Pacing: sometimes life interferes

Today is cleaning lady day so I got a late start.  I also had to run a couple of urgent errands.  And I woke with back pain so all together that seemed to be a message for me to have an easy day in the studio.  I decided to be inspired by the tone on tone dragonfly reference shot and try out some of the different fabric paints I have to see how they work in this style.  My secondary goal here is to cut back on the number of different paints I use.  Here's today's paints and the little palette plate.

SoSoft takes the lead!

I love the lumiere russet on the far right of the row of paints.  It's the perfect thickness straight out of the jar for silkscreening.  (About the consistency of gel toothpaste for those who are curious.)  The SoSoft paints surprised me.  I was expecting lesser quality as fabric paints at, say, JoAnn's or Michael's tend to have less pigment and be paler than I'd like for this exercise.  Nice surprise.  

Here's the finished dragonfly with gold & russet on the body and the various blues on the wings.  I did the left wings first and decided I didn't like the color layout so the right wings are what I did to fix that.

Glitter is there in person but not on camera

My evaluation of today's dragonfly:  I liked the transparency of the SoSoft non-metallic blue (wingtip on the right wings).  The metallics were more opaque as expected.  The SoSoft metallic turquoise worked well, much better than the Lumiere darker blue in the middle of the wing.  Overall, I like the coloring in of the silkscreen.

Thoughts that came to me while working:  I wonder if I could use the marbling paints with the pearlescent base to create metallics that work for this?  And would the marbling paints I prefer work with acrylic medium to make a good silkscreening consistency?  That would really simplify my paint situation.  Right now, I have silkscreening paints from Speedball & Versatex, marbling paints that are mostly Golden Hi-Flow, transparent & opaque & metallic sets of Setacolor, and a bunch of lumiere and neopaque fabric paints. And a box of fluid Golden acrylics, red, blue & yellow in both warm and cool.   ( I also have a whole set of dyes which are transparent.)  Too many choices to make when deciding what paint to use.  Not to mention all the studio space to store all of them.   The dyes and the marbling paints stay, absolutely.  Beyond that, I'm looking for flexibility and color intensity.  Hmm, how to test these paints against each other with minimum effort and maximum info resulting?  I'll think on this tonight and plan in the morning.

First 2 painted dragonflies are done

Progress today was good but not what I expected to be working on.  I finished silkscreening the fabric I had already sized and pressed.  I got one test of Setacolor shimmer vs transparent paint done.  Since I'm still reacting to the studio air, and I didn't have the painting supplies to make other test, I spent the rest of my work time today watching a class on Skillshare (Mastering Inking).  I hope this will be relevant when I get to working on the dragon drawing.

For tomorrow, I have *lots* of silkscreened dragonflies in various colors to do the paint experiments with.

all screened with metallic paint

The little paper plate above is what I used as a palette for the mixing of transparent Setacolor with matte medium.  I did this to increase the transparency of the paint.  The big gold/green blob on the plate is watercolor gold mica mixed with thinned medium and textile medium.  I used those paints on the smaller dragonfly.  The bigger dragonfly was painted with the Setacolor shimmer opaque fabric paints.

transparent vs opaque fabric paints

The painting lessons learned for today are:  1) even with a teeny brush the opaque paints are more time consuming to use if I want to keep the silkscreened lines.  2)  the shimmer doesn't really show so probably not worth the time/effort to use the opaque paints.  3) the transparent paints work great with a larger brush and go on quickly & easily while still showing the silkscreen lines well except for the tip of the tail where I used a blue that was too close to the blue of the lines.

Looking forward to some extended painting tomorrow alternating with some more info about brushes, inks and brush strokes from Skillshare.

Handling the unexpected aka the challenge part of a challenge

Today I went in and quickly cleared the area in front of the sink before lunch.  As I got closer to the wall, I discovered that it is a bad idea to lean a big piece of plastic against the wall and then close up the basically unheated room for a few weeks while there's company visiting.  Condensation, closed space, well, not nice.  After a vigorous scrub with alcohol, and the beginning of some serious sneezing due to my mold/mildew allergy, I realized I was going to have to revise my expectations for my day.  So, I made lemonade.  I grabbed some of the fabric, a box of the paints, my favorite brushes, and the padded board I like to work on with silkscreening, moved the UV light air filter fan into the studio and closed the door.    Resulting in this folding table with a view of the backyard bird feeders.

minimal workspace with a view

Then I broke for some allergy meds and lunch.  This meant a late start on the silkscreening and painting but at least I was still making progress.  I started with the t-shirt and discovered that the Setacolor shimmer colors lose most of the shimmer when dry brushed on lightly.  I decided to switch to another fabric for trying out the paints.

tshirt with orange & gold on big dragonfly

Since I have a request for the dragonflies on dark fabric, I decided to see which dragonflies worked best on the dark fabric with the various metallic silkscreen paints I had in my box.  Here's the result with the medium size dragonfly from the t-shirt.  On the t-shirt, this was done with a non-metallic paint.  Here, I used silver on the top 2, red and gold on the middle 2, and the bottom was peach and bronze.  This dragonfly has very thin lines and doesn't work very well with the metallics.  Altho, looking at the picture now, I can think of times I might want the almost ghost image of the dragonfly that the bottom pair turned out to be.

thin lines

The final tryout repeated the darker fabric with a larger dragonfly and the 3 most successful colors from the one above:  red, gold and silver.  Looking good! Crisp lines and good paint density from the silkscreens.

Ready to paint

Results from today:  I wrote on the folder for the medium dragonfly to not use it with metallics.  Way too iffy on the results.  And I got out the transparent medium and the Speedball pearlescent base to see if I can get the slightly glittery translucent tone I am looking for with the painting.  I also ordered some mold/mildew remover/sealant which should come sometime tomorrow.  That means tomorrow  I will be continuing to work on the folding table and my goal is to paint all the dragonflies I screened today.  If I get all that done and still have work time, I'll start working on sketches of dragons.

Ready, set, (wait for it...) Fabric & paints for the 30Day challenge

Progress not perfection is becoming my motto as I make leisurely progress in my 30 days of Art Experiments.  The decluttering of the studio is taking much more time/effort than I expected but today I did get fabric selected, cut to size, ironed, and paints picked out.  See the inspiration producing layout below.   I did find a few surprises lurking in the previous clutter.  Namely, some leather wristbands and acrylic finish for leather.  So added to my experimenting list is silkscreening on leather.

fabric and paints ready to go

Left to right, I have fabrics in front: t-shirt, 5 longer lengths of muslin, 3 white cotton 12" squares, a stack of about 9 smaller muslin squares, 3 9x14 dark green cotton pieces, and 2 hand dyed silk pieces in medium pink & purple.  Karen visited on Saturday and admired the t-shirt, asking for one on a dark green similar to the dark green fabric so I added that fabric to the experiment list to see if the paints will work on a dark background.  And she also suggested doing some scarves for Columbia City Gallery where we both have work on sale.  That suggestion moved the silk fabric up the list. In the background I have (again left to right) lumiere metallic fabric paint, setacolor shimmer, some tube acrylics, interference acrylics which will get some fabric medium added to them, and the versatex silkscreen paints in the big jars.   I had hoped to get the dragonflies screened onto the fabric today but after 3.5 hours of work today, this is as far as I got.

This seemed like a good stopping point as the next thing is to clear a path to the sink.  My thermofax screens need to be cleaned very quickly after I use them so having the sink just a few steps away is a big plus.  Unfortunately, since I reorganized the studio, the corner in front of the sink has become a clutter zone.

Clutter R Us

Fortunately, it won't take as much work as it seems to clear this up.  The elfa cart in the foreground is on wheels and will move to the dry studio on the other side of the back wall very quickly.

Tomorrow, I paint!  If I get all the fabric that I've prepped used, I will feel extremely productive.  And I'm going to take copious notes in my studio notebook as I failed to do with my sample chicken (more about that later).

Dragonflies have amazing colors

Today's task for my 30 days of art experiments was to find some dragonfly reference photos on the web.  Research is one of my favorite things and a great way to procrastinate when I'm getting tired of decluttering the studio.  Not to mention Sunday is my day off.  But I digress...

Tyson ecology research

I particularly wanted to get some variations in the wing colors but wasn't sure if that actually happened in real life.  Well, I was very surprised to find the amazing variety of patterning on both the wings and the bodies of dragonflies.  The one above was the best of the variegated wing ones.

This one is the variegated body patterning that caught my eye.

And this one caught my eye for the multiple colors and the body patterns.

Tomorrow, assuming I get a clear surface to work on, I start playing with the paints.  

Art Experiments Challenge or what I'm going to be doing in January

As I explained yesterday in the 2015 wrap up, I am going to be blogging daily about my studio experiments.  Today, since my studio currently looks like this:

Today's work: clearing room for experiments!

I'm going to talk about what I want to achieve and how I'm going to approach it.

Primarily, I want a faster, less physically challenging way to create work.  Part of figuring out what that means was re-reading How to Get Focused and Create What Matters by Dan James.  This is one of those books that I need to reread periodically as this is an issue I struggle with.  (My friend Lisa says I suffer from project interruptus.  I say I have a low saving roll against shiny.)  And I like his approach to pricing it.  What could be better than picking what you pay for an ebook?  See his page about the book here.

What did I re-learn from the book?  I have to focus on one project at a time.  This does not mean I can't have more than one project in progress, but that I need to put all of my attention on one while I'm working on it.  Go into that flow state.  For me, this means only 2 projects at once and different spaces for them.  I definitely need to declutter the studio to start!  And I need to trust that my most important ideas will insist on getting done so I don't need to spend time dithering about which idea I should work on now.

Given those, I then started my list of experiments which will undoubtedly change as I go.  That is the way the whole experimental process works after all.  So this is essentially a place to start.  I learned from my chicken project that I wanted to head more toward making my own fabrics.  And I need to reduce the number of steps in my process which also probably means reducing the number of techniques I use.  My first step will be experimenting with silkscreening.  Can I use silkscreening to create my own fabrics with textures I like?  How about doing some batik style patterning?  And combining the silkscreens with painting so that I use silkscreens as outlines, kind of like a coloring book.  And what about dye painting?  I have a formula for making a soy wax cream with dye in it and it works well with silkscreens.  Definitely want to play with that.  And finally, I have 2 household projects I want to work on that I will use as a focus for the topic.

To put it in list form, experimental starting points:

1. silkscreening and over painting
2. silkscreening with soy wax cream
3. Textures on fabric
4. soy wax silk screening and dye painting combined
5. faux batik (with discharge?)
6. Dragons & birds, especially using my photos of local birds as a starting point

Here's a t-shirt from my drawer of not quite right things that I will be using as a starting point for experiments.  And yes, it's not dragons or birds but this is all experimental so I'm starting with what I have.

Tiedyed tshirt with silkscreened dragonflies

Tomorrow, I'll be overpainting the dragonflies on the t-shirt.  And probably creating more dragonflies to try out different paints and different techniques.

Farewell to 2015, a difficult year

The first week of January 2015, I had a spinal fusion surgery.  Then, within a week,  I got the first bout of what turned out to be 8 months of sinus problems & infections.  So basically, 2015 was a challenge.  I've worked out adaptations for my new physical limitations in most of everyday life but failed almost totally to get that transferred into my studio practices.  With one big exception:  I made some chicken collages in October that I am quite pleased about.  And while I think they are lovely chickens, what pleased me most was working out a process that was not a challenge physically and was a good workflow for me as an artist.  

photo by Karen Dedrickson

In addition to developing a good workflow, I got to work with a metal substrate which was new.  Artists love doing new stuff, worse than programmers even, so new stuff is good.  And doing these 2 chickens added several new things to my studio goals list.

photo by Karen Dedrickson

 

First was creating my own fabrics.  While I enjoy selecting the fabrics from my stash, I'm heading more towards wanting my own textures on top of the colors that predominate in the fabric.  Working with metal, and continuing to use the variegated satin stitch also went on the list.

This list got further refinement during the sinus infection that followed finishing the chickens.  I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about what I need to do next.  And whether I could physically do what I want to do.  And if not, what do I do instead?

All of that has caused me to give myself a challenge to blog daily about Art Experiments.  And in order to blog, I must do.  So, January will be my experimenting month.   I'll talk more tomorrow about how I plan to structure this experimentation so please, follow along, and see where I end up!

Fabulous example of an artist's process (ZenPencils' Gavin Aung Than)

Today's email brought a missive from ZenPencils which is currently tied with xkcd as my favorite online comic.  As part of a promotion for Gav's upcoming book, he's having a drawing for some of his original ink art.  The catch?  You have to preorder the new book to be eligible.  Fortunately, my husband has already taken care of that petty detail so we're good.

While I was thrilled to have the chance to get some great free art, I was also so pleased that in the blog post about it, Gav showed the development of one piece from a conceptual sketch through refined pencil and ink drawings to the final color piece.  I find it validating to know that other artists start with the same rough idea and then do it again and again, refining as they go.  So thanks, Gav!

See the promotion and the art process here.  And let me just say, I love his work so if these images look interesting to you, you might check it out further.  And I find his story of developing his business inspirational as well.  Also, he's here in Seattle on Monday, October 19 at Third Place Books at 7pm.  RSVP at the FB page.

Here are his in  process pictures:

Amazing art show ending soon at Seattle Asian Art Museum

If you have not yet seen the Chiho Aoshima show at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, go!  Must see!
Fabulous art and amazing large scale animation thru the end of the month.

And this lifted from the SAM newsletter (as is the photo above):

FRI SEP 25, 5:30–9 PM

ASIAN ART MUSEUM

Don’t miss the chance to see Chiho Aoshima: Rebirth of the World one last time before it closes with an evening of conversation, refreshments, and more. Getty curator Frances Terpak shares visions of the past in early Chinese photo albums, while Japanese pop culture expert Sharalyn Orbaugh talks about Aoshima's futuristic visions and gender in Superflat Japan.

I'll be out of town taking a Karuna Reiki class so I will miss the Friday evening event but really, this was an amazing exhibit and I will likely go see it again before it ends Oct 4.

October Fiber Art show in Redmond

I'm pleased to be one of the featured artists with this show and regret that I will be unable to attend the opening reception but I hope you will if you are in the neighborhood.   I will be at the Oct 11 meet the artist event so if you have questions about how I do what I do,  come and chat.

Post Knee Replacement Physical Activity

This is going here so I can find it easily.  I had my knee replacement in February of 2011 and my memory about what the surgeon said about physical activity after recovery has grown a little dim.  Probably not helped by having 2 back surgeries in the meantime.  So I googled and found the following recommendations on kneesociety.org.  So, bicycling, swimming, hiking, ballroom dancing, bowling, go for it.  Okay but be careful: scuba diving, skating, skiing.  No way, no how: parachuting, rock climbing.  Darn, those last 2 were on my bucket list.  Oh well....

Recommended Activities

Cycling is an excellent aerobic workout.Calisthenics, swimming, low-resistance rowing, stationary skiing machines, walking, hiking, and low-resistance weight lifting all are excellent ways to maintain fitness without overstressing the implant.

Suitable activities include bowling, croquet, golf, doubles tennis, table tennis, ballroom dancing and square dancing.

Other activities that are suitable but slightly more risky include downhill skiing, scuba diving, in-line skating, ice skating, softball, volleyball, speed walking, horseback riding, hunting and low-impact aerobics.

Discouraged Activities

In general, patients who have undergone total knee replacement should avoid high-impact activities that cause high stress loads on the implant and therefore may increase the risk of early failure.

Activities to avoid include baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer, high-impact aerobics, gymnastics, jogging, power lifting , rock climbing, hang gliding, and parachuting.

Audubon & the Pope agree - make a bird friendly garden!

This just in from the Audubon society,  https://www.audubon.org/news/how-make-bird-friendly-sanctuary because that's something any of us can do to help with the climate issues.  And really, wouldn't it be better to have fewer chemicals and more birds in your yard?

 I particularly liked the stats at the end, quoted below:

532: Varieties of butterflies and moths supported by
 native oak trees. Vs. 5: Butterfly and moth species 
supported by non-native ginkgo trees.

96: Percentage of land birds that rely on insects 
to feed chicks.

1,200: Number of crops that depend on pollinators 
to grow.

40 million: Acres of lawn in U.S. currently.

80 million: Pounds of pesticides applied to lawns 
in the U.S. annually. Native plants, on the other hand, 
support a balance of predator and prey and thrive 
without pesticides.

800 million: Gallons of gas used annually by 
lawn mowers. This produces significant amounts of 
C02 and other greenhouse gases driving climate change.

So change out those lawns!  Bring back the birds and the bees and we'll all be happier.  The Pope said so...

Gardening for the birds

A couple of things have crossed my path this week on Facebook.  One is this review of Jane Goodall's new book,  Seeds of Hope.  I really like her analogy of the yard as a gas station for migrating birds.  Read an excerpt here.

More specifically for us in the Pacific Northwest, there's Living with Wildlife and Landscaping for Wildlife which can be found at http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/book/ .  I used the Landscaping one to learn about which plants to use when I first started birding.  Very informative and not a bad gardening book, either.

The living page on the wdfw website is particularly useful in giving info about wildlife and what to do about it.  I used it to identify an unknown animal I saw in my backyard.  Turned out to be a Mountain Beaver, a totally new animal for me.  So now, it's my go-to page for learning about Washington wildlife.

More electric things to commute with - what fun!

Today's email brought a review from Slate about electric scooters, and by this they mean the ones you stand up on not the ones like a bike.   Actually, they cover various electric vehicles ways to make that last mile or two from the subway/train on your commute.  Including the Solowheel I mentioned last time.  There are spiffy pictures and the reviews give price, convenience, portability and doofus factor ratings so pretty comprehensive reviews, imho.  Read all about it here.  I am now seriously contemplating the EcoReco scooter.  It seems to hit my sweet spot of portability, ease of use and price.

This picture is from the EcoReco website showing their blazing red color combo.

Solowheel - a Seguelike unicycle

My email this morning had this link from Grist about a staffer trying out the Solowheel.  Go see the video here.  This seems fun and compared to an electric bike price, very reasonable in cost.  I'd just want to know how to stop it before I bought one since the staffer seemed to have trouble with that issue.  Jumping off does work but, like on a bike, that's not always the safest way to dismount.

Full link:  http://grist.org/living/watch-us-poorly-ride-the-transportation-of-the-future/

The Solowheel is local to Seattle and there are other, less expensive alternatives.  Here's a second look at one of those, the Airwheel.

http://www.bemmu.com/airwheel-electric-unicycle-review

Guess it's time to sell the electric scooter that has the same range but weighs over 200 lbs...

Lake Samm birdwalk - warblers, swallows, and much, much more!

In anticipation of a day spent working on the taxes, I went birding this morning at Lake Sammamish State Park because it's April and I haven't seen any warblers yet.  Fortunately, the birding luck was with me and there were plenty of warblers.  Along with a feisty golden-crowned kinglet, several mergansers, lots and lots of swallows dipping gracefully over the kayak students on the lake, and a lovely photogenic gull who was not sure about posing for me.  I got this shot when he decided he'd had enough of the crazy birder lady with the camera.

It's nice to be back out on the birding trail.   I'm looking forward to many more days enjoying the wonderful connection with nature that I get watching the birds.  After the taxes.... *sigh*

Bunnies!!! (delightful kidlit) by Kevan Atteberry (fab local artist)

I wanted to review this book the day after Kevan Atteberry spoke to my kidlit class last fall.  But, I was planning on buying a copy as a gift and didn't want to spoil the surprise.  And the book didn't come out until late January.  So, now it's mid-March, and I'm well on the way to recovery from my spine surgery, so here it is.

Fabulous! Evocative art!  Bunnies!!!!  

That's the executive summary.  In more detail, this is a wonderful picture book that shows a little monster exploring the woods.  With minimal language (I believe it's 47 words, most of them "Bunnies!") and expressive and colorful art, this lovely story captures that sense of wonder that toddlers have in abundance and can be so much fun to share.  Joyful and fun, a great way to end the day with your own little monster.

Here's the youtube trailer that captures some of the fun.

Renewable energy costs dropping fast

It's part of our long term plan to put solar panels on our house, eventually and likely within 5 years.  As winter weather gets stormier here, leading to more toppling trees and downed power lines, having some kind of alternative energy source seems like a good idea.  Interestingly, today's email brought this link from Grist about comparative energy costs and how oil is increasingly non-competitive, even on price.

Check it out here:  http://grist.org/climate-energy/renewable-energy-is-getting-cheaper-and-cheaper-in-6-charts/  I particularly like their photoshopped illo...

2014 in review - the year life hit me with a tsunami

I like to look back over the year at the end and see what I accomplished.  This helps me plan the next year and see where I am in meeting my goals and evaluating if I want to keep those goals.  Normally this looks a lot like a list of what I did and then some talk about how I feel about it.  But last year was especially challenging so some of the talk will come first, then the list of accomplishments (which will be numbered).  Health challenges dominated the year so that comes first.

Some background:  I had back surgery in August of 2013, followed by my daughter's wedding in September and a bout of pneumonia in October/November.  With bronchitis in December.  So, I started 2014 feeling totally depleted but hopeful that my health problems related to my back would improve significantly.

I did about 3-4 months of regular acupuncture/NAET treatments which significantly relieved my feeling of depletion and gave me back several foods that I had missed.  Scallops and chicken top the list.

I started using a fitbit to measure my steps per day.  I got it for Christmas, and in January I was at about 4000 steps.  I got up to 7-8000 fairly easily, had to work harder to make it  to the 10000 mark but did that by April.  Then health problems started interfering again.

Back pain/issues started again in May/June causing me to reduce my studio time, walk less, and basically slow down everything.  Things got worse in July with multiple bouts of flu and more pain.

I withdrew from my shared studio in August as pain levels got worse and the commute became very difficult.  The physical strain of lifting and moving my studio stuff back to my house led to severe back/leg pain which had me working less than half time from September on.  And that's about when I stopped inventorying my work regularly.

My leg/back pain got worse leading to doctor visits, PT and finally, in early December, a visit with my back surgeon again.  We discussed the options and I was scheduled for a spinal fusion in early January.  I am now 2 weeks past the surgery and very optimistic that the problem is as solved as possible.

In and around the pain and the treatments, I accomplished the following in 2014:

1.  Finished 6 new pieces.

2.  Sold at least 3 pieces from previous years' work.  Haven't done my taxes yet so not sure of the exact number.

3.  Experimented with rubbings made from a stump at Larsen Lake, my favorite local walking spot.  I liked the results so much that I got 2 small stump pieces from a neighbor to use in future rubbings.

4.  Did copyediting on a novel for a friend as part of my husband learning how to publish ebooks.

5.  Played with doing shibori dyeing in the wet studio at home.  Mostly doing scarves which I sell at 2 local shops.

6.  Sold over a dozen scarves.

7.  Starting experimenting with doing fabric origami and more sculptural techniques in my pieces.

8.  Started planning classes or workshops to do locally or online depending on what my health allows.

9.  Cleared out part of my son's stuff in the garage, doing the last bits of having the last kid leave the nest.

10.  Made 6 large pillow covers for my daughter.

11.  Started on instagram as lizcopeland-artist.

12.  Took a class at Kirkland Arts Center in writing/illustrating children's books as a possible creative path if health problems mandate.

13.  Discovered several wonderful children's book authors and that I really love Bad Kitty.

14.  Sorted out studio supplies and let go of several bags of supplies in my ongoing attempt to focus my energy and time.

15.  Had a monthly massage which helped keep me going through the pain.  Bless you, Marlene!  As part of making this list, I realized I've been seeing my massage therapist for over 10 years now.

16.  Went on the annual Seamsters Retreat at Seabeck without my sewing machine.  The first time I haven't sewn while there.  Instead, I did sketching for the kidlit class and fabric origami experiments.
17.  Read at least 6 books about cartooning and drawing for kidlit books.

18.  Watched multiple art DVDs.  From Jane Dunnewold, Design & Print your own fabric to Eric Carle's bio and studio practice, all were useful and informative and helped me think about what I really need to be doing and what accomodations are possible if needed.

19.  Read dozens and dozens of books as I sat on heating pads.  I've discovered several new urban fantasy authors.

20.  Learned anew how fabulous my husband is in his unflagging emotional and physical support.

21.  Took two reiki classes in advanced techniques.  Continued giving myself reiki while meditating.

22.  Meditated regularly even if not quite daily.  It really does help.



I'm sure there were more achievements but I also lost my worklog when my ipad decided to delete all my notes and I hadn't yet set up icloud backup.  *sigh*  That's been fixed.


Here's to 2015 seeing my explorations and fermentation of ideas come to fruition.  And may we all have a healthy and happy year!
 

Tuesday at Park Place Books hear authors/illustrators behind the scenes stories

Do you remember a book from your childhood vividly?  What book first caught your imagination?  For my generation, it was Dr. Seuss, especially The Lorax.  And Where the Wild Things Are.  Want to know what several local authors of children's illustrated books are publishing soon?  Join us at Park Place Books (348 Parkplace Center)  in Kirkland on Tuesday, Nov 4, at 7pm to hear these authors each give a 3 minute behind the scenes talk about their upcoming book.

The following authors and illustrators will present their new books:

Brianna Caplan Sayres, Carly Anne West, Dan Richards, Dana Sullivan, Dori Hillestad Butler, Justina Chen, Kevin Emerson, Laurie Ann Thompson, Lin Kaymer, Lois Brandt, Loralee Leavitt, Lorie Ann Grover, Nina Laden, Randall Platt, Royce Buckingham, Stacey Campbell, Suzanne Selfors, Tom Brenner and Toni Yuly

Disclaimer:  I am taking a class from Dana Sullivan right now.  And I am very happy with it and pleased to publicize this talk.  And use the picture of his latest book in this blog post.  You'll have to come to the talk to hear the story behind the book which is heartwarming and inspiring.