News

2-8-10

My news page is now a blog. The current news page will be archived soon and when you click the news tab, you will be directed there. In the meantime, click here to get the latest news!.

2-2-10

Cool article on Soapbox Media about the local illustration scene in Cincinnati. It is called Cincinnati Illustrated. Check it out! There is a nice mention of Little Red Bat.

2-1-10

Tim, the Golden Lion Tamarin is out and available on Amazon!

Check it out!

It comes with a little plush tamarin and is a cute little book!

1-13-10

Happy New Year!

A lot going on.

January's Let's Find Out see-through issue I illustrated for Scholatic just came out. I will post it soon!

Below is my 2009 edition Christmas card:

12-13-2009

Here are some images from a signing at the stable where Kathy showed me the ropes on horse 101.

Unfortunately, the stasble is being torn down to make way for a park. The owner died a while back and left the land to the county for just such a purpose and now it is finally coming to pass.

Here are Michele, I and Kathy showing off the book. Kathy was SO helpful during the process.

11-6

So much cool work going on, I can hardly wait to post it! I also just went to Hazard, Kentucky to photograph the animals starring in the next book I am illustrating.

Do stay tuned...

Books By the Banks was a great success. Below is a picture of Scotti and me at our table:

I hope to be there next year!

9-4

Blue Manatee Signing with Scotti Cohn

Glorious pictures!

Here I am talking about Henry the Impatient Heron

Here are pictures of Scotti and me signing books!

8-16

Here is a wonderful photo my friend Theresa took of her children playing with some magnetic playsets I Illustrated! Notice how the mermaids are swimming in prehistoric waters!

The review of Henry the Impatient Heron is up on the the "Your Big Backyard" website! It is a kids' magazine put out by the National Wildlife Federation.

Here is a scan from the magazine!

7-14

ALA in Chicago!

A quick shot in front of the building Oprah lives in.

Here I am signing Henry the Impatient Heron at the Sylvan Dell Booth.

Of course, one must include the ubiquitous "bean" photo...

6-29

Black Beauty is on the shelves! It is an early reader version that is fully illustrated. They just put the cover art on the site last week!

Check it Out!

Here are my favorite images from the book:

6-8

Henry the Impatient Heron: Reviews and Links

Exciting News: A little write up of Henry the Impatient Heron will appear in the August issue of Your Big Backyard, National Wildlife Federation magazine!

I will post a link when I can.

The National Writing for Children Center

Florida Department of Education Releases Summer Reading List

Stories for Children Magazine

Katie's Literature Lounge

Children's Book Council

The Reading Tub®

Ready Set Read Reviews

Everglades Reading List

Armchair Interviews

The Run of the Mill Family Blog

4-15

Cin Weekly Article

Click here to read the online version

Click here for to read the print version posted by the graphic design Kevin Necessary. He is a really talented illustrator and cartoonist so check out the rest of his blog too!

There are some cool pictures of my studio too.

Unfortunately, my painting studio is in the process of being stripped and repainted-which explains the wall behind me...

Images from Book Signing and Release Kick Off!

The signing at The Blue Marble Childrens' Bookstore was a big success! Thank you to all that came and to the store for a GREAT event!

I will post more signings and appearances as I have them...

Here are some images of the event!

They rolled out the red carpet. What a fantastic display that even had a couple stuffed herons! Who could ask for more?

There was a talk first to kick off the book signing.

4-7
In stores now!

Here is a set of vector illustrations done for Animal Scramble, a preschool game from Wild Planet.

Here is the illustration alone:

Here is the box!

2-12

Black Beauty is on Amazon! It is an early reader version that is fully illustrated.

I will be able to show some sneak peeks at art soon!

12-21

More Eastern Europe!

Our good friends who travelled with us in June sent us their wonderful photos! (They had a MUCH better camera.)

An amazing shop:

Here are Troy and I on St. Charles Bridge:

Speaking of blogs!

A bunch of local illustrators (including me) are starting a blog together.

Stop by to say hello! Cincinnati Illustrators' Blog

12-8

Stephanie Ruble did a fun blog interview of me!

Check it out!

12-6

Henry the Impatient Heron is available for pre-order! It will ship in February.

Click here to buy a copy of Henry!

11-20

Big Cats is out!!!

Here are some images of the interactive features:

The cheetah makes a cool running motion by pulling its tail (which functions as a tab)

This is the coolest feature: the pop-up lion head!!!

There is a link on the books page to check it out on Amazon.

9-23

Little Cat-Big Cat

Here is a peek at the only little cat in Big Cats coming in November:

It is a cameo of my cat Boris...

9-12

Vacation!

I just finished my new book (which will be out in spring of '09) and took a week vacation after.

It was a whirlwind trip to Philadelphia, New York City, and upstate New York. It was a chance to see a lot of art. We stated out with a stop at Falling Water in Pennsylvania (and Kentuck Knob-hey if you are going to see one Frank Lloyd Wright house, you should see the other in proximity).

Then we went to the Brandywine museum. What a GREAT collection. I highly recommend a visit there to any illustrator.

Once in NYC we saw the impressive Turner exhibit at the Met and topped it off with a visit to the Society of Illustrators for their Politics 08 show. The SOI show is packed with great paintings of political figures and video of illustrator's describing their approach to crating good caricatures.

Below is a picture of my mom and me at Falling Water. The guide said this shot was imperative to prove you had been there (or a little talent in Photoshop...)

6-16

Book News

Here are links on Amazon to:

John Deere Board Books

Coming out in October!

What's That Sound, Allie Gator?

Johnny Tractor's Animal Opposites

Coming out in November!

Big Cats Written by Donna Bowman

Big Cats has cool pop-ups and other features!

I will have the books section updated with all this info soon!

6-16

We just returned from our tour on Eastern Europe. It was a fast paced journey including 5 countries! We went to Hungary (Busdapest), Austria (Vienna), Slovakia (Bratislava), Czech Republic (Prague), and Germany (Dresden).

Here are some pictures:

The whole group of travellers: Troy, Rena (who was with us just in Vienna), Mom, George, Ioana, and me.

We had to make a day trip to Dresden since we are such huge fans of Kurt Vonnegut.

Prague: Beautiful after a light rain. We had the oportunity to see some original work from Mucha. Amazing! I had no idea the extensive reach in his career.

This had such a feel of "Lord of the Rings" to us. I suppose statuary like this was some of Tolkien's inspiration...

4-11

As usual, I have had a very busy schedule and will have tons to post that is new really soon!

In the meantime, here is one of the latest Purse Pals:

It was interesting to viualize environments for different critters...

I have a several pieces coming out in Scolastic News and Lets Find Out magazines which I will post if I can.

1-30

As promised! Here is the new see-through issue for Scholastic News! See the other side in the portfolio section.

1-18 Happy New Year!

A lot is going on! I will update as I can with pictures.

I have a piece in the www.forclosurecats.org show. Check it out and bid on Ebay for it to help the poor cats involved. Since it was not for print, I played around with metallic paint and jewels.

Unfortunately, this little cat in the picture was missing an eye and then passed away in surgery. The Bysantine Iconography of the piece is strangely serendipitous.

A new piece for Scholastic News comes out this month on the Antarctic. I will post it soon.

11-17 Pictures of the mural I did for "Score! Mountain Learning Center" in Israel!

It was a fun projest where I got to do a more cartoon-ish style. The person I worked with on the project sent these pictures:

Here is the original illustration:

10-07 Show at the Cincinnati Public Library!

From Library's web site: Cincinnati’s Storybook Treasures
A display of original artwork from eleven well-known illustrators with ties to Cincinnati will be on view in the Main Library Atrium and Children’s Learning Center from October 5 to January 6. Many of these illustrators are familiar names, including: Loren Long, Will Hillenbrand, Annie Ruth, Pamela Pease, Andrea Cheng, Carol Schwartz, Caldecott Honor winner Jon Muth, Christina Wald and Heidi Petach. Some of the artists will be at the Main Library on Saturday November 17 (2:00 p.m.) for a special book signing event. Copies of their books will be available for sale in the Friends Shop

Here are my pictures:

This last image is a piece of the painting for an image for the "Big Bear Book" coming soon from Piggy Toes Press.

Here is the final illustration:

I can hardly wait to see this one on the shelves!

More soon!

9-07 It is a busy month as usual!

A toy line I did illustrations for is in stores now (I think Toys R Us and Target). The line is called Purse Pals and I illustrated the interior space for the little critters when the purse opens. The new ones coming out next year are really cool as the designs have gotten more wild and creative. Stay tuned!