Cooking magazine project

Recently I was lucky to be asked to complete two illustrations for the highly respected food magazine "The Art of Eating". They will be appearing in the next issue, out soon. It's not often that I get a chance to stretch my legs with a different kind of project outside of the children's book market. Because of that I really tried to savor this project like a fine meal. The article is about two French recipes for cabbage. My solutions were to paint a French landscape and a still life with the ingredients for one of the recipes. I set up this still life in my studio with nice lighting and painted directly from observation. I can't say I painted the French landscape from life but I can dream. It was a real pleasure working this way again as was the whole project. Many thanks to Edward Behr. Bon appetite!

Whidbey Island school visit

Yesterday I was lucky to be able to visit Wellington Day School in my old stomping ground in Clinton on Whidbey Island. In fact my first six children's book were illustrated while living in Clinton from 2001-2004.

Here is a photo during my visit. Sadly though I forgot to take pictures of the best part- the kids. It was a whirlwind visit so easy to forget. The twenty, 1st-3rd graders were really attentive while I talked to them about two of my books, "Nature's Paintbox" and "The Can Man". I haven't done a lot of school visits this year so it was a real pleasure. Also the beautiful weather made for an enjoyable ferry ride.