Happy 2012! I began the new year working on a poster for Virago Theatre Company’s upcoming production, A Taste of Honey.

According to Virago Theatre: A sensation in the late fifties and early sixties with its bold racial and sexual themes, and boasting huge successes in London, Paris and on Broadway, Delaney’s script is considered a masterpiece of character driven black comedy. A Taste of Honey is directed by Virago Artistic Director Laura Lundy-Paine and performed in San Francisco’s intimate Thick House Theater.

About the artwork and design: A combination of brush pen illustration and digitally altered photographs–a stained paper bag and the face of woman on a 1950s advertisement–coupled with clean, modernistic design atop beautifully chaotic “grime.” In short: A mixed “mess.”

Got kids on your Christmas gift list who like, love or need books?

Allow me to hook you up with the 4:00 Book Hook, a fantabulous e-newsletter dedicated to children and YA literature. The latest edition features their annual holiday book gift guide and I’ve gotten the okay to post that section online :).

The holiday gift guide features author reviews and recommendations of some of their favorite children and young adult books on the market. With the wonderful variety of books for kids and teens, you’re sure to find something for your selective young reader.

For your convenience, I’ve uploaded the entire Holiday Gift Guide section of the 4:00 Book Hook–just click on the page links below:

4:00 Book Hook Page 2

4:00 Book Hook Page 3

4:00 Book Hook Page 4

BTW, my recommendations for three of my favorite recently-published picture books are on page 4.

Oh, and please don’t forget to buy your books from your local brick ‘n mortar bookstores or at independent bookstores online–not that nameless shameless one using books as loss leaders :(. This holiday season especially, let’s show support and love for true book-loving booksellers… just sayin’. :-)!

Happy gift giving and reading!

P.S. 4:00 Book Hook is a free e-newsletter for people who share books with kids: parents, home-schoolers, teachers, grandparents and librarians. Contact the 4:00 Book Hook at this email address for your free subscription: thebookhook@gmail.com

(The above image came from this article).

Well, it could go something like that.

Yesterday, I joined PiBoIdMo which stands for Picture Book Idea Month. The main idea is to come up with one picture book (PB) per day so that by the end of the month you have 30 PB’s that you work on the rest of the year. is the brainchild of author, Tara Lazar, who hosts the challenge on her blog. 2011 marks the third year.

It’s not too late to join. You have until November 3rd to sign up. Check out the official deets here.

A double dosage of happiness came upon us in January: The New Year and National Soup Month!

As a huge soup fan, I started the new year off with weekly meals featuring soup as the main course. I cooked soup in crock pots, ordered home-made soup in restaurants and enjoyed quick ramen meal mixes with fresh chopped veggies… Well, you get the idea.

For this post, I dusted off an illustration created a few years ago as homage to Lewis Carroll’s poem, Beautiful Soup. Here’s to a savory 2011…!

When I first set out to blog, I fancied I’d be a happy, avid blogger. As an artist and writer, I love to share and exchange information. There were no how-to manuals six years ago when my earliest efforts were on Blogger under a different name. My method of blogging comprised of “winging it” and posting topics on a whim. So, I applied what I did to Just Sketch the blog I created when my first book was published.

Over time, the lack of structure made blogging lowest priorty and “life,” work, you-name-it, took precedence. I noticed that other bloggers were doing cool new things on their blogs–using videos, dong blog carnivals, etc. but by that time I had fallen out of touch with the world of blogging. I’d procrastinated and felt like I’d failed. I was not happy, nor was I avid blogger, after all.

But I didn’t want to give up blogging. According to a 2009 State of the Blogosphere report by Technorati, “70% of all respondents say that personal satisfaction is a way they measure the success of their blog.” I realized that I liked blogging for a whole host of reasons and personal satisfaction ranked high on my list. If I could find the fun in blogging again, I could be satisfied, as well.

So, how was I going to bring back the fun of blogging? I decided to get serious. :p… I attended a SoCal SCBWI “Cyber Promo Workshop” in Santa Barbara to learn from some fantastic kid lit and online promo experts– Alexis O’Neill, Greg Pincus, Lisa Yee, Anastasia Suen and others. It turned out to be a wonderful event hosted and attended by kid lit authors and illustrators from Southern CA. (I think I was the only northerner there!) I learned so much! (And yes, I’ll post something about it in the future!) I became enthusiastic about blogging again. (more…)

It’s been a while, folks. In February, I traveled abroad on family business and since returning I’ve been occupied with playing catch up. Life is gradually returning to “normal.” For starters, I am involved in a fun spring event—the annual childrens book illustrator show at MOCHA (Museum of Childrean’s Art) in Oakland, Once Upon A Time. Come to the Artist Reception tomorrow, March 27, 2010, 2-4 pm. For location and more info, visit the museum online.

The following image is a pencil draft of a page in my picture book, Can You Catch A Coqui Frog? written by Vera Arita and illustrated by yours truly. If you’d like to see the actual finished illustration, then do come to the show which runs until May 7.