2014 Children’s Digital Book Awards with Mary A Livingston – Children’s Book Academy.
I’ve joined the wonderful group of Blogettes over at Children’s Book Academy, let me know what you think of my first post.
Craft and Business of Writing Children’s Picture Books
The Children’s Book Academy is offering a spectacular course for children’s writers.
And today’s the last day for Early Bird registration!
The highlight of my week was sharing art with my friend, Noriko. She arrived last week to meet her puppy, Kinta. The puppy is living with us while he waits for his health clearance to go home to Japan. (See Puppy Bliss)
You may recall from Puppies, Friends and Bliss, that Noriko is an artist. She has worked mostly in oils, and more recently in pencil and pastel.
Noriko at my desk, exploring watercolor. A beautiful friend and artist.
She was curious about watercolor and we invited her to give it a try. We introduced her to the brushes and tools. In no time she was bringing life to a stunning image.
I think you’ll agree, sharing the art experience with friends is bliss.
Her first watercolor. Isn’t it stunning? She captured Kinta perfectly. Kinta by Noriko Akiyama 2014 (c)
Kinta traveled to San Francisco to pick up his person, Noriko. So happy to have her here for a visit.
When I was 8-years-old I moved from Hoopa to Burnt Ranch, CA. The entire school, K-8, only had 48 students at the time. I was in 3rd grade and it only had five students. The school grew to over 60 by the time I exited 8th grade. I’m especially happy to make school visits to small schools in rural areas.
Sometimes we do science experiments related to my books and other times we read stories or do art projects. This visit was all about the stories.
Cox Bar Elementary is only about 15 miles from Burnt Ranch, and about 40 miles from Hoopa. I’ve made a few visits over the years. This year, the school has fewer than 15 students. The kids were pretty excited to know I grew up so close to where they live.
He’s pretty doggone cute if I ignore the fact that this was one of my favorite shoes.
May the hope of this joyous season fill your heart and home throughout the year – Merry Christmas!
I’ve been pretty busy the last six months pursuing bliss. Last year I signed up for an outstanding online course and critique group over at Make Your Splashes, Make Your Marks. Through this awesome course with Mark Mitchell, I connected up with Picture Book Academy.
First up was The Craft and Business of Illustrating Children’s Picture Books For Illustrators (and adventurous authors) with the wonderful Mira Reisberg.You can subscribe to the site to receive information about future offerings.
Next was The Craft and Business of Writing Children’s Picture Books e-Courses. The next course will be starting in February 2014. Registration opens December 16th. – See more at: http://www.picturebookacademy.com/writing-childrens-picture-books.html
Then Hero’s Art Journey e-Course with the wonderful Mira Reisberg and fabulous Maya Gonzales. Next up is Get Your Grammar Groove with Miranda Paul of Rate Your Story.
I guess we’ll all have to watch and see what fruit is borne from the seeds I’ve gathered. I do know that if you’re going to sneak a little bliss authoring or illustrating, Picture Book Academy is a great stop on the journey.
Sneaking Bliss 