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 :)

Backyard "StorySki" Day with MVSTA

 Even pint-sized polar bears are enough to frighten the local canines!

  Near sighted penguins...

 ... and skate-skiing polar bears...

  ... who are willing pose for pictures!

TOO. MUCH. FUN!

I hosted a couple of StorySki readings for  MVSTA's 1st Annual Backyard Ski Day last weekend.  Three or four of the Polar Opposites signs were buried by our recent 20+ inches of snow, but I happened to have an easily readable copy of the book on hand... and the most patient and helpful skate-skiing polar bear assistant in the valley!

The fine art of shoveling!

Suffice it to say that I'm sort of a snow shovel perfectionist. I mean sure, there are days when I throw and go. Days with too much work and too little time to do it right. But then there are other days... Bluebird days when the sun is shining and your back is sore and your spirit broken from the writing/drawing slouch of a morning... On those days - days with a backlog of snow-fallen inches from a busy weekend - you get outside and make some art!

:)

Bliss

Ahhh... The snow was piling up outside the studio window yesterday afternoon. Magic stuff! Good for work and good for play. Further, and perhaps more tangible evidence of the "piling" can be found in the kitchen window/picnic table shot below. More on the way tomorrow!

Steampunk Sleepdog!

December's sketch gets some January color...

December Sketches

Happily, I've been doing a LOT more free drawing of late -- filling up a few little sketchbooks to wrap up 2011 and cruising on into the new year. Amazingly, the more I draw, the more ideas actually see the light of day!

StorySki in AAA Journey

The January/February 2012 edition of AAA's Journey Magazine features a nice little description of the second annual StorySki. The extra photos were taken just before Christmas and the skiing has only gotten better!