my first class reading

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I visited the 1st and 2nd grade students at Trillium Charter School for my first ever class reading. I had recently met their teacher Aron Nels Steinke, who is a fantastic cartoonist and illustrator himself and he invited me to see how my target audience would like the picture book that I have been working on. It was so fun! The kids had a lot of comments and questions. There were lively discussions about the price of ice cream, favorite flavors and about the height that a single cone could realistically be stacked with ice cream. It got even better when Aron asked the class to design the cover page for me, since I hadn't done that part yet. I always adore kid's art and they had some great ideas. I was also impressed by the visual detail they remembered from just the one reading. Amazing. Those kids are so lucky to have Aron as a teacher. I really think teachers should get paid a lot more for what they do for our children every day. Thank you teachers!

I'm transatlantic!

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On my way to becoming a children's book illustrator I just got one step closer. I am now listed on the Transatlantic Agency website! My wonderful agent Fiona Kenshole has joined forces with Transatlantic and we are off and running. I think that is quite fitting, since I am sort of Transatlantic myself. Can't wait to see all the good things that will come my way! Thanks to Jule for taking that nice picture of me on one of our Sunday hikes! I made her take about 500.

faux gingerbread

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And here is what I used that white hot glue for that I had hoarded for some 15 years before coming up with a good use for it: fake icing on some fake gingerbread cookies. (See my previous post on ancient art materials.) I'll be selling those at the Trillium Arts and Crafts Spectacular and at Crafty Wonderland where you can get your holidays started in style. I'll even be adding some of those guys to the popular Crafty Wonderland gift bags!

ancient art materials

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I was just using some art materials for a project, that have been with me for a remarkably long time. There are the german white hot glue sticks (Schmelzkleber) that have been waiting to become useful for many years. The price- twice reduced, which is probably why I bought them in the first place- is in DM, Deutsche Mark, pre-Euro, but I think they are even older than that, ca. 1996, before I moved to the US. I'll show you the perfect use I found for them very soon!

And then there are these Rowney acrylic paints, big old bottles that I bought when I was living in England, also around that time. They are in amazingly good shape for their age and I use them all the time. The best thing about them is that they smell really good and often the smell reminds me of my time in England, the way only smells can take you back.

They were amongst only a few prized possessions that were chosen to come across the atlantic with me.

the tenant

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  Birdhouses (Put A Bird In It, haha) are the theme for an art show and silent auction that the nice people from We Make PDX are putting on to make some money for arts and music education in Portland schools. Some of Portland's finest have stepped up and created astonishing new takes on the theme. A bunch of Laikans also  joined in and there are almost 100 birdhouses to look at. Look at some of them here and here and check out the event's facebook page for details. There'll be a party as well as the auction. Friday, October 12th 7:30 at Union/Pine, 525 SE Pine Street. FREE!

Mine is called The Tenant and has a fish climbing up a wiggly ladder to his new dream home.

crafty set-up

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O.K., that was fun: my first ever craft fair vendor experience at the Crafty Wonderland Super Colossal Spring Sale. Check out the cool display case that Mykle built for me. It has a pin board on the left and little shelves on the right and it closes up flat into a box. The weather was just gorgeous that day, so I guess there were a few less customers than usual, but I sold a few things and learned a lot. Hopefully I'll do this again for the big one in December!

I'm officially crafty

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It's official now: I'm crafty! Look for me (blobhouse) at Crafty Wonderland this Saturday. Me and a couple hundred other crafty people are going to sell their handmade goods at the Convention Center. 11am to 6pm! Strategically happening on the day before Mothers Day, nudge, nudge. Mykle made me a fantastic display case with all kinds of bells and whistles. Photos will follow soon. And best of all: Phina will be selling her excellent sock monkeys in the kid's section.

100 $how at Wieden and Kennedy

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I have a couple of pieces in this show this month. It opened with a snazzy affair on first Thursday a few days ago. Fun concept! The 100 $HOW at the Wieden + Kennedy gallery, Portland - 02.02.12 — 5pm to 6am. Each original illustration on display will be sold for $100.00 USD. Half of the purchase price goes to the artist and half goes to Mercy Corps.

THE 100 $HOW showcases original works of 100 illustrators from Canada, England, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden and the US. These award-winning artists have been recognized by The Society of Publication Design; American Illustration; The Society of Illustrators; D&AD; Young Guns; The Advertising & Design Club of Canada; and the Art Directors Club of New York and Germany.