postcards from summer

These long summer days have been packed lately. I have finally (with the help of Julia) solidified my picture book dummy and it is almost ready for me to put it into the hands of (hopefully) eager art directors. Please everyone cross their fingers for me!!

Because this has been taking up my life recently, I have been lagging on producing any new work so I have nothing to share yet. Check out Julia's blog to see a little highlight on Jess and myself all hanging out on a recent hot summer night.

A relic was sent to me from my aunt in Maine: an old copper plated block for printing a postcard or a photo in a newspaper. It seems to be a picture of a fairly desolate roadside motel or lakeside cottages. Maybe someday I'll try to print it and see what it really is.



In the meantime, I'm going to try to spend as much time as possible floating in water until the weather turns cold...

From the depths of a bookstore...

...i found two old books by illustrators that I love. The World of Horses by Dahlov Ipcar.



and Fierce the Lion by Evaline Ness.



Also, when in NH, I found a little (literally) trove of tiny Golden Books. All written by Dorothy Kundhart and illustrated by Garth Williams. More tiny books for the tiny shelves! They are all only about 2 inches. Naturally, I almost had a heart attack when I found them.



Other than that, I've been plugging away at my picture book sketches and working at my new job at the letterpress. I'm still trying to learn how to operate this thing:




yeah. I know.

Bears, Blimps and Books

I spent the last week in New Hampshire where I had every intention of doing a lot of drawing, but instead ended up doing a lot of reading, swimming and nothing. The hood blimp made a mysterious and disorienting appearance over my nap one afternoon. I opened my eyes to this:



Also, lots of thunderstorms:



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Recently (just last night), another one of my illustrations sold with it's matching bear figure made by Marylou Foley. This is my most favorite one she has done yet.



Just look at that butt!!!



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Lastly, Brian's book, The Tornado is Not a Surrealist was released this week on a small press called Greying Ghost. It looks fantastic. The cover is very old fashioned and classy looking. It almost looks like hand-set type with ornaments:



Go read a sample poem here.

Go buy it here.

Congratulations Brian <3