The Waiting Place

Sigh...I'm definitely feeling stuck in the proverbial Waiting Place. Also wishing my mother wasn't holding all the Dr. Seuss books hostage. I could really use a dose of the man's off-kilter wisdom.

I'm waiting for call backs from 2 or 3 different jobs, waiting for marketing materials to come in the mail, waiting for a measly paycheck. Trying to stay busy, trying to stay motivated and keep painting. But really mostly just waiting. I feel like I've been here a lot over the past 5 years, and somehow I've yet to figure out what the magical escape key is.

No Art Supplies Till Tuesday

Color study for my next book. Trying to will autumn to hurry up and get here already.

Tim Burton Outfit

The Phantom Tollbooth

Check it out: They're making a documentary about the children's classic The Phantom Tollbooth.

This looks absolutely delightful! I can't wait to see it.

I have to say, I read The Phantom Tollbooth as an adult, rather than as a kid, and kind of feel like I missed my window to really fall in love with this book. Which is odd, because I adored Roal Dahl's books, and as an adult, I'm a huge Terry Pratchett fan. This story is right up that alley, yet somehow I just did't connect with it.

I felt somehow that it would make a better cartoon than a book, which is something I usually never think. But it just so happens that my hero Chuck Jones thought so too, because he made a cartoon version in 1970. It looks just like his Rikki Tikki Tavi feature. See it on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Llg5VODW6n4

I suppose it's an appropriate Throw-back Thursday sort of thing to have stumbled over a forgotten gem from my childhood. I have owned several copies of Hilary Knight's Where's Wallace? in my life, and true to the habits of the book's main character, the book itself frequently went missing. I think I left one at the airport when I was five.

It's premise is similar to Where's Waldo?, but concerning a delightful orange orangutan who is a bit easier for younger audiences to locate. But every page is still teaming with dozens of quirky characters.

I remember just pouring over the pages, taking in all the minute details of all the actions and expressions. I still have huge respect for artists capable of such compositions. While I was good at finding the monkey (excuse me, ape), in all my grown-upness, I've become far too impatient to sit and actually draw all those gajillions of people.

Most of you would recognize the art style of Hilary Knight, the artist responsible for the wildly popular Eloise books.  He also did illustrations for the more endearingly dated Miss Piggle-Wiggle series, a collection of cautionary tales for independent readers.

His whimsical style has stuck with me for years, and I just keep coming back to it. He illustrated over 50 children's books in his career, but many of them are now out of print. Guess I should snap up an Eloise box set while I have the chance.

The Story of the Cat and the Well

I'm working on my next book, and one of the spot illustrations is one I can really relate to.

I have myself fallen in a bit of a financial well of late and was trying to convey that sense of "Uh, crap....now what do I do?"

When I was little and trying to delay the putting to bed process, I would try and finagle just one more story out of my dad. Having tired of my novel wakefulness for the day, dad would reply with "Once upon a time, there was a cat. And he fell down a well. The end. Goodnight." 

I learned not to ask for an encore unless I wanted to hear tales of small furry creatures meeting untimely ends.