©Lesley Breen Withrow

Today I woke up to a ton of snow on the ground. What a surprise it was! Unfortunately, it turned over to rain and now it is a slushy mess. But, the snow has helped to put me in the holiday mood. Well, the snow and the Christmas tree we just put up! There are no gifts under it right now and I’m not sure if we’ll ever has as many gifts as those under the tree I illustrated. Ha! But that’s okay.

Posted by: Lesley

Jules Danielson has invited Steve to contribute monthly “Fieldnotes” to her amazing children’s book blog, Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. He’ll be posting a regular interview/feature with a children’s publishing professional — starting December 15th with art director and book designer Susan M. Sherman.

There’s a fun profile of him — with plenty of pictures and a poem — up today. Check it out!

Steve and I recently received our first advance copy of Illustrating Children’s Picture Books from Roto Vision in the UK. It was great to finally see it in print and to hold it in our hands. It’s a nice square shape and size and is well designed. It will be available in December but you can place pre-orders on Amazon.com already. Here a few sneek peaks!

Illustrators and writers line up to take the annual picture!

Norton Juster and Jarrett J. Krosoczka

Mo Willems art in the exhibit

What a great day!

20th Annual Children's Illustration Show

R. Michelson Galleries - Northhampton, MA

Jane Yolen receiving the second annual Norton Juster Award

Posted by Lesley

On Sunday, Steve and I went to the R. Michelson Galleries in Northhampton, MA for the 20th Annual Children’s Illustration Show. The R. Michelson Galleries is a beautiful place and the show features incredible children’s art from some of the top illustrators. We got to be in the same company of some wonderful people in the childrens book field. Jane Yolen, Norton Juster, Barry Moser, Leslea Newman, Mo Willems, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Mordicai Gerstien, Richard Michelson, Jane Dyer, and Anna Alter to name a few. They were also auctioning some original children’s art for Reader to Reader, a public charity dedicated to bringing books, free of charge, to needy schools and public libraries across the United States. The Children’s Illustration Show will be hanging until January 31, 2010 and it’s definitely worth the trip! We got to explore downtown Northhampton a bit too. What a cool creative community it is there!

The RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) student and alumni craft show last weekend was the BEST I have ever attended. It spanned 3 blocks and was packed with amazing art. Here are the beautiful objects that I acquired at the show.  Fellow Licensing Nook artists Laura Fry and Liz Dubois were also in attendance.

Yes! I finally managed to get up to Brimfield for the fall show. If you’re not from these parts, it’s a simply gigantic antique show that sets up 3 times a year. Sprawling. Hundreds and hundreds of dealers. If you’re into vintage, retro, etc. you WILL find something interesting here. I did not come home empty-handed!

I saw this cute guy on patrol in his owner’s booth at the beginning of the day. Sure enough, he was still there when we headed to our car at the end of the day!

First thing I found was this wooden/paper litho target game. LOVE it. Vintage games from this era are a big favorite of mine.

More litho- but this time on tin. What a great little snippet of the 50’s- the turkey in the oven, the Dutch girl on the shelf, the gingham curtains! June Cleaver should be showing up any time now.

I have a big collection of wooden shoes from the WWII era…souvenirs brought home by soldiers after the war. Even though they vary a lot in decoration, I don’t usually find any that are vastly different from ones I already have. But I found a pair at Brimfield:

Here are a few fabrics destined to be made into Recycle Rabbit stuff. Well, at least the 70’s prints will be. I was originally going to hack up the German tablecloth and use it for parts, too- but it’s TOO COOL as is. Guess I’ll use it as a tablecloth!

“I like you America”…haha! Must be from the Bicentennial!

This gingerbread guy is an exact duplicate of one I had as a wee child in the 70’s. He had a tragic “accident” when my friend and I tried to give him a bath in some collected rainwater outside. I remember my mom hanging him on the clothesline to dry, but then he “disappeared”. Well, HE’S BAAAACK!

(with the original tag, no less!)

One more: this painted tray is just the perfect shade of red, and has just the right sense of joie de vivre.

Inspiring? I think so. Mind-numbing quantities of things to look at? Totally.
The next Brimfield show is in the spring!

Every art studio should have at least one cool chair, preferably bought at an antique store or flee market. Check out this beauty I purchased last week on Wickenden St. in Providence, RI. I love that my studio furniture now inspires me.

The pattern and cat are from my “Meow” collection and are available for licensing.

©Lesley Breen Withrow

What a beautiful day it is again here in New England! Here’s some art I created for a greeting card that reminds me of the wonderful weather we are having. I hope it stays like this for a little while longer.

Today is my daughter’s 4th birthday! We had a wonderful birthday party for her yesterday and she got all the Smurfs and My Little Ponies that she had been dreaming of! (Including Papa Smurf and Smurfette). It’s funny, because those are the same gifts I dreamed of getting back in the day. Gotta love retro!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

I found these Barbie note cards From Graphic De France, had to have them! Not because they are Barbie (talk about an enduring license) but because this is the type of fashion drawing that I am drawn too. Maybe because I grew up staring at my mother’s Vogue Patterns. I am am always inspired by this type of art. I feel like I just stepped out of a Doris Day movie! I created this bride for a wedding invitations that I am working on, I didn’t use too much color on her, I didn’t want her to overpower the invite it self but I could sketch all day like this.