....just workin'....as usual.......

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: SIMILAR
In the spirit of the upcoming holiday....
Ho-ho-how does Santa tell the difference between so many SIMILAR looking elves?!

This illustration is from SANTA'S SURPRISE... a fun novelty book I did for a British book packager, BOOK STUDIO, currently being sold exclusively at wholesale stores ( Sam's, Costco, BJ's, etc.) around the U.S. Press a button on the cover and there's a Christmas tune, a rotating window, AND a pop-up at the end of the book! All that fun.....and at a discounted price!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY:PRETEND
...It's alway fun to dress up and pretend to be whomever you want to be on Halloween night!
But who's scaring whooooooo?!
This is an illustration from my book Skeleton Shake, 2008, from Piggy Toes Press.

Just for fun......

INSIDE THE ARTIST'S STUDIO
Welcome to my humble hole-in-the-wall! My Happy Place, I call it. The place where I spend most of my days, so it's a good thing it's above the garage of my home.

Besides the hurricane-like mess, you'll always find my studio-mates, Dillon......

...and Gus.

I get a lot of questions about my style, that I affectionately call "cut-paper-mixed-media." Which means it's basically cut paper, but with a little bit of everything else mixed in. While I was working on THE BUNNY BALL, I took some process shots for a school presentation, so I thought I would go ahead post those now as a basic "How in the heck does she do that?" entry.
PENCIL FIRST
Everything starts with lots of pencil sketches ...which result in the final pencil layout that (hopefully) the client approves. That approved layout then becomes my "pattern" for the cut paper.

COLOR TISSUE
Yep, I still do it the old fashioned way---throw a piece of tissue over the pencil layout and quickly block out colors with markers.

PAPER SELECTION
I have two standing flat files filled with handmade and colored papers that I choose from.

CUSTOMIZED COLOR
I often create my own colors and textures using paint, brushes, rollers, rubber stamps, texturizing tools...whatever it takes to achieve the effect I need!

CUTTING BASIC SHAPES
I go through Exacto #11 blades like hot dogs at a baseball park! EVERYthing gets cut out of different colors and textures of paper.....

AND ASSEMBLED
First the small pieces are glued together with a very fine rubber cream glue that is painted on.
The larger pieces are then assembled on the background using Sprayment. I have a special hooded spray booth in my studio that keeps the sticky overspray and fumes from gumming up everything in my office (and my lungs!) !

DETAILING
Once everything is glued down and excess glue removed, I go in with colored pencils, pastels and paint for the fine details, faces, shadowing and highlighting.

VOILA!
The finished piece! ".....a billions bunnies bouncing in a field...." Actually there are only 54....or is it 55? I lost count.......

Do the Haunted House Hop.....


....the Bone Tappin' Boogie.....


....or the Witch's Waltz.....


...down to your local bookstore or over to your computer for your copy of SKELETON SHAKE,
now available from Piggy Toes Press!

YEEEEEE-HA SPLASSSSHHHH!!!!

THE BEACH BALL is here!
Count clams, seagulls, lobsters and a variety of other sea creatures as they gather for an after-sunset ball on the beach.
Now available from Price Stern Sloan;
online or at a bookstore near you.

Under the sea.....


Under the sea.....


In your hands!
NEW! In the Klutz Chicken Socks series: MERMAID'S PALACE
Illustrated by yours truly, with a little help from over 200 photos taken in the coral reef wing of Shedd's Aquarium, Chicago Illinois...and a LOT of imagination!

NEW BOOKS NEW BOOKS!!!!


For those of you in the snowy Northeast, thump-thump-galump on down to the bookstore for THE SNOW BALL!


.....and for those of you who would prefer to think spring.......

Just hippity-hopple along to grab your copy of THE BUNNY BALL. Written by David Steinberg, and illustrated by yours truly, both are now available online or at a bookstore in your neighborhood.