Every year a small, nearby municipality has a fireworks display.  It is usually on a day other than the fourth so it doesn't compete with larger celebrations. For a small village, they put on a bang up show.  We found a grassy hillside perch just off a grocery store parking lot where every year we toss a blanket and enjoy the show.  The dog and cat stay home, but I couldn't resist imagining their delight if the show were silent.

Have a safe and fun Fourth of July.

It's National Donut Day.  Enough said.

It is World Turtle Day!  Founded in 1990, it was started to help increase respect and knowledge for the world's oldest creature. 

Many a time the family car of my childhood stopped on a rural road to help a turtle get to the other side safely.  A time or two we took a turtle home for the weekend--something that is not recommended for the sake of the poor turtle.  We all know better now and our love of turtles endures.

Please celebrate the beauty of the Missouri box turtle, the Florida sea turtle, and the like.  Help preserve turtle and tortoise species throughout the world.  It would be a diminished world without them. Check out tortoise.com for more information.

If Susanna Leonard Hill says she is going to send you something, believe her. My cover design for The "Princess" and the Pete came in fifth in her First Ever Pretty Much World Famous Illustration Contest. (See previous post.) As the title suggests, this was a fun event that introduced me to the supportive group of children's book writers, illustrators and fans that follow her blog.  Contest results were posted Monday; Susanna gave me the choice of one of five books as my prize, and my book arrived on Friday.  Not bad.

Without hesitation I chose Writing with Pictures by Uri Shulevitz.  In 2010, I had the privilege of meeting him at a local book signing.  He was kind and very supportive of my efforts in publishing. You can check out his many books here. The photo above shows my new book and Mr. Shulevitz's signature from our meeting years ago.

Children's book author Susanna Leonard Hill is sponsoring a contest for illustrators on her blog and I decided to submit an entry.  Participants were asked to chose a story from a list of the winners of her recent fairy tale writing contest and create a cover illustration.  I chose the story The "Princess" and the Pete by Jennifer Caritas which offers a modern twist on the The Princess and the Pea.  You can find Jennifer's story here.

This was a fun project and I thank Susanna for the opportunity.  I look forward to getting some feedback because I am always looking for ways to improve.  You can check out all the artists' entries on Susanna's blog.

Happy Earth Day!

This happy fellow is Jack and he asks "Mommy, are there as many numbers as there are people in the whole world?" in a book I illustrated in 2011.  That book, "Mommy How Many Number Are There?" by Becky Schantz is scheduled to come out in hardback later this year.  In the mean time, he seemed a perfect ambassador for today.

Violets are a symbol of awakening, or renewal, for they bloom in 

early Spring as nature wakes from the Winter sleep.

Adding digital color reinvents the drawing from the previous post.

Happy Spring.