The countdown is on and reviews are coming in. Read what Kirkus Reviews has to say about One Alley Summer and pre-order your copy from your favorite bookstore now!
Open Ground Featured in the Monterey County Weekly! /
The Monterey County Weekly featured our show OPEN GROUND this week, including my painting HOMEBODY. Check it out!
OPEN GROUND Art Show Opening Soon! /
A highlight of my 2023 was joining Open Ground Studios in Seaside as a resident artist. I wanted to see what happened if I had wall space to paint surfaces larger than my desk. It was an exhilarating and more physical experience of art-making than I’d had before. And just as exciting, I became part of a rich community of artist explorers.
On Friday January 12, from 5-7, nine of us from this community will celebrate the opening a show of our collective work at the Margorie Evans Gallery at Sunset Center in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. If you are in the area, I hope you will join us!
"One to keep an eye on!" /
New year, new news!
In her School Library Journal Fuse 8 blog, Betsy Bird previews spring lists including from Marble Press, including ONE ALLEY SUMMER! Read all about it (including the quote above, plus a shout out for The Curse of the Buttons) and other spring releases here.
See art! Buy art! Eat cake! October 7&8 /
I saw these boots in San Francisco. I came back to Open Ground Studios and painted them. Come see pink boots and lots more of my art and art by the rest of the resident artists of Open Ground Studios as part of the 2023 Monterey County Artists Studio Tour. I’ll be in my studio from 11-3:30 Saturday October 7 and 11-5 Sunday October 8. Plus, there will be cake every hour on the hour to celebrate Open Ground’s ten year anniversary. Buy art! Eat cake!
Art and Risk: an interview with Canvas Rebel /
I generally think of myself as a risk-averse person, so it was interesting that this interview about my artistic process made me look anew at the role of risk in the making of art and books. Turns out I am taking leaps every day.
Novel announcement! /
This is the Publisher’s Weekly announcement for a novel I’ve been working on for many years. I can’t wait to share more details. Stay tuned!
Mining Mistakes...an interview with Lisa Crawford Watson /
A lovely conversation about the writing process with writer Lisa Crawford Watson led to this piece in the Monterey Herald. Check it out!
It's a book birthday! /
Iamasaurus is out now!
Read MoreStomping toward spring /
It's happening! /
A new picture book is coming in 2022. Let loose your romping, stomping, roaring inner dinosaur with IAMASAURUS. Illustrations by the amazing Mark Hoffman.
Write and Illustrate Your Own Tiny Book! /
I got to be in one of Mr Paul's Art Day video classes! We talk poetry and art and show you how to make your own tiny book at home with supplies you have on hand. I'd love to see what you make!
Be Careful Where You Step! /
it's thistle season
thick spines and sticklers climbing
into purple hats
Holding on /
one
lionhearted dandelion
holding fast her
feathery wig
Practicing Hope /
A year and more ago I was finding solace from the political turmoil in the world by tuning in to the physical world around me, surprised by the small but significant delights I found there. Taking these moments back to my desk, the act of writing and drawing about them soothed me, gave me hope. The world goes on.
After my show of poems and paintings Surprised by Delight was up in a gallery for the spring and summer, I didn't stop noticing, but I fell away from the practice of writing and drawing about these moments.
Now, in the spring of 2020, as we live in an uncertain present, I am finding tremendous comfort in the daily act of noticing, turning words around, noodling with pen and paint. I am surprised every day when new delights appear, and when words rise up to greet them. I have hope.
Words the Birds Say:
cheery up cheery up
luckluckluckluck
we see you we see you
cheery up up up
Surprised by Delight /
SURPRISED BY DELIGHT, a selection of my poems and sketches, will soon be on exhibit in the Gabilan Gallery at the CSUMB Salinas Center for Art and Culture!
If you are in the area any time between May and August, I hope you'll come take a look.
The opening will be Friday May 3 from 5-9 pm as part of the center's First Friday Celebration. It's a family friendly event with refreshments and lots of acitivities going on.
CSUMB Salinas Center for Art and Culture is at 1 Main Street, Salinas, California.
Morning on the Beach /
hard packed sand
this bold crow
marches
on
defying
my curious dog
Sharing the Road /
after the storm
worm explores
this new world
As I Was Walking Down the Street One Day /
a hundred silk hammocks
hanging in the hedge
spiders take a nap
Dance Partner /
a leaf alive this
flittering fluttering moth
dances with me