorld sets up programs to help educators and caregivers to build sustainable communities of literacy particularly in the most vulnerable regions across the world.

LitWorld is about to celebrate its first World Read Aloud Day on March 3rd 2010- a day to encourage the importance of reading outloud worldwide.

Locally:
The best SAT preparation course in the world is to read to your children in bed when they’re little. Eventually, if that’s a wonderful experience for them, they’ll start to read themselves.
—Tom Parker, Dean of Admissions, Amherst College

Globally:
The last thirty years of reading research confirms this simple formula: regardless of sex, race, nationality, or socioeconomic background, students who read the most achieve the most, and stay in school the longest. Conversely, those who don’t read much cannot get better at it.
—Jim Trelease, award-winning journalist, education speaker, and author of NY Times Bestseller The Read-Aloud Handbook

Here is the the first of hopefully many images that I will get to work on through the years for this AMAZING organization. Thank you to Pam Allyn for the opportunity to be a part of something I could not believe in more.

Xmas Frogger

2009-12-06T17:38:00.000-08:00

Maybe I can hire him this season?

The Wild Things are in SF

2009-11-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been around the streets of San Francisco this Fall knows by all the bright orange signs everywhere that Maurice Sendak is here! His artwork, that is. And I was lucky enough to get to visit the exhibit at the Jewish Contemporary Museum with my favorite Robertson Intermediate School kiddos. These 5th graders are amazing, and their teacher, Ms. Mutch, is a testament to what it means to give everything you've got to a classroom and see your heartfelt efforts pay off (reminds me of my mom :). Here are some pics of our awesome day yesterday. The lovely docent Mrs. Jones took us all around the exhibit, and then the kids got crafty and put together their own stories. They were incredibly creative. I just know I met some future artists yesterday!

Snowbird

2009-11-19T17:23:00.000-08:00

Let it snow,
Let it snow,
Let it snow!

(This is an especially confusing song to sing while out and about in San Francisco)

Panda Yoga

2009-10-18T20:50:00.000-07:00

Finding quiet moments at work...

More Characters…

2009-09-10T19:18:00.000-07:00

The characters always come to life a little when you color them :)

Summertime

2009-08-23T16:51:00.001-07:00

Some New Friends

2009-08-05T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'm working on my characters with LeUyen Pham, and I had the best time drawing all these folks. Many of them have not made this final blog-post round and are crumpled up in the trash- their limbs sadly too long or too short, or they have heads that look suspiciously like they belong to other animal kingdoms. But all in all I've had some good fun playing with these sketches.

And, everyone knows pandas do hang the moon :)

Hedgehogs

2009-07-17T11:42:00.001-07:00

I wonder if they make good pets?

The Rainforest

2009-07-08T20:42:00.001-07:00

Zen Fables

2009-06-27T14:07:00.001-07:00

Here are some sketches I have been working through for a series of zen fables. Fun fun. In this particular illustration, a stranger appears in the Rainforest, and no one is quite sure how to treat him.

My boyfriend seems to think the sketches need a warthog. I am not so sure.

The Giving Tree

2009-06-24T21:32:00.000-07:00

Having trouble finishing a Rainforest drawing. So, naturally, I decided to hang all my animal sketches on Shell Silverstein's Giving Tree. As ornaments.

(Except for the cranes. They were not hung up.)

Art School Montage

2009-06-09T16:35:00.000-07:00

In looking back over the past years in school, there are so many pieces of artwork that I've done that will never see their way into my portfolio... they were done as assignments, or they were copies of other artists artwork to learn style and technique (can you spot the Rembrandt?), or they just didn't turn out as good as other work. Some of that unseen work has more sweat and tears than anything I will ever show in a portfolio to clients. Here is a sampling of that work... which brings back some wonderful, and some terrible, memories. :) Enjoy!

Classroom Visit

2009-05-28T14:34:00.001-07:00

Lucky me! One of my dearest friends Lydia Mutch invited me into her 5th grade class to talk about illustration today. The kids were THE BEST, and I'll never forget how excited they all were to talk about illustration. They even did the most beautiful illustrations themselves... what talented little artists. Thank you 5th Graders of Robertson Intermediate School- you guys ROCK!

May Madness

2009-05-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

I finally got to meet the insanely talented LeUyen Pham who I am lucky enough to get to work with this summer for my last Directed Study (in a couple weeks already!) at her book signing with the enchanting Julianne Moore. They have a second book out now- Freckleface Strawberry and the Dodgeball Bully.

I also have 2 juried shows up this month- with the details above. One here in San Francisco, and the other all the way across the country in Richmond, Virginia. For the shows I also got to put together some portfolio materials. The accordion books are my favorite to make.

And, we had our graduation ceremony for the year this past week! It was a blast. There were just 3 of us girls this year (and LOTS and lots of boys) graduating in the illustration department, so here we are. I couldn’t resist posting this dorky pic of the 3 of us in our caps and gowns.

Once upon a time…

2009-05-04T14:56:00.000-07:00

… all I did all day was paint portraits! I even got to work with the great Jeremy Lipking. Here are some oil paintings I did working with him a little while ago that have just been finally varnished and therefore are finished. But then again, the question always remains... when are they ever really finished AHHHHHHHHHH

The paintings are of my beautiful cousin Tayler, my stunning friend Molly when she was pregnant with her baby Nora (under that big puffy coat), and myself in one of Jeremy's famous poses. Oil painting is FUN.

I had much of my work photographed professionally yesterday by Don Almac from Almac Camera, so now I can post work that actually looks like the real thing. He did a wonderful job, and if you're having trouble getting your work to photograph properly, I would strongly recommend having him take photographs of your work, too. He does all of Ed Hardy's photographic work (once a San Franciscan himself) and he even had an Eric Zener hanging in his studio. He was affordable and fantastic!

Happy Earth Day!

2009-04-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

The Society of Illustrators West website is up woooooooo!!! http://www.si-la.org/47 If you have the time you may want to take a stroll around… and look for my work! Some of my personal favorites are Chris Buzelli, Jamie Zollars, and Sylvie Daigneault. And if you'd like to have your socks softly knocked off check out Patricia Cantor.

Also some other exciting news- I will be spending this June and July working with the lovely LeUyen Pham. I'm so grateful to get the chance to work with her. It's going to be a fun summer.

Here's a sketch of a world I created based on a story I wrote in my creative writing class this Spring. I call this place Asternia Grove.

Little doors, Peacocks and Dandelions...

2009-04-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

I have been doing all kinds of writing this semester for fun. Most of it complete nonsense, with LOTS of ridiculousness (including animals that don't exist, and yes, Blair- talking to one another!). So here are some spots that are coming along for an illustration from a story I wrote.

It's a sweet, simple story about a girl named Odessa and her friend, Hassan. Ssssssssss's in names are my favorite.

ohmygoodness...

2009-03-22T20:47:00.001-07:00

... I have a website.

Spring is here!

2009-03-19T14:30:00.001-07:00

"She had been warned about the book, and now it was too late..."

Here is an odd little illustration I just finished. At least I got to create a mechanical creature, and learned some good techniques for lighting. As my teacher pointed out- that is one big blanket she is on under that tree. Maybe she stole her parents big ole down comforter... why not.

Society of Illustrators West 47

2009-03-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

One of my illustrations made it into The Society of Illustrators West competition! It will soon be published in their Annual Book... Hooray!!!

I hope you can see all the joy that went into making this one. Especially that little snail over there.

Creature Creation

2009-03-05T15:00:00.000-08:00

What can I say, sometimes a girl just wants to draw some dragons.

They sort of remind me of my all time favorite mythical creature, Tahoe Tessie! (Here are some spots from a new illustration I am working out).

In Class Head and Hand Studies

2009-02-26T11:03:00.001-08:00

More Hans Christian Anderson

2009-02-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

This week I did a sketch inspired by a line from The Tinderbox, which was also written by Hans Christian Anderson (along with Thumbelina):

You will find yourself in a great passage. It is very light for there are hundreds of lamps burning there. You will see three doors...

I had some fun with the soldier who comes upon this strange place and made her sort of a female warrior. I think you would need to be a warrior to handle what she uncovers behind those doors- massive cats with eyes as big as teacups. Whoa there Hans. That's some freaky stuff.

Thumbelina

2009-02-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

More work from pastel class

2009-02-10T20:38:00.001-08:00

Our sweet model was freezing in our big, old classroom today- poor thing. I should have done this in light blue with little icicles hanging down from her hair.

Sketch for Thumbelina

2009-02-04T08:35:00.000-08:00

I couldn’t resist tackling Thumbelina this semester. After all, I was so in love with the Flower Fairies of the Wayside books when I was younger (a must read for the dreamy, romantic 4-6 year-old set). What fanciful little girl wouldn’t want to be born inside a flower?

In Thumbelina, a dead bird becomes very dear to her, and as she visits him from time to time she begins to realize that his heart is still beating. She nurses him back to health by bringing him nectar and other goodies in the petal of a flower.

This is the sketch, and next week I'll post the finished illustration, done in watercolor.

In Class Figure Sketch

2009-02-04T07:44:00.000-08:00

I think it's clear that I need to work on finding a conte crayon for next week that looks more like skin color, and less like tangerines.

Back to school

2009-01-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

So excited to be back in class for my final semester. Of my life!

The Tortoise and the Hare

2009-01-25T20:35:00.001-08:00

This story never gets old to me.

Creative Quarterly 13

2009-01-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

I'm in the current issue of Creative Quarterly! When I was chosen to be featured in the magazine, they asked me what my biggest inspiration is... so, my dad can be seen strutting his stuff on a fishing boat with a GIANT Marlin (that he caught- very good luck, I believe!) in the 'Inspirations' section.

An illustration I did many moons ago with my beloved teacher William Maughan can be seen on page 63 alongside the very talented up-and-coming illustrators: Jennifer Miles, Yoon Kyung Lee, and Kyung Soon Park (among others).

Above is the illustration they chose to publish, my original sketches, and, the section with my dad! (Being that he is my main blog reader, I thought it appropriate that you should get to meet him).

The Faun and the Flute- Narnia

2009-01-14T16:35:00.000-08:00

A New Year- and a blog! I hope you enjoy visiting me here from time to time. I am a student at the Academy of Art University here in foggy San Francisco set to graduate with an MFA this year in the summertime.

Here is my newest illustration, and my first ever blog post. My hope is to include the drawings, as well as more finished work so you can see the process. Thank you to Lane for posing to be a musical faun. You've turned into a lovely creature.

P A I N T I N G S / S T U D I E S

2009-01-01T01:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a collection of my paintings, and some studies at the bottom.
(updated September 2011)

Carmel Valley

Nannie and John

Molly

Red

Tayler

Self Portrait

Sylvia

__________________________________________________

Below is a collection of studies. Before I do most paintings I usually try to do a study like the ones below. Often times I never make it to the final because I like the study enough. Or I suddenly don't have the time to work on a final piece. Or- worst case scenario- I do the painting and the tiny study actually looks better (which happened in the case of the Morrocan girl with the red scarf below).

Here are a few examples of those.