Earth Day Party

She kept very still and enjoyed watching their tiny Earth Day Party.

Earth Day is Wednesday, April 22nd!  =)

Blah, blah, blah

National Sibling Day

Happy New Week!

Margie absolutely LOVES having her portrait painted - or drawn - or sketched - or even doodled!

She also loves providing her own frame.  She's creative like that.  A bit picky and bossy, but still quite lovable.

Wednesday is DRAW A PICTURE OF A BIRD DAY!

~ Priscilla

Celebrating Pencils Today!

Margarita just loves pencils so much.
She uses them every day, and wears them whenever possible.

What a super great idea for a holiday ~ Hurray!  Today is National Pencil Day!

Little Gnome

I had a doctor's appointment the other day and drew this little gnome on the back of the questionnaire I had to fill out. Looking forward to flower and fern and garden gnome season. Happy Spring!

Done with my book!

Ahhhh. Finally, after a year of work and a couple months of especially intense painting (plus balancing dozens of March-Is-Reading-Month school visits), I am done with the art for the lion book.

Here's my mentor, EB Lewis's favorite spread:

Here's my teen daughter's favorite spread:

Here's a detail from my favorite spread:

Here's the original sketch for that page:

And I am very happy to say that Louie the dog made it into the book:

Now, before I lose any momentum, I'm on to the next project. I have a few more picturebooks in the works, and I've learned so much from sketching and painting this book that I know it'll influence my work on the others. Can't wait to see how they turn out!

 -- Ruth McNally Barshaw