Sugarbuns

This is a portrait of our friends' little rabbit who met an untimely end. Farewell, Sugarbuns.

In other news: my Aunt's parakeets just moved in with us, I just ordered a new postcard for my next mailing, I'm spiffing up my portfolio for the upcoming MNSCBWI fall conference, and I have begun the sketches for the next piano book. I am not sure when the piano music books are coming out, but will be sure post about it when they do. I will end this post with a random haiku:

Max and Marcia, you

sing so sweetly in your cage.

Welcome to our home.

MNSCBWI Fall Conference

Conference time is almost upon us, Minnesota! The MNSCBWI is putting on a fab conference for writers and illustrators on October 15th, 2011. Join us at Metro State University to hear great speakers such as Dan Santat (illustrator/author), Alison McGhee (author), Lonnie Plecha (editor, Cricket Magazine), Andrew Harwell (associate editor, HarperCollins), Mike Wohnoutka (illustrator), Dawn Frederick (literary agent, Red Sofa Literary), and Nicole Tugeau (artist representative, Tugeau2). You can also register for manuscript and portfolio reviews! Special thanks to Rachelle Gray, last year's winner of the illustration mentorship, for creating the beautiful artwork for the conference this year! Here are the deets:

Saturday, October 15, 2011 • 7:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Metropolitan State University, 700 East Seventh Street, St. Paul, MN

Hope to see you there!

Summery Summary

We met some really charming characters at Disney World,

and watched our garden grow.

(I also had a painting in a show)

Watched fireworks for the 4th.

Ate lots of pancakes!

Went to a cabin in Northern MN (Gordy loves the great outdoors).

I made 6 terrariums (and only 3 have survived).

We saw Jeremy Messersmith in concert

and got his autograph!

Ended summer with a fun trip to the Great Minnesota Get Together.

Hope you had a groovy summer, too!

And to All a Good Knight!

The book event was a great success! Meeting Elizabeth in person was a real treat, she just couldn't be sweeter!
The room was full of adorable kids. Here are the backs of some of their heads as Betty read to them from Cedric and the Dragon. Note to reader: I barely moved during the whole thing, I felt like the little bunny who freezes in the grass and just hopes no one sees her. haha
Look at these young artists! After I showed them how to draw the dragon from the book (you can see a bit of it on the dry erase board), they gave it a go. Brace yourselves, people. The following photos are just a sampling of the incredibly fierce and adorable dragons that the kids created. Special thanks to everyone who joined us on our fun dragon day! Thank you!!!

Book Event

If you are looking for something fun to do with your kids tomorrow afternoon (and will be in the state of Minnesota), join Elizabeth Raum and myself at the Elva Resa office in Woodbury, MN from 2-3pm. Elizabeth will read Cedric and the Dragon and talk about the book and I will talk about drawing dragons. More info can be found at the Elva Resa website (click here).

Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty

These fantastic sculptures were created by Isaac over at Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty. The Z-Kids have been blogging their beautiful, imaginative art for five years now! They also review books for kids with their talented father, Aaron Zenz, over at Bookie Woogie. What an awesome fam! To celebrate 5 fantastic years, a bunch of artists have created fan art based on the kids' artwork. Go on over to Chicken Nugget Lemon Tooty to take it all in! There is a call for fan art the whole month of August, what will you create?
This is the piece I created for the celebration. I call it "Aw, Nuts!"

Sleeping Cat

Gus Gus has taken to sleeping under my desk these days. So cute, right? There are a few things I would love to post but I am not able to share them yet (oooh, how suspenseful!). So, here is a cute cat photo for you. Hope that you are happy and healthy! Stay cool!