Greetings

LOVE! JOY! PEACE!

Warm wishes to all for the Solstice Season!

Fairy Follow up

The fairy house arrived in Oregon! Genevieve quickly found a steed for the fairy princess to ride.

Fairy for a four-year-old

I've been playing with fabric scraps while waiting to begin a new book project. Here's a little fairy and her tree stump house I made for my cousin's four-year-old daughter, Genevieve. It's soft and tough, and will take real playing. She can fill it with her own imagination and creativity.

If you happen to be a magical moment person, you'll enjoy this: I took the little house outside to photograph it (a strangely warm day for December in Maine) and just before I picked up the camera, a red dragonfly landed oh-so-briefly on the fairy's skirt---only to dart away before I could take a picture.

Fun for kids

I started a new blog, which will have simple, creative ideas for kids. I'll try to focus on recycled materials, and imaginative art projects that focus on process. It's called ARTFUL ACTS for kids. Please check it out, and let me know what you think! Thanks.

Art in Belfast*

*.....that's Belfast, MAINE, actually.

The Barbara Kramer Gallery at the Belfast Free Library has an exhibition of fifteen of the original illustrations from my books on display through the month of November.

If you're in the area, please stop in!

For a press release click HERE.

Also, if you have any interest in purchasing originals or Giclee prints, please contact me. My studio is over-flowing with artwork, and it's time for some of them to move out! - frogsongstudio@yahoo.com

Rainy Day Fun

A grand time was had by all at the Healthy Harvest Celebration today in Gorham, Maine! More than 100 kids and their parents came out of the rain to celebrate the release of Mystery Vine and the awesome new Gorham Fitness Studio. Book-related arts & crafts, energetic games and dances led by GFS owner Jesse Coleman, story time breaks to soothe the crowd, fabulous face painting created by terrific volunteers, healthy snacks donated by community businesses, and a grand finale movie all made for a wonderful day!

Kids Connect to Nature

On a recent visit to Eight Corners School in Scarborough, Maine, I talked to kids about the amazing critters that wriggle, waggle, scamper and scoot in and around my pond. We acted out Scoot! with animal movements and Turtle Splash! with puppets. Mrs. Wood's second graders sent me a gorgeous stack of drawings about my visit. I wish you could see them all! Here's Brendan's awesome drawing of the critters at Frog Song Pond.

Mystery Makers at the Library!

Kids at Baxter Memorial Library in Gorham, Maine, had a fun story time and then set to work on their very own Mystery Vines! For more photos, click HERE....and then scroll down!

A Mystery Vine Party!

My friends at the Gorham Fitness Studio are having a party!

For more info, click HERE to go to the Mystery Vine page!

Healthy Harvest Celebration!

at Gorham Fitness Studio

Fall, Fitness, Fun!

You are invited to a Harvest Celebration

Join Gorham’s own Children’s Author Cathryn Falwell

for the release of her latest book “Mystery Vine”.

There will be activities, Live DJ, Pumpkin Art, Healthy

Snacks, and fitness games with Gorham Fitness

Studio Instructors. We will end the evening with a

showing of “The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” on

the big screen. Come and Celebrate a Healthy

Harvest!

What: Healthy Harvest Celebration

When: Saturday, October 24th, 2009

Where: Gorham Fitness Studio

17D Railroad Ave Gorham, Maine

(behind Hannaford, beside Post Office)

Time: 2pm-5pm (Movie begins at 4pm)

FREE to Community

www.gorhamfitnessstudio.com

(207)839-3353

Basking

Squirrels may be collecting acorns to store for the long Maine winter, but the turtles of Frog Song Pond are gathering sunlight. Four of them braved a chilly wind today to soak up some rays, reminding me of the illustrations I made for Scoot! and Turtle Splash, with all those teeny tiny pieces of paper. This one looked particularly pensive, perhaps reflecting on summer memories before hibernating in the bottom of the pond.

More frogs and turtles and other critters, are here.

Farewell to Loons

September. The nights are cooler now, and the leaves are beginning to change. I visited No Name Pond one last time and waved good-bye to the loon family. We watched the chicks grow from tiny fluff balls in June, to nearly ready to fly adolescents. I worked on a picture book about them while listening to the parents call across the lake to each other in that incredible, haunting sound. The book is taking shape--not ready to go out as a proposal to a publisher just yet.

So-- here's the loon family, taken last week, and one of the chicks doing a little foot waggle. And a "farewell to summer" photo of the lake. If you missed my earlier post about loons, be sure to check out the wonderful work being done by the BioDiversity Research Institute in Gorham, Maine.

Mystery Vine

Mystery Vine, which Kirkus Reviews calls, "a great choice to help prepare children for the fun and fruitfulness of gardening," is finally out. HarperCollins has a "browse inside" site where you can peek at some of the pages:

http://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061771989 or click here.

And for more about this book, Mystery Vine now has it's own blog page here.

Happy gardening, and happy reading!

Sunday Heron

I've only seen this amazing creature once this summer--about two weeks ago. I've been watching for him (her?) every day. This morning, while trying, in vain, to photograph a particularly stunning dragonfly, I looked up.....and there was the magnificient bird. I wasn't able to get a photo of his flight, but watched in awe as this huge creature gracefully lifted off the log and flew down the pond.  

Pond Watchers

Two young explorers arrived on their bicycles today for a visit to Frog Song Pond. Since I now have my very first copy of my new book, Mystery Vine, we took it along to the treehouse. Sam and Vick-- the first kids I have read this book to!--enjoyed the story and plan to make a bean teepee in their garden next year.

After the boys left, I came across this little fellow --perhaps composing poetry while gazing out across the water.

Cat Daze of Summer

The dog days of summer have arrived....and we are now very sorry that we complained about our too-cool Maine weather. Ugh. So being lazy on a hot and humid Sunday afternoon is the only option.  Star (kitty...pictured here) chose the dock, as did a resident frog a bit later. The treehouse offered me a bit of a breeze. A very good day to read, indeed.

Feast & Retreat

Just returned from a fabulous writers' retreat on a lake up near Lewiston, Maine. We managed to persuade the wonderful owners of Boat Building Vacation LLC, Nilaya and James Palmer, to branch out their business and host this event. The result was a heavenly 3-night stay with postcard-perfect weather and scrumptious gourmet food in a perfect environment to inspire creativity, complete with the call of loons.

 All participants enjoyed productive work-- occasionally breaking for a refreshing swim, a bit of yoga, or a romp with the adorable puppy-in-residence, Sashi. We're hoping that Nilaya and James (PERFECT hosts!) will be willing to offer this again next year! Check out their site--and the incredibly beautiful boats you can learn to build with them, too. 

Photos: (1)Kirsten Cappy and Sarah Thomson research for their novels; (2) Nilaya and Sashi serve appetizers(3) lakeside; (4) Kirsten at work

Camden Library Illustration Show

The Camden Public Library on Main Street in Camden, Maine, is presenting an exhibition of children's book illustrations by six Maine illustrators. There will be a reception, open to the public, on Tuesday,  August 11th at 6:30 pm. Come and say hello!

Exhibiting in this show: Noah Z. Jones, L.A. Meyer, Garvin Morris, Jim Sollers, and Jay Piscopo ...and me!

This will be an interesting show of diverse styles and mediums. Many pieces will be offered for sale as well.

The show will be up for the month of August. Check the Camden Library site for hours.

Illustrations here are from SCOOT!  written & illustrated by Cathryn Falwell.

Greenwillow Books, 2008

Swooning for Loons

What an incredible morning! I was a lucky passenger on a loon observation field excursion conducted by the Biodiversity Research Institute. The mission of this wonderful organization is to "assess ecological health through collaborative research, and to use scientific findings to advance environmental awareness and inform decision makers." (visit their site by clicking on their name here and see all of the amazing work they do!)

My friend and fellow nature enthusiast, Nancy Craig, and I met up with the Executive Director and Senior Scientist, David Evers, Ph.D., Business Manager and Development Director (and boat captain), Lee Attix, and Consultant Paige Holmes. We had been invited to accompany them on their loon survey of a Maine lake about a half-hour north of my home. This lake, a busy vacation area, is home to at least five nesting pairs, and several "rogue" loons. On our excursion this morning we were able to see many of the loons with their chicks, and to also check three nest sites. Dave and Lee offered a wealth of fascinating information about these amazing birds. You can probably guess that I am very eager to work on a loon picture book! 

Bottom photo, L to R: Paige, Nancy, Lee & Dave. Photo above has female feeding fish to chick!

Pond Friends

A star singer at Frog Song Pond! And here are a few other residents:

and MORE tree house!

A friend requested a photo of my tree house, so here it is. Note that this is MY tree house---not my children's--and has screens and steps. My carpenter neighbor built it for me two years ago.  This isn't my studio, but it IS a grand place to observe the critters at Frog Song Pond.

The little froggy here is from SCOOT!

Lazy Afternoon in the Tree House

Greetings from Frog Song Pond! 

A lovely Maine afternoon with happy critters willing to pose for my new camera. A very dead tree crashed into the pond a few days ago, creating a lovely new log for turtles to bask. 

I'm working on a new pond book idea.....stay tuned for updates.