Happy Halloweeeenn!!!

Trick or Treat!
One of my favorite Holidays!!

I love seeing all the fun and creative costumes at my front door!


This is my little Zoey, she has a few costumes. She has been a witch in the past which I took here with my cell phone, but this year she is a pirate.

SCBWI Conference Assignment

So I was going to wait until I was finished with these paintings to post anything but I am really excited about it and can not wait. I am going to the NJ SCBWI Illustrator's Conference next month and everyone had a choice of manuscripts to pick a double paged spread to do. I sent in my original ideas to Patrick Collins, the art director for Henry Holt Books for Young Readers and with his comments I revised my sketches, almost completely and am so happy with the result. I am currently working on both paintings now and bring in the finished pieces for a critique at the conference. Here is my original sketch and then beneath it the revised version which will be translated into paint. Yay can't wait for the conference!!!

I just finished a painting for a YA book cover!

Here is my finished painting for the YA fantasy Desert Magic. Cindy Davis and John Richters team up to create a young adult fantasy trilogy starring a 15 year old boy named Narle, his mysterious friend Laan and his favorite companion, a black horse called Storm. Adventure, magic, and beasts fill this desert air and Narle uses the power of his jade bracelet for protection.

This book will be published by LL Dreamspell and will be available online and in some bookstores. Hopefully I will be able to have some pull to have it carried in some of my own local bookstores as well.

On a side note talented illustrator Holli Conger is holding a Pumpkin Junkin' Contest. Use some of your favorite household "junk" to decorate your pumpkin. Prizes include original illustrations and signed prints by the illustrator herself!!