another drawing of dario

albertaviews magazine

I have an illustration in the November issue of Albertaviews Magazine. The article is a moving personal essay about a man's rehab after suffering a stroke on the operating table. It's an optimistic piece, and also quite humorous. Huge thank you to Art Director, Beate Wichmann.

happy halloween!

picture book panel, october 17th

You can check out some photos from the opening night of the Alberta Illustration Awards, which I was fortunate to participate in, on RANDM Collective's website, here.

I also wanted to mention that I'm participating in a picture book panel, along with several amazing illustrators, at ACAD in conjunction with that show on Thursday, October 17th from 3:00 to 5:00 in the lecture theatre. It's open to the public so check it out if you have an interest in picture books.

fall update

Although I still don't have much time for this blog right now, I wanted to pop in for a quick update. I'm still plugging away on my next picture book as well as a few other illustration projects that I'll be sharing in the near future. I'm still working at the spice store and soon I'll be teaching at ACAD again as my extended studies illustration class is starting this week. Last weekend was spent manning a booth at Edmonton's Comic and Entertainment Expo, selling prints and books. I'm also finally harvesting from my garden - lots of tomatoes and squash and cucumbers. I even managed to slip away to Saskatchewan for a week to visit my home town of Zenon Park and my family. It was wonderful. I might have gone a little crazy with photos and filters... see below :)


Really cool public art in Calgary's East Village:

Produce from my garden:

My beloved Saskatchewan:

My home town:

When I was a child, I was obsessed with the imprint of scissors in a sidewalk in our park so when I was home this last time, I found it to show my husband. I don't know why I like it so much, but I still do.

the alberta illustration awards

I saw this little article in a magazine - it's for a show that I'm so excited to be participating in. The opening is tomorrow evening at Art Central, downtown Calgary, in the lower level at RandM Collective. Here's the link to the organizer's blog where you can find info about the show as well as some of the amazing participants: http://mikekerr.blogspot.ca/

on my desk

Sketchbook Tuesday is going to be set aside for the next little while as I focus on the sketches for my new picture book, Charlie's Dirt Day.

hair 2

YABS poster and postcard

Back in January, the Young Alberta Book Society (YABS) asked me to illustrate a poster and postcard to promote their annual Taleblazers festival to schools and libraries in the province of Alberta. During the festival, authors and illustrators travel around doing presentations for students of all ages.

While brainstorming ideas for the poster and postcard, I was focussing on the purpose of having an author or illustrator speak to a group of students. I think it's about getting kids excited about books and writing and drawing. Making them feel inspired and like they can do it too.  That's what my solution is about.

hair

illustration related stuff to learn from and be inspire by

I've stumbled accross some illustration related things online over the last few months that I thought were worth sharing...

As anyone who reads this blog can attest to, I am a huge fan of the work of Mr. Oliver Jeffers and I came across 2 really great interviews with him. The first is from The Great Discontent (read it here) and the second is from We Love This Book (read it here).

An other artist whose work I really admire is Jon Klassen and he recently did a pod cast interview on Your Dreams My Nightmares with Sam Webber. You can listen to that interview here.

For those of you on twitter, I highly recommend that you follow an art director named Giuseppe Castellano (@pinocastellano). He works in children's publishing and is constantly tweeting art tips for illustrators. Although his tips are especially helpful to picture book artists, I think they also apply to illustrators in general. Here's an interview he did.

Here are two article that Mr. Castellano tweeted about that I thought had some pretty good information. Here's one about composition, and here's one about the history of children's picture books.

And for all the process junkies out there (like myself), this is how Adam Rex makes a picture book, and this is how Greg Pizzoli does it.

tomato studies

there's going to be another Charlie book!

Now that the contract is signed and everything is official, I'm really excited to finally be able to share some good news.  I'm going to be illustrating another picture book by Andrew Larsen, titled Charlie's Dirt Day, that will be published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside and released in the fall of 2014.  It's going to be another Tell-Me-More book, providing educational information about compost and gardening.

cherry tomatoes

calgary flood

My city, Calgary, is currently quite a mess due to flooding. It's been over a week since the whole thing started and it still feels surreal. Our home wasn't affected, but we know many people whose homes were. It's heartbreaking to see all the damage, but it's been inspiring to see people come together to help each other. It makes me feel proud and happy to live in this city.

My day job is in a shop in Inglewood, one of the neighbourhoods that was affected by the flood. We had many volunteers show up to help with the dirty work of hauling ruined items out of the basement.  Strangers arrived unexpectedly with trailers to haul it away for free. People brought sandwiches and baked goods to feed everyone. It was unexpected and amazing and continues to happen all over the city. I made the sign at the top of this post for the shop, to acknowledge of all the help, kindness and generosity we've received.

blue face

little boy with a box

red dario

may update

Here's what I've been up to this month...

• I started teaching another extended studies class at ACAD at the beginning of the month. This class is all about illustration. It's my first time teaching this specific class and I'm loving all the different subject matter that I get to cover.  My students seem to be almost as excited as I am about process and the way ideas and images evolve which is so exciting for me. There's nothing like having people respond positively to something you're passionate about. Looks like I'll also be teaching this in the fall if anyone in Calgary wants to learn how to illustrate. I'll post the details when the Extended Studies fall calendar comes out.

• As this is my first spring in the home my husband and I bought last summer, I'm planting my first vegetable garden. I've spent the last little while collecting seeds, doing research, re-building the raised beds and prepping the soil. I just finished planting everything this past weekend. I even bought tomato plants and herbs to transplant - but those aren't going into the garden until the beginning of June.

• I found out a few weeks ago that the picture book I illustrated, Bye, Bye, Butterflies! was nominated for an Information Book Award.

• Here's a little commission I just finished for a local couple:

(graphite and coloured pencil on watercolour paper)