A Tale of Two Hollyhocks

Benjamin Hill over at Dave's Garden blog wrote a lovely article about Priscilla and the Hollyhocks, click here to read. Makes me wish the parking lot behind our building had even the tiniest place to garden. I'll just have to save my hollyhock seeds for the day when we have a yard.

Awards, Priscilla, random things...

I have to admit I have not read most of the ALSC winners this year (I am always behind on my reading), but I am thrilled to see two illustrators I love get recognized; Beth Krommes and Melissa Sweet. I ADORE their work and think its really great to see "quiet books" get some attention! When I worked at Houghton Mifflin way back when, I got to see original art from some of their books in person and it is GORGEOUS. I especially loved Girls Think of Everything: Stories of Ingenious Inventions by Women and Grandmother Winter.

Speaking of awards (nice transition eh?), I just found out that Priscilla and the Hollyhocks has been chosen as a 2008 National Council for Social Studies Notable Trade Book! Hurray! The book will be featured at the NCSS Exhibit in Atlanta in November, as well as in the NCSS magazine. Its my first illustrated book gone *notable* so I am very excited.

Okay back to the drawing board! I am working on a new project I'm very excited about, will show sketches soon.

Just One More Book podcast review

I recently discovered that there is a really sweet review of Priscilla at Just One More Book. Their web site is great if you haven't discovered it already, I like the informal book discussion format. Really gives you a sense of what the books are about. Click here to listen!

Highlights from the second Priscilla launch

As promised, here are some highlights from Saturday's second and final launch party for Priscilla and the Hollyhocks. We threw the party in my neighborhood of Jamaica Plain at a local bookstore, Jamaicaway Books. As most book folks know, it can be super hard to pull people out to a bookstore on a sunny Saturday afternoon. So I was extra delighted when the store filled with enthusiastic friends, kids, and teachers. As we began our talk the seats in front of us filled, by the time we finished it was standing room only.

As with last week's launch, we each spoke about our process; the research and creative decisions that helped create this book:



I showed everyone the photo research I did for Priscilla's character:



Compared the printed book to the actual art (see painting behind me):



And talked about the process of creating the book dummy:



Heres a pic of me, the editor of the book Yolanda, and Anne:



And a rather adorable attendee who came in a cat costume. Why didn't I think of that?

Highlights from last weekend

So last Saturday was the first book launch for Priscilla at the Wellesley Booksmith, a really fabulous little independent book store just outside Boston. The author and I had a jolly old time! Even though I'm very familiar with the story, it was really interesting to hear Anne talk about her research and how she discovered the details of Priscilla's life. It is so difficult to get recorded details from that era about someone who was a slave... even simple things like her age had contradictory records! Totally fascinating.

For my part I mainly spoke about how I researched Priscilla as a character, how I incorporated reference materials and tried to make things like clothing and setting historically accurate- loyal blog readers will remember posts like this and this. (Please pardon the totally nerdy pic!)



I displayed a lot of process work from making the book; different sketch versions of the jacket, photos of kids that inspired me, the different versions of the book dummy.



Here is me and Anne after our talk. This is the first time I've actually met an author I've worked with in person! Usually they are miles away...



If you missed last Saturday, we'll be doing it all again this weekend at Jamaicaway Books, a great multicultural bookstore in my dearly beloved neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. Details below!

February 16th at 3:00 pm
Jamaicaway Books
676 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 983-3204

Kids welcome!

Painting in progress - a movie

I've posted a lot of photos of paintings in progress on this blog over the past couple years, showing the progression of sketch to finished painting. Recently I thought, why not make a little imovie of the same thing? So I put together this clip showing one of the paintings from Priscilla and the Hollyhocks.

What do you think? Can you see enough of the image? I had to make it small so as not to take forever to download. Does this give you a good idea about how a painting develops? Sometimes this can be a hard thing to explain with words. I also put the video here on my web site.

You can see a close-up of the finished illustration here.




REMINDER: This Saturday is the first book launch party for Priscilla at The Wellesley Booksmith at 1 pm! Come join the author and I to learn about the making of the book in person. More details here!

Chihuahuas everywhere love Priscilla

Okay so its a slow day in my studio and I am procrastinating by taking pictures of my friend's dog. Thats Dingo. He likes to read. Mainly middle grade fantasy, but today he agreed to check out my new book. Thanks Dingo!

Priscilla at 7 Impossible Things

Just a heads up that the very kind ladies over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast did a lovely write-up about the illustrations for my new book Priscilla and the Hollyhocks. Click here to read.

The book is officially out on Friday! If you are in the Boston area, the author and I are throwing two launch parties to celebrate- come join us for some Boston book fun. Details here.

Save the date!

Good news, Priscilla and the Hollyhocks, will be released in February at last! When I was painting the illustrations last year I blogged about it a number of times if you may remember here, here and here. You can see some of my paintings for the book here.

To celebrate this great occasion, the publisher and two great local bookstores are throwing us two fun-filled launch parties, one in Jamaica Plain and one in Wellesley. Both events will feature:

*An art activity for kids (make your own hollyhock doll)
*Curriculum guides for teachers who wish to use the book in their classroom
*A short presentation by both the author and myself about how we made this book
*Original artwork and sketches/process work on display

Plus snacks and good cheer for all of course!

Here are the details:

February 9th at 1:00 pm
The Wellesley Booksmith
82 Central St
Wellesley, MA 02482
(781) 431-1160

February 16th at 3:00 pm
Jamaicaway Books
676 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
(617) 983-3204

Feel free to pass along the invitation, all are welcome!

Done Done Done Done Done

This is me, and the finished illustrations for Priscilla, which has been officially delivered to the art department at Charlesbridge publishing. Hurray! Its such a strange feeling, looking over the dozen or so pieces of paper that occupied my attention for every waking moment for the past several months, and then leaving them in someone else's hands. When I come down to my studio in the morning, it takes a minute before I realize there is not a painting on my desk, burning for attention, and although its nice to have my free time back, it is a little disorienting.

Maybe one reason certain personality types are drawn towards becoming artists (or writers), is that we have the burning desire to simplify life. When a painting or manuscript becomes your focus every waking minute (and I don't mean that you work constantly- but that even when you're not working you're somehow engaged with the creative process, that some part of your brain is still mulling over what color to choose, what composition to build...), everything else gets swept aside into a less important "deal with it later" spot. And when you finish that project, it is so deeply satisfying that the surface ups and downs going on around you don't affect you as much. It is stabilizing to operate this way.

But you can't always be that involved in your work. Groceries need to be bought, floors need to be swept, and cars need to be dug out of the snow. Which for now is fine with me. I missed having a food in my fridge!