Meet Kara

My neighbors, Sue and Pete, have a granddaughter, Kara, who is in 

Kindergarten.  Her teacher read MarcoFlamingo to the class and Kara 

was so excited to learn that I lived close to her grandparents that Sue 

arranged a time for Kara to meet me.  What a delightful child!  She had 

prepared questions to ask me.  And when I said I'd include one of her 

art works to post, she ran home to her grandparents and whipped off 

this expressive lion.  Oh, to illustrate so quickly---my, oh, my, if I could 

only do that!  I love the full circle of creating children's books---

children inspire writers....writers inspire children...children inspire 

writers...to eternity.

I'M BACK !

I'm back from Charleston, SC and back to blogging.  My husband and I escaped the frigid North for a few months in Atlantic (visited my son and family-check out our adventures there-Feb post) and Charleston.  We explored every area of downtown Charleston---especially loved the ironwork and gardens---visited many art galleries---and got info on the writing community.

The food was incredible, loved the hominy grill  (great low country cooking) --- we had the best breakfast ever at The Lost Dog Cafe in Folly Beach.   Poe's Tavern was a quaint place filled with Poe posters

(Edgar Allen Poe served in the army at Ft. Moultrie). and across the street was Dunleavy's Pub---the best mussels --steeped in broth and chunks of garlic!  Can you tell I love food!!  Actually I have a PB manuscript that is very food inspired that I have yet to finish.  

Some other highlights of our trip were:

Visits to the Edgar Allen Poe Library--unique place-

 housed in the Battery Gadsden

 (nat'l register of historic places) >>>>

Meeting Wendy Pollitzer, an interpretive Ranger

at the Hunting Island State Park.  She wrote 

Isle of Palms, a history of the Island.  My husband 

and I stayed in a villa by the ocean on the 

Isle of palms, so I bought her book.  She bought

Marco Flamingo for her daughter.  It's spooky that she

looks like me---a blonde version! >>>>

Of course we walked the beach almost every day---

even on cooler days there was sun!  It only rained a few days.

The expanse of salt marshes revived the soul, birds singing

in January--uplifting.  Harbors of shrimp boats--scenic.

A highlight for my husband was touring Naval and Maritime Museum at Patriot's Point (Charleston Harbor).  The USS Yorkstown is one of several ships moored there.  I enjoyed it too, but Gary is a WWII  

buff on propeller driver fighters.  There were plenty of those and jets too--like the Panther F9 below.

Hi, Gary!!

Once back home in March, I had to scramble to get the illustrations done for the second book in the Marco series the adventures of Marco Flamingo under the sea.  The book will be released in Fall '09---a year earlier than previously scheduled!  I agreed to meet the new deadline.  I actually loved working, sometimes till 2AM, on the paintings.  It went easier than the first book...what a little experience does for one's confidence and creativity!  There WERE flamingos in South Carolina--the plastic kind.

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!