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.”

I was thrilled to work on the poster for this year’s Oakland Youth Chorus’ Holiday Concert. The title, Peace-ing It Together: Peace, Love & Music posed an interesting challenge since it was a rush job and I had to come up with a concept quickly. I put my attention on the word Peace-ing and thought of a dove. Christmassy, yes?

Then I sketched out the dove and placed a Treble Clef in its beak. This says “music,” right?

I played with a few drawing tools, comparing the various renditions in pencil, pen and chalk pastel. The chalk pastel won out. To give the artwork some extra oomph (plus, tie in with the young singers), I added a collage of digitally modified photos of the youth chorus on the wings and body of the dove. After tweaking the layout and type-speccing… Viola! A completed poster!

Be sure to check out OYC’s holiday concert this Saturday, December 10, 2011, 6 PM. Visit Oakland Youth Chorus’ site for more info.

Painting imaginary worlds is one of the best things about being an illustrator. I simply tune out the world around me and “access” an inner realm where colors sing, stories unfold and imagery pours forth in surprising ways. This is especially true when I listen to music as I work.

Lucky me: This summer, I worked on CD cover and booklet illustrations for award-winning musician, Kira Willey. Having worked with Kira on Dance for the Sun, her first CD, I was beyond thrilled to illustrate her new one, Kings & Queens of the Forest. I tried to capture the wonder and joy of the title song, Kings and Queens of the Forest, which celebrates our magical connection with nature.

Kira described her vision for the cover and I listened to the early tracks from the CD for further inspiration. Once I got the flavor of the music, I sketched out several rough concepts and showed Kira a tight pencil sketch (above). It took a few more weeks to complete the image which was painted with gouache, colored pencil and pastel (below).

Find out more about Kira, her music and yoga work with kids on this podcast.

A week ago, news and images of Japan’s tragic earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters sent “shockwaves” around the globe. I found myself glued to the news, searching for info via friends and family on facebook and twitter. When things “calmed down,” it became apparent that the highly developed nation of Japan needed extra manpower and resources to assist people, rebuild infrastructure and more. Thankfully, the internet has been a great tool in helping people find people, seek services and donate. Click here for a compilation of directories, news sources and sites dedicated to relief efforts.

Beginning Monday, March 21st, here is another way to help: Donate to Japan through the love of children’s and young adult (YA) literature! Author, Greg Fishbone, created the KidLit 4 Japan site: Children’s Authors and Illustrators for Japan, as a means for professionals, artists and writers in publishing to auction off a variety of items and services. Looks like there will be something for everyone–book lovers, aspiring writers and illustrators, parents, teachers, families, etc. Proceeds will go “directly to an organization providing basic needs services specifically to children in the affected area.” I am excited to join this incredible cause and look forward to seeing all the goodies being auctioned off!

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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…!

Hey, check it out: I’ve been interviewed by the fabulous, Nathalie Mvondo, writer and contributor to several multicultural children’s literature publications including the Multicultural Review.

I was pleasantly surprised and honored when Nathalie first contacted me for the interview. I thought: Great! It’s a piece of cake… (just kidding!)

She explained that she had a list of questions for me to look over and consider. She invited me to answer in my own time. I said: Sure, send them over!

And she did!

She sent over a list of excellent, inciteful questions which coaxed me into reflecting my background and experiences, impressions and memories of the places I lived, etc. I had to work at coming up with answers—searching for, scoping out and sorting through the dark, dusty corners of my mind.

I can only hope that I did the questions justice! Please give it a read and see what you think!