And by “the dead” I mean the holidays.  For folks who may not know I help organize Craftland … a DIY, handmade gift store in Providence.  We start gearing up for December in August and then become completely in over our heads by December 24th.  It’s a mighty experience.  One that takes until the end of the January to feel fully recuperated.

I am alive and well.

Today I spent part of my day at the RISD Museum as a part of a program that records local designers and artists’ insights on assigned pieces in the museum’s collection.  The interesting part of this experience is that we were asked to not do any research on the work or the artist, but to give our first impressions … completely fresh, unrehearsed and spontaneous.  It was a great half hour talking about the above painting, “Child In A Red Apron.”  At some point in the future all the recordings will be up online at the RISD Museum site … I’ll let you all know when that goes live.

Last week, on the 23rd, my most recent book, I Hatched by Jill Esbaum, was released.  It’s out on bookshelves now.  And the week before that I turned in the work for my next book, Telephone with Mac Barnett.  They are both exciting books about birds.  Different kinds of birds.  Different kinds of excitement.

I have two solo shows this year … in the summer … dates soon soon soon.

For the holidays I got you all proper capitalization in my posts.  Yay!  Okay, that’s all I have for now … but I will be posting more often now that we are ankle deep in the new year.

whew.

kickstarter kicked my ass a little bit.  in an awesome way but also in the way where operating two different social media identities and creating content for the web is tiring.  soooo tiring.  but, like i said, awesome as well.  but i had to take an internet time out.

the campaign wrapped up wonderfully.  we made the Foreign Affairs expansion deck.  we made new internet friends.  and now the gears are cranking to finish the game art and move everything, including rewards, into production.

in the world of new news … ornaments that i designed for Crate & Barrel are now available.  i cannot express how excited i am to have done work for the ol C&B and to have that work be ornaments.  two of my favorite things coming together.

there are two sets of ornaments … the house set seen above and then a set of six circular ornaments … and one individual, “happy house” ornament.  part of the proceeds raised by the sale of “happy house” will benefit Rebuilding Together, a non profit organization whose work help renovate and repair the homes of low income home owners.

SUPER.

there will be more things and more things and more things … but right now i need a sandwich.

for the past year my brother and I have been working on Lords & Ladies.  Lords & Ladies is a strategy card game based on Edwardian era societal rules.  There’s a lot of marriage, servant hiring, baby having, baby not having and gossip, gossip, gossip.  even if i wasn’t involved, i’d love this game.

today we launched a kickstarter campaign to fund the production of Lords & Ladies.  we want it in the real world and we want it in people’s homes.  there are a lot of good rewards and even more excellent stretch goals.

so, please, check out Lords & Ladies.  it would make me the happiest illustrator in the world.

(also:  high fives to myself for not spilling the beans ahead of time)

hey all! how’s everybody’s summer going?

for me i have already been swimming 250% more than i did last year.  it feels right.

so, i recently updated my portfolio site to include scans from The Steadfast Tin Soldier.  finally!  over on my tumblr i’ve posted a good deal of process sketches done for the book. go take a look-see.

so, in and amongst everything that is going on (finishing a book, middling a book, making work for group shows, working on super secret projects that should peek their head up sometime soon … … … [super exciting]) i managed to take a class on letterpress printing.  it was awesome!  AWESOME.

i am not entirely sure what purpose the letterpress process will play in my life … i have friends that are certainly more gifted and faster and on point than me, who could make projects happen for me … but i am excited to figure that out.

i really enjoy typesetting and i really love working in old image blocks with new type.  i imagine that prints will make their way into my shop.  super prints!  in the meantime, i offer my letterpress doodles/sketches/bursts of productive inspiration.

looking to the near future, i will have work that will be a part of two group shows in Portland, OR.  More details to come.

happy week everyone!

hey!  guess what!  i made a print!

i chose the piece i did from The Where, The Why and The How:  75 Artists Illustrate Wondrous Mysteries of Science.  beached whales!  who DOESN’T want to hang them on their walls and think about the earth’s magnetic field and sonar technologies.

anyhow, you can find it over in the ye olde shoppe.

and if you haven’t done so already, sign up for the mailing list … you can find out about these such things sooner.

have the best weekend!

i am not going to go into how i completely flushed three hours away just now.  it’s just going to make you and me so irritated.

what’s not going to make us irritated is this great post about THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER over at design mom.  i like the internet because i can sneak around and listen in on what people are saying.  wait.  no.  i don’t like the internet, i LOVE the internet.  i like knowing how my work is getting out there and how anyone is feeling about it … good or not so good.

i especially like in the comments of this post that someone is excited that i worked with cynthia again … or should i say, she worked with me.  we worked together?  we worked together.

this book was a real dream come true.  and i am thinking about pulling together a post on the process sketches of the book.  either here or over at my tumblr page.  either way,  you will be able to find it, i’ll link the bejesus out of it.

small shop update!  there are sets of postcards available over at my online shoppe.  there are five designs per pack, $12 per pack (+ shipping).  hang ‘em up all over yer walls or send them along to friends … or enemies.  no judgement!

also, sometime soon … i am thinking maybe in a week or two.  three? there will be a brand new item in the shop that i am super excited about.  and then there are ideas coming in after that that are just as exciting.

baby steps.

so, if you want to be kept in the loop, you can sign up for email updates or follow me on facebook.  super!