Chip off the ol' Block

I just ordered up some more watercolor paper to get started on final art for my next book, TOOT! TOOT! ZOOM! (written by Phyllis Root, Candlewick). My last job, MIGHTY CASEY, zapped out the last sheets of block paper I'd had. I found this brand many years ago and it's been good to me. Lanaquarelle, it's called. It's sold in blocks (short stacks of pretrimmed sheets, glued together around all four sides--to get apart, insert a palette knife or some such between sheets and peel away. It's fun!). Or you can buy it in big loose sheets. Mostly, I use sheets right off the blocks (come in a few sizes, as big as 10" x 14"--maybe even a bit bigger?) since a lot of illustrations I do are within those sizes. Unless it's a drawing that covers the spread, in which case I cut pieces off the oversize sheets.

As do all watercolor papers, the Lana comes in a variety of finishes. I prefer the Hot Press stuff since I don't care for the bumpy surface of Cold Press or "Rough" when I'm drawing. Plus I don't want any paper textures to show up in the end scans.

What I ordered ought to set me up for quite some time now. I've found the best price to come outta dickblick.com (as much as I wish it so, no I ain't gettin a kickback here). Deep discounts all around. Go Blick!

sempé

One of the freebies I scored at ALA last weekend is this awesome Nicholas pin from over at the Phaidon booth. Nicholas is a series of children's books drawn by the great French cartoonist, Jean-Jacques Sempé. I first came onto Sempé by way of the many covers he illustrates for the New Yorker. Then, a year or so ago, I discovered Phaidon was reprinting many of his books in English translation. So, when I can, I've been scooping them up and thoroughly enjoying along the way.

Over the holidays, my Mom gave me a collection called EVERYTHING IS COMPLICATED. Here's one of the single panel cartoons from this one that I found particularly funny (it's full of single panel as well as strips). And it was one of the easier ones to scan. Some run pretty close to the gutter. His linework is amazing. It can be very fluid, very loose at times, but then at other times, extremely tight and anally detailed. Vive le France!

Founding Fathers, Loving Brothers

Back from Philadelphia and ALA (American Library Association) Midwinter conference. A lot of action. Some sight-seeing. Some business. Some relaxing. We got to see our good friends from Feiwel and Friends again and we got to meet our new literary agent, Rosemary Stimola, for the first time in the flesh. Very cool.

Upon arrival, we rushed over to the Rosenbach Museum and Library in the city's well-to-do Rittenhouse Square district. Neither of us knew much about the place, other than the fact they boast a Maurice Sendak gallery and they are currently hosting a showcase of "Really Rosie" drawings. It's a nice place. The Rosie stuff was cool, but apparently they also hold thousands of Sendak originals of all kinds (drawings, notes, sketches, dummies, etc.) that are to be displayed in a whole floor of Sendak. But not til this spring does it open. Shucks. The rest of the museum, pertains to it's namesake, the collections of the brothers Rosenbach. Eccentric turn-of-the-century (20th) collectors of many European antiquities. The museum is, actually, the former elaborate and high-dollar home of these brothers. One of the bros, A.S.W. Rosenbach, was a big book collector. A prized piece is an original manuscript of James Joyce's ULYSSES. The give a very cool and personal tour of the place. Julie and I picked up a few awesome prints/posters from the gift shop afterwards. A signed Sendak lithograph from "Go Tell Aunt Rhody", a poster for the Rosie exhibit and an older poster (with an awesome image) for a Sendak event that took place in Philadelphia in '95.



The majority of the Philadelphia visit was devoted to Julie's work on the year's best audiobooks for teens YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Assosiation) Selection Committee. She was in lots of long meetings, so I was often left to fend for myself for entertainment. We did a tad bit of sight-seeing together at times, but not a bunch. Alone, I wandered to and around the Independence National Park area. That's where the Liberty Bell and Old City Hall and what not is. Lots of cool "founding fathers" type history in this area (and throughout the city as well). I came upon this weird Benjamin Franklin spot where his old stompin' ground used to be. His home, his print shop, etc. "Franklin Court" it's called. This spot was lodged in the middle of a city block, so you have to detour down an alleyway to find it. I got lost once. There was an underground museum at this place where you walked down, down, down this ramp to get to this gloomy and dark and quiet and neglected collection of Franklin belongings, dioramas, anecdotes and a dismal movie theater with a gut-wrenchingly dated 20 minute film on the man. He deserves better. I mean, he was a fascinating person and the museum really needs a facelift. Needless to say, the place was so weird (I was one of about 5 people--including the two staff workers down there) I had to drag Julie back down there when she had time off. There's also this giant room with these phones on posts where you can "call" historic figures from all times and hear Franklin stuff. I think it was Franklin stuff. Julie and I are such germ-o-phobes that neither of us would pick up any of those phones, touch them, or breath in mouth germs or absorb ear germs from God knows who, from God knows when, from God knows where. (See picture at beginning of blog. Look hard and you can see Julie in the phones, at the back.) I was happy to stumble upon one of the city's many awesome public art pieces. Claes Oldenburg's big ol' rusty clothespin by city hall.


So, I did a good bit of walking. Enough to kill my feet and calves and shins. My feeling, afterwards, is Philadelphia's a cool place with lots of that old-time Americana history. But, the sad part, I felt, is that it's either strikingly wealthy, or depressingly poverty-stricken. Hurts to say that. Hurts to see it.

Anybody ever hear the Neil Young song, "Philadelphia" from the movie of the same name? So good. Here's a beautiful performance of the song.

Trip ended yesterday when we left town around noon. The big awards were announced. The Caldecott, the Printz, Newberry, Geisel, all those. Congrats to the winners.

Good to be home.

The City of Brotherly Love

This weekend, Julie and I are traveling to Philadelphia for the midwinter ALA conference. Feels like we just got back from our whirlwind holiday gig down south, so it's a little rough getting back into travel mode so soon. But still looking forward to it. This is Julie's last stop on her tour with the YALSA selection commmittee for best audiobooks of the year. For the last two years, we've been hitting every single ALA conference around the country. It's been a lot of fun, and we've had much mingling with familiar friendly faces and contacts with various publishing houses at these gatherings.

Julie found out about this Philadelphia must see a while back--this weekend, we plan to visit the Rosenbach Museum to see the Maurice Sendak show that's up now about Really Rosie. It looks like a lot of fun.

Christmas Music

Some new music I got from relatives over the holiday. Specifically, things I asked for on the amazon.com wishlist. First off is the Kinks "Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneyground". I'm easily influenced sometimes. Julie, and Julie's ma Janice, and I saw the latest Wes Anderson movie, "The Darjeeling Limited" several months back when it was out. Anderson is known to pepper his movie soundtracks with stylish, late 60's/early 70's rock. A la Rolling Stones, the Who, Bowie, the Kinks. I wasn't too in on the Kinks music, but the tunes in the movie fit nicely. Sounded really great. So I checked at the library and they didn't have this album, so I promptly added to the xmas wishlist.


"Another Side" has a few really great tunes on it that I'd discovered by way of "The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Live 1964", which the library DID have. "All I Really Want To Do", "To Ramona", "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)", and "Chimes of Freedom" (not on the Live '64 tho). Found out they were on this disc and the library did not have, so added to the wishlist.


"Planet Waves" has one of my very favorite mid-period Dylan songs, "Forever Young." Chokes me up a bit every single time I hear it. Lib didn't have it. Wishlist did.


To round out this old fashioned Dylan Christmas, I asked for a copy of his autobiography, CHRONICLES. It was a great read. Expectedly vague in points, but enlightening to the history and the bitter pill that is idolatry. I really enjoyed this.

I just got a surprise first email from an author, James Preller, who's picture book MIGHTY CASEY I just illustrated (Feiwel and Friends, spring '08). (We illustrators and authors can sometimes never even correspond or meet, so it's always refreshing when it happens.) A right nice fella and CASEY was a terribly fun book to illustrate. Turns out, by coincidence, Preller's been a Dylanite for the last year too. He too, just got a copy of the old Glaser/Dylan poster! Good taste, that Preller.

Back in Action

Even though I was back last week from the holiday trip down south, the tentative plan was to take it easy January 2-4 (Wednesday thru Friday). I did a bit of work here and there, but tried to take it easy. Well, taking it easy drives me crazy. I think too much about what's not getting done and how blobby and lazy and unproductive I'm being. Then I get all bummed outish. Wish I could just relax. Anyway, it feels good to be back in the routine. I need that. Today, I'm working on a story revise and some sketch revisions for a book I'm illustrating with Candlewick. Above is a sketch for that one. It's coming along well and just a stone's throw now from diggin into finals. Looking forward to it!

Another discovery of late is the Neti Pot. Saw it being touted on the Today Show over the holidays. And I heard Oprah had a big plug for it on her show too. I get these jacked-up bad sinus headaches from time to time. Supposedly, daily tipping this warm water/saline combo solution into your nozz and flushing out the bad juju is supposed to help out with that. Julie used it first when she got sick last week. She gets sinus infections and it's supposed to help with those too. Today was day two of the Neti Pot trial. Hope it works. Definitely weird.

The Dirty South

Just got back from our annual pilgrimage down south for the holidays, Julie and me. It's always a whirlwind gig. So many people to see, catch up with, visit, and eat with in just a few days time. It's dang exhausting. Always interesting to hear what people have been doing, in my absence, back home. Best of which, is my dad's port-a-john tale.

About a month ago, my Pop noticed an abandoned port-a-john toilet turned on it's side on the shoulder of a country road (the kind used at construction sites, outdoor concerts, etc.). There it sat for weeks, unclaimed. So, reason enough, my Pop figured it was as good as his. Not sure why he would want such a thing, but it's really just beside the point. So Pops conned my brother into riding with him in the truck (said they were just going to haul off some trash) so he could grab this, he guessed, "unused" toilet stall in broad daylight. Pops claimed it was, anyway, "brand new." My bro's a bit more squeamish when it comes to this type of renegade act, thereby the fib on Pop's part. So, they got there, the truck was pulled over, and after a lotta roadside hemming and hawing, my brother finally slinked out of the truck and helped Pops heave it into the back of the truck. Blue liquid (sanitizer?) splashing all over. They high-tailed it on home, with the toilet stall dripping, pouring blue juice out the back of the truck. I'm not sure he'd realized it til he got it all the way home, but he was leaving a wet, blue trail all the way from the scene of the nab all the way back to the homestead.

Once he got it home, Pops was kind of at a loss as to what he wanted it for. Mostly, it seemed like it was a prop for a good story. A punchline to the end of a joke. He tried to pawn it off on the neighbors who just put in a swimming pool. "It'd make a heck of a 'pool house'." They wouldn't take it. He tried to give it to my aunt and uncle who have a pool in their backyard. Nope. Once it was played out, and sitting there for a good few weeks, his conscience got the best of him and he called a number stuck to the port-a-john door. Asked if they'd lost any toilets lately. They said they had and they'd be glad to come out and reclaim the thing. Several weeks have passed, and the toilet still sits in the backyard, behind the garage now. Unclaimed.

Maybe they didn't want it after all. Maybe it was laying there, on that country road, for a reason. Pops thinks, if nothing else, it'll make a good tool shed.

Flying South for the Holidays

Though I live in the Chicagoland area now, all my family of origin still lives down in the South. My mom lives in the Atlanta area, and my bro, his wife Jenna, my pops and stepma, and aunts, uncles, Grandma, Grandpa–all down in South Carolina. (That's my Pop in the picture. There was a snake in the backyard one day. So there was no confrontation between it and the dogs, he snatched it up at the neck and dropped it off in the woods unharmed.) So tomorrow, Julie and I fly down to Atlanta to visit with Moms. Then, couple days later, drive up with Eric and Jenna to visit rest of Cordell ensemble in SC. There'll be at least one big southern style feast. Lots of greasy, fatty, and tasty home-cooked vittles. Just like I grew up on. The stomach's not particularly used to that anymore, so it might get rocked. Sometimes it does. But I enjoy the taste, company, and good times. It's always fun. Country music on the radio. Dogs all up in it. Southern accents on full-blast.

Travelin and all, won't be much good with the bloggin. So, you know, Happy Holidays, y'all!

Slow News Day

Actually, there's a lot of recent, very excellent new news cooking. But it's just too early to talk about here. So in lieu of not much disclosable news, here posts a sketch, or outtake, from a graphic novel idea I'm percolating. Teens skateboarding and various issues within/without. This sketch has drifted from one corner of my studio to the next. Went from top of my drawing table, to the floor (where it got dog-eared and rolled over often by my chair), to the top of my computer table, to the top of my scanner, to the floor again, to the top of my laser printer, to where it rests now closed in on the scanner bed. Sweet dreams little drawing.

Studio Tour pt. 3

More clutter. Here at the computer table. Things to note include: a paint-by-numbers I did of C-3PO many, many moons ago; the corner of a painting I collaborated on with old drawing/painting/printmaking prof and friend Paul Martyka; a Pantone book opened to process colors; my old school cell phone; the jobs in progress "filing system"; my trusty iMac and scanner flanked by the laser printer and ink jet combo. The iMac I bought, I guess, about a year and a half ago. Before, I was all about the Mac tower setup, but those are so pumped up now that all I really need these days is offered in the consumer grade i. Save some cash. Loads better than the G4 I was struggling on. Desktop picture's one of my favorite pics. Julie and I were at a state park in South Dakota. My sweetest is posing by the "Roberts Prarie Dog Town" sign. Lots of prairie dogs there. Squeaking and popping in and out of holes.