It's All Too Much!

You may not know Peter Walsh by name, but I bet your recognize him as the guy on Oprah who counsels chronic pack-rats to get rid of all the junk in their lives. The kind of foul muck he finds under beds and in forgotten closets is astonishing.

I've spend the better part of the last month crashing a book project he wrote for kids about managing their physical space and belongings called "It's All Too Much!" (That there is a need for a book like this is, by itself, a reflection on the problem.) The assignment from Simon and Schuster was to create 93 black and white spot illustrations to go with this text, in four weeks! Wait, how many?

Working in black and white is a kind of rarity in the publishing world these days, outside of the Op-Ed pages and the Progressive. Those of you who Tivo Oprah, (read: andrea) let me know if you see it on the show anytime soon.

Book (Jacket) Review

Thanks to Kevin Gosa for alerting me to this review at The New Yorker's website of my Cooking Dirty jacket. I've never seen a book jacket reviewed without an actual review of the content inside. Thanks for noticing, New Yorker!

Canoes and Maps

A small map for Scouting Magazine about canoeing in the Adirondack Mountains. I also just finished a larger project I'm going to post later today as well.

Drawing In Church- 6/28

The Sun is Hot

Money magazine tells us that we should water our grass in the summer- or it will turn brown. Slow news week.

More bling...

Ok, I promise this is the last post about book awards- but I got this in the mail the day after I got the Comstock Award stickers. Junior Library Guild selected the Abe Lincoln book as a part of its 2008-2009 selection list. But, what is better than a sticker? A lapel pin! So, if next time you see me- please count my pieces of flair.

Comstock Book Award

I got this fun letter in the mail wednesday- Abe Lincoln Crosses a Creek won the Comstock Award, administered by Minnesota State University. Even more fun is the roll of gold stickers they sent. Now I can carry these around and affix them to my books when I see them in the remainder bins at Borders. Many thanks to the committee for selecting our book!

Late Night Fight

Here is a fast turnaround piece I just finished for the upcoming issue of Entertainment Weekly, about the Late Night 6-way ratings horse race.



Those of you following my Twitter feed may be aware of some of the mid-drawing hysteria not mentioned here.