NYC SCBWI 2014 preparations

Portfolio is almost ready...

NY 2014 SCBWI

clam tide

Since the summer SCBWI conference in LA and my portfolio critiques, I've been working on a book dummy (CLAM TIDE) about a young girls first night-time dig for razor clams.  Here are a few sketches and prints from that story...

Mama says I can stay up late tonight

Just my raincoat...

Look what I found!

Papa says there are millions of razor clams hiding beneath the surface of the sand.

That boy has a shovel just like mine!

Now my feet are wet and cold.

My first clam!

I tell Mama I want to clean my own clams when we get home.

Mama says "we'll see..."

wings

Here are a few images from my SCBWI LA portfolio that I have adapted or continued for the NYC conference.

drawing 1 (from SCBWI LA portfolio)

drawing 2, with butterflies (for SCBWI NYC portfolio)

petal wings (from SCBWI LA Portfolio)

butterfly cloud (for SCBWI NYC portfolio)

cloud parade

Here are a few sketches and prints from a book dummy, CLOUD PARADE, which I've been working on this winter:

up!

and up...

then choose an instrument,

and get in line...

...through the storm garden

then down, down, down

And while they sold shoes, they argued

I've been revisiting a story about a shoe shop that I wrote a while back, and have a few illustrations that I'm going to include in my portfolio for the upcoming SCBWI conference.

"And while they sold shoes, they argued.

On sunny days, they argued over where and how to display sunny day shoes in their boutique windows.  On rainy days, they argued over where and how to display rainy day shoes in their boutique windows.  And on days that were neither quite-sunny nor quite-rainy, they argued over where and how to display both rainy and sunny day shoes in their boutique windows.

Saturday, was such a day."

***

Wesley McNub

"Across the street, Wesley McNub owned a Factory Outlet Shoe Store where he sold shoes for Half Off the OSSP (Original Shoe Store Price).  On sunny days he would have factory tours and on rainy days he would have STORE WIDE SALES, discounting all the already-discounted items in his store."

Wesley McNub 2

"Wesley McNub, however, did not think much of Ned's wishes.  'There are plenty of customers to go around' he had insisted the week before.  'If they all choose to shop in my shoe shop instead of your shoe shop, that’s not my problem.  I sell shoes, not problems.' And he had shut the door in Ned's  face.

 ***

And a few more sketches:

Ned 1

"Still, he tried not to worry.  'I only wish...' he'd think.  He wished a little for things the way they were, before.  He wished a little for things the way they weren't, anymore.  But mostly, he wished for someone to buy his shoes."

Ned 2

Ned 3

through the storm garden (printmaking process)

I thought I'd share a few process photos for a portfolio piece I'm working on 

for the upcoming SCBWI conference in New York.  They are from a book dummy, CLOUD PARADE, which I've been playing with this winter.

through the storm garden pg 2, cut-paper plates

through the storm garden pg 2, after printing

through the storm garden pg 1, plates for the sky and clouds

through the storm garden pg 1, with cloud plates.

Through the storm garden, final 

Now that I'm finished, it is my helpers turn to print-make.

my heart, my heart

(open, closed, open)

Here are a few monoprints I've been working on for the upcoming SCBWI conference in NYC...

my heart is a fence

my heart is a window

My heart, my heart

My heart is a window
my heart is a slide
my heart can be closed
or opened up wide

Some days it's a puddle
some days it's a stain
some days it is cloudy and heavy with rain

Some days it is tiny
some days it is large
 A flip-flop, a caterpillar, a bicycle, a jar

I can keep it in my pocket
I can wear it on my sleeve
I can share it with friends
or whomever I please

Some days it's a fence, to keep out the world
Other days it's a feather, a butterfly, a bird

It has it's own voice and song it can sing
but it needs me to listen
and listening means
to quiet the voices all gathered around
to let my heart whisper
(it can't always be loud)

My heart is a snowflake, a shadow, a light
that's with me by day and also by night

It can open, close, open
my heart is a guide

Open, closed, or open
It's me that decides

-Corinna Luyken 

some days it is tiny,

And a few sketches:

"some days it's a puddle, some days it's a stain..."

"open, closed, or open... it's me that decides."

***

Poem Without an End
 

Inside the brand-new museum

there’s an old synagogue.

Inside the synagogue

is me.

Inside me

my heart.

Inside my heart

a museum.

Inside the museum

a synagogue,

inside it

me,

inside me

my heart,

inside my heart

a museum

by Yehuda Amichai

translated by Chana Bloch