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).

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.

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.

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.

The gist of the talk: How Mike established an online presence which led to some very cool results. It wasn’t a how-to session as much as it was a terrific opportunity to hear Mike share his story.  (Photo courtesy of Mike Jung.)

One of my favorite moments in the talk happened toward the end when we witnessed Mike burst into a raging bonfire of kidlitosphere effervescence–for fifteen seconds–his face twitching, eyebrows arching, eyes bugging out while sputtering:  “Don’t you LOVE books and childrens literature? [Everyone nodded.] This is AWESOME! I love doing this! IT GIVES ME JOY!”

That, dear reader, is Mike’s “super power” behind building a fabuloso-bordering-on-megalomania online presence. He exemplifies passion. In an instant, my weariness from a slog rewrites dropped away and I was reminded of my own passion for kid lit. Enthusiasm is infectious.

A few anecdotes and tips on social networking from Mike:

• Join an online community of Kid Lit and YA writers such as Verla Kay’s Blue Boards where Mike is a Moderator. To get the most out of those boards: Participate. Joining is free and lurkers are welcome. But the more you participate, the greater the access to info and discussions. (Sorry, no direct quotes from Mike. I arrived a few minutes late just as he was wrapping up this part. FYI, I’ve known Mike for a while from the Blue Boards and I have a handle on the basics of that forum.)

• Facebook is an obvious way to get to know others in the world of kid lit and YA. Mike emphasized keeping it social and fun. For example, he’s used his FB Profile Pic as a way of sharing good news from others. For example, Mike posted a photo of himself holding a signed copy of Lisa Yee’s Bobby Vs. Girls (Accidentally) after he won her blog contest (more on that below).

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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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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…!

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!

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…)