Snow and Sketching

There is a snowstorm today in Ann Arbor. Much coffee and hot chocolate will be consumed. Phil and I have recently bought a new type of paint so there is some excitement in our little studio. The snow is a good combination with new paint because it feels like hunker-down-and-make-art weather.

So, in honor of the weather and the new paint, here is a quick post of a page right out of my sketchbook. Phil and I are knocking around a new idea for me. The page below is the most preliminary result of this new idea. More later!

Porcupines! sounds like a great expletive.

To your left is how my dog, Wednesday, goes to work with Phil and me. Her office is that red tent she's sleeping in (that's my desk behind it). Phil and I work in a pretty small room together so the tent can be a little cumbersome. But I have a desk, Phil has a desk, so Wednesday needs a place to work as well. It's only fair, I guess.

More later this week-

but here is a tiny sketch to share.

Announcing the First Annual STEADBERY and PHILDECOTT AWARDS

From the Desk of Phil and Erin Stead,

In conjunction with this year's Newbery and Caldecott Awards we, the Steads, are proud to announce to The First Annual Steadbery and Phildecott Awards. The criteria for selection is as follows:

Authors and illustrators selected for the awards must have had their book published in the United States during the previous calendar year. However, the author or illustrator need not be a United States citizen or resident.

And now for the awards.

The First Annual Steadbery Award, for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature in 2009, goes to (in an ironic twist)...

WHEN YOU REACH ME, by Rebecca Stead

In the interest of full disclosure we discolose that we have nothing to disclose about our relation to Rebecca Stead. As far as we know we are not related. We are proud though to claim her as a Stead.

And now for the Phildecott.

We are pleased to announce three winners of The First Annual Phildecott, going to the finest works of illustration for a children's picture book. In alphabetical order...

POUCH! by David Ezra Stein

THE SNOW DAY by Komako Sakai

WAITING FOR WINTER by Sebastian Meschenmoser

There are three Phildecott Honor Books this year.

THE CURIOUS GARDEN by Peter Brown

FEELING SAD by Sarah Verroken

ONLY A WITCH CAN FLY by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Taeeun Yoo

Congratulations to this year's winners and honorees. Congratulations as well to this year's ALA award winners.

Hello 2010!

Hello again! Apologies for the long stretch. I'd say that it's a new year and I'll be much better at posting, but that would probably be a lie. But I'll do my best. It's winter in Ann Arbor. My dog is happy. I love the snow. Phil, I think, is neutral.

Nothing much to say today, but here is an update to the last picture you've seen.

Happy snow-shoeing!

Finally, something that resembles art.

To your left is Wednesday (the dog) walking through the woods near our house this morning. It was a very cool partly cloudy morning which usually translates into good artmaking. We'll see. I've been doing some experimental work myself. I wouldn't put anything in a book yet, but I am getting much closer to finally making some real art and that feels better. And so, today we'll peek into my messy desk situation. I've been printing the past week or so. The process is always a little surprising. Many times colors that look very different on the palette will print to appear almost identical.

So here is my desk with my inks and palette before I start getting too messy. Notice the two coffee/tea mugs.

Here is one print before being drawn on.

Below are three prints with different shades of brown.

And here is the semi-final picture.

Click on the images to make them larger. Ta ta for now!

Philip's Book is Hitting the Shelves!

Today we are sitting outside Comet Coffee (best coffee in town...sorry Zingerman's. You still have the best beans.) in honor of Phil and his book that is coming out (officially) tomorrow. Here are some images from his book, Creamed Tuna Fish and Peas on Toast, to pique your interest.




The cover.


and the last page. You'll have to buy it to see everything in between.


And as a bonus, here is an image from the book he is working on now.


Click on the images to see them up close.

On the same exciting date, my friend and very talented colleague George O'Connor's (co-penned by Adam Rapp) graphic novel, Ball Peen Hammer, hits the shelves, too. The 29th is a talent earthquake.

'Til next week! Congratulations to Philip! Congratulations to George!

Art changes and chaos ensues.

Happy almost Fall! The leaves are just beginning to turn and there are apples at the farmers market. I am still leaving the window open at night when I sleep- but some nights I need a wool blanket. My little 7-year-old dog is acting like a puppy again since the temperature has dropped, too. Our tiny family seems ready for the change.

The weather isn't the only thing changing around here. I am in the middle of trying to rethink the process I use for my picture making. If you like what you've seen on this blog before, don't worry too much. In the end, the pictures probably won't look like anything drastically different. But it is difficult for me to rethink the way I make a picture.

Since everything has been in flux, I haven't really made anything that I've felt like I can share. I've made a mess, though. I'll share that.

Above is my very sad desk as of late. I keep drawing and painting and redrawing the same picture over and over again. I feel a little like Edvard Munch (well, maybe. I mean, he made the same picture over and over again.).

So why the ugly pastels?


Why the sketch of a boy over a defunct print from my first book? (that green shape is a turtle shell from a bad print from A Sick Day for Amos McGee...if you can see it)

I'm rethinking the way I apply color in the next two books I'm working on. I'm still using wood blocks, not the ugly pastels. Somewhere in all of that mess on my desk I am solving a color problem. I think.

Look, I even tried markers! Where did my snooty traditional art schooling go?

It'll all work out into a lovely print. I think.