Children's Books

Recently we packed our bags and headed to Amagansett for a little vacation. We were fortunate enough to be invited by our friends Nick and Renee who have a beach house there. The house was bought by Nick's mom and dad back in the 60's and recently underwent a major renovation. The new look is streamlined and modern but many charming touches from the past remain.

The room that Tom and I stayed in had a bookcase full of old books and I was immediately drawn to the collection of vintage children's books. There were so many good ones that I could have happily spent the week indoors going through all of them. I managed to restrain myself and concentrated on three illustrator's that I had forgotten about; Martin and Alice Provensen and Miroslav Sasek. These were some of my favorite books and illustrations as a child and I am so happy to be reunited with these old friends.

Cover of "The Provensen Animal Book"

From the story "The Unhappy Birthday" The Provensen's illustrated the original Tony the Tiger for Kellogg's.

Love this camouflage set.

Hopscotch with a fox.

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Two books from Miroslav Sasek's "This Is" collection.

Notre Dame from "This is Paris"

Arch de Triumph from "This is Paris"

Tourists from "This is Venice"

A flooded Piazza San Marco from "This is Venice"

Hope you enjoyed that. Now I have some books to hunt down and purchase!

Surtex-Better Late than Never

New friend and talented artist Hiroshi Tanabe, me and my Wonder Twin, Chad.

Bless me Father for I have sinned....it's been almost two months since my last blog post.

But it was two months of non-stop work so please cut me some slack.

My studio mate, Chad, and I decided to head to NY for Surtex, the Stationery Show and the ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair). The last time I went to Surtex I had a booth and it was something like 15 years ago. The show has really grown and it was fun seeing some of my illustrator pals and their new work. Chad and I are both represented by Art in Motion so our work was in their booth.

I am happy to report that I made the trend book this year-woo hoo!

Usually I go to these shows and come away overwhelmed and thinking something like "What the heck am I doing in this business?" but this time I came away feeling pretty confident about what I do.

I didn't really see anything really clear as far as trends go just lots of pattern, collage and layering. Grey, green and yellow seen to be creeping in as far as color trends go.

There is no photography allowed at Surtex so I have no photos of the show but I do have photos of some of the fun and frivolity that was had in the city.

Enjoy!

After walking the Highline we needed a cappuccino so we headed to The Strand Hotel.

View of the Highline from the Strand Hotel.

The organic, aeroponic roof top garden of Bell Book and Candle, where I met friends for dinner.

I actually saw my salad being "harvested" and got a peek at Kiefer Sutherland's roof top garden.