I might be off the radar a little bit over the next couple of months!

Having been enjoying this weather the last couple of weeks, it is hard to believe it is still only March!  How temps in the 70's and 80's make those last few weeks of winter so much more pleasurable.  But, I am so looking forward to what the next couple of months has in store and am anxiously awaiting all the fun to begin next week!  Between School Visits, street paintings, paintings, drawings, and other projects, the fun will be taking me to Arizona, South Carolina, North Dakota, Minnesota and beyond!  So, if you happen to be near any of these events and want to say hi, it would be great to see ya!  Ohh, and if that isn't enough of a crazy thing, I decided to start the process of moving to a new place soon!  More to come on that later.  If you are wondering why I have a picture of a violin on the top, that is my new canvas for a project for the Minnesota Orchestra.  Will definitely be posting images of the finished project when that is done!

So here are my Upcoming Events:

1.  "Technology for Artists" Workshop Wednesday March 28 from 6-9pm
     Simply Jane Studios in South Minneapolis
     Instructors:  Shawn McCann, Beth Rapatz, and Scott Spinks
     Details here

2.  Foley Children's Book Artist Residency.  April 2,3, and 4th
     Foley Elementary

3.  PopUp Park final viewing:  Make sure to swing by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts to see the                                PopUp Park before I tear it down on Monday April 16!  Info about the park here

4.  Poston Butte High School Art Show:  Thursday April 19 in San Tan Valley, Arizona.  This will be a blast as they have entrusted me to judge their district wide art competition! The pressure is on to find that next big talent :)

5.  Florence High School visit:  Friday April 20th in Florence, Arizona!  This will be great working with the high schoolers and talking to them about the arts.  This will be my second stop in the little bit warmer Arizona

6.  "Art in Bloom" children's day street painting at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Saturday April 28.  Swing by from 1-3pm to help chalk up the sidewalks at the museums children's day event in conjunction with "Art in Bloom"  More info here

7.  "Wahpeton Elementary and Central School Children's Book Artist Residency", May 3 and 4th in Wahpeton North Dakota.  This will be a blast going back to my hometown for a couple of days to spend time with the kids!  Can't wait to show what we have created during my time there

8.  "Southwest Minnesota Arts and Humanities Artist Retreat Workshop"  Saturday May 5th in New London, Minnesota on the shores of St. Andrew.   1-3pm.  Info here

9.   "Artisphere 2012" in Greenville, South Carolina.  May 11-13.  Come say hi as I will be doing another street painting for my 3rd year in a row!  Can't wait to be back with all that southern hospitality.  For festival information, click here

Whew, I think I got the next month and a half figured out, but might have missed something in there.  Again if you don't here from me, this is the reason why :)  Have a great start to your spring.

Cheers!

Upcoming MN Children's Book Events

This was such a great post by my fellow children's book illustrator Christina Rodriguez, that i had to repost it here!

Attention children’s book and YA writers, illustrators, librarians, readers and enthusiasts: you’re in luck if you live in or near the Twin Cities! You wouldn’t believe how many awesome events are coming up this year for folks like us. There is at least one children’s literature event nearly every month from now until October! I’m very proud of my state for being so supportive of its talent!

Mark your calendars:

Saturday	February 17	8:30 a.m. – 3 p.m.	Hubbs Children’s Literature Conference
Saturday	March 13	9 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Children’s Literature Network Publicity Workshop
Saturday	April 17	10 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Minnesota SCBWI Spring Workshop
Saturday	April 17	6:30pm – 9pm	Minnesota Book Awards Gala
Saturday	April 24	12 p.m. – 3 p.m.	Kerlan Award Luncheon and Lecture
Sat.-Sun.	May 1-2		The Loft’s Children’s and YA Literature Conference
Saturday	May 15	Details TBA	Minnesota SCBWI Spring Fling
Fri. – Sat.	May 21-22		Children’s Literature Network School Presentations Workshop
Saturday	June 12	10 a.m. – 1 p.m.	Minnesota SCBWI Summer Workshop
Mon.-Tues.	June 21-22		St. Cloud Children’s Literature Workshop
Saturday	July 10	10 a.m. – 2 p.m.	Minnesota SCBWI Summer Field Trip
Saturday	Sept. 11	12:30 p.m. – 5 p.m.	Anderson Center’s Celebration of Children’s Literature
Thurs. – Sun.	Sept. 30 – Oct. 3		Northwoods Children’s Book Conference and Writer Retreat
Not included (because we’ve not “officially” set our date yet): The Minnesota SCBWI Annual Conference. This will take place sometime in September or October.

Please note that all of this information is subject to change. Be sure to check out each event’s page often for the most accurate updates.

Arts in Harmony show

The cold is upon us once again here in Minnesota. Since it is an easy decision to stay inside where it is warm, I have been taking advantage of the time and working away in the studio on the new children's book project I have. Children's books I have found are a lot of fun to work on since you get to come up with the characters, the flow of how the book looks visually and also the final look and feel of the book when it is done. But the one thing that always presents itself in these ventures is the sheer amount of time that it takes to make sure that everything comes out just right. But when you find that path and the look that is to be done, it is so worth the time that it takes to see the outcome of all that work. Soon I will be able to start showing you that outcome as I get a little further in the development of the book itself.



In other news, I will be attending the opening reception and awards presentation tomorrow for the Elk River Arts Alliance Arts in Harmony show at the Sherburne County Goverment Center in Elk River. It is going to be a lot of fun to get out and see all of the amazing art that was juried into the show and to see the competition there is. Hopefully my painting "Richland County, ND" will do well. The reception is Sunday from 1-3:30pm. If you happen to be in the area, feel free to stop by and check out all of the great work.

Squirrelly work!

Happy Sunday to you guys. Hope your weekend has been going good so far. Sorry for the absence of posts lately, but have been hunkered down working on the final illustrations for two different books. The good news is that I should be done with the one book project by the middle of this week and the other one by the weekend. Then maybe I can get back to a more structured posting schedule. As for the images and stuff, I will hopefully be able to post them in the near future, but have to wait till they get the final approval to show you guys. I hope you understand. In other art news, have been working on a illustration project that will be reviewed by the cartoon network in the next month or so as well, so there is a lot to think and wonder about there.

Speaking of thinking, one of the things that I have really found to be interesting over the course of my art career so far is the flow of my artwork between my fine art and my illustration. Just when I think it is time to push full force with my paintings, my illustration work takes off and vice versa. At this point last year, all i was really talking about was my fine art and here so far this year it has been nothing but illustration. I guess it is that way to make sure that I keep both of these areas going full force and not get too burnt out with one area. And when I think about it, I don't think I could do without either one of these. They both provide that excitement and challenges that keep me wanting to start the next thing right away. Well, I guess it is time to quite my thinking session and get back to the work. As a visual treat for you I have posted some character studies of a squirrel that I have been working on lately. These are two different versions of what he could be. Overall I have probably 50 different variations of this character, but thought that would leave to many people's heads spinning to look at them all. So here are two of them. Hope you enjoy.