Pie Day!

Playing with photoshop painting! Mmm, pie! It's starting to be really fun now instead of just frustrating. I can get brighter colors, change my mind as often as I want, and paint in an additive fashion - without wasting paint or breathing in fumes. Next, I want to see how much I can integrate traditional and digital media so that it is fun and satisfying.

Happy Mother's Day

More Inks and Sketches - 3

More Inks and Sketches - 2

More inks and sketches - 1

Apple

Digital drawing/painting of a stylized apple on my Wacom tablet, in Photoshop CS5.

First Peas Contest Begins!

Kids and teachers might just love this one! Grow and harvest your own peas, might just win like Shakayla! Check it out here.

Ink

Love

So many kinds of love. I'm reading 8th Grade Super Zero by Olugbemisola-Rhuday-Perkovich and seeing the different kinds of love in Reggie's life is what inspired me to sketch this.

I'm not done reading it yet, so don't give away the ending! ;)

Coloring Pages for First Peas to the Table!

Merry Christmas!

First Peas to the Table is on Facebook!

This is a book I'm really excited about! Classroom gardening, spring, contests and kids! It's called First Peas to the Table and it's coming out this spring from Albert Whitman & Co. Susan Grigsby and I teamed up again, and it's a great story. More to come - teacher's guides, coloring pages, an maybe even a contest!
Visit and like the new Facebook page! :)

Halloween!

What if...

Squirrels eat pumpkin...are they Zombie Squirrels?

A scary moonlit night...the old tree stump looks like it might have a face...

Dog tags

I kept all of dog's tags. Strung ribbon through them, made a loop, and they're Christmas tree ornaments. :) This one I did on cold press watercolor paper with Winsor Newton colors.

Yupo!

I got some "Yupo" paper and experimented with it. It's very smooth, and watercolor can "sit" on top of the surface, almost the way it looks on a paper palette. The experience was very frustrating for me so far...

 

I think the watercolors were too thin and light.

So I did a really loose sketch of a maltese, and threw on darker, richer colors. This is when I realized that unless your hands are superclean, oils will leave areas that the paint won't adhere to.

So without any pencil, I loaded up some brushes with green and brown and did this. Ah, I think I see how it should work now.

Next I'll experiment with printing a drawing onto it from my Epson. Then make sure I don't use any lotion on my hands before painting!

Sketches

Some sketches to share...

Celebrate!

Squirrel sketches

In the Garden with Dr. Carver wins the Growing Good Kids Award!


The American Horticultural Society and the National Junior Master Gardener Program are pleased to inform you that In the Garden with Dr. Carver published by Albert Whitman & Co. was selected as a 2011 Growing Good Kids - Excellence in Children's Literature Award winner.

This book awards program was established to recognize and build awareness of picture books that effectively promote an understanding of and appreciation for gardening/plants and the environment. Through engaging story, illustration and design, In the Garden with Dr. Carver was designated by our book awards committee as exemplifying excellence in this aim.

Click here!

Bestseller list!

In the Garden with Dr. Carver is on the Shelf Awareness blog's best seller list! Neat!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Lucky bunny...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Photos and Video from my School Visit at Brophy

I visited a 4th grade classroom at the Brophy School in Framingham, and local reporter from the Patch was there. She took photos, video, and wrote this very nice article about the visit. :)

Thanks Susan Petroni!

Way Tugeau!

My agent, Chris Tugeau, has recently entered the world of blogging! Check it out here. :)

Lucky Beans has been named one of the Smithsonian's Notable Books for Children!

Lucky Beans has been named one of the Smithsonian Magazine's Notable Books for Children!

7 Impossible Things!

7 Imp is always a cool place to visit...but this time I'm in it!

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Blessed Yule, Happy Kwanzaa to all!

Kite

 

I love the words "What if?". Here's a boy out with his dogs flying a kite. What if...he came across a broken kite? What if it's exactly like the kite he's flying? What if this is a picture about a time travelling adventure?

Winter holidays...

School Library Journal reviews In the Garden with Dr. Carver

K-Gr 3–In this story set in the early 1900s, African-American elementary-school students Sally and her classmates get scientific lessons from Dr. George Washington Carver, who arrives in a “funny-looking wagon” pulled by an old mule, his “movable school.” Everyone in the small Alabama town has heard of the famous plant scientist, however, and pays attention to what he has to say. The setting seems slightly idealized. The characters look healthy and well-dressed, although they do talk about the difficulties of farming land depleted by years of growing cotton. The focus of the story is on Carver teaching the children about plants though, not economic conditions, so Tadgell’s sunny color palette, rich with earth tones, is appropriate. Sally, in a bright red dress and white pinafore, stands out in the gardening spreads. The watercolor illustrations include many humorous asides of children acting like children–making horrified faces as they taste Dr. Carver’s menu of “chicken” made from peanuts and wild-weed salad, or being silly with friends when they are supposed to be listening. Scientific and historical information is well-presented through the gentle text and lighthearted illustrations. Teachers will find many uses for this appealing book.–Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher’s School, Richmond, VA

October SLJ review

GRIGSBY, Susan. In the Garden with Dr. Carver. illus. by Nicole Tadgell. unpaged. notes. CIP. Albert Whitman. 2010. Tr $16.99. ISBN 978-0-8075-3630-8. LC 2009048124.