May Sketches

I'm a little late to posting these, but after an urgent April deadline I returned to consistent daily sketching in the month of May. Many small projects heading into summer, but the sketching will continue. Enjoy! 

Harts Pass No. 103

It's graduation week here in Harts Pass country. Congratulations class of twenty-twelve!

Harts Pass No. 102

Spring Cleaning: Long-delayed and never ending!

Harts Pass No. 101

Bigfoot again: This is the Squatchie's second appearance, thusly qualifying him as a regular guest!

Pipestone School of Music T-Shirts

 

I'm pleased as punch with these new shirt designs for the Pipestone School of Music. They sold like hotcakes at "Music Days" last weekend, so get one while you can! The screen printed colors are a little different -- including the blue of the tees -- so I'll try to get a "live" shot posted soon.

Harts Pass No. 100!

"Sweet Wolverines!" Amazingly, I have been drawing Harts Pass for 100 weeks - almost TWO years!

Last weekend, the ever-fantastic Methow Arts hosted Ten Tiny Dances at the Twisp Community Center. In today's strip, the "tiny" among us give their own rendition. Take a closer look if you can, because the devil is in the details...

Harts Pass No. 99

Today's strip is no where near worthy of it's penultimate (almost 100 weeks!) status... but the locals will probably get it. Giddy up!

Harts Pass No. 98: "Bearnica"

On the heels of recent bear baiting charges and the ongoing drama of wolf recovery (both at home and beyond), Melanie's inner Picasso takes a stand. Click to enlarge as usual!

Portfolio Twenty-Twelve

As usual, the final sleep-deprived push towards an impending deadline has my mind pinwheeling in about a million other creative directions... siren songs that can seem even more enticing or justifiably important than the actual really important deadline. Fear of failure induced procrastination -- or something like that.

Anyway, this plaintive lab is begging me to stay the course and finish up in style. He's also a good reminder that one of my twenty-twelve creative desires -- pressing needs even -- is to update my portfolio pages. I've done some of my best work in the last 2-3 years and I have some brand new images and stories that are ready to share. I need to get them out there!

Harts Pass No. 97: Fast Marmots?

Watching marmots run. It got me thinking...

On the Drawing Table: Late April 2012

I'm putting the final watercolor and colored pencil touches on my first illustrated poetry collection, Sea Star Wishes by Eric Ode (Sasquatch Books, 2013). Eric is a poet and songwriter/musician from Bellevue, WA and I'm already looking forward to joining him for a few joint book events in 2013. Back to work!

Harts Pass No. 96

The "science fair" of Life.

More Awards News for Polar Opposites!

Polar Opposites is a 2012-2013 nominee for the South Carolina Picture Book Award. Again, in lots of great company with the likes of Art & Max (David Wiesner), City Dog Country Frog (Willems/Muth), How Rocket Learned to Read (Tad Hills), and Fair Cow (Leslie Helakoski) among others.

I'm thrilled to know that the book will be getting read and shared no matter what!

Harts Pass No. 95

 Elementary school visits in Puyallup and a levy vote at home. "Yes" for Schools!

A Bank Street Best Book 2012!

Awesome schools visits in Graham, Washington this week were made even better by the news that WHO HAS THESE FEET? was just named a Bank Street Best Book for 2012. You have to dig a little deep -- into the 5-9 year old science selections -- but its nice to have such excellent company.

It also appears that FEET? will be a part of the Scholastic Book Fair in fall 2012. Crossing my fingers for participation of the hardcover variety, but no matter what LOTS of kids will get to see the book!

Harts Pass No. 94

A pile of final book art has been looming large of late. Spring "break" is thusly oxymoronic over at Erik Brooks Illustration for the entire month of April. A fitting launch for my 5th decade? Lordy Pete... Enjoy your Sudoku!

Slam Dunk Sleepdog!

Long live the underdog. Go Kansas!

Harts Pass No. 93

 

Spiders, reanimated after a winter's worth of cooler temps, are out in force. Think twice about wearing the shirt and pants so easily discarded beside your bed each day!

School Visit Reviews: A few kind words!

When it rains it pours... in a good way though :) After some busy school visit days in February, I just received a very complimentary collection of reviews.  

NOTE: Recommended reading for elementary school PTAs, PTOs, teachers, librarians, and children's lit. conference organizers only! I mean seriously, you don't want to read this stuff unless you are looking for a visiting author/illustrator. Perish the thought!

It was WONDERFUL!!! Worth every penny because he knew how to pace his sessions, understood how to pique kids’ interest and made it interactive.  I personally loved getting to see the mock-up book that he recently submitted, as well as everything else. We plan to write letters to Erik…so it is helping us in writing with an authentic audience.  I thought that Erik passed on a great message of perseverance, confidence, and patience that students can apply to learning and life.  I appreciate all of the efforts of the PTO!!

I thought the presentation was outstanding and perfectly appropriate for our students. I was thinking back on the other authors we had some years ago, and I think Erik was the best; he seemed to connect so naturally with the children.  My students were very excited and today they were very inspired motivated to get started on writing a story like Erik Brooks does; with animals doing things like people and having a problem.  I am anxious to see their work.  I specifically recalled how he explained how he observes animals he is interested in and then thinks about things people do and that’s how he gets an idea going.
 

I think Erik was a bargain. I would like to see him return in two years and spend two days with us so he can do the actual writing and drawing with the children.  I think that would be invaluable.  I know other teachers agree with me.

The author visit was amazing.  Mr. Brooks kept the kindergardeners attention and interest for the full 45 minutes and they would have listened longer, too.  The kids were so interested in his art, and how he started in elementary school.  He tailored his comments to speak directly to this age group.  At this time of year many of my students have lost some enthusiasm for doing their best work, especially when it comes to writing, and his visit, his words, his examples have had an immediate impact on them. My classes are asking (almost begging) for writers workshop time and more time to draw and write quality stories. Thank you for bringing this talented author-illustrator to our school. 

He was excellent; the presentation was very appropriate for second grade and I understand that he adjusted for each grade level. His presentation was a great mix of slides, sharing his books, showing early work, and his final artistic creation.I will be referring to his work during our folk tale publishing process. We will be illustrating our stories and instead of doing quick pictures, I want my students to be thoughtfully drawing and revising their images before creating the published piece, just as they did the writing. 

Harts Pass: Dear Melanie No. 4

Click the image for easier reading...

And today, the sun is shining!

The "Ides" of March

 

A fickle month, March.

Harts Pass No. 90

With admiration, as always, to the researchers and scientists who provide for a greater understanding of our charismatic mega-fauna (and other stuff)!

February Sketches

Another month has come and gone. Already 1/6th of the way through a new year and time is flyin'... Thankfully, I'm still in a drawing groove and seem to be filling pages by the day. Enjoy A few of the February sketches and stay tuned for March and beyond!

 

And you get the final version of this one below!

Harts Pass No. 89

Beauty and mystery. Constant companions!

Mid-winter School Visits

 

Thank you to Nooksack, Everson, Machais, and Lakes Elementary schools for four excellent days of school visits last week. I am home again in my studio -- fueled by your enthusiasm -- and ready to work! I've said it before, but I love these trips -- in large part because the interaction boils books and storytelling down to their most basic and fundamental charge: books (stories, words, and pictures) are a medium of expression. An Art. A communication. A shared experience between the creator and the audience, the reader and the listener. A gift to both.

We all tell stories, and in some fashion or another, we should. It's fun. It's hard. It's worth it. It makes us better people. A community of reader, writers, and artists. We laugh, cry, cringe, inspire... K-6, 7-12, infinity and beyond. Stories are the original social network. Keep it simple. Tell one. Listen to many. Live and in person best of all. 

I only remembered my camera on a few occasions during the week, but here you go:

A tiger-shark-panda. Ferocious! Remember to read Everson!

The beautiful silk banners at Everson. Designed and painted by kids during another artist's workshop last year (not me!).

My sweet artistic digs at the Kale House B&B. Art on the walls. A comfy bed. Excellent food and company at breakfast!

Daughter/Mother artists (and Kale House owners) Cori and Bonnie Litorja.

 And finally, some fine hallway decor at the Machias "Day of the Arts!"

Congratulations!

My comic tribute to Liberty Bell High Schools excellent showing at the Washington State High School Wrestling Tournament :)

Sweetheart Sleepdog says...

 Happy Valentine's Day!

Nonsense words -- and then some!

In the print edition of my latest Harts Pass strip, I try out the word winnummer -- a combination of winter and summer. Aware that I needed the extra consonant in order to keep the right 'i' sound, I added an 'n'. For some reason it totally slipped my mind to just simply keep the 't' -- and wintummer (as seen in this newly edited edition of the strip) is better all around.

Just to keep the readership thinking that I'm completely crazy, our forecast flipped a switch today and the glories of wintummer have given way to plain old winter. What I wouldn't give for another wintummery afternoon :)

Super Bowl (XLVI) Sleepdog

 

Sleepdog is tiny. Go Giants!

January Sketches

In no particular order, a few of my January sketches :)