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!!

Some things are cookin'

I have a few prospects cookin' up, although it is too soon to speak of just yet. I also have a conference coming up soonish which I am excited about for the New Jersey Chapter of SCBWI. This is the first time that I will go to a conference and have to bring a preassigned illustration! I miss those critiques in college. It was so exciting to see that when given the same assignment, endless solutions may arise and in so many colors and styles! So stay tuned!! :)

P.S. Wonderful author/ illustrator Elizabeth Dulemba posted a very entertaining blog contest yesterday. She gave four spots from her various books illustrating her dog Bernie's many appearances in her stories and asked bloggers to figure out which spot came from what book. Well I won and I am going to get a signed copy of Paco and the Giant Chile Plant!!!

Specultation Cover

I painted this illustration as a speculation for a publisher. They asked for the cover in color and a sketch for one of the spreads. Well, they decided to go with a different artist....bummer:( Hopefully my day will come soon, I am just so antsy to get my first children's book with all the promos I send out and all. I just get so frustrated sometimes because everyone has different tastes, which I suppose is a good thing, except when one publisher says I am too cartoony and then another one says I should rely less on reference because they look too much like photos. And so continues the never ending battle of finding some happy medium between cartoon world and realism to please all.....




....I changed the title and also added a cute caterpillar for fun.

Character's Contest Winner's Issue Cover

I just completed the cover to what will be the contest's winners issue of Character's Magazine. I am excited to see it all printed up and I hope the kids will get a kick out of it!

Grape Border Mural

My mom has been asking me to paint her grapes in the kitchen, so I finally did it last week for her birthday. She liked it so much she wants me to paint more around the whole kitchen!

New Postcard

Mini Golf Sculpts

Many times I am asked what it is I do for compensation while I am waiting for the next illustration assignment. I also freelance at a shop where I work with other artists to make mini golf course props. I mostly paint sculpts and murals, but sometimes I get to sculpt and paint my own creation. All our sculpts are made out of foam and then hardcoated to plastic for painting. I sculpted and painted this little penguin for a golf course in Paramus,NJ. He is hitchhiking. The turkeys I only painted. The punk rockers are entering a haunted ride about Thanksgiving and are suspicious of the fat turkey who has had quite a fright!

I just joined Children's Illustrators!

View it here:
http://www.childrensillustrators.com/illustrator.cgi/crodillustration