An update

I finally adjusted a few things on my website and uploaded some newer sketches as well (here is one of the pages I added).  I also added a downloadable coloring sheet of the cover of The Moon and the Nightsweeper in case someone would want to use it to run off copies for their class or child.  That can be fun- I've used them at book signings before and I think children really have fun coloring them.  If I can get my butt in gear, I can probably have more for the other books, too.

So it's exciting to know that I Can Speak Bully is now at the pre-ordering stage... I still haven't seen the official interiors, although I have seen a mock-up for the cover.  I feel much more capable now (I think that's only natural that if you practice, you're going to get better-duh) so I really hope to land another contract soon!  I've always wanted to illustrate a story with some magic to it- like a Christmas story.

By the way, it has finally cooled off here in Portland so I am going to be pulling out the watercolors again soon.  In the meanwhile, I'll need a bite to eat, and then sketch-time!

My twin has been staying over at our dad's apartment (he's leaving to China for 4 yrs. so she wants to spend as much time as she can with him before then) so I have been without my crit-buddy!!! You can only imagine how that feels...  and I am someone who (since birth) needs a companion to help me fight crime and lay down the law... let's hope I survive this!!

To the bat cave!

Who's the Bunny Boy???

Click on the title to find out... :>

So it's incredibly hot right now in Portland, OR- in the hundred degrees this entire week, in fact.  My poor pug dogs have been panting all day long...  so I've had to fill the bathtub with water and sit in there with them to help cool them off.  It helps though so that's good.  The weekend is supposed to at least go down to the 80's and 90's so I am happy.  Here is my art desk luckily sitting near two large windows in our dining/kitchen area.

I recently visited California to see my family so I spent much of the four days watching my nephews and nieces.  Try to imagine watching one 8 month old baby, two toddlers, age 4 and 5, and one 2 yr. old in scorching hot weather at Disneyland.  Yep.  Needless to say, I was exhausted when I returned home.  However, it was also super nice to see everyone again- I hadn't seen them all in a year, which is the most I've ever been away from my family.  I talk to my mom every day... and my twin and I are pretty close... not to mention the fact that I dote on my nephews and nieces quite a bit (Keegan is actually featured in The Moon and the Night Sweeper and I have in the background in one of the interior pages for I Can Speak Bully, their names on the cubbies in the classroom).. so it was about time I got to hang out again!

We took some official looking family portraits, and then some less-than official pictures on PhotoBooth...

I'm the attractive one in yellow.

If my computer continues to work I can finally scan some new sketches.  I think it's funny that I already am considering making some changes to my website... Updating and changing will continue to happen, I'm sure.  I'm liking the new features they have on Blogger as well.

I hope to have more art soon!  I can't wait to have my advance money come in so I can put it toward mailing out more art to publishers!

Summer Matsuri (Festival)

Hello all!  As promised, I finished piecing back together my scanned painting before I uploaded it here.  Today has been unbearably hot and the computer is not liking the heat at all.  I think Josh has become completely nocturnal for this reason alone.  Two computers in a small room can actually make it pretty warm even with two mini fans and one larger one on the floor.

Regarding the title, a "matsuri" is a street festival that usually happens in the summer in Japan.  I remember when I visited relatives as a pre-teen going to one of these and enjoying trying to catch goldfish with weak miniature nets, eating cotton candy, wearing a ukata (summer version of a kimono- a lot less work to put on), and sporting a uchiha/round hand-held fan.  I also remember festivals we would throw at our Japanese School in Long Beach, California, USA which involved many of the same games as well as a huge tower in the center of the playground with a large drum (taiko) at the top... this would be played while they blasted music from speakers.  Everyone would dance around this in a circle with their fans or just doing the hand jestures.  Sounds pretty bizarre I suppose, but these were some of my favorite memories growing up.  Granted getting up every morning on a Saturday while your American schoolmates got to sleep in sucked, but I now, of course, find it all worth while.  We had speech contests and Christmas plays, Boys and Girls Day, and other fun events to help keep our heritage alive way out in California.

Anyway, this scene isn't exactly authentic.... the thing the boy is carrying on his back is a smaller taiko drum wrapped around him, with the sticks held to his belly.  I'm not sure if people would do this... taiko drums are pretty darn heavy... so imagine this is a bit fantastical... aside from the children playing on rooftops!

So here's to summer!! :)

little update

I have my painting ready to post, but the scanner was not working today, so that will have to wait until I can get that fixed...  I think it turned out alright.  I have ideas for more paintings and the like stewing in my head.  I am thinking about trying to get more sketches posted on my website as well.

In the meanwhile, I updated a lot of links on here to include blogs that I like to follow.  All of these links I visit regularly and find tons of inspiration as well as first-hand accounts from illustrators out in the field.  It can sometimes seem like such a small, lonely little world unless you remind yourself that everyone has been where you are and everyone starts from somewhere.  In the midst of trying to survive some personal events not related to art, I have been trying to view my portfolio objectively and tap back into what I like to draw or paint... I feel like I go back and forth between wanting to perfect how I paint and work, to trying to remember what it is I like to draw, and then also, what is necessary to show I CAN draw or paint in order to get work.

I think that all you can do when you are stuck in a rut is just keep drawing... just keep painting.  I think life managed to creep up and hit me pretty hard these past weeks and had left me feeling a bit disillusioned...  but I think I'm back.  And a lot of that stuff has been resolved to some extent... so to change things to a positive note before I end this post, I hope to post that painting I finally finished and keep on posting... 

So, go check out some of these links!!! :)

The draft so far...

This is super rough, and there is a lot to fix, but I wanted to post what I am working on so far in case anyone had suggestions... It's also cut-off a bit...

I am actually on I-Chat with my twin as I post this asking her for feedback.

Josh told me about another site where you can link all your portfolios, blogs, websites, etc. for illustrators.  It is Illustration Mundo.  Click on the title of this blog to peruse...

I STILL intend to link more people on my blog, but just haven't really gotten around to it... I think it should be much more interesting once I have a bit more going on with this blog.  I believe there's also a way to get my blog streaming on my website, but I still haven't quite figured that out.  I'm sure there will be a day when I can sit down and re-vamp what I have so it is a bit more fun and everything is properly linked.

Anyway, tomorrow is Friday and Christine is visiting, so I will be waiting on that painting... which is probably good... I need that time to "sleep on it" so that I don't rush anything... Not to mention how good ideas always seem to hit me in my sleep!

Man, I'm delirious... but nothing compared to Josh.  He almost fell over today while we were getting dinner from working 48 hours straight- zero sleep.  I think "all nighters" are a lot harder to pull.  Poor man.  But he has some new pieces up on threadless now!  If you click on his name under my links it should have all sorts of fun stuff that he's been doing...

Well, good night world.  Sleep well.  "Dream of large women."

(If you don't know where that quote is from, I am sorry).

Some ideas

I will at some point, link all the amazing artists whose blogs I follow, as well as those I found on Flickr, because I feel like it's just too selfish to keep them all to myself.

I also plan on getting my new painting drafted... I started it yesterday night and am sooo excited to paint it! However, my friend from CA is coming up tomorrow night so I have to put it off for a bit. It's inspired by my most recent find Mr. John Shelley (who is linked to the title of this blog). I was perusing JacketFlap and saw his portfolio and was pretty much blown away. I read that he lived in Tokyo for 20 years. My mom is Japanese and actually in Japan right now (I miss her!!!) and so I thought how much I wanted to illustrate something that includes my own heritage. It's a Japanese street scene with some children on rooftops and doing some other mischevious things... but still in the making.

I will have to post more later!

For those of you that enjoyed Star Trek... Click on this Title!

My classmate from college is one of the costume designers for some big movies out this year!
Please check out his blogspot and his website to view his work.
:)
It's awesome to see his name in the credits!
I have not seen Terminator yet, but I loved the other two- especially Star Trek.
Congratulations Phil! (and Brian)!

Another rad artist that works on Costumes that I know from school is Oksana- I have a link to her blogspot here as well. (Her work includes the Narnia movies).

Sigh... such great talented people- and wonderful human beings as well!!
Isn't that always nice! :)

Revised

I ended up messing around with this image on Photoshop because I was a little unhappy with the colors I painted it... I think this version is much better...

??

I need to get better sleep... too much going on in my head regarding finances, my dog, and just general jitters-in-the=night!

I don't like using Photoshop, but when I want to mess with the colors without messing up a painting, I admit, it is useful.

Painting by hand is so much more rewarding, though.  I doubt that red would've picked up much enough to get a nice greenish-yellow that I wanted to test for the bushes.

Oh well.  I hope my twin, Mei, likes this one.

A Mouse Fellowship

I keep thinking this reminds me of the Lord of the Rings (?? probably because mice are small and this scene makes me thinks of Frodo and Sam) thus the title.

I think it came out a lot more saturated than I intended, but I still like it.

Hope you do, too!

On Pause

So I know I posted a WHILE ago that I would have a new painting up, and yet, it still sits on my desk...
The reason for this is that first, Josh, my fiance, was having horrible tooth aches from an exposed nerve and he has no insurance to use. We had to take an entire day to sit at one of those walk-in clinics that are run by OHSU (or student dentists/professors).
He may need a root canal... but the price was a lot better than if we had gone to a regular dentist. I think it's hard for freelancers to acquire insurance in general, but it really made me feel lucky for having my day job. Once we are married, this should be fixed. I still want to be a full-time freelancer at some point, but I guess there is a plus to having my day job.

Then, about a day later, one of my pug dogs became ill. He was having problems urinating because of crystal build-up in his bladder. I guess it's a little more common in pugs, although still rare, and caused by an inability to break down certain food. We had to have him go through an emergency surgery. We were waiting anxiously this morning to find out if he has recovered but we finally got the word that he's going to be fine. We are to pick him up this afternoon.

So good news that he's ok, but it's been a hellish week!!
So I am grateful to have Monday off so I might catch up on this painting and spend some time with my pug! (and my fiance-it's his Birthday- what a present! He can keep his best friend!).

Thank you to those who helped and cared!
K.I.T.

Out from Hiding...

I have my next painting all mapped out on paper now and am excited for the weekend to paint it!! Of course, Portland is getting a warm, sunny weekend to tempt me to go outside, but I have my desk right by the window, so hopefully, I will still get some of the sun.

My best friend from California is visiting (almost 99% certain!) the weekend before Josh's family is visiting! I am so excited!  Of course, this also means the apartment needs to be cleaned.

I actually enjoy cleaning (to an extent) so this won't be so bad as long as CK and Dozer decide they like their toys more than our stuff!

On a different note, it's been fun figuring out Twitter and trying to get more involved with that site... as well as Flickr.  I think that trying to get in touch and make some friends in the field help so much! Plus it's always fun to read their blogs and feel happy that you aren't alone in the artworld.  I think actually when I graduated college that was the thing I missed the most-group critiques and hanging out after class working on art together.  We were a hardcore bunch of students at the time... although I always think, "I could've worked harder!"  This is why I love reading and commenting other artists and seeing all of these amazing artists' work!

In the meanwhile, I also hope to land a bit of freelance work as well... I just quoted a possible client and have yet to know whether it is in the bag.  I think the story would be rad to illustrate, but the details must remain confidential.

I also just recently sent my latest publisher my dedications, so I am hoping I will soon see more interiors (if I see them) before they go to print.  I am really excited to see this book when it comes out... I really love the characters in the story.

Anyway! 

This weekend: repair vacuum, clean, and paint!!!! Onward and upward!

The lonely cyber world...

I just realized that I had not yet subscribed to some blogs that I had links to on my blog... so now that this is rectified, I can now follow some of my old college friends! :)
I am hoping that when I have the time, I can find them all on Twitter and build up more of a network there... it's a little lonely on Twitter when you first start out... but I think if I were able to keep up to date with my classmates, as well as new friends, it would be pretty fun.

Hope everyone is doing well!

If Only

I truly sometimes wish that I could draw something and have it become real... because I want this little girl's jacket!  Although I'm sure somewhere, someone has made and is selling a bunny jacket... I couldn't help but think to myself, "I want her shoes, too!"

This is the first thing my sister said to me when I showed her the painting.

The title is Alley Cats because those are her friends.

I have another idea brewing involving pigeons.  Let's see where that takes me.

My Next Project

I have drawn out for the most part the next painting I will be working on over the weekend.  I'm not sure if I will be keeping the cats or the tree... 

The inspiration came from a new blog I am following that discusses different Disney animated movie backgrounds.  I am a fan of looking at these and feel that some have the most inspiring color palettes and design.

Twitter, Flickr, Blogger...

I have been looking at blog postings (I have a couple that I read all the time) and also looking on Twitter... and finding that I visit these so often that there are not a lot of updates compared to the amount of time I visit the sites. I think that's a definite que that I need to spend more time working on art and visit these more like twice a week instead of several times a day!! It is addictive though...
I am especially addicted to reading Neil Gaiman's Tweets... he is so funny and always, always, doing something exciting! (I must send my sister a copy of The Graveyard Book, buy Coraline when its released, and also get his latest children's book, the Blueberry Girl when I have the money).
I sincerely can't wait until I have enough money saved up to send out promotional material/submissions. :)
Hope to have artwork posted soon.

Stumptown Photo

Really quick, here is a picture from the Stumptown Comics Fest that my co-worker sent to me.

:)

Happy Friday!

Ink..?

Well, I am going to post my embarassing attempt at ink.  I really need to work on this.

I don't think I really did what I wanted to do with the ink, and I think it has a lot to do with what I decided to paint.  It's funny because I really only like the washes!  This would be similar to what?  Hmmm, watercolor maybe?  I do like the koala-guy.

I think that I may just have to paint this instead or move on.  There are plenty of paintings in my head that should be out on paper at least once.

On a totally different note, I heard from my twin that they have adopted a kitten.  My other sister works at a Vet Clinic and I guess someone dropped off a little white kitten with happy blue eyes all because he was deaf.  So they took him in and now my nephew has been completely enthralled.  His name is Oliver (after "Oliver and Company" the Disney movie).

This makes me wish I could go meet him in person although I did get to see him through I-Chat.

I have been in a slump... but I think I am going to come out now.  I think that messing up this picture as long as I was working on some sort of artwork, has now energized me since the convention.  By the way, Josh has posted some photos from the event on his Flickr account under set titled Stumptown 2009.  I will make the title of this blog posting a link to his Flickr account.  

Comics Galore

I finally have a free moment here to post really quickly that the Stumptown Comic Fest was loads of fun! We were way in the back, but still managed to sell some mini's and some books.
(click on this blog title for a link to the Big Illustration Party Time Blogspot shownotes on the Comic Fest- the podcast is free download, by the way, and loads of fun.)

I have recooperated from all the sitting and standing and talking and loading and unloading... and laundry... that tonight, I pray I will be able to work some on that drawing I posted a while ago!

Meanwhile, please check out the lovely blogs I have been following (you can see them when you click on my profile). I just love these blogs!! Most are children book illustrators, but some are useful blogs related to the publishing industry. I really admire these creators and they provide me with loads of inspiration.

Ok, back to my day job.

When drawing...

The last comment on my drawing made me feel like posting a little blog in response.
Kevin Morrison (the author of the third book I just did illustrations for, I Can Speak Bully, due out in Fall) wrote:
"I like your pictures for the stories they can tell. I enjoy the depth of your characters beyond the lines and colors on the page. Do you have stories in your mind when you create them?"

I think that it's true for me that I get pretty attached to the characters in my work. In fact, if you ask Josh, he'll tell you I will talk to them while I'm painting... Sounds a little creepy, but it's more like this, "Well aren't you a nice, little frog? I bet you'd like to be green with a red stripe down your back! Then you'll have lots of things to do..." In fact, the pages for Kevin's book I worked on, there were a few where I got carried away and started crying for this little boy... Pretty cheesey of me to admit, but I think that it's just the way I am...

Now as weird as that may sound to some people, when you paint or draw, you invest a lot of your time with the work.. you sort of "get to know" the painting. I think for me, it starts with "I'd love to paint something with wide open space... yes... a desert! I haven't done a desert with a lot of funky-shaped rock formations yet... that makes me think of Dragon Ball! Oh, an adventurous little girl with a friend. Her friend should be like a koala... and they both ride her dirt bike together..." (and on and on and on...).

I think I can recall a time in class when I was in college with my absolute favorite Professor (at the time, he's now the "Head Honcho" of the Illustration Department at CSULB) David Hadlock (so unbelievably talented and genius!). It was one of the first classes I had ever taken at the college. Some background before I go further... my twin sister, Mei, and I used to draw side-by-side since I can remember... We would talk ideas out and make up cartoons and stories... so I was used to verbalizing my ideas out and just brainstorming as I went along when it came to coming up with ideas to draw.
So in class, Hadlock would go around the room and stop at different student's desks and try to see how they were coming along... whenever he would come by my desk, he would say something that would set off something in my head where I suddenly had a jolt of inspiration and could see so many possibilities in a single painting/drawing. And I loved that about him. I also noticed that he did the same thing when he was critiquing other work... he seemed to have endless love for imagination.
He's also the reason I wanted to do children's books and not manga/comics. He used children's books to show examples of something like "perspective." It made me realize how much I identified and loved children's books.

So in a very long story... the answer is that yes, I think out almost everything about a character when I paint it... or at least by the end of the painting, I have a pretty good idea of who that little person is and what they would be doing. Most of the time, I think of something I'd like to see or paint and the story follows as I go along.

Sorry if this post has horrible grammar by the way.. another reason I am not the best of authors/writers. I am also pretty wiped out because Josh and I just spent a couple hours getting ready for the Stumptown Comic Fest. We get to go early tomorrow and set up before Saturday. I might print out the comic pages that I do have, too, so I am still tired.
(Actually the pugs are asleep on the bed because they know how crazy their parents are when it comes to staying up too late).

Thank you for the comments everyone! :)
I have links to people on my blog as well if anyone would like to see other blog pages.

Possible Ink...

Well, I am going to post the drawing I'm working on so far...

From what Mei has told me, and I agree, there are some fixes still, but I like to post the "in progress" stuff.

I'll have to ground the bike some more, change the height of the rock formations so it has more variation, and pay more attention to the clouds....

But it's off to a nice start. I have to fight the urge to paint it... I am going to attempt to ink this one... I do have the image scanned so if it ends up I want to paint it, too, I can still get the image and transfer it to watercolor paper.

Hope people like it so far...

It's taking too long for the weekend to come, but then I have to remember that this weekend will be Stumptown Comic Fest. Josh suggested I take my comic pages (reprints) to show to Darkhorse because they are scouting for someone to do an online comic for them.

I hope I have time to follow up on this.

A Moody Painting...

I have posted a new painting up... one that I wanted to have more of a "something's about to happen!" mood. I hope that it's achieved that kind of an edge.
I finished it a lot earlier than I thought I would so I may just keep the creativity stirring and start plans for the next piece... now to decide whether I want to start attempts at inking again or if I would rather paint another painting! I already have ideas for another painting but it does sound fun to pick up the pen and ink again.
Let's see which urge wins!

Stumptown Comic Fest!

I will be at the Stumptown Comic Fest with my fiance, Joshua Kemble, and friend (co-host for Big Illustration Party Time Podcast) Kevin Cross! Click on the title of this blog for a link to the Stumptown Comic Fest site.
Thanks for visiting and hope to see you there!

Location: Portland, OR
April 18th & 19th from 10:00 am to 6 p.m.: The Stumptown Comics Fest 2009 will again be hosted by the Lloyd Center Doubletree hotel. The Doubletree is just a couple blocks away from the Lloyd Center Shopping Mall and movie theaters, dozens of restaurants and hotels, and is conveniently located next to a Portland Tri-Met MAX Line stop for accesibility. The Exhibition Hall is over 14,000 square feet, and parking is available for attendees at $3 a day in the adjacent parking garage.

Doubletree Hotel
1000 NE Multnomah
Portland, OR 97232

Drawing on I-Chat

I suppose it's a funny situation that I have at home because my family lives in California and I live in Portland.
My twin sister and I both drew together throughout our lives and therefore, I cannot get used to drawing without her feedback. Luckily, we both have a Mac and I-chat and are able to meet on there, scanning our roughs and paintings/comics back and forth to critique.
I find this invaluble because she's able to see what is wrong with my work immediately, as I am with hers, and because we are so used to each other, we are able to verbally (and sometimes not so verbally- we ARE twins) steer the other in the right direction.
Last night we went back and forth on how I might paint this next piece I have planned out on my watercolor paper. It's more complicated than some of my other paintings, which is good, but it also, if I do it right, should convey a "mood." I've been wanting to really build that in my paintings.

I have also decided, after being inspired by several comic books, to once again, do some black and white/ink work.
So it's nice to be back at the drawing board.

It's Painted :)

I have finished painting my newest work and posted it on my website.
I hope that everyone likes it...

Anyway, it is now Friday! This means I have two whole days following tonight to work more on my Portfolio- ahh, the never-ending challenge!

I am excited because I may be getting a bit of money from some work that may afford me a spot on childrenillustrator.com... which in turn, hopefully, will get me more work, and possibly, more people visiting my website.

In any case, I am excited, too, because I have been seeing so many inspiring pieces on Flickr and JacketFlap. I really appreciate the Art Community... these websites are so helpful... I wonder how illustration worked before the computer?? I'm sure it was much more challenging and daunting for artists wanting to get their foot in the door.

Well, cheers!

More rain this weekend, too, which is more incentive to stay home and paint!

New Painting Planned

Well, after two days of going between partial resident forms for both Oregon and California, as well as my 1040 for Federal Taxes... (along with some self employment docs)... I finally finished my taxes and can mail them tomorrow. I know it's a little late, but at least it isn't actually late.

So, after this, I pulled out the sketch I had been trying to finalize and made it "ready for paint." I still need to tweak a few things, but I am pretty happy with how it looks at the moment. I am already planning my "steps" to paint it. I have started using masking fluid to my advantage. As well as permanent masking fluid which I can mix with a color (or paint over the image after) so that it becomes permanent.

I also realized just now that the Illustration Friday is just around the corner!
Depending on tomorrow, I will either save this for the weekend and try to plan out something for Friday's theme, or just skip this week's yet again.
(I wonder if that's bad? Maybe I need to not be a member of that group on Flickr? I hope that isn't annoying.)

I have also been going through artist's sites and taking note of who their agents/reps are so I can take a look at what sort of art they like to represent. I have a few I would like to think more on and then possibly, send something out to one of them. (I think this sort of thing is best to do one at a time).

Well, I am going to post the work-in-progress.
Cheers! Have a lovely night!

Finished!

I finished my painting!
I will go ahead and post it here, too.



I already have another painting planned to work on tonight and tomorrow. I hope that I will be financially prepared to start sending out submissions soon!

On a different note, Josh and I went downtown for a little while with our friend Mike Getsiv. I had never been to the art store Utrecht. It's pretty nice! It reminds me of my ol' art store, Art Supply Warehouse in Westminster, CA, but it still doesn't have quite the variety as ASW...or the prices! I miss the people, too!

It was nice to see some sun today and I did notice there are more flowers blooming now! I think Spring really is stepping forward to take over!
:)
Lovely!

So far a nice and productive weekend...

Work in Progress

Well, I decided against a painting that I was working on and before re-working it (which I had every intention)I felt inspired to draw something new.

I hope that this weekend will give me some time to spend time on it and paint it so I can post it soon.

I don't think this week's Illustration Friday will happen for me... but hopefully I can start that next week.  (I feel bummed about that, but I joined the group on Flickr yesterday).

Anyway, thank you for visiting. :)

Spring News

Hello again,
I am still at my day job, but on my last break. I just visited JacketFlap and saw all the new blogs commenting on the coming of Spring!
This morning I noticed on my calendar that tomorrow is officially when "Spring begins" and I look out my window to see... gray skys and small showers of light rainfall. Such is the weather of Portland! However, I love it here and wouldn't ask for it any other way... I think moving from California made me spoiled when it came to warm, sunny weather, and now I adore any cold, rainy seasons. I am ready for some flowers though!

Back to work... I am in the middle of a painting which I hope to finish tonight, but only time will tell. I did manage to join the Flickr group for Illustration Friday so I hope I can do this week's, but otherwise, I may start up with next weeks (since I just joined yesterday).
Thanks for visiting my blog! I linked this title with my website, since I finally purchased my own url.
Cheers!

JacketFlap.com

Hello again!

I have been obsessively looking at Jacket Flap since I was reminded of it by Susan Boase at the Gala Celebration this past weekend.  Every time I see someone I admire, I see who they are friends with and find more and more beautiful, inspiring, wonderful art!! 

I am still learning how to navigate the site and do not quite know how to make my own blog more publicized, if that's even possible, but I hope that I will learn more insights by reading up on blogs and staying inspired.  :)

It's amazing how many talented people there are in the world!

I think I will just have to go paint something now!!! 

A long weekend

I am on break at my day job right now and remembering what a long, long, weekend I just had!
Friday right after work, I attended the SCBWI Gala Celebration at Barnes and Noble (see previous post). Then Saturday, I got up early and painted some new paintings (one of which I discarded after I finished it- there were too many problems with it). Around 11 to 12 p.m. I helped my fiance and worked until 4 a.m.. Sunday we were both up at 9 to finish working... I didn't get to bed last night until 10:30 p.m. I feel pretty wiped out.
I also feel good that I worked.
Tonight I will be trying to research ways of networking and getting my website more known.
Anyone have any advice or experience on childrensillustrator.com?
I have heard a professionals opinion on picture-book.com and wondered whether this site is any good? I am tempted to use it simply for the fact that it may put my site in the view of people/clients/artists/etc.
Breaks is over.
Happy Monday!

SCBWI Gala Celebration March 13, 2009

I am happy to say that I was able to meet some very successful and talented writers and illustrators last night at the SCBWI Celebration at Barnes and Noble at the Clackamas Town Center.  Although Josh and I got completely lost on our way (we are still learning how to navigate around some of the areas of Portland) we managed to arrive a little after 5 p.m.

The other talents who were at the event include:

Joni Akins, Carmen T. Bernier-Grand(is a sweet woman who was incredibly friendly!!!), Susan Blackaby, Susan Boase(very talented and nice- I was lucky to ask her for some advice on Picture-Book.com), Addie Boswell, Carolyn Digby  Conahan(I wanted to meet her so badly but did not manage to push way through), Ruth Tenzer Feldman, Christine Fletcher, Susan Fletcher, Heather Vogel Frederick(I wish I could have asked her about Spy Mice... I am amazed at her stories on her blog about her life growing up), Julie Haggerty, April Henry, Deborah Hopkinson(who has a great online interview on Reading Rocket that I viewed recently), Ellen Howard, Robin Koontz(is one of the nicest, funny, down to earth people ever! She made both Josh and I crack up and I think I could've talked to her the whole night), Susan Allen and Jane Lindaman(Jane was so nice and approached me and after looking at her book, I cannot imagine how patient and thoughtful she must be! How hard it must be to create short sentences packed with so much depth!), Anne Osterlund(who apparently has mastered school visits!  She had some interesting ideas using games and getting the kids involved), Rosanne Parry, Lori Ries, Elizabeth Rusch(I met briefly but jammed up- I should have told her how impressive a Day Without Crayons was... she has adorable children), Sara Ryan, Lisa Schroeder, Johanna Wright(who brought a copy of Secret Circus- it is so beautiful!!!), Annette Gulati, David Ward(who Josh initiated conversation with on the covers of his books, etc... apparently he is from Canada and published in Italy as well!  Crazy cool), Virginia Euwer Wolff and Linda Zuckerman (I was very nervous to meet her, but had to shake her hand).

I was very thankful to be able to get some advice and encouragement!!  It was also nice to be able to thank Robin Koontz in person for inviting me to the event!

I also sold a book to a lady named Valerie and was happy to be able to give some advice on illustration.  I should have mentioned Josh's podcast, Big Illustration Party Time!  If she emails me, or reads this, hopefully, she will download an episode off TalkShoe.  (I have a link to it in a previous post, or on the side with my other links).

Today I am continuing to expand my portfolio!  

Thank you for visiting!

A Few More...

I have been consistently making more new paintings, some of them smaller or more like character sketches, but I am going to keep them coming. I have two more I drew out last night that I will try and have up tonight as well.
Again, to view, please scroll down to the link just below my BIO to MYWEBSITE.
They are under the Portfolio or Other Works section.

I did remove a few and tried to re-arrange them. I'm sure by the end of the month, it will look pretty different.
Hope the changes are good.
Thanks for visiting.

Last painting for this weekend...

I finished another small painting titled THE STREETLAMP which can be viewed on my website.

To view click on Portfolio/Other Work after accessing my website, which is linked below my profile info as MY WEBSITE!

I will keep it coming!

New Painting and some Website changes

Hello again!

I have another new painting (called "After the Rain") up under my Portfolio/Other Works page on my website.  I also took down a few things which I found did not really fit with the other paintings.  Another step toward streamlining my website.

To see the site, click on the link on the right below my information.

Thank you for visiting!

New Artwork

Again, I have a new painting (called "the Path") up on my website under Portfolio.

I am seeing that the images tend to be a little small on the website so if anyone would like to view a larger image (such as publishers, etc), I can send better images to them.

The link for my website is on the right hand side under my Profile information.

Thanks for visiting!!

Paintings and Adventure!

I have a new painting titled DESERT RACE up under my Portfolio page on my website.  Please click on the link to the right to preview it if you are interested.

I hope to have more soon!

Thanks for visiting!

Also, on March 13th from 5 pm to 8 pm, I will be at the Oregon SCBWI Barnes and Noble Bookseller Author/Illustrator event, hopefully selling books and meeting other author/illustrators/book lovers!

New painting & Podcasts

I am ending this week with a new painting titled "Read A Story," which can be viewed on my website under Portfolio/Other Work.

I also wanted to say that my fiance, Josh Kemble, has started a podcast with another cartoonist, Kevin Cross.  Please click on the title of this entry to see their blogspot, Big Illustration Party Time.  The podcast is mainly about how freelance illustration works as well as certain aspects of being a cartoonist.

Website

I have finally created a website.  Feel free to click on the title of this blog "website" or click on the link to the right.  If all goes well, I will probably be taking down some of the pages linked to this blogspot.  :)

A New Year

I have finally finished the interior pages for I Can Speak Bully (by author Kevin Morrison, through Ambassador Books/Paulist Press).  I have posted a few of these paintings on my Sequential Pages.  Please view them and make comments if you like.  With 2008 at an end, and 2009 just beginning, I hope that I will have more news and art soon!!

Taylor's Birthday Party - Positive Words

Please click on the title for a short review of Taylor's Birthday Party.

New Illustrations

I am posting a few interior spreads I have so far for I Can Speak Bully by Kevin Morrison, through Paulist Press and Ambassador Books.

I can't show too much, but I hope that these inspire people to read the book when it comes out!

Please click on the link "Sequential Works" to see!

Hurray for Hana Khan!

I saw this on InFocus online. Please click on the title to see the article about Taylor's Birthday Party.

Taylor's Birthday Party PreOrdering

Taylor's Birthday Party is now available at Amazon.com, Walmart.com, Barnes and Nobles, Powell's Bookstore, and other such websites. I hope to see my copies of the book soon as well. I have posted under my Sequential Works page some images from the interior of the book if you haven't already looked at them.
Let me know what you think!

I am also planning on soon publishing a newer website of my work and making this exclusively a place for posting thoughts, news, etc.

(If you click on the title of this blog, it will take you to amazon to order the book!)

Not my writing, but something you all should read...

This was forwarded to me by family. Please read it, despite the length of it as it is very valuable:


---------------------------
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination
Harvard University Commencement Address J.K. Rowling
Copyright June 2008
As prepared for delivery

President Faust, members of the Harvard Corporation and the Board of
Overseers, members of the faculty, proud parents, and, above all,
graduates,

The first thing I would like to say is 'thank you.' Not only has Harvard
given me an extraordinary honour, but the weeks of fear and nausea I've
experienced at the thought of giving this commencement address have made
me lose weight. A win-win situation! Now all I have to do is take deep
breaths, squint at the red banners and fool myself into believing I am
at the world's best-educated Harry Potter convention.

Delivering a commencement address is a great responsibility; or so I
thought until I cast my mind back to my own graduation. The commencement
speaker that day was the distinguished British philosopher Baroness Mary
Warnock. Reflecting on her speech has helped me enormously in writing
this one, because it turns out that I can't remember a single word she
said. This liberating discovery enables me to proceed without any fear
that I might inadvertently influence you to abandon promising careers in
business, law or politics for the giddy delights of becoming a gay
wizard.

You see? If all you remember in years to come is the 'gay wizard' joke,
I've still come out ahead of Baroness Mary Warnock. Achievable goals:
the first step towards personal improvement.

Actually, I have wracked my mind and heart for what I ought to say to
you today. I have asked myself what I wish I had known at my own
graduation, and what important lessons I have learned in the 21 years
that has expired between that day and this.
I have come up with two answers. On this wonderful day when we are
gathered together to celebrate your academic success, I have decided to
talk to you about the benefits of failure. And as you stand on the
threshold of what is sometimes called 'real life', I want to extol the
crucial importance of imagination.
These might seem quixotic or paradoxical choices, but please bear with
me.

Looking back at the 21-year-old that I was at graduation, is a slightly
uncomfortable experience for the 42-year-old that she has become. Half
my lifetime ago, I was striking an uneasy balance between the ambition I
had for myself, and what those closest to me expected of me.
I was convinced that the only thing I wanted to do, ever, was to write
novels. However, my parents, both of whom came from impoverished
backgrounds and neither of whom had been to college, took the view that
my overactive imagination was an amusing personal quirk that could never
pay a mortgage, or secure a pension.

They had hoped that I would take a vocational degree; I wanted to study
English Literature. A compromise was reached that in retrospect
satisfied nobody, and I went up to study Modern Languages. Hardly had my
parents' car rounded the corner at the end of the road than I ditched
German and scuttled off down the Classics corridor.

I cannot remember telling my parents that I was studying Classics; they
might well have found out for the first time on graduation day. Of all
subjects on this planet, I think they would have been hard put to name
one less useful than Greek mythology when it came to securing the keys
to an executive bathroom.

I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my
parents for their point of view. There is an expiry date on blaming your
parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old
enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. What is more, I
cannot criticise my parents for hoping that I would never experience
poverty. They had been poor themselves, and I have since been poor, and
I quite agree with them that it is not an ennobling experience. Poverty
entails fear, and stress, and sometimes depression; it means a thousand
petty humiliations and hardships. Climbing out of poverty by your own
efforts, that is indeed something on which to pride yourself, but
poverty itself is romanticised only by fools.

What I feared most for myself at your age was not poverty, but failure.
At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university,
where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and
far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations,
and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that
of my peers.

I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and
well-educated, you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and
intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the
Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed
an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment.

However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you
are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear
of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your
conception of failure might not be too far from the average person's
idea of success, so high have you already flown academically.
Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes
failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if
you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure,
a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic
scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was
jobless, a lone parent, and as poor as it is possible to be in modern
Britain, without being homeless. The fears my parents had had for me,
and that I had had for myself, had both come to pass, and by every usual
standard, I was the biggest failure I knew.

Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That
period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going
to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale
resolution. I had no idea how far the tunnel extended, and for a long
time, any light at the end of it was a hope rather than a reality.
So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure
meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to
myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct
all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I
really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the
determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I
was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realised, and I
was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an
old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid
foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is
inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something,
unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at
all - in which case, you fail by default.

Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing
examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have
learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more
discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends
whose value was truly above rubies.

The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks
means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You
will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships,
until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift,
for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than
any qualification I ever earned.

Given a time machine or a Time Turner, I would tell my 21-year-old self
that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a check-list of
acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your
life, though you will meet many people of my age and older who confuse
the two. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total
control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive its
vicissitudes.

You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of
imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but
that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories
to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader
sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision
that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and
innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity,
it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose
experiences we have never shared.

One of the greatest formative experiences of my life preceded Harry
Potter, though it informed much of what I subsequently wrote in those
books. This revelation came in the form of one of my earliest day jobs.
Though I was sloping off to write stories during my lunch hours, I paid
the rent in my early 20s by working in the research department at
Amnesty International' s headquarters in London.

There in my little office I read hastily scribbled letters smuggled out
of totalitarian regimes by men and women who were risking imprisonment
to inform the outside world of what was happening to them. I saw
photographs of those who had disappeared without trace, sent to Amnesty
by their desperate families and friends. I read the testimony of torture
victims and saw pictures of their injuries. I opened handwritten,
eye-witness accounts of summary trials and executions, of kidnappings
and rapes.
Many of my co-workers were ex-political prisoners, people who had been
displaced from their homes, or fled into exile, because they had the
temerity to think independently of their government. Visitors to our
office included those who had come to give information, or to try and
find out what had happened to those they had been forced to leave
behind.

I shall never forget the African torture victim, a young man no older
than I was at the time, who had become mentally ill after all he had
endured in his homeland. He trembled uncontrollably as he spoke into a
video camera about the brutality inflicted upon him. He was a foot
taller than I was, and seemed as fragile as a child. I was given the job
of escorting him to the Underground Station afterwards, and this man
whose life had been shattered by cruelty took my hand with exquisite
courtesy, and wished me future happiness.

And as long as I live I shall remember walking along an empty corridor
and suddenly hearing, from behind a closed door, a scream of pain and
horror such as I have never heard since. The door opened, and the
researcher poked out her head and told me to run and make a hot drink
for the young man sitting with her. She had just given him the news that
in retaliation for his own outspokenness against his country's regime,
his mother had been seized and executed.

Every day of my working week in my early 20s I was reminded how
incredibly fortunate I was, to live in a country with a democratically
elected government, where legal representation and a public trial were
the rights of everyone.

Every day, I saw more evidence about the evils humankind will inflict on
their fellow humans, to gain or maintain power. I began to have
nightmares, literal nightmares, about some of the things I saw, heard
and read.

And yet I also learned more about human goodness at Amnesty
International than I had ever known before.

Amnesty mobilises thousands of people who have never been tortured or
imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. The
power of human empathy, leading to collective action, saves lives, and
frees prisoners. Ordinary people, whose personal well-being and security
are assured, join together in huge numbers to save people they do not
know, and will never meet. My small participation in that process was
one of the most humbling and inspiring experiences of my life.

Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and
understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into
other people's minds, imagine themselves into other people's places.
Of course, this is a power, like my brand of fictional magic, that is
morally neutral. One might use such an ability to manipulate, or
control, just as much as to understand or sympathise.
And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose
to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never
troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they
are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can
close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them
personally; they can refuse to know.

I might be tempted to envy people who can live that way, except that I
do not think they have any fewer nightmares than I do. Choosing to live
in narrow spaces can lead to a form of mental agoraphobia, and that
brings its own terrors. I think the wilfully unimaginative see more
monsters. They are often more afraid.

What is more, those who choose not to empathise may enable real
monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves,
we collude with it, through our own apathy.
One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor
down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could
not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we
achieve inwardly will change outer reality.

That is an astonishing statement and yet proven a thousand times every
day of our lives. It expresses, in part, our inescapable connection with
the outside world, the fact that we touch other people's lives simply by
existing.

But how much more are you, Harvard graduates of 2008, likely to touch
other people's lives? Your intelligence, your capacity for hard work,
the education you have earned and received, give you unique status, and
unique responsibilities. Even your nationality sets you apart. The great
majority of you belong to the world's only remaining superpower. The way
you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring
to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That
is your privilege, and your burden.

If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on
behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only
with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to
imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your
advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate
your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you
have helped transform for the better. We do not need magic to change the
world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have
the power to imagine better.

I am nearly finished. I have one last hope for you, which is something
that I already which is something that I already had at 21. The friends
with whom I sat on graduation day have been my friends for life. They
are my children's godparents, the people to whom I've been able to turn
in times of trouble, friends who have been kind enough not to sue me
when I've used their names for Death Eaters. At our graduation we were
bound by enormous affection, by our shared experience of a time that
could never come again, and, of course, by the knowledge that we held
certain photographic evidence that would be exceptionally valuable if
any of us ran for Prime Minister.

So today, I can wish you nothing better than similar friendships. And
tomorrow, I hope that even if you remember not a single word of mine,
you remember those of Seneca, another of those old Romans I met when I
fled down the Classics corridor, in retreat from career ladders, in
search of ancient wisdom:
As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is
what matters.

I wish you all very good lives.
Thank you very much.




****************************************************************************************************

---

The information contained in this e-mail and any accompanying documents may contain information that is confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply e-mail and then delete this message, including any attachments. Any dissemination, distribution or other use of the contents of this message by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. All messages sent to and from this e-mail address may be monitored as permitted by applicable law and regulations to ensure compliance with our internal policies and to protect our business. E-mails are not secure and cannot be guaranteed to be error free as they can be intercepted, amended, lost or destroyed, or contain viruses. You are deemed to have accepted these risks if you communicate with us by e-mail.

---

The information contained in this e-mail and any accompanying documents may contain information that is confidential or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, or if this message has been addressed to you in error, please immediately alert the sender by reply e-mail and then delete this message, including any attachments. Any dissemination, distribution or other use of the contents of this message by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly prohibited. All messages sent to and from this e-mail address may be monitored as permitted by applicable law and regulations to ensure compliance with our internal policies and to protect our business. E-mails are not secure and cannot be guaranteed to be error free as they can be intercepted, amended, lost or destroyed, or contain viruses. You are deemed to have accepted these risks if you communicate with us by e-mail.

We've moved!!

My fiance and I have moved to Portland, Oregon!

I also learned that my book is on the shelf at Powell's Bookstore in Downtown Porland! I have to go check it out.

In the meantime, I will be busy setting up our apartment and job hunting.

I will also be painting a few more personal pieces before getting a better, new website up and running.  Then this blog spot will be just that- a blog spot.

All of this takes time, of course, but hopefully, it will all work out.

I should also announce that I finished the illustrations for Taylor's Birthday Party and heard it may be printed some time in August?  I'll try and keep people posted on that as well.

Ok, back to work!

It's official!!

Its been officially announced on the Red Cygnet website- I have a second contract!
The cover will be coming soon!


http://www.redcygnet.com/

Kaleidoscope at CSULB- come meet me and bring your book!

Another set of Red Cygnet author/illustrators as well as my fiance will be at our old campus Cal State University Long Beach on Kaleidoscope Day promoting our books.
Please come by our booth and get autographs or ask questions!

Here is a link for more info:

http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students/kaleidoscope/

more fun stuff

I randomly found more fun things on my book.
The most exciting to me was discovering that Powell's bookstore in Portland, OR carries my book
on its website!
Other than that, I saw that some libraries (one that I think is in Canada?) carries my book, too.
I am thinking of donating a couple copies that I have that are slightly damaged to some libraries near here or giving them to the local bookstores in hopes that the managers will like them.
In the meanwhile, it's official:

I have a second book contract lined up with Red Cygnet and Baker and Taylor!! Its an adorable story based on the company Baker and Taylor who are two cats that used to frequent a library. (see the website for Baker and Taylor if you are curious because the story is much more clear there).

their website: http://www.btol.com/


The cats are Scottish Folds and I am looking forward to drawing and painting animals.
In the meanwhile, I had been insanely busy working on some freelance work. Now that it is finished, I can focus on creating a cover for the new book. Once that's ready I will be posting more about it.

Here is copied text from their site about the history on the company and the two cats:

"

Our Mascots
"Baker & Taylor"

There is a long tradition of cats living in libraries, probably going back to the ancient Egyptian library in Alexandria. In the 19th Century, the British government paid libraries to keep cats, because they kept rodents from eating the glue and binding off of books. Nowadays, cats still like libraries as nice warm places with plenty of nooks and crannies. And, libraries like to have cats around while librarians do their work.

Although both are gone now, 'Baker' and 'Taylor' were the pride of the Douglas County Public Library in Minden, Nevada. Baker joined the library staff in 1983, much to the delight of patrons and the despair of would-be rodents. Taylor's position was created two month later through a grant from Baker & Taylor, Inc. Together they carried on the long tradition of working library cats.

Baker and Taylor spent much of their time at the checkout counter where they restored disorder to overly quiet afternoons. The library saw a constant parade of people who dropped by from great distances just to see the cats.

Baker and Taylor claim a pedigree of the Scottish Fold persuasion, which is known for distinctive turned-down ears, gentleness, and abundant personality. Characteristics include a thick, short coat, broad cheeks, powerful build, massive round head, and well-rounded whisker pads.

In 1988, Baker and Taylor became the official mascots of Baker & Taylor, Inc. The pair have been immortalized on posters, tote bags, calendars, note cards, and other materials that we continue to distribute at trade shows and press events.

Until their passing in the mid 1990's, Baker and Taylor provided great joy and entertainment for staff and patrons alike, and continue to represent the strength and excitement of Baker & Taylor, Inc.

"

Here are some more fun links:
(please write a review if you have any time or would like to_

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-9781601080134-1

http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Moon-and-Night-Sweeper-Mai-S-Kemble/9781601080233-item.html

http://hzportal.dayton.lib.oh.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?index=BIB&term=806577&profile=kids

http://hip.ci.renton.wa.us/ipac20/ipac.jsp?session=U2054O1D36078.26008&profile=main&uindex=SW&term=Stories%20in%20rhyme.&aspect=subtab11&menu=search&source=~!horizon

http://www.stumptowncomics.com/scf07/exhibitors_list

SCBWI FEATURED ARTIST

I applied to see if I could be a Featured Artist on the Society of Children Book's Writers and Illustrators probably months ago... and I am lucky enough to have a link now for just that!
Thank you SCBWI !! I don't deserve it! Thank you so much!

http://www.scbwi.org/feat_artist.htm

SIGNINGS

I am posting because I am excited to announce that I have been invited to participate in William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, CA's Passport to Reading event on April 5th, 2008 Saturday. Barnes and Noble is apparently going to be the book distributor that day as well!
This is totally exciting and a great opportunity.
I also have my third signing lined up for March 3rd for Read Across America at Bret Harte Elementary in Long Beach, CA.

http://www.nea.org/readacross/index.html

I have file created for a black and white coloring page so if anyone ever wants the file to use for signings or their little ones, email me and I would be happy to send the file.
Unrelated to the topic, I have been working on a comic on the side and almost done with the ten pages I thought to finish before sending this out for possible publication. One day I hope to have it posted with a short description or story synopsis for those interested.
Thanks for all the support!

Reviews

I have updated my profile to have my email address on my profile because I have been getting emails from possible clients. I hope that helps for anyone else trying to reach me for whatever reason.
I've also had a few book signings at some schools recently. The first one was at University Park Elementary in Irvine, CA. Thank you Janet Wykert for getting interested and letting me come see all the students there. Josh took some photos on his phone because we forgot the camera but they aren't enough of high quality to place online.
The second signing was with Nancy Wride at Belmont Elementary. This was reviewed on their district's main webpage. I'll list some url's to copy and paste so people can check them out.
Anyway, thank you for reading my story and supporting me!

http://www.lowellpta.net/news.html
Long Beach Schools: News Archives - Author and Illustrator Night a Hit at Lowell

http://www.bestprices.com/cgi-bin/vlink/1601080131.html

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?product_id=7989473

http://www.target.com/Moon-Night-Sweeper-Mai-Kemble/dp/1601080131

http://www.forewordmagazine.com/reviews/search_reviews.aspx?Searchtype=ReviewerID&SearchCriteria=265

http://www.forewordmagazine.com/reviews/search_reviews.aspx?Searchtype=ReviewerID&SearchCriteria=265

http://notebook.webaroo.com/external?w=%201423&webaroourl=http%3A%2F%2Fdadtalk.typepad.com%2Fbook_buds_kidlit_reviews%2F2008%2F02%2Fthe-moon-and-th.html&webarootitle=Swept+away

PreOrdering is Now Available!

You can now preorder the Moon and the Night Sweeper at Amazon, Borders, Barnes and Noble, and of course, Red Cygnet. Just key word search with mai s kemble and it should come up.
Thank you for any support!!
And of course, requesting it at bookstores or writing reviews or comments help a lot. :)

doodles

sketch

sketch