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I've been extra busy lately, which explains the lag in posting. Today I found a wonderful pen at Borders. It's a Pilot V Pen. It's a disposable fountain pen...just what I've always dreamed of! There was only one left. I'm going to scout out more and order a bunch.
I also found some fantastic books at the library, one of which is The Lord's Prayer illustrated by Heidi Holder (I hope the link works..it took awhile to find it) Her work is soft, delicately rendered and fitting for the prayer.
My husband also bought me a treasure..it's The Norton Anthology of Children's Literature.

Paper Forest

Paper Forest
I've blogged Jaime Zollars' site before, but it's well worth another post. Check out the sites she has blogged recently. The paper construction and paper art is incredible. The two most recent posts there are fantastic.
IMPORTANT NOTE....In the past I referred to Jaime as 'he' due to the fact that in Spanish Jaime is usually a male name. I'm so sorry Jaime! This Jaime is a woman, and a very talented one at that.

Mark Teague Interview on Reading Rockets

Here's a video interview of Mark Teague talking about his children's book illustrations. There are several clips. I found this on the Reading Rockets website. They have some great links in their daily online newsletter.

Daniel Smith Art Newsletter- Working with a Split Primary Color Palette

There is a good article in Daniel Smith's online newsletter with pointers for using a split primary color wheel when painting in watercolors. Athough the info is for watercolors, it works well for other areas as well.

Animation Cottage

Check out this wonderful animator at Animation Cottage. Marija has created a prolific assortment of characters and styles, from animation to fine art, illustration and cartoons. She is also a writer. I particularly like one painting of a young girl with braids in the fine art section of the site. I found out about her work through the scbwi forum.

I've been busy preparing for the NYC SCBWI conference. Just when I thought I was done, I found out that I'd need to bring my portfolio for a session I'd signed up for. It's nearly ready now. During that time I found a great link for portfolio inserts and presentation products. It's called Light Impressions, and was recommended by two people on the online illustrator's list.

Jerry & Brian Pinkney's Children's Illustrations in an Exhibit

Here's an exhibit I'd love to see. It's at the Morris Museum of Art, in Agusta Georgia, and runs through Feb. 19th, 2006. It shows Jerry Pinkney's children's book illustrations and his son Brian Pinkney's children's book illustrations. Jerry Pinkney is one of my favorite illustrators. What an incredible career he has had. I wonder how many children's books he has illustrated.

Illustrations Important in Children's Learning

Here's an interesting article relating the importance of illustrations in children's literature. it states that the images in children's early lit must match the text, words and pictures matching.. thereby helping children to understand and read more effectively.

Graphic Poetry Project

This Graphic Poetry Project is something you've got to see. It's a colaborative effort from artists and poets around the world. The website design is also something to see. I love the format, colors, edgy-ness of it. I wish I could have taken part in this project as well as "the book" posted below.

LookatBook.com...very Cool!

This is a project where a book was mailed to 4 artists during a period of 36 weeks. Two of the artists were in Brooklyn, and two were in Belfast. They worked on the book for periods of 5 days in response to the pages that preceeded it. Read more about The Book at this link . It seems that the book is in NYC right now. I'd love to see it. I would love to take part in a project like this. Just seeing the book online makes me want to touch it and look through it.

Cool Hunting.com

Illustrators will appreciate a visit to the art archives at Coolhunting.com. The site is fantastic. I started out viewing an article on Nike, where I found a link to their Nike ID page...amazing shoe and page design there...and then went to the art section of the website. I haven't even begun to get into the design section...but I'm sure it's fantastic. I love it.
Another place well worth visiting is Josh Spear's site. His trends, art, design and links to the top news in trends in those areas could keep me reading well past my bedtime tonight.

Happy New Year!

Here's to a Happy 2006!
I found Michael McCurdy's scratchboard illustrations today. He has illustrated many children's books with his fine scratchboard work.