This party is moving to Facebook

Ten years ago I started this blog to chronicle my journey towards being published as an illustrator of a trade picture books. Happily that dream came true in 2014 with two books published in 2015 and 2016.

But 2016 was not a great year in other ways. We started the year with Jim Dear’s job being outsourced. Overnight our income was cut in half and we lost our health insurance. Suddenly the 2016 I’d planned was gone. Jim Dear and I had agreed that in 2016 I would let go of some of my non-illustration freelance in order to focus on my picture book dummies with the intention of subbing to agents in late 2016. I’d planned a 6 month long ‘sabbatical’ where I would only do illustration and then would emerge with a new body of work. Yes doing that would have changed our income as well, but not quite as dramatically as Jim Dear losing his job. Instead of my blissful submersion in illustration we were piecing together health insurance, rearranging our schedules so I could work more instead of less, and trying to put on a brave face for our kids while simultaneously telling them “no we can’t send you to that expensive overnight Star Wars camp.” I know, I know #firstworldproblems.

Ten months later, I’m happy to report Jim Dear did get another job back in his field. That’s the good news, the less than great news is that it comes with a 90 minute commute. For the moment we are managing it. . . but the Fry and Sprout barely get to see their dad. Ironically we’ve gone from lots of extra family togetherness during Jim Dear’s unemployment to very little. We love our neighbors and our community and don’t want to go through the upheaval of moving… yet. The other good news is that, while I didn’t get my sabbatical, I did complete two new picture book dummies. To quote a Neil Gaiman-Proverbs mash-up: “when life hands you lemons, make good art.”

My larger point is this: 2016 was full of real-life events that were way to complex to distill into a blog. When I started blogging I realized what it did was help me write on a regular basis. But even before last year’s events I had already been spending less and less time conjuring posts. Now when I have writing time I want to spend it on stories and nothing else. When time became an even more precious resource last year I realized that social media was a much more efficient family-news delivery device that the blog was. And then, as the months passed, I went from thinking, ‘gosh its been weeks since I posted anything’ to ‘oh well, why start back now’ to ‘maybe it has run its course.’

After several nights of debating what do with my blog this year, I’ve decided to make it official. The Fabulous Illustrator is hanging up her blogger hat. It’s been fun and I’ll keep the posts archived but for the foreseeable future join me on Facebook and Twitter.

Happy 2016 Patient Readers… and a look back at 2015

Wow I did not get a lot of blogging done in 2015. 

Instead I got a lot done everywhere else.

Like here:

The cover illustration of KOOKY CRUMBS in progress

and here:

With a posse of illustrators at the Midsouth
SCBWI Picture Book Dummy Retreat at Pickwick Landing State Park

and here:

Meeting Dan Santat and Michelle Knudson
at the National SCBWI conference in LA

and especially here

My launch for THE LITTLE KIDS' TABLE !! On September 11th, the day
after my 43rd birthday. This is probably my favorite picture from all of 2015.
All the ladies in this picture are accomplished artists as well as amazing friends.

Dulce Desserts provided this amazing cake!

Reading my book at Parnassus during the launch.
I was so happy I didn't have to use a microphone.

And this is the my other favorite picture from 2015.
After the party was over the very last picture
was taken with me, Jim Dear, Fry and Sprout

There were also some pretty awesome vacations in the mix:

Then two weeks after that we boarded the Disney Wonder
for some much needed relaxation from Vancouver to San Diego.

as well as some very awesome book parties for many of my talented friends:

Launching POPPY'S BEST PAPER by Susan Eaddy

Launching DUNCAN THE STORY DRAGON by Amanda Driscoll. Also
pictured is Jessica Young who launched SPY GUY and FINLEY FLOWERS

So while a tiny little part of me missed writing in my blog the truth is the time has come for me to realize that the time I spend blogging is time I could be spending doing a lot of other things. Which leads me to my personal goal for 2016: CRAFT

Illustrating and writing require a constant, lifelong commitment to get better. Over the course of my blog I've posted my weekly sketches. I've posted about critiques and workshops and conferences. These are all important to do and to attend but now I plan to spend the better part of 2016 focusing all my creative energy on my craft. Writing and rewriting, drawing, and redrawing. The time that I could be spending putting together a blog post is now going to be spent doing the work that improves my craft. And when I'm not doing THAT I'll be continuing to keep my resolutions from 2015. Or hanging out with Jim Dear, The Fry, and Sprout who are growing up at a much more rapid rate than they have a right to.

Not that I won't ever post as Fabulous Illustrator again but Facebook and Twitter give me the opportunity to natter about ordinary life. I do have some other posts planned but for 2016 I'll save my blog for really special occasions…. like this:

KOOKY CRUMBS arrived on my doorstep on January 11th, 2016!

Happy 2016 patient readers

September is the best month to be born….

…. I should know, I've had a September birthday my whole life;)

So when I learned that The Little Kids' Table's official publication date would be September 1st I was just tickled pink. And now it's here! "Publication date" means the book is in the warehouse of the distributor ready to be sent to bookstores, libraries, and laps full of bedtime reading material. I received my contributor copies a few weeks ago but waited to post these pictures until the actual publication date.

I once heard a friend of mine answer the question "what surprised you the most about being published?" At the time I had no idea how I would answer the question. Now I do. What surprised me the most about getting those boxes of books was being unsettled that I couldn't go back and change bits and pieces of the illustrations. Over this eighteen month process I've had many chances to tweak, to re-do, to think "oh I'll just fix that here and here." Now for better or worse, those images are DONE. Who knew that paper and ink could feel the same as being carved in stone?!

So to all my Virgo sisters and brothers, we have a new sibling full of carefully orchestrated details and organized chaos. HAPPY BOOK BIRTHDAY LITTLE KIDS' TABLE!

This is the kind of relaxation I wish I had

Our fat black feline, Moses, spends more time on his back than on his feet.

A few days ago I pondered the possibility that the reason Jim Dear and I feel like the summer has flown by is because through some twist of cat magic Moses actually pulled all the ambient relaxation out of the atmosphere around us. Then he sucked it into his skin and stored it up like a bear stores berries in winter. Therefore we get to spend all summer feeling like we are working hard, chasing kids and yard projects and Moses gets to open one eye and watch us once in a while.

Here's a few slices of work in progress:

When the rain brings the weeds....

...the flowers are not far behind. A quick sketch of the day lily's tiny sprouts around my mailbox amongst the weeds I'll chase all summer.

Happy 33rd day of 2015

This is the 8th New Year's post I've written since starting my blog to chronicle my publishing journey. Coincidently five years ago I also skipped posting in the month of January and wrote my traditional New Year post on February 2nd, 2010. Know why I was late that year? I'd spent the previous twelve months being a mom to TWO kids, a situation previously undeveloped in my first two years on the blog. Somehow January just slipped through my fingers.

Also coincidently I'm late this year for practically the same reason. While the two children in question are of the paper, watercolor, and imagination variety they demand almost as much time, although they don't argue in the back of the car as much. And when I say two children, that's almost a misnomer for The Little Kid's Table which encompasses a whopping 13 characters. I like to think of The Little Kid's Table as being the Type A overachiever child - so many things to say, so many things to do, so many things to be right about. Kooky Crumbs, whose detailed sketches were just approved last week, is the quieter, artsier child. Right now it stands in the shadow of The Little Kid's Table on the drawing board, but as that one's deadline draws near Kooky Crumbs will get its time to shine.

Here are a few random pics that I snapped during the first year of raising The Little Kid's Table:

Character sketches and initial thumbnail layouts

close up of my initial thumbnail layout. Some of these stayed the same, some changed

My stack of discarded sketches

One of my favorite spreads

The line up. I kept several illos taped over my drawing table for character reference.

This one and the one above were some of the first illos I did.
I was trying to get the kids characters developed.

Finally let's have a look at my resolutions for 2015. I really struggled with these for the first year ever. Usually my resolutions revolve around professional goals but 2014 saw many years of professional resolutions bear fruit. After several weeks of letting resolution ideas soak in my brain I realized I kept coming back to work/life balance. I need to remember that just because I'm not dragging a pencil or paintbrush across the paper doesn't mean I'm not developing as an artist. So here's what I resolve for 2015:

1) stop thinking of chatting with friends on social media as "wasting time." Many of those same friends are illustrators or writers just like me, blessed with an abundance of ideas and projects, cursed with a lack of time and working in solitude constantly. Chatting helps.

2) In that same vein, stop thinking of sitting in my idea chair with a cup of coffee and a good book as wasting time. Reading good books is what gives me good ideas. Ditto on reading good books to my kids.

3) Make time to have coffee with friends that I haven't in a while, even if I'm on a deadline. A couple of times recently I've seen the theme of having an interesting life outside of the studio as being essential to being a great artist. All work and no play dulls the pencil. Seems like the universe is trying to tell me that I can't always rest on the excuse of "I'm on a deadline, I don't have time."

4) this one is the real kicker - don't feel guilty about keeping these resolutions.

If I go back to this resolution to listen to more music maybe I've been trying to do the art/life balance for a while. Here's to a year of letting the fulcrum tilt back horizontal.

Meet My Character Blog Hop

Last week I was tagged by the terrific illustrator and equally nice person, Alison Lyne, in the Meet My Character Blog Hop. Now that I'm IT let me tell you about big, white, fluffy ball of trouble. She's not the main character but she does make the story more interesting:

What is the name of your character?

Daisy. She's a rambunctious labradoodle that loves Grandpa, Little Brother and broccoli casserole.


When and where is the story set?
In Grandma Mable's house, around a large, formal family dinner.


What should we know about the character?
She loves broccoli casserole…. and doesn't like being kept away from the family excitement. Also her tail juuuusst skims the table….


What messes with her life?
The gate behind which Grandma and Grandpa put her is a frustration. Fortunately an obliging child comes along to let her out…. so that she can get closer to the broccoli casserole


What is the personal goal of the character?
Get more broccoli casserole. Also stand on hind legs and lick Grandpa.


Where can we read more about the character?
Daisy appears with her entire family in The Little Kids Table written by Mary Ann McCabe Riehle, available soon from Sleeping Bear Press!

Here's a couple of her illustrations in progress:

Next week I'll tag the lovely and talented Meridth Gimbel. 

Meridth earned a BFA in illustration from BYU where she had the great good fortune to intern with Brad Holland and Brett Helquist. Currently an SCBWI member in Southern California Meridth loves anything art related, story infused, and chocolate covered. You can check out Meridth's portfolio here and her blog here.

And thanks again to Alison Lyne for the tag! Read about Alison's character here and be sure to check out her portfolio, blog, and books!