on sale now

A Pet for Petunia is finally published and available for purchase!

Do your neighborhood a favor and buy local.

If that isn't possible, buy here.

par-tay!

Those wonderful people down at The Secret Garden Bookshop in Ballard are hosting a gathering to celebrate the publication of A Pet for Petunia, my first work as an author/illustrator.


Everyone is welcome, there will be foodstuffs and libations, I will sign books and be shy and nervous all evening.


Here's the nitty-gritty:

Thursday, January 27 at 7 pm

The Secret Garden Bookshop

2214 Northwest Market Street

Seattle, WA 98107-4024

(206) 789-5006

Stop in and say hello!

secret's out

Having pretty much finished the art for my second Petunia book, 'Petunia Goes Wild', I spent a bit of today cleaning up my studio.
I amassed quite a stack of 3x5 cards with notes to myself on book making, and for some laughs or insights I decided to share some of them with you here.

Creativity is subversive.

Stand out. Or get lost.

Indecisiveness means you are not listening carefully to your emotions.

Color is a tool, not a crutch.

Manipulate the viewer.

The character is king.

Do more drawing than thinking. Then think.

The page needing something does NOT mean adding crap to it.

Stay simple.

Put no strength where it does not belong. Does it support the story?

Is it remarkable?

OK is not acceptable. OK sucks.

--I'm not going to claim my work reflects these fine principles, but only that I strive to attain them. Anyone else willing to share their insights into making books?

a review!

A Pet for Petunia, available at the end of this month, garnered some favorable words from Publishers Weekly.


The review finished up with this:


"Petunia makes delightful company; kids will recognize themselves and clamor for rereads. "


Aint that nice?

exciting new project

I am delighted to announce I will be illustrating Randall de Seve's new book "Peanut and Fifi".

It is a smart, fun, clever story. I was fortunate to able to devote considerable time to developing a look for the characters while I was at Maurice Sendak's fellowship this fall, and can not wait to dive into the finished art.

Randall is the author of the wonderful "Mathilda and the Orange Balloon", "The Duchess of Whimsey", and "Toy Boat".

Needless to say, I am thrilled to have the chance to work with Randall as well as editor Liz Waniewski at Dial.

in the bag

Late this week I put the final touches on the art for Petunia Goes Wild. It should be available in January of 2012.
For those who can't wait, the first Petunia adventure, A Pet for Petunia, will be out in ONLY SIX WEEKS!
Party info to come.

where the wild thing was

I haven’t blogged in a while, primarily since I returned just a few weeks ago from a residency program under Maurice Sendak.

I and 3 other artists had a month in which to work on our own projects and commune with each other and the Master of Children’s Books. I had a wonderful, productive time.

It is astounding how inspirational an environment of little or no distractions and the company of like-minded fellows can be.

I hope to get back to posting more, but I have a looming deadline at the end of this month, so am immersed in pictures rather than words...

Maurice smiling:

He is truly a delightful guy.

Both photos taken by the wonderful Lynn Caponera.