Frog Princess

In honor of National Tell a Fairy Tale Day, I thought I would post this canvas of Phoebe opening the door to see her suitors lined up to see her. I have been working on new sketches and characters based on this painting. Phoebe has had a makeover, and the story is really coming along. I am putting together a dummy for this fairy tale. My version’s working title is called Phoebe’e Big Day.

I even dusted off my printing press and am working on a collage style for this story that incorporates monoprints…so far so good, but not ready to show you! 🙂 I am including a small sketch of the “new Phoebe,” (the one without text) and I will show more very soon.

Shiny, Happy People

Merry Christmas to me! I just look at them and get all giddy–almost as much as when I smell crayons or sniff freshly-sharpened pencils!

I have been reading and re-reading HOOKED by Les Edgerton. A must-read, indeed! The subtitle is “write fiction that grabs readers at page one and never lets them go”…He teaches about the inciting incident and how to make it WORK. This has been an issue for me for quite some time on a couple of my manuscripts, and I am excited to finally have this valuable information such as: being able to better differentiate between an inciting incident and a situation, using inciting incident as a trigger, recognizing the character’s awareness of his/her story-worthy problem to name just a few of the points he illuminates ever-so-poignantly.

Incidentally, (pardon the segue pun) Jim Henson’s Doodle Dreams: Inspiration for Living Life Outside the Lines features the simple phrase “Beginning is the hardest thing.” This little book was a special find. An exchange of 50 cents at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and it was all mine for the taking and the sharing. It also says: “An artist gives people back a part of themselves-the stories and sounds, the feeling of what it’s like to be alive. That’s a pretty powerful gift.”

And:

“If you find a place where

people look happy, stick around…

and invite some friends.”

Hey! The Doodle Diner is FULL of happy, happy doodlers! So, stick around…

Lastly, The 2011 Children’s Writer’s & Illustrator’s Market is just begging to have its shiny new spine cracked. And cracking it is a good idea. According to Henson’s book “We’re all like eggs-fragile and full of possibilities. But unless we come out of our shells, we just stay eggs.”

Calling All Pipers…

11 pipers piping

This piece is quite long and I do not have an oversized scanner, so my camera is doing its best to show all eleven pipers. I may have to photograph each piper individually so you can see the characters and lines and details. But here is this to give you the general idea! Note that there is always one SYLVIA in every crowd. (See day SEVEN). 🙂

Six Geese A-Laying…..zzzzzzzzz

So Mama and Papa Goose had a long night. They tried everything, but with four babies, at least one of them kept them up into the wee hours. It’s no wonder Mama hit snooze. Must be why they missed their cue this morning. Thank goodness the milkmaid clued them in (on the next page), or they might have just slept through Christmas entirely!

This is a work in progress…just playing around with some collage.

Ok, all together now, in your best Miss Piggy voice: FIVE go-old rings…..!