Hiya!

On Friday, Magoo graduated to Purple Belt. And here's what he did:

Front kicks.

He stood up in front of the entire group of students and parents and did a solo Seven Combination.

They also worked on punches and blocks. (It took so long for this clip to load that i opted not to show the punching video, but he was awesome.)

Now that he has a purple belt, he's able to attend sparing classes. We're all very proud of him!

Fan Mail

I've said this before, but one of the absolute best things about doing school visits is the thank-you letters you sometimes get from students after the event. Many of them are like the one above - very ego-stroking for me. "Best story ever" you say? Thank you so much. I'll be sure to forward this to the good people at the Caldecott Awards.

But I also love the way kids word things.


"A other?" An alien, perhaps? Or one of the native people on LOST? Whatever it is, this kid seems to know my secret.

And you gotta love the spelling.


I HAVE to use the word "snelny" in something. Just you wait. That's the best non-word ever!!!

This child had a bad seat and a good attitude.

What could be better than that?

Nuthin'.

I hope you all feel like super stars today!

Out O' Town

I'm out of town for a couple days. I'll return next week with regular posts. Thanks.

Good News

Two good tidbits this morning:

One, the art show was a great success. I made double the $$ of last year and sold most of the new pieces. (I did sell the birds, Loop-E-Doli and Planet V on Sunday.) No pie though.

Two, I was just informed that Wink is going to be translated into Hebrew!!! How cool is that?

Have a great day, everyone.

My Space at Open Studio

I got there bright and early at 8:30 am to set up for a 11:00 opening. Here are some shots of my space.

This is the Wink area. Wink art, Wink T-shirts, Wink cards, Wink books. If only I had a plush toy! Ahhhhh.

Lots of people took interest in the book and I think I sold about twelve copies!!! I sold a few shirts. I was expecting the size 6's to go, but I sold the onsies and one adult woman's shirt. Go figure. Cards sold OK. I never mind if I have extras of those because family members always want them and they make good teacher gifts. And I sold Grandmother off the wall. Of the four collages up there, I would have NEVER guess Grandmother would be the first to go!

This is the watercolor wall, a.k.a the wall of fish and one bookstore cat. First thing I sold on Saturday? The huge koi painting! Oh yeah, Mama! That put me in a great mood. The others remain and I will be SHOCKED if the cat doesn't sell. Every single year I paint one bookstore cat and I sell it every single year. Could this be the year people are just sick to death of bookstore cats? Hmmmmm....

This is a wall of collage. I sold all the ones based on kidlit: Wynken, Blynken and Nod - SOLD. Red Riding Hood - SOLD. Three Pigs - SOLD. Puss in Boots - SOLD. Guess what I'm making more of next year?

This is the wall of "all talk but no buy." Every single one of these collages has gotten compliments but no one has loved them enough to take them home. I'm gonna do some serious deal-making today and get, at least, one of these sold.

The rack holds some original art and some prints. In years past, the prints practically fly out of the rack into people's hands. I've sold a ton of them. But last year no one was interested and this year seems to be the same. It's funny how things go. But I had so many prints left over from last year that I didn't bust my hump on them this year - good thing.

All in all I had a fantastic selling day yesterday. Even if today's a dud, I've already done better than last year. So if you're local and you came out yesterday - thank you so much. It's always fun to chat with people I don't see often and chat with those I see all the time.

There was one highly disappointing aspect to yesterday. I didn't score a single pastry. No muffins. No cookies. What gives artists?!?!? Usually someone somewhere has goodies for us! :) But if this year is like years past, today is pie day. Lyman Orchards brings an assortment of pies so people can order them for Thanksgiving. Oh I HOPE it's pie day!!! Please, please,please. ;)

Art Show This Weekend!

It's 6:07 am. The car is loaded with art, prints, cards, books & t-shirts. We'll leave at 8:20am. and I'll set it all up.

Open Studio Weekend is today and tomorrow, 11 - 5pm, at ArtSpace, 555 Asylum Ave. Hartford.

It looks to be a rainy weekend, so if you're in town, why not come by and look at some art?

I'll post pics (maybe) tomorrow morning! Wish me luck!!!

Eyeglass Case

Because the theme for the art show this year is 20/20, the group running it (Artists in Real Time) wanted to try something different. They asked participating artists to decorate an eyeglass case to sell at the show. All the funds raised go to Art Space.

So here's my case:

I'm very happy with how it turned out but I will say it was a wee bit more time consuming than I originally planned. I was looking for something to take about 90 - 120 minutes. This probably took closer to 3 - 4 hours.

I was going to stop with the top and leave the bottom black - but the perfectionist in me just couldn't do it! I was COMPELLED to finish it.

But I'm happy with it and I hope it finds a happy buyer.

In health news, Magoo is back at school. I kept him home yesterday but he probably could have gone. His cough lingers, but by this point he should no longer be contagious, his fever is gone, and his energy is fine. I sent him with a water bottle and a good attitude for learning!

Countdown to art show: 4 days. My goals today: finish t-shirts and make wash & care cards for them .