Pelicans in trouble again

My heart is sinking with the news of the oil-covered brown pelicans, residents of the Gulf barrier islands. It just keeps getting worse.

An illustrator's Images of York

Spent a few days in York, England recently. So much history to draw on! Not to mention cream teas...

Prairie blooms

Working on a story I've been growing for some time. I always come back to the prairie.

SCBWI Spring Conference

Enjoyed seeing friends and meeting new people this weekend. The group of illustrators has grown ten-fold since I started attending and confirm we really do grow good pictures and stories here. I have a pages of inspiration in my notebook to absorb and distill to my writing and illustration projects.

Herky Reads!

Iowa City was designated a UNESCO City of Literature a couple years ago. The director is installing a wonderful new literacy program at some of our elementary schools involving the University of Iowa football players. Here's an illustration of Herky, our mascot reading. We plan to use it on bookmarks, although it may be printed in black and white. I will also add here, lest the Gods of Trademark Licensing come and zap me, that Herky is the property of University of Iowa, amen!

The full story on the program: http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20104160326

Blossom trees

It's what's lining our street right now. It's like driving through a Dr. Suess world.

Flicker

We heard a thud from outside yesterday morning as we were getting breakfast. It turned out a Northern Flicker, a large woodpecker-like bird, had hit my studio window. It must have been instantly killed. We all felt so bad. He was a beautiful guy. We studied his feathers. I had never thought our windows were much of a threat to birds, but when I went online, indeed, birds fly into picture windows quite frequently. To help detour these injuries, several suggestions were offered. Placing stickers of hawk silhouettes can help, also suspending flashy things like old CDs or tin pans can keep birds away too. A little illustration today, in memorial.