Tilbury Publishing Exhibit

I was recently invited to submit a piece for an exhibit organized by Tilbury Publishing. Their newest children's book, One of Us, is being released in late May in conjunction with Powered by Girl, a campaign from Hardy Girls Healthy Women (www.hghw.org) designed to educate teen girls about the impact of media on their lives and empower them use their creativity, wit, and individuality to make a difference.

On May 24 in New York City, (the night before Book Expo) Tilbury will host a launch party for their book, and this exhibit will be part of the event. All the pieces will be on sale to benefit Powered by Girl.

The only guidelines for the piece were that it was to be a small 4x6 size, and somehow a representation of yourself. This opportunity was super exciting to me--I think it's a great cause, and "girl power" is totally up my alley! Plus, I really had fun dipping into a self-portrait.

Here's my piece:

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I LOVE to dance! (I'm not claiming to be any good at it though!) And, I've recently returned from a visit to my favorite place in the world-New Orleans, where I spent 5 days of what felt like dancing around the clock! The music has had me moving non-stop these last few weeks since I've been back, and I've been feeling super inspired and creative since, too. So, this just felt fitting. I also felt that the phrase "Dance Your Own Dance" really kind of sums up the way I live my life, and sends a message that I'd love to share with young girls.

The show will hang at Book Culture (536 West 112th Street, NYC) through May 28th, and the launch party is on Monday May 24th at 6pm. Works will be exhibited together in large box frames, and will be sold individually in protective sleeves for $25 with 100% of sales benefiting the Powered by Girl campaign!
All contributions made to Hardy Girls Healthy Women for the Powered by Girl campaign are tax-deductible.

Somebody Everybody Listens To

I don't often post much about my book cover design work at Penguin, but on of my favorite books that I've worked on just went on sale. It's called Somebody Everybody Listens To, by Suzanne Supplee. It's just such a sweet and inspiring story about a girl chasing her dreams of becoming a musician from her small town to Nashville, and I think I was especially connected to it because I happened to be working on it as I planned my trip to Nashville last year! Anyway--it's great, you should check it out...And, was pretty pysched about with how the cover came out also-

http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0525422420/yalit-20

The Saucy Dipper!

I'm just wrapping up a really fun project--I created some illustration and lettering for a blog header. The client is a writer, and is beginning a foodie blog all about sauces and dips. Sounds like it's going to be super cool--with lots of great recipes and funny tidbits too. Plus with a tagline that reads "everything tastes better with sauce...and bacon" how could I resist?--I totally agree! The blog hasn't launched yet, but look for it soon!




In working on this project I've realized it's a bit shameful that my blog isn't better designed! I'm on it.....

More fruit!

I also was super excited to get another call from Marlin Ad Agency to create more fruit for the packaging project for their client, Made. I got to do a blueberry and cranberry this time:


I'm so happy this has been an ongoing project. I love working on these--they are incredibly fun and I am really loving how they look as a whole line. I've now done 11 spots for them and several pieces of hand-lettering. It's also been one of my first advertising/packaging projects and I can't wait to see some of the displays in print. It's also been fantastic to work with the Art Director, Kristina Duewell. She was a colleague of mine at Penguin Books for several years--so it's super cool to get to work with her from this side of things...small world!

Way behind on updates!

To say I'm a little behind on updating is a huge understatement--it's been a busy few months--and have had some great projects in the works...just not much time for the updating part of it!

I was involved again with the Artful Agenda project--and created lettering for the 2011 planners and Diaries. They are now on sale in the Designer's etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/anArtfulAgenda

I submitted just a few black and white illustrations this time for some calendar page spreads. I used the sketches I created for a couple of my recent 6x6 pieces and inked them. I really like how they look as small black and white line drawings, so I may revisit these and explore other ways to use them: