Wing It

There are only 18 days until spring, although here in Ohio we don't believe it. There may be some hope after all, as the sun is shining today, and the cats are jockeying for position to claim the one and only sunspot. I really want to believe spring will come, I really do. The baby birds must be chirping somewhere.

  It's always a pleasure to work with Hal Leonard. This art will be used on a cover of a musical for kids. I liked creating the title lettering as well. I find it really satisfying to be able to work on the integration of the type and illustration.  

  I felt like using traditional media: pastels on sanded pastel paper. Photoshop was employed for some touch-up and the placing and dropshadow of the title. 

My Latest Book: The Sunrise Band

 I received my advance copies of The Sunrise Band a little while ago! The books turned out great, thanks to Jeff Dinardo of Red Chair Press; author and art director. Their Funny Bone Readers  series combine humor with gentle lessons about character development and healthy living. The books will not be available from the publisher until January.

  This story is all about cooperation.  Owl plays her classical violin at night, keeping Lizard awake. Lizard's jazzy sax keeps owl irritated in the daytime. What will they do?  (Throwing rocks or sand is not an option!) 

  I made postcards and bookmarks which I will send out soon. 

  Some of the illustrations are here:  

The Sunrise Band

 I recently had the pleasure of working on a reader for Red Chair Press. The art director and author, Jeff Dinardo, has extremely high standards and wanted a trade look for the books; so I was delighted to be included. The books, "Funny Bone Readers", all have life lessons and this one centered on how to get along despite being total opposites. And, of course, the power of music to connect.
 It's a 24 page book. I took a few other assignments during March and April but mostly worked on this. It will be released some time later this year; and since I have permission to post the illustrations; here is The Sunrise Band. Desert owls are called elf owls and make their homes in cacti. They have no ear tufts, just roundish heads, so she needed some owlish glasses. The lizard is loosely based on a collared lizard. It was fun immersing myself in the desert with these characters for a while. I'll keep you posted on the publication date.

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