Brad and the boys on the Dartmouth Green, December 2022.
A couple more ‘holiday greeting card’ shots from nearby, Cornish, NH, back to see Saint-Gaudens’ Lincoln, and keeping warm at Harpoon Brewery Windsor, VT.
Giving Thanks spotted with the Holiday selection at the Fireside Book Shop, Chagrin Falls, OH. Thanks Fireside for including our book among your beautiful new offerings!
My niece, Helena, recently visiting Cedar Fairmount for the holidays– Thanks so much Apple Tree Books for prominently displaying and including Giving Thanks in your Thanksgiving window!
Delivery day! Giving Thanks is now available! Have been sharing a lot about this book and have so appreciated your excitement for it and support. Denise Kiernan’s message of gratitude, tradition, and unity feels meaningful as ever. Hope you enjoy too. Thanks so much for the collaboration Ellice Lee, Pat Lindgren, and Piper Smith!
My amazing and kind Art Director, Ellice Lee, let me ‘sneak’ Owen into the scene.. Ha! Even gave him a place at the table❤️
Giving Thanks: How Thanksgiving Became a National Holiday comes out Tuesday!
At the center of the history is Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1878), editor of Godey’s Ladies Book, the first woman to sit at the editors desk of a magazine. Hale eagerly promoted the works of fellow women writers, advocated for women in higher education, and introduced the country to a custom, few outside her native New England had ever heard of, the feast day of Thanksgiving.❖
For the September - October 2022 Issue. Never, ever, ever, give up!
Hillcrest Elementary, Lake Wales, FL
Mom would be preparing materials for the day with her ‘morning helpers’ right about now. mixing up tempera in every color of the rainbow, placing paint brushes on the tables, soaking giant bags of clay in the sink, or maybe she would be out front of the school, welcoming kids on bus duty? She chose to teach up until the last 6 months of her life, her love for the kids and their art kept her going– kept her dancing and singing, from I want to Hold your Hand to Peanut Butter Jelly Time! It’s why she was so dear, why so many still miss her, feel lucky to have known her.💜
Happy news! Best company you could ever wish for too📚
With Mom at my own Senior show, 2002. My Dad gave me this pic, apparently Mom kept it in her wallet. Of course I’m thinking of her today and these sweet memories–
Our graduating Seniors presenting their thesis work this week at Cleveland Institute of Art. As you can see, it’s been a gift getting to work with this talented, thoughtful, and inspiring group of illustrators. Three grads told me they are in the interview/hiring process for their first jobs!
New picture book collaboration with author Denise Kiernan and Philomel Books - Penguin Random House coming out this fall! Giving Thanks explores the origins of our national holiday and beloved Thanksgiving traditions, and concepts of gratitude all around the world as well.
Sarah Josepha Hale was the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book Magazine. She loved Thanksgiving and the holiday featured prominently in her magazine and in her novel, Northwood A Tale of New England. Later, it became her goal to see Thanksgiving celebrated as a national holiday. Sarah lead a letter writing campaign, reaching out to 5 U.S. presidents.
President Lincoln loved the idea and saw it as a chance to bring together a country torn apart by Civil War.
Learn more about this inspiring history and the origins of the traditions we still observe today in our book, Giving Thanks– available fall 2022!
The ‘Cleveland’ Flowering Pear tree we planted a few years back is in in full bloom! It seems determined to reach ever higher, helping lift spirits a bit here too–
The New Year has been a very busy and snowy one. Here’s a few pics from our little world. Thanks for checking out my site and posts, lots of love folks!❤️
I’m packing up these books with my markers, crayons, and paper and heading to the Carnation Festival in Alliance, OH today August 5, at 6:30 pm. Come out and join in the fun with Early Childhood Education Alliance! We’ll be reading and drawing trains together and each kid in attendance will receive a complimentary copy of Clackety Track - special thanks to Arts in Stark for making this event possible - for more info: https://www.facebook.com/events/539314023931502/?ref=newsfeed
Special delivery from Colchester, England - Trains: A Ladybird Book written by Elizabeth Jenner. Available in America, August 8.
Arrival status: on time
Our next book, Trains, written by Elizabeth Jenner and published by Ladybird Penguin Random House, releases in the UK May 8, in America August 8!
https://www.penguin.co.uk/.../a-ladybi.../9780241417171.html
A fav page from Bones in the White House, by Candice Ransom, on this President's Day–
Happy accident– as I was scanning in and recoloring my drawings of the old Sage of Monticello, I noticed a duplicate version of his eye, positioned on top of the other, made for a perfect deep-set eye lid. : )