SCBWI 2012 Tomie dePaola award submission

Here is my submission for this year's SCBWI 2012 Tomie dePaola Illustrator award.  It was created using plasticine and I used polymer clay for the metallic effects. I wanted it to be rich with lots of yummy textures, and details. This year Tomie selected  this passage  from P.C Asbjornsen's "Chicken Licken":

 So they went along and went along until they met Turkey Lurkey

“Good morning, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Daddles, Cocky Locky, Henny Penny,

and Chicken Licken,” said Turkey Lurkey, “where are you going?”

“Oh, Turkey Lurkey, the sky is falling and we are going to tell the King!”

"How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Turkey Lurkey.

“Ducky Daddles told me,” said Goosey Loosey.

“Cocky Locky told me,” said Ducky Daddles.

“Henny Penny told me,” said Cocky Locky.

“Chicken Licken told me,” said Henny Penny

“I saw it with my own eyes, I heard it with my own ears,

and a piece of it fell on my tail!” said Chicken Licken.

“Then I will go with you,” said Turkey Lurkey, “and we will tell the King!”

I am so excited to see all of the wonderful interpretations submitted by my fellow entrants!

If you'd like to see some of the submissions head over to the Unofficial Tomie dePaola award submissions blog. A big thank-you goes out to Diandra Mae, for setting up the blog and taking the time to put it all together over the holidays!  Good luck to all who entered, I can't wait to see who Tomie selects as this years winner.  The illustrations are all so wonderfully unique, Tomie has a very tough job this year.

To see the othe amazing submissions just click on the big acorn on the right to go to the Unofficial blog!

 

Best of luck everyone! Fingers crossed!!

December Desktop Calendar is here!

1680x1050, 1369x768, 1280x1024, 1920x1200

We had our first snow of the season this morning. It was wet and messy, not very fluffy and pretty, but snow never the less.  Time to put on the snow tires!
And as tomorrow is the 1st of December, I thought it would be the perfect time to post my free desktop calendar. Consider it an early Christmas present :)
I showed this image previously, as it was one of a few I created to go into my winter promotional mailer packets. I am waiting patiently for my Moo shipment to arrive, full of all of my goodies; business card sized gift tags, stickers, and postcards....Eeeeeeee, I can't wait to crack open that package and see how they turned out!

 As always just click on the appropriate screen resolution size link below the calender and right click to set as background, or save to desktop.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it....doesn't it make you want to go out and hit the toboggan slopes....fingers crossed we get a white winter. While I am wishing, can I also wish for a magical snow shoveling elf to accompany the snow...that one is for hubby :)

Busy behind the scenes

It has been a few weeks since I have paid attention to my cute little blog,. sorry blog. I have been busy behind the scenes after attending my first CANSCAIP Packaging your Imagination Conference, getting my winter promotional material created, prepared and ordered. I am pleased to say that as of last night it has been ordered and hopefully will arrive in a few weeks to be lovingly packaged and sent out to all of my dream publishing houses. I liked my idea to include a little take away gift(bookmark) in my last mailer, so this time I thought, for the festive season, I'd create some rounded corner business cards that I could turn into gift tags by punching a little corner hole and attaching some festive ribbon. I also created rounded corner rectangular stickers from the same images to be used as gift labels....hopefully they will make their way onto someones holiday gifts. 

I ordered a few extra so if anyone would like a few to use this holiday season drop me a line with your address and I'll send them out. Maybe closer to Christmas I will make a printable PDF so you can even print them off on your own computer to use? I'm liking that idea too.

When my postcards and extra goodies arrive from Moo I'll be sure to take a photo and post it, to share in my glee. :)

Stay warm everyone, winter is here, and it's time to crack out the winter coats and toques! :)

November Desktop Calendar

(1680x1050), (1369x768), (1280x1024), (1920x1200)

Happy Halloween everyone! November is just around the corner, tomorrow actually, so I have posted another free desktop calendar for you to snaz-up your computer screen! I used a recent illustration I created for Illustration Rally's Children's Book Illustration Contest. The winner has not been announced yet, but if you get the chance go check out all of the beautiful illustrations submitted! Very inspiring to say the least. :)

To download your desktop calendar simply click on the link corresponding to your desktop resolution, then right click and then click on "set as background".

I hope eveyone has a safe and fun Halloween!

Dad's Birthday Cake

 

Here are some photos of the fish cake I created for my Dad's surprise 70th birthday party this past weekend. I molded the fish out of rice krispies and the water was a very yummy lemon cake. My Dad loves to fish at the cottage in the summertime. He and his buddy Doug have had quite the dry spell lately, so this cake is representative of the "big one" that got away! LOL :)
He was completely surprised and a ton of fun was had by all that attended.
Happy Birthday Dad!!

Children's Book Rally Submission at Illustration Rally

Right now there is a Children's Book Rally going on over at Illustration Rally. To submit you could choose to illustrate 2 double page spreads of either an original story or an old classic. I chose to illustrate my take on the classic fable "Thumbelina"by Hans Christian Andersen. I love this fable and could relate to this character growing up as I was always the tiniest child in school.  Over the years I have grown to love being ...ummm...petite, not short, and now fully embrace my uniqueness.

I took this opportunity to create 2 double page spreads that show variations  in  layout, text placement composition, viewpoint and character emotion, yet maintained character continuity and artistic style.

My submission illustrations do not have the text included as the text was longer than the one or two sentence allowance within the submission guidelines. So above are the final double page spreads, including text.

 I am really enjoying checking out Illustration Rally each day to see what fabulous submission are posted. Go now and see for yourself!

I'd love your feedback as always and hope you enjoy my interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's "Thumbelina".

P.S It looks like Illustration Rally has extended the deadline for submissions until Oct. 10th, so do head over to their site on the link above and enter!

October Desktop Calendar

1280x1024, 1369x768, 1680x1050, 1920x1200

Hi Everyone! Well it is the end of another month and you know what that means...free desktop calendar time!! Yipppeeee! I chose to make this month's calendar from a personal work-in-progress illustration that is still waiting patiently to be completed. It's a fall farm scene, highlighting the abundance of glorious autumn colours we are so lucky to experience here in Ontario Canada. As it is the background of this illustration, I've had to zoom in pretty close with my camera, but I kinda like it as you get to really see the details of the mud and wheat fields nicely. Eventually there will be some rambunctious kiddos frolicking in a big pile of leaves in the foreground, which I have cropped out for now.
To download your desktop calendar simply click on the link corresponding to your desktop resolution, then right click and click on set as background.
I hope you enjoy it and it reminds you to get out and enjoy autumn before it gets too chilly. :)