At work:

Shh! You spied Alice McKinley on my desk! We've been hanging out a lot since I've started working on a series of covers for this classic series . It's made for some sweet summer reading–I recommend. I ♥ Alice M.

Event! Grandma's Gloves Launch Party

I'm so happy to announce a book launch party celebrating the release of Grandma's Gloves! It will be on Saturday, August 14th, noon, at that close-to-my-heart indie bookstore in Harvard Square, Curious George! Grandma's Gloves author and acclaimed YA novelist, Cecil Castellucci will be here on a special visit from the west coast so be sure to come by and meet this fantastic lady (I can't wait to myself!) Please come join us for a garden-filled afternoon. We'd love to see you. There will be books to buy and read and sign, paper blossom-making and refreshment. Wear your best garden wellies, sundresses, and old lockets.

RSVP HERE!

...so if you are in the Boston area and not on a sailboat or family vacation on Saturday, August 14th, hop on the Red Line, jump on a bus, hitch a ride to Curious George! You could also steer your sailboat to the store too:

Curious George Books and Toys
1 JFK Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
(617.498.0062)

*If you'd like to follow my illustration updates page on Facebook, and "attend" the event and future events, feel free to click here. The event is open to the public in the "events" tab...and shhh... In my "photos" section you can spy a few sneak peek thumbs of Grandma's Gloves art...more to come very soon! Hope you're enjoying the summer.


Many many thank yous to Candlewick Press and Curious George for coordinating this event ♥

Stretch 2: Color fever!

Too much has been happening on the visual front for the past month to put most of into words quite yet... Learning at high speeds from the intense relationship between color, shape, and pattern. My whole life, when I've been stuck on an art problem, sometimes I'd wake up with the visual "answer" materialized vividly for me in the last seconds of a dream before waking up. I realized I'd finally hit a little art peak after weeks of chasing pattern, when I woke up with the clear view of this (below) one morning last week:


You have to see how absolutely thrilling/frightening this is for a lifelong drawer: running to my drawing table to lay in chunks of color? sitting at my desk trying to get pattern ideas out? letting the line go? For the first time in my life I feel that visceral "need to get it out" art feeling, drawing aside. Now all I want to do is place colors together and watch them vibrate and be. I'm sure it will be informing my color palettes in my client work soon. I also think Hawaii blew my color mind a little. It's even got me contemplating going back to school for some textile design courses...?

Anyway, here are some odds and ends. I feel like I'm equally losing it as well as FINALLY finally getting to the meat of something, who knows:








P.S. I've just bought Jonsi's (from Sigur Ros) new album, Go. Painting to it is incredible!