No Platters, Please

Tis the season... These wild turkeys strut their stuff in Gobble, Gobble. 

Holiday Greetings

May the new year bring you unexpected joy!

Fan Mail

I just LOVE getting letters and pictures from young readers! This splendid drawing arrived in my mailbox today from a child named Maddie in Massachusetts. Her grandparents sent her Gobble, Gobble. In her note, Maddie, who is 7, said she thinks it's a "100% Awesome Book!"

Thanks, Maddie!

More Gobble fun

I just have to share this cute book trailer that the wonderful folks at Dawn Publications made for Gobble, Gobble!

They also posted a piece about how I made the illustrations for this book, in case you are interested. Click here.

Gobble fun at Audubon

Gobble, Gobble

What a great Apple Day at Maine Audubon at Gilsland Farm! In spite of dreary and rainy weather, over 350 people showed up for apple activities, crafts, great music, yummy food (best mac & cheese ever) and.....Gobble, Gobble fun!

We had story time, a printing demo, nature journal making, and the Gobble Trail Game, which proved to be a big hit. If you'd like to try this game with kids at your school, nature center, or library, scroll down to the last post and click on GOBBLE GAME & ACTIVITIES for a free download of posters, game cards, and related activities. I'd love to have your feedback if you try it!

For the event at Audubon, I had the posters enlarged to double the size: 11 x 17, and then laminated. Plastic zippered pockets held the game cards.

For more photos, see Curious City's photos here.

Audubon friends

A couple of days ago I met with my extraordinary marketing maven, Kirsten Cappy, and the wonderful folks at Gilsland Farm Audubon Center to make plans for my participation in their October 1st Apple Day festivities. I will have two story-time activities with interactive readings, searching games, and art activities during the day. One will be for Pond Babies, and the other for Gobble, Gobble. During our meeting to discuss plans, this fellow strutted right by the window. He must have know that Gobble, Gobble is all about wild turkeys!

After our meeting, Kirsten and I wandered down to the pond where the Pond Babies story time will happen, and met a local resident.

On our way back through the apple orchard, this little rascal and a few friends were happily lunching on windfalls. I'm looking forward to the event, and will post further updates.

Snow Buddies

Just like my illustration, critters visited my snowperson.

Sliding in to the finish

After many months of work, I am very nearly finished with the art for Gobble, Gobble--a picture book about a curious child who watches a flock of wild turkeys throughout the year.

Dawn Publications will release it in the fall.

Although the antics of frequent turkey visitors are what inspired me to make the book in the first place, they haven't been around here for a long time. This past week, however, a flock of 15 or so have congregated around our front porch every day. I like to think of them as my cheering squad---boosting me along to finish the last pages of the book.

Recess

Working away in my studio on the art for Gobble, Gobble. Lovely day beckoned, however, and I decided to take a break for play.

Snow Prints

Squirrel footprints and leaf impressions in snow

Birdie feet

Trails of wild turkey footprints lead to the pond

Carving wild turkeys roosting in a tree

I've been doing a lot of printing for the new book about wild turkeys--carving away, paying attention to positive and negative spaces. So it's a delight to find "prints" in nature.

Turkeys Gobbling

Frog Song Pond is so gorgeous right now!

It has been a glorious Autumn here, with colors that make me giddy. Since I always work on book pages out of sequence anyway, making the seasonly matching illustrations right now seems like a good idea. Here's a rather poor snapshot of a piece from Gobble, Gobble, which I mentioned a few posts ago.

Turkey tale

I've spent a lot of time this summer working on block print and collage illustrations for a new picture book called Gobble, Gobble which will be out in the Fall of 2011 from Dawn Publications. The idea for the book came from observing the various antics of the wild turkeys who paraded around here on a regular basis throughout the year. Once I began the actual work, however, the turkeys apparently took up another residence. No turkey sightings all summer---at least not in my backyard. Until this morning. It's good to have them back.

••••••••

UPDATE:

A long overdo trip to the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, Maine was a real treat today. The park is home to many injured, orphaned, or human dependent animals. Most are now permanent residents---some are rehabilitated and released into the wild when possible. In addition to some injured wild turkeys, there are other turkey "visitors" who come to the park on their own accord to take advantage of the free food. This fellow was one of the visiting opportunists:

turkey prints

Once upon a time, a long, long, time ago, I graduated as a printmaking major in the BFA program at the University of Connecticut's School of Fine Arts. A strong sensitivity to ammonia had driven me away from etching and engraving, but woodcuts and lithographs had stirred the ink in my blood. That same ink became a regular part of my wardrobe and makeup for my student years, but after graduation my only printmaking was done while teaching children's art classes.

Now here I am, decades (wince) later, and I've once again started making prints. A recent series of printing workshops with kids (click here and scroll) inspired me to think about a new approach to my own picture book illustration work, which has been exclusively paper collage. I'm now experimenting with cutting blocks to produce line, and then printing these over the paper collages. Still fooling around with it, but having a grand time in the process!

Gobble, Gobble

No....it's not winter. This guy is just here to announce that Dawn Publications will be publishing my new book, Gobble, Gobble, next Spring! Ta-da! More information, and perhap a sneak preview of sketches, coming soon.