Holiday Book Signing Event at Barnes and Noble,

Pittsford, NY  12/13/08

Many area writers and illustrators were there and Vivian Vande Velde

took many photos of the event.  It was surprising that many of us dressed in teal.

Not planned!  I sat next to Robin Pulver, the author of Silent Letters Loud and Clear.

I know Robin from our RACWI group.  To my right was Shella Shubuck, the author

of I Love You All Year Round.  It was great getting to know her.  Of course I bought their

books for my grandchildren, had them signed and will include the authors photos.

                                   Robin

                                     Shella

Barnes and Noble Holiday Book Signing (cont.)

One of the great perks of book signing events is reuniting with old friends and meeting new people.

Thank you Ray for stopping by, dear friend.  Ray and I worked together at Ward's Natural Science Center (my first job out of college).  I haven't seen him in 40 years! We had such a blast at Ward's.  We worked in a little stone cottage apart from the main building. Our small group of illustrators kept ourselves amused in between assignments by measuring our smiles with a ruler, locking the art director in his office and having picnics.  

It was great to see Ashley, a former 

student I taught at The Harley School.  

She's graduated from college already!  

How time flies.

One of the beautiful families that came to the event.

Their daughter loves ducks. 

There are plenty of ducks in my story.

I met Duane Palyka, a retired film and animation professor 

at R.I.T. and we chatted about projects. I want to share 

his innovative process. In an email to me he explains it well...

"For the last five years I've been developing a computer program 

which incorporates computer graphics and animation with 

performance.  It gives the illusion of real-time video editing 

of live videocam images.  Using graphic cards, I've been able 

to map those images upon animated 3D forms.  So far I've 

performed with this software eleven times in theater settings, 

accompanying musicians and dancers.  The most notable is a

dance performance called

'Handamation' performed at NTID Panara Theater last May."

I wish I had seen this performance live!  It's amazing. 

                                   Juan and Maria in the kitchen

The Rio Tomatlan is one of my favorite restaurants.  

Not only is the food authentic Mexican, the owners

and cooks, Juan Guevara, and his mother, 

Maria Rena Rodriguez are gracious and wonderful

people.  Gary and I went there last week to hear

a mariachi group while dining on one of the evening

specials.  There is a display of Mexican gifts where 

Juan also displayed my books.  Marco Flamingo

has an edition in Spanish...Marco Flamenco.

R.I.T. Event

My husband and I met our friend, Carmen, 

for the opening on 12/12/08 of the 

"Historic look at Visual Communication" 

presented by the Society of Illustrators.  

Since the Rochester Institute of Technology 

is one of my college alma maters, I love 

supporting events there. Carmen gave 

me a present...a waterproof, large PINK 

tote to carry my books and book signing 

materials. While we chatted, Gary somehow 

got stuck carrying the bag as he intently

viewed the show....

I think it brings out his artistic side!

Carmen is an awesome Italian and Spanish 

language teacher. I took Italian classes from 

her years ago...I wish I had kept it up. 

My grand daughter, Taylor, who is only 

3 yrs old is learning Chinese. She seems 

to have quite the aptitude for it. 

Pal Mac School Visit and Literacy Night  12/04/08

I visited four classrooms (two K's and two 1st grades) and shared a bit on the

process of creating a book "dummy" (the 32 page mock up of the pencil drawings, two color examples and text).  The kids loved seeing my color 

palette.  How they would have loved to touch!

After the reading of Marco Flamingo, I engaged the kids in responding to questions...."What is snow?"...."What are YOU curious about?"..."What do you love about Marco?  Kids used a flamingo beak to pick up props to use in the display..cotton balls for snow, pink feathers, and circles for their face drawing.  One student's reply to "What is Snow?" was...."What I know is that you are not suppose to eat the yellow snow!" 

 

Interestingly his dog, Marley, is the dog therapy animal at the school!  Can you find him?

Literacy Night was in the evening. Library Owl was there and my friend, Dayle, who is a K teacher at the school opened her classroom to art activities.  My husband, Gary, came and got into some heavy picture book

reading!

Book Signing at Explore! the Book Store 

On Saturday, Dec. 6,  I joined two other area authors, Sharon San Angelo, The Lightening Within, and Sherry Ebel, Cassie's Magic Door for a morning book signing event.  The owner, Anne Mancilla, opened the store (18 East Main Street/Clifton Springs, NY 14432) in the Fall at an old book store site.  See info on the book store at news.shelf-awareness.  We had a wonderful time and Anne discussed having the event again in the Spring.  I teased her that I would make her a flamingo costume and have her strut up and down Main Street luring customers to the book signing.  Her reaction wasn't positive, so no way is that going to happen!  Any takers?!?

My friend, Sherry, stopped in to visit.  She lives in Clifton Springs and had just come from the gym.  She teaches Art at Penn Yan Academy.  We had taught together at The Harley School.  She is zany and always cracks me up---I believe she is Bette Midler's twin. She went to Morocco on a yoga retreat---go warrior pose!--and rode a camel.  Kudos to the camel who had to deal with her antics.

Still More About Last Summer

It's winter and I still need to mention a few events from last summer.  My husband Gary carves shorebirds (and other water birds too).  I love the effect of the staining he uses for the surface treatment on the shorebirds.  His shorebirds are for sale at Artizanns in Naples, NY.  He did a demonstration in August for the craftsman series at the shop.  Below is Gary at work at Artizann's and some of his work.

Some Favorite Photos

Both Gary and I love the ocean...some shots last winter on the Florida Panhandle's Emerald Coast.  The grandkids came for a weekend.  Fishing with Grandpa was a highlight for Gary.  Some of my favorite photos of the girls...little Taylor is in love with Minnie Mouse.  When they come to visit us in NY,  Riley and Connor come to play.   Anna and Riley look forward to their yearly reunion.

Cousin Gerry, who has lived in Italy for over 25 years, came for a visit and stayed with us for two weeks. He has been working on children's books so we had a lot to discuss---usually over dinner (bring out the good olive oil and vino!)