Rickshaw Girl rides in India

Wow! I received my Marathi (India) copy of Rickshaw Girl by Mitali Perkins. I love it!
The reproductions of my illustrations are good, and they pair nicely with the text I can't read.

I have a cool book with typefaces that I turned to when working on the book 5 years ago.

 

This was one sketch for the cover that didn't fly.

Anyway, I'm proud to see the cover in all it's variations, especially the Korean, Japanese, and Indian versions:

Bravo, Mitali, for bringing this story to life!

Sketchbook Project at SPACE Gallery

Hooray! The Sketchbook Project was back in town, at SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine.
We were so eager to hold our own sketchbook once again, like a long lost friend.

The Milan-based collective Carnovsky provided a stunning backdrop, with a wallpaper display titled RGB, which paired well with my fresh Tattly tattoo.

We had our eyes peeled for all things sketchy, and just stare at this Caronvsky bit long enough to be hypnotized: you....WILL....sketch...

 

It had no effect on this viewer.

 Every book checked out gets multiple views though, with viewers sharing.

 This one was a favorite with our crowd, filed under the theme Time Travel.

I fell in love with this sketchbook by Rachel Sofian, filled with graceful graphite drawings of animals collaged into the pages. Who can resist this sloth?

Given the heat, I searched by theme for something else cool: It's Winter Where You Are, and found a lovely book by Rhonda Anderson. This snowy owl charmed me.

In fact, I found another owl but sadly did not write down the artist.

Here's the owl that begins my treehouse book:

Thanks to Prismacolor, there was a drawing table where anyone could send off a quick sketch to a random destination. Drew my compadre, the curious Kirsten.

 

We left quite satiated, but returned for another round a day later, to reunite one last time with our sketchbooks. We met one of the founders of the project, Steven Peterman and his wife, Sara. It's come a long way since 2006.

By the way, Happy 10 Year Birthday to SPACE!!!

You can see Marty's book here, and Daisy's here. Mine is apparently not digitized into the library yet.

Our cohort in sketching, Judy Labrasca, stopped in to admire our books as well.

 

We found even more to like. 

Incredibly fresh line work in this book by Bernadette Moke. Positively electric.

 

I searched Italy and found this elegance by Flavia Dell 'Anna.

You really can go around the world, turning pages.

These two were fun.

On the right, a Heroes and Villains by Min Hyung with line dissolving into abstraction.

The time flies by when you're entranced in a drawn world. It was time for the staff to close up the library, so what else could we do?

Yup, sign up for the 2013, with free sleeping bags for our little treasures yet to be drawn!

HAVNFUN

It figures that on a hot, hot day my comp copies of Cast On, Bind Off should arrive. Hooray!

I did the illustrations for this book with beginnings and endings for all kinds of knitted projects way back when people really were wearing knitted things. I also found reference from a long ago photo of Tessa McGow, a talented MECA student with busy hands who posed during a drawing session.

Shortly thereafter, my family traveled to Minneapolis for a wedding. Even with 102 degree weather, this says it all.

The wedding of Kirsten and David took place at the American Swedish Institute, a unique castle/mansion built by a Swedish immigrant family in 1908.

With gargoyles and carvings everywhere, it was a fantasy setting.

We also visited the sculpture garden at the Walker Art Center, a nice taste of the city.

From there we headed to St. Paul, where I was reminded it was the  birthplace of Charles Schulz.

The Science Museum of Minnesota had a surprisingly substantial exhibit called Real Pirates, featuring the history of the Whydah. We scoped out our share of ship sightings.

The paintings by Greg Manchess were also impressive.

The Future Earth exhibit proved quite educational. I did not know our atmosphere was only 62 miles, a rather short vertical trip into "outer space." No wonder so much can happen in the first seven.

It was a welcome relief to move from the sobering enormity of climate change to a whimsical display of moving sculptures like this, a tiger typing furiously, his head opening up to a fish circling his singular thought.

We found humor of a different scale in this epic sculpture at Lego Land, in the Mall of America.

And who knew there was an entire enterprise devoted to Peeps?

We came back to Maine very full of all things big, Minnesota style.

Today we're off to SPACE, to reunite with our sketchbooks shipped off in January for the 2012 tour.

 

If you've never been to a Sketchbook Project event, you're in for a treat. First thing, get a library card.

And then you can travel the world, one sketch at a time.

Ask for Marty Braun's "Uncharted Waters" and Daisy Braun's "Time Traveler" and my "Tree House" if you please!

I'll be looking for you.

summer bookies

 Happy 4th y'all! I'll sneak in a post here, as we head outta Dodge tomorrow.

I had the honor of visiting the Stewart Free Library in sweet Corinna, Maine last week. Past miles of hills and strawberry patches, I came to this venerable building from another era.

Warmly welcomed by the Summer Reading program, I shared Seven Days of Daisy. A cute crowd of volunteers helped work the days of the week:

This looks like it would make a very interesting story, "Seven Days of Summer" by Autumn:

Librarian Director, Donna Lambert, shared her cool book of seven days, crafted from a lunch bag, ribbon, and collage. Bravo!

 

I learned a bit about the history of the library, and it's founder, Levi Stewart, pictured below.

It's always a pleasure to discover a library proud of it's heritage. Love the little penny farthing.

This was a rare item: a decorative design made from human hair. Those Victorians, ever crafty.

Thanks, Corinna, for sharing your love of books!

Summer's in full swing, but the urge to make books doesn't go away.  Dear friends, Mary Anne Lloyd and her daughter, Eda, ventured to Peaks Island to make blank sketchbooks this week.

After a picnic on the rocks, we got out supplies and made these, gamely employing some Richard Scarry scraps for good humor.

Now to fill them with drawings, collages, maybe paper souvenirs from our summer travels. We're off to Minneapolis tomorrow for the wedding of our niece, Kirsten Holscher.

Stay cool!