Next weekend is the Francelia Butler Conference! My winning design is on all the shirts and tote bags. I also sat down and helped Rebekah, who is co-chair of the conference, with some custom awards for each category of the conference (pictured below). I'm glad she came up with the idea - it was a fun project that helps make the conference extra special and unique. 

One more reason I'm excited about the conference this year is that I will be presenting my work during the first ever Illustrator Spotlight, along with Rebekah and Kassy. And, for the first time, I will be reading one of my pieces, too!

Every summer the Hollins University Children's Literature program is the host of the Francelia Butler Conference.  The conference is student run and promotes what we have been working on both in illustration and creative and critical writings.  This year's theme is Into the Woods: Critters, Creatures, and Magical Helpers.

A couple months ago a t-shirt design contest was announced for the conference.  I came up with this design inspired by Russian fairy tales and my own memories of wandering through the neighborhood woods with my sister and cat.  There were several submissions featuring birds, squirrels, dragons, and more.  I liked all of the designs that my fellow classmates came up with quite a bit, so I knew it was going to be a close contest.

I am pleased to announce that my design won!  My illustration will be featured on conference t-shirts and printed material.  I can't wait to see them!

Last night was the Monster Art Rally at the Taubman Museum of Art in downtown Roanoke, which I was lucky enough to be invited to participate in.  The Monster Art Rally is a live drawing event where all artists create their works at the Taubman for everyone to witness.  We had two hours to draw (1 hour per drawing) in the the atrium of the museum for anybody to watch and then at 7:30 the auction started.  Each piece, or collection of pieces from an artist, were $50 and the proceeds went to help support art education at the Taubman.

Was a nervous?  Definitely!  Other than in art classes, I've never drawn in public.  It took me a few minutes to calm my nerves (the complimentary chocolate was helpful here!), and once I did it was great fun.  There were so many other artists, families, and members of the community milling around in awe of what was happening.  I talked to multiple people who were so nice and supportive of not just the event, but my drawings as well.  My anxiousness soon dissipated and even though I initially only planned on drawing in one time slot, I found myself excitedly drawing in the second as well.  I wasn't ready to leave.

At 7pm the drawing stopped and all art was put on display for potential buyers to look at, and then at 7:30 the auctioning began.  There were so many beautiful pieces created at the event!  Still lives, portraits, abstract rivers, flowers, landscapes, and more.  I was so honored to have my two birds sitting among them.

The way the auction worked was by luck-of-the-draw.  They had a deck of cards and anyone who wanted the art got one card for free, though they could purchase more for a better chance at winning.  The person with the highest card won.  I had never been to an event that used this system and I really liked it; it kept the evening fun and lighthearted.

I had seven people up vying for my birds, which was so awesome.  Kelsey, the lovely lady pictured to the left, was the lucky winner!

Supporting the Taubman and seeing how supportive the community is was great.  I can't wait to do this again next year!

I just got in the mail my second batch of postcards!  I'm really excited about these; I'll be sending out a whole bunch to my contacts as well as friends and family.

Want one?  Shoot me a message (on About page) with your name and address and I'll put one in the mail to you!

Last week was the end of my third summer at Hollins Univeristy pursuing my MFA in Children's Book Writing & Illustration.  It was my busiest summer yet, having chosen to take an extra class and to co-chair the Art Committee for the Francelia Butler Conference, but it was worth it.

This summer I took Picture Book Media with author/illustrator Ruth Sanderson, a pastel intensive class with illusrator Mark Braught, and an English Critical class focusing on Picture Book Illustrators from the past century with author Candice Ransom.  Prior to this summer I had never tried chalk pastels and I can now honestly say that I enjoy them, even with their messiness.  It pushed me outside of my comfort zone of watercolors; instead of building up the darks we built up the lights in pastels.  In Ruth Sanderson's class we learned her oil glazing technique which was quite fascinating and fun - I loved that we could keep the pencil drawing as part of the final piece.

The final three weeks of Ruth Sanderson's class focused on portfolios - I chose to illustrate some scenes from a space story I'd been mulling around in my head.  I know that the illustrations I did in class are not final and I look forward to redrawing them, having learned what not to do and what really worked.  Redoing illustrations may seem tedious, but for me it's almost a meditative, relaxing experience.  

The summer culminated with me graduating from the Certificate program in Children's Book Illustration; myself and four of my friends all received a wonderful hand made crown as well as a hand printed and colored certificate by the amazing Ashley Wolff.  The small ceremony was so heartfelt with a beautiful speech by Ruth Sanderson, and a graduation poem by Ashley Wolff.