SILA

Last October I submitted this image from San Francisco Baby to the annual competition sponsored by the Society of Illustrators Los Angeles. Several months later a happy e-mail announced that I made the cut. Hooray!

The perks of being recognized by SILA include involvement in ILLUSTRATION WEST 52, a group gallery exhibit, which is happening right now (March 7-39, 2014) at Center Stage Gallery, 847 Hollywood Way in Burbank, California.

Because I live on the east coast I packed up the art and shipped it to the gallery. My good friends Tyler and Paige Garrison, talented illustrators who live in Burbank, stopped by to snap these photos for me.

Tyler, Paige and I all met in a classroom at the Savannah College of Art and Design where I was teaching several years ago when they were still students. Since then they got married (yay!) and eventually moved west. Meanwhile, my family picked up and moved north. Somewhere in the middle of all of that, Paige and I co-illustrated Beach Doodles, another fun and creative activity book by duopress.
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If you can't make it to Center Stage Gallery but would like to see the show, click here to virtually stroll through SILA's on-line gallery.

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San Francisco Baby, published by duopress in 2013, was co-written by Tess Shea and Jerome Pohlen. Jerry and I have teamed up on several other duopress projects, including Doodle Texas, Doodle America, and Chicago Baby.
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As I mentioned above, Tyler and Paige are both amazingly talented illustrators. Check out Tyler's work here at fizzlepopstuido, and click here to see Paige's portfolio.

Doodle America

Last winter I was busy making art for a slew of books for duopress, all of which are about to be released in bookstores.

Doodle America was written by the highly prolific Jerome Pohlen, whose Author Profile Page at amazon.com is extremely impressive—click here, and prepare to be awed! Doodle America is fun and educational, with directives to doodle everything from Ben Franklin's kite in a thunderstorm, to kudzu covering a sleepy southern town. The 180-page activity book is divided regionally, and is ideal for rainy days, road trips, and everything in between.

My son Gray (who is almost twelve already!) still loves duporess Doodle Books, and his friends do, too.

 It's a good thing, since most of them have unwrapped books from the Doodle series at their birthday parties. 
♥

finally available: 4 new books!

Last summer I made art for four new Duopress titles which, in recent days, finally became available in bookstores: Chicago Baby, Doodle Texas, Doodle Washington DC, and Beach Doodles.

Last spring, I'll admit, I was a little nervous about the work load. I lined up a bunch of interns to help, and decided to share one of the assignments—Beach Doodles (a SUPER cute book, written by Puck)—with my friend and former student, Paige Garrison.

I *painted* the illustrations for Chicago Baby (written by Jerome Pohlen—it's absolutely adorable), a process that was lots of fun, and quicker than my usual routine. The break from Photoshop was refreshing. Listening to Patsy Cline and Johnny Cash while inking Doodle Texas (also written by Jerome) was relaxing, and oh-so-very TEXAS. What's not to like, y'all? I've been pining for cowboy boots ever since.

Doodle Washington DC (written by the prolific and lovely Laura Krauss Mehlmed) is a very classy book and I'm proud to be a part of it. Meanwhile my son has discovered John Philip Sousa, his new favorite composer; between the marches and the red, white and blue book, I've never felt more American.

All of the work finished itself, despite my family's last-minute decision to MOVE a thousand miles in August. And at this moment Team Duopress is finishing up another work season, for which I illustrated FIVE books—not four—and this time, without sharing any assignments. It just never pays to worry. ☺
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Paige: I will send you a box of books as soon as I can get out of this studio. This week, I promise. Same for you, Elizabeth and Melissa (my wonderful interns). Be watching for packages from me!

From Chicago to San Francisco

Last winter I inked 240 pages worth of drawings for 2 new Duopress titles: Doodle Chicago (by Jerome Pohlen), and Doodle San Francisco (by Puck). They are finally available, and they look amazing! Designer Charla Pettinglill did a fantastic job on both books.

Doodle Chicago and Doodle San Francisco are available in various sites around the cities they feature, and can be ordered on-line at both Amazon and B & N.

Check out Duopress's website for more info.

And yes, those are the Blues Brothers at the bottom of the photo. They are waiting in line very patiently, because everyone in Chicago is polite.