Back to work, finally

I would never have guessed that a puppy could be so much work.


Mabel's almost 5 months old and she's not even close to being house trained. Since Mabel is sequestered in the kitchen, I try to work there but I never get that much done. So now I crate her for a couple of hours every morning and escape to my studio.

I just finished the jacket for the 6th book in the Emma chapter book series (Happily Ever Emma written by Sally Warner). It's coming out in 2011. Usually I do the cover last (after the interior sketches) but this time Viking needed the jacket to show at a sales conference.
First I did some sketches.


Nancy, the book designer at Viking, chose one that I then revised. Below is Nancy's comp.



After that, I created the final art.

Now I have to draw 35 sketches for the interior of the book...and I'm already behind. I think I need to find some day care for Mabel.

Caught red-handed

New studio mate

Meet Mabel: our new English bulldog puppy. Needless to say, I haven't spent much time in my studio. Instead, I've been cleaning up after Mabel and trying to figure out how to keep her from chewing everything and anything that's in her reach. It's been three weeks now. I'm not sure it's getting better but at least I'm not getting up twice a night to take her outside. I think newborns are far easier... Tomorrow, no matter what, I'm getting back to work. I have a jacket due for the last Emma book.

Favorite things

I finally finished the big clean up. So here's what my studio looks like on a good day...here's one corner


and here's the other. I do most of my artwork at this drafting table. I never have enough space.



My studio is filled with my most beloved treasures.


This is just one of my bookcases of picture books. I'm a huge collector and I study them regularly.



I collect original art from my most favorite illustrators. The one on the far right is by G. Brian Karas, the middle one is by Melissa Sweet, the bottom is by Leslie Patricelli, and the one on the far left is by Caroline Mockford.


I also collect very small treasures and keep them in shadow box - actually it's an old letterpress drawer I found on ebay.


Julie Arkell is a England's most recognized contemporary craft artist. This is one of her paper mache dolls.


My studio isn't big and I have tons of supplies so I found these cool canvas buckets at Black Ink and I hang them from my window pulls around my studio.


This wreath is made by Haru. She used pages taken from L. Frank Baum's 1904 edition of The Land of Oz. The message reads "Life is an adventure" It hangs from my studio door.

Cleaning Up

I just finished a book project and my studio is a disaster. It's particularly bad this time because I created the book using a new medium: collage (usually I just use ink and watercolor). And I don't have that much experience with it so I kind of made a mess. There's glue, itsy-bitsy scraps of paper and fabric, paint splatter—to name just a few—everywhere! I find that I like work best in a tidy space. It's about 16x12 and I have lots packed in so it helps to be organized. I bet it doesn't look like a typical artist studio - too clean and orderly, but that's the way I like it.

I cleaned for two full days. I took out everything I could lift out of the room. I dusted, vacuumed, and scrubbed every inch of the studio and every single item in it...from the cubbies to every paint brushes. This is what it looked like in the middle of my cleaning:


As you can probably guess, I work in a sun room that's located on the side of my home. So I get tons of light - too much in fact. Here's what my studio looks like from the outside:



The shades are usually down on the windows facing the street so it feels private and no one can see the mess. I'm still putting things back in place, so I'll wait to post a picture of it all done.