I Made A Tree

I used foam core board, spray insulation foam, redwood bark, and supplies from the railroad hobby store to make this 60-inch-tall model--a table-top prop for book shows and school presentations to give some idea of the redwoods’ immensity. At 1.5", the little people at the base are roughly to scale for a 250-foot redwood. However, many coast redwoods are over 300', and the tallest is nearly 380'.

Easter painting resurrection

Raven,  8x8" oil on panel

It has been 3 months since I finished book illustrations, 9 months since I've painted, and I've had a bigger-than-usual mental block about starting something. More than ever, I want to do something different, something less constrained, something somehow easier and less labored. Now that I've finally squeezed out paint, maybe I'll be able to keep going--at least until I get a release date and can work more effectively on marketing the book.

Author "Onesheet"

I took a break from bookmark making and spent yesterday working on my author "onesheet." Still anxiously awaiting a firm release date.

The Bookmark Factory

Coast redwoods, the tallest trees on Earth (350+ ft.), make tiny cones, with seeds about the size of tomato seeds. I find that, like many things about the redwoods, amazing. The cones are the perfect size for attaching to bookmarks.

This week I am a bookmark factory. First on the assembly line is dipping the cones in a preservative, then gluing on  "upeye" jewelry findings.  While they dry, I am cutting out and laminating the bookmarks and waiting for some green satin cord to arrive. Sometimes mindless work is fun.

Book Promotion Give-aways

I've been brainstorming promotion ideas and came up with these bookmarks with redwood cone "tassles". Way more effort goes into making them than is practical, but I'm indulging my craftsy side. A lot of front yards in our area have redwood trees, so I collect cones every time I walk now. (Oddly, not all young--meaning under 50 years old--redwood trees seem to make cones.) Then I dip them in stain and polyurethane, add tiny jewelry findings, print/laminate/cut out the bookmarks, and assemble.

Who Am I?

A painter? An illustrator? A paralegal? (experiment over) A professional student? An author?  A jack of all trades? Seems it changes every other year. Anyway, seven months ago I became an author-illustrator; so while I wait for the release of The Forest in the Trees later this year, I'm researching the ins and outs of book promotion. Posting and tweeting may be an important part of that effort, so here we go.

Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators

In anticipation of my book release (hopefully in September) and after being out of publishing for 9 years, I re-joined SCBWI today. I uploaded three (of 14) books and half a dozen illustrations to the website before the process of entering all the required information totally exhausted me.