Koi Pond street painting at Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Well another Art in Bloom at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts has come and as you can tell by the pictures attached, I was asked to create another street painting for their Preview party fundraiser. What a gorgeous day it was on Wednesday to create the Koi pond that you find below. Thru the course of 8 hours, the concrete slowly changed from the boring grey that we are all accustomed to to a fun and engaging image. The street painting itself was 10 feet wide by 13 feet long so was definitely a chore to get all prepared for the big night! But it was worth every moment to see the reaction of all that came by. Even MIA employee had a great time scouting for the koi! Special thanks to Charles and Amanda of the MIA's Visual Resources department for a number of these photos!!!!! For more information on how to get your own street painting created, head on over to Art for After Hours website and give em a call!

Pics from the LA Times Book festival

After an amazing trip out to LA for the LA Times Festival of Books this past weekend, how can one describe such a wonderful time. Not only was the weather beautiful, but the size and scope of the festival was breathtaking. Over the course of two days there was over 150,000 people on the campus of UCLA for the love of books! From all regions and avenues of books, one could delve into and meet some pretty amazing people. As a children's book illustrator, being invited in the first place was a huge honor and was a little intimidating with other children's book presenters such as Henry Winkler (The Fonz), Carl Reiner, Jarrett Krosoczka, Petter Yarrow, and John Carter Cash. But what an honor it was to be there! As you can see from the pics below, Susie and I had a great time and hope you like the pics. I think they best describe how it went and what the event was like.

Let the fun begin

After much waiting, the LA Times Festival of Books has finally arrived. With the last few items being packed at the moment, I am looking forward to my short three day trip to LA for this wonderful event. It is such an honor to be asked to appear at the festival and am anxious to meet many wonderful presenters and the all the people that will be coming out for the two day event. If you happen to be in the LA area, here is the link for the festival and my stage time will be at: For more info click here

Target Childrens Stage

11:15 AM followed by an hour long signing

LA Times Festival of Books

Sat April 24 and Sunday April 25

405 Hilgard Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90025

In other news, I will be creating a 3D street painting next Wednesday April 28 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for Art in Bloom . If you are near the museum, swing on by and say hi. I will be there all day from 8-5. I will be doing another post for this so no worries if you need more info. You can go here if you can't wait till then! So with that, hope all of your weekends go great and will be back in a few days with some pics of the events!

Illustration Friday: "Linked"

Linked to family. This illustration is from my forthcoming book titled "Staarabu was Wise, Anana was Gentle"

CBIG opening tomorrow night

My new illustration "All Hands Hoay!" for the CBIG exhibit at MCBA


If you happen to be in the downtown Minneapolis area tomorrow night, stop on down to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and check out the new gallery exhibition from the Minnesota Children's Book Illustrators Guild (CBIG). The show "Exploration and Creativity" opens tomorrow April 8 and runs thru June 20, 2010. There is also a reception tomorrow for the opening from 6-8pm and is free for all to attend. Here is a little info about the show and CBIG

"Exploration and Creativity: An exhibition from the Minnesota Children's Book Illustrators Guild"

When: April 8 - June 20, 2010

Where: Minnesota Center for Book Arts
1011 Washington Ave S
Minneapolis, MN 55415
612-215-2520

Opening Reception: Thursday April 8 6-8pm

Members exhibiting:

Barb Bjornson, Sara Weingartner, Franklin Haws, Alicia Schwab, MaryBeth Hinrichs, Chris Dyrud, Sharon Wagner, James Powell, Shawn McCann,Beth Wilson, Christina Rodriguez, Lorrie Gibson, Nina Crittenden, Vicki Deutsch, Linnell Esler, Tessie Bundick, Eileen Matro, Dawn Schreiber, and Anne Adix Fabie

For more info, click here