Dan Santat and the Children's Book Festival

Every year Provo City Library puts on a wonderful Children's Book Festival.  They bring in a well known author or illustrator to give a talk on Friday evening. Then Saturday morning they have games and activities for the kids to do, as well as book signings with the author or illustrator. This year they brought in Caldecott medal winning author and illustrator Dan Santat. I had tickets to attend the Friday evening talk, but sadly ended up being unable to attend to do some family duties. But I did take my kids to the events this morning.  The kids got there picture taken with Beekle and had a lot of fun .

I got to buy a copy of Chicken Dance, a delightful book written by Tammi Sauer and illustrated by Dan Santat and have it signed by Dan. This guy really cares about his fans and what he does.  He had a black sharpie in his hands for signing, but my daughter asked him to sign the book with a gold sharpie she was holding. He kindly obliged and then spent a minute or two looking at the signature from several angles trying to decide if it was visible enough. He apparently decided it wasn't, so he carefully signed it again in black. Then, as he did with every person in line, he added a sketch by the signature.  What a classy guy. I was very impressed. Thanks Dan, love your work!

Provo City Homegrown Art Show

Friday night was the opening of the Provo City Homegrown Art Show. I had fun attending it with my kids and seeing everyone's submissions. I was delighted to see that one of my submissions made it into the Andersen Art Gallery again this year. The art show will run through May 20th.

Major E-bay Score!

I just bought this beauty on ebay and received it in the mail today. It is an X-ACTO 3051 Professional Swivel Knife and it looks to be in pretty pristine condition. It even came with the case and five replacement blades. This is the knife cut paper artists rave about and are all wanting to have, but was discontinued by X-ACTO several years ago. I have been watching ebay awhile to try and find one. Some of these knives listed their have gone for upwards of $90. Somehow, I managed to find this one as a buy-it-now for $10. What a deal! I can't wait to get over this crummy flu and start using it in earnest. Woohoo!

Dreaming of Spring

As the snow still gathers outside, I am dreaming of spring. Here is a new project I am working on. Hopefully it is not too long until my kids and I can be out jump roping ourselves.

Provo City Homegrown Art Show Entry

I completed my project to submit to the Provo City Homegrown Art Show in time. Here it is without the frame. I am pleased with how it turned out and I can't wait to see if it gets accepted into the show.

Ballerina Project

Here is a project I am working on for the annual Provo City Homegrown Art Show in The Attic gallery of the Provo City Library. I love this art show and have participated in both of the last two years they have held the show. I have to submit a picture of the finished product in 5 days, so I guess I better get back to work.

Ouch!

You'd think working with X-ACTO knives I would cut my fingers often. But other than an unfortunate thigh stabbing incident early on when I was bending over with a knife in my hand, I have been relatively free of injury due to my art. But I got this little cut a week ago while inadvertently pushing down on a can lid in the recycling bin.

It's looks small, but it was kind of deep. It's a bit of a pain when doing art, typing, or really anything you're included to use your index finger for. Hope it heals soon.