finally.

finally, finally, finally.

my latest picture book a.k.a the "book that could never be finished" is, well, finished. it won't be released until probably mid-2010, but i am quite pleased with the illustrations. it is by far, the most detailed picture book that i have done. i also painted this book while juggling multiple projects at the same time. mul-ti-ple.

harpercollins was more than gracious in accommodating my schedule. they had so much patience in me & my unbelievably slow painting hand.

one interesting thing about this 32 page book is that i drew inspiration from san miguel de allende, the mexican town that i live in. the town's colors, stones & the texture are quite visible in the book, in my opinion.

as usual, i had a ball hiding personal mementos in the pages. a few of them celtic related, of course. i cannot wait to see this book out in print.

*as always, i am showing only cropped images until the book begins it's ad campaign. i am also skipping the book title until then (it may be a tentative title at the moment).

i'm now in my 20's.

when i first started working on this series, i had no idea that i would still be at it 3 years later (or was it 4? it seems so long ago). it's amazing to think that i accepted this project when i was just about to leave for an extended european vacation. the first book, in fact, was sketched flying over the atlantic & painted in a US air force base in rural England using a dinky 13" laptop.

time surely flies. i am now working on book 24 & 25 and quickly nearing the end of the run. it is safe to say that i have learned much about my craft, the publishing biz ... and pre-teen fashion. it's still early, but i am humbled & grateful for this.

*update: it was 4 years ago! wow.

a wall into a bridge.

recently, i read an article on time about graffiti artists of the israeli/palestinian wall. for a fee, these artists will spray a message on the wall from anyone across the globe (via their website. an email & photo will be sent as proof). the only restriction would be that the words not be of hate or anti-semitic.

a few of the words sprayed on the wall range from political opinions to romantic declarations:

"artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity", "make love not wall", "m.l. loves her funky d".

they are currently working an essay by farid esack, a south african scholar on his thoughts about his experience of apartheid in his homeland and the comparison to the divide in israel/palestine. when done, the work will cover 2,625 meters long (1.6 miles). you can view the work on their website.

interestingly, this is my second blog post about this wall. a while back, i wrote about the british guerilla artist, banksy, painting a message on this very wall.

in an internet age that is allowing our world to shrink ever smaller (think iran), i find it enlightening that art is using technology to shine a spotlight on divisive issues around the world. they are also doing it in a way that is both positive & inspiring.

i am thinking about my wall post.

flat stanley books website

hoping not to flood the blog with flat stanley news, i've held off posting about the new flat stanley website set up by harpercollins. it's a fun little website.

no, really.

there are downloadable games & activities for kids. you can also print out your own flat stanley for vacations or mail him out around the globe, which he's kinda used to by now (he's been around since '64). there's also more. so, feel free to check it out.

of course, since it is flat stanley, there has to be a picture gallery so readers can post their stanley pics.

* i just found this while writing this post. how often does a book illustrator see their own characters made into a video game? yay.

scenes from my mexican hometown

it's easy for a photography hobbyist to fall in love with san miguel de allende. aside from the colonial architecture & the plethora of color, the city always seems awash in sunlight & fiestas.

i'm no camera expert. far from it. my cameras are basic & i kinda like it that way. it's a nice personal challenge to go against tech tide. i do feel that what i have learned from my day job is a nice plus too. arbus, avedon, adams, lange & the other giants made more with less & simply trusted their eye.

and no, i am not comparing myself to them -- just in case that ridiculous notion was clumsily implied here.

maybe someday i'll find an old film camera & learn to develop film myself. i took a summer class once, but that was long ago & i don't remember much of it except for being perennially late for class. i was not who i am now.

easter sunday 2009. blowing up of hanging judases. life sized paper mache replicas of hated figures (some replicas of real politicians or ex-presidents and even a witch etc. i think i saw g. bush last year).

lots of dogs in this town. i find them quite friendly. i see more than a few dogs perched on the rooftops of houses. always looking down, guarding the fort.

wednesdays in sma

a few weeks back, i decided to join a figure drawing workshop here in san miguel de allende. though i've attended hundreds of these types of workshops before, i haven't actually done one in about 4 years. the rust was clearly showing & i ended the first session a little bit frustrated with myself.

the f.g. workshop i joined is the ana julia aguado gallery right in jardin. the poses were about 30 minutes and i was quite impressed by the variety of trained models. there is also a short gesture workshop on tuesdays, but i've been skipping those.

2-3 sessions later, i saw a bit of improvement. still not yet close the level i wanted but it definitely calm me down some. those close to me know that i can be a bit harsh on myself when it comes to my illustrations (which i actually think is a good thing).

but my main excuse for writing this post is the view from the gallery window:

wine & cheese is also served. AND i also just noticed yesterday that the artwork hanging on the walls are actually original work from mexican art legends diego rivera, david alvaro siqueros & francisco toledo... and it took me 2 months to notice this.

*i have not posted anything new here in weeks. i chalk that up for being the americas slowest book illustrator. i'm currently busy working on a few books (not sure how many but at least four titles). by next month, things should get back to normal.

stanley repackages

more flat stanley tidbits.

i'm also also working on repackaged titles of the flat stanley series, which was first published in 1964 and now on it's 45th year.

my new version 

i'm basically re-imagining the character from previously published stories. shown here is an example of my version of the 2nd book "flat stanley: flat again!" as well as the previous adaptation of the same story. 

previous adaptation (2003)

*aside from the worldwide adventure series (mentioned below) and these repackages, i am also working on yet another flat stanley series geared for the beginning readers. more on that in the future.