"Walk for Thought" this Sat.

Happy Wednesday evening. Sorry it has been a little sparse lately with posts, but things have been in crazy mode with three different book projects going on at the same time. Insane I know, but I like it that way! So with that, you may be wondering what I am doing in my free time :) Well I will tell ya. I am going to be doing a street painting this weekend for the Minnesota Brain Injury Associations "Walk for Thought" in como park on this coming Saturday the 26th. If you happen to be in the area on Sat. morning, stop down and check out the festivities. We will be going till about noon. Special thanks goes out to Lori Peterson who was kind enough to invite me down there for this very worthwhile event!

Event Info

"Walk for Thought"

Sat. Sept. 26, 2009

8am -12pm

Como Park

Also, I wanted to mention that you should check out the newly redesigned Children's Book Illustrators Guild blog. With the help of Nina Crittenden, we hope that the blog will become a great place to get updates with all that is going on with CBIG. Stay tuned for more information soon.

And the winners are........

What a fun evening last night was! I attended the opening reception of "Reflections" at the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts and had a wonderful time mingling with fellow illustrators and poets and perusing the beautiful work that was juried into the show. "Reflections" was a two year long competition between the Minnesota Center for the Book Arts and the "Minnesota Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI)". It started with a poetry competition last year that produced 5 wonderful poems that turned into this years illustration competition to illustrate them. I was fortunate enough to have been juried into the show and as you will see below, a little more excitement came at the opening. Here are some shots from the show



This is the piece of mine that was juried into the show for the poem "Two-Wheeler" by Jane Thomas Noland



AND THE WINNERS ARE........

So onto some really exciting news, the awards. The awards for the show included three honorable mentions, three first place for each category and an overall Best of Show. With that I was so proud to see my fellow friends and illustrators Nina Crittenden and Barb Bjornson receive honorable mentions for their pieces. In Nina's case, it really shows how much of a great track she is on to becoming an up and coming illustrator in the children's market. Way to go both of you. Your pieces were wonderful. And then just when I thought the evening was done, there was one more award that blew me away. Having looked at all of the wonderful illustrations in the show, I would have never expected to have walked away with the Best of Show! What an honor it was to receive this award from a panel of very esteemed judges! I recommend that if you are near the downtown Minneapolis area before May 3 to check out this amazing show. The details for the MCBA are below.


"Reflections"
March 20, 2009 thru May 3, 2009

MCBA
1011 Washington Ave South
MInneapolis, MN 55415

Valentines Day cards

Thanks to a post from fellow blogger "Nina Crittenden" to create illustrations from her sketches of animals, I have come up with my version. Since we are so close to the big Valentines Day, I have taken her outlines and created Valentines Day Cards. As you can see we have a penguin and a seal version. Thanks Nina for the inspiration. If you would like to print these and give them to your friends, just click on the images below with the multi image versions and print. Happy V-Day everyone!