HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Many thanks for everyone's kindness and support this year. And for putting up with the endless promotion of my book!

I hope you all have a wonderful winter holiday and a 2011 filled with goodness!

Encino Man

Big thanks to the Encino Elementary School for having me as the headliner of their Book Fair. Barnes and Noble Encino hosted a big crowd of book loving kids, parents, and teachers.

I got to draw the school librarian, Mrs. Cummings.


Unfortunately, caricature isn't my strong point. Sorry, Mrs. Cummings.


I signed a lot of books...


I met some adorable Wubbzy fans...


And hung out with some very photogenic families...



AND- as a thank you gift, I was given a really awesome customized tin of cookies. Yum! Yum!

A Cow Named Wubbzy

I've heard of at least 3 dogs that have been named Wubbzy but I was really surprised to find out that there is a calf named Wubbzy. Wubbzy the calf is on a dairy farm in Stockton, California.

I'm a big fan of cows so next time I'm up that way I'm going to make sure to stop by and say "Hi".

Read all about the cow named Wubbzy right here- http://crazymoos.wordpress.com

Wubbzy Painting

I recently painted a piece of original art that is being given away as part of the Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Fly Us To The Moon DVD Sweepstakes.

You can enter here- http://www.wubbzy.com/sweep/

The deadline to enter is November 16th!


And thanks to Susan Heim for the nice mention on her blog-http://susanheim.blogspot.com/2010/10/wow-wow-wubbzy-enter-to-win-one-of-kind.html

Wubb Cookies!

Many thanks to Thyjuan Rosario of Inspirations By Thyjuan for sending me a box of awesome Wubbzy cookies!

They look great. They taste delicious. And if you eat them you'll get super powers!
My niece ate one and now she has the ability to talk to donkeys.
Well, I didn't say that they would be good super powers.


Oh, poor Wubbzy cookie!

If you want cool cookies (and super powers!) go here- http://inspirationsbythyjuan.blogspot.com/





Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!
And more thanks to the hip Australian site Babyology for the nice post on Hugo - babyology.com.au/sunday-arts/hu…

A cool site like that makes me wish I was an Australian mom!

Minneapolis Is Awesomopolis!

Words can't describe how great appearing at the Target Book Festival in Minneapolis was so here are a bunch of photos (with few words):

Drawing!

Reading!

Kids!

Nature!

Signing!

A cool Cat in The Hat!

Wife makes friends with Lamb Chop!

Downtown for the cherry on top!

Many thanks to all the cool people that made this such a great experience!

Minneapolis Target Book Festival

I'll be appearing at the Target Book Festival in Minneapolis on Saturday, September 11th.

I've never been but I expect it to be the Lollapalooza of Book Festivals!

And as an extra bonus, Lamb Chop and Hip Hop Harry will be there!

Auction Action Go Time!

The charity auction in support of LA826 is up and running!

Buy some great art from some of the tippy top bestest childrens book illustrators and support a great cause! All the proceeds go to a fantastic organization for kids.

Get in on the bidding here- ART AUCTION (the bidding ends on Sept 4th)

Here's my contribution.

OH NO! Take 2

After getting some distance on the pen and ink pieces I did for the Dan Santat's Oh No! Charity art auction, I decided that a painting would be more appropriate.
Any excuse to paint a robot!

You can check out all the great art at Gallery Nucleus opening tomorrow night, August 14th.

OH NO!

OH NO! It's more charity art!

I was lucky enough to be have big time author/illustrator/show creator/kung fu master Dan Santat ask me to be a part of a great charity art auction for 826LA.

It's all tied into the release of Dan's new book (written by the amazing Mac Barnett), OH NO! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)

Dan put together a very cool promotional video showing almost all of the great artwork from the show. Check it out here-



Dan explains it all here:

As a parent I can relate to the frustrations many parents must have in finding any decent place to help educate their kids. Here in California we suffer from state budget cuts and schools continue to suffer from even more budget cuts when they already have nothing left to lose. So I gathered up some friends. A little over 30 children's book artists (any more and my head would have exploded), and they did their own interpretations of Mac's book "OH NO! (Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World)"and starting August 23rd people can begin buying pieces off of eBay. (There will be two auctions, one starting August 23rd, and another starting on August 30th. There will also be a gallery show where all the pieces will be on display at the Nucleus Gallery starting August 14th. I will also be selling very limited edition prints from the book to go towards the charity as well as copies of the book itself.

So come to the cool opening on Saturday the 14th, buy cool art online, and watch Dan's cool promotional trailers. It's all cool!

Here's my contribution:

Gulf Fundraiser Art

Ripple is an online art fundraiser in support of the wildlife devastated by the BP oil disaster.

I created a few pieces of art work that will be available to purchase online tonight, Monday, July 26th at 6:30PM Eastern/3:30PM Pacific.

This great charity endeavor has been put together by Illustrator Kelly Light.
Check it all out here- http://ripplesketches.blogspot.com/

The drawings below and the painting at the top of the post will all be available tonight.
Each piece is $50 and all the money goes directly to the animal rescue efforts.

Super Mega Epic Virginia Book Tour!

7 schools, over 3000 kids, and a whole lot of fun!
I was lucky enough to spend 10 days giving presentations to elementary schools in the great state of Virginia.

Here's a video that tries to capture the experience:



Did that seem like a blur? Yeah, it did for me too! A super awesome blur!
So here's a run down of just what happened:

St. Bridget's School in Richmond
Thanks to Assistant Principal Charlene Bechely, and Principal Ray Honeycutt for setting up the visit.
And extra super special thanks to Ann Neuhaus for promoting the event, selling books, and providing a bag of Bill's BBQ for the author at 9AM!

* You know that the Principal is cool when he asks you to draw on his shirt!

South Anna Elementary School in Montpelier

I was able to lead a group of exceptional 5th grade art students in the creation of a story that we all drew out on ceiling tiles. The kids are going to paint them and they will be placed back in the schools ceiling so that everyone can see their great work!

Huge thanks to Lara Ivey and Julie Dauksys at Growing Up With Books (it's like Netflix for books!) for making this visit so special!

They really promoted the event and had the kids fill the school with 'What's at the end of the red string art work!

They even gave me a goodie bag filled with diet appropriate snacks, South Anna swag, and.......... a cell phone strap with my favorite Japanese character, Sato Chan, on it! Lara had it shipped from Japan!!

Beech Tree Elementary School in Falls Church (My old elementary school!)
Thanks to Ellen Valentine for setting up this visit.


Pennington Elementary School in Manassas

Colonial Trail Elementary School in Glen Allen

Extra special thanks to Jackie Rice and Linda Levine for making this happen!

Rivers Edge Elementary School in Glen Allen
Thank you to Susie Milwit and Principal Johnna Riley for putting together the visit!



Nuckols Farm Elementary School in Henrico
Thanks to Principal Mary Cox and Assistant Principal Lisa Merriam for hosting my visit.
And super-sized muchas gracias to Diane Schnupp and her family for making everything so easy and treating me like a Rock Star!

Thanks to everyone at the schools for their amazing southern hospitality!