THE BLOG
The Utah Southern Idaho SCBWI Inside Story
Saturday SCBWI The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and First Book joined together for Inside Story at 12 Independent book stores around the world. The Utah Southern Idaho Region was able to participate at the King’s English Book Store in Salt Lake City. Five authors were scheduled but Ann Bowen and Platte Clark came down with the flu so we heard the inside story from Kim Williams-Justesen, Jean Reagan and Bobby Pyron.
Elissa Cruz and I brought refreshments and prizes for the drawing that was held. An original illustration by local illustrator Erika Baird was one of the prizes.
People had their books signed by the authors and enjoyed some time chatting with them after. Thirty Five books will be donated to children who need books by First Book because of the books that were purchased at The King’s English that day. Come and join the fun next year.
Meeting the Writers who Write for the Kids
Kings English and the Utah/So. Idaho Region for SCBWI (The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) has been chosen as one of 12 regions in the U.S. to pilot the International “Inside Story”. November 2, 2014 at the Kings English at 11 a.m., you can meet and hear from five children’s authors. Jean Reagan author of “How to Babysit a Grandpa”, Anne Bowen “Scooter in the Outside”, Bobbie Pyron “The Dogs of Winter”, Platte Clark “Bad Unicorn”, and Kim Williams-Justesen “The Deepest Blue”.
These authors will share their inside story on writing their books. There will be drawing for special prizes including a drawing to win a phone call from a famous author and a grand prize drawing across all bookstores to have a character in a new Almost Identical book by Lin Oliver named after them. In addition, First Book will donate a book to a child in need for every book purchased at an SCBWI Inside Story event.
This event has two purposes: to provide an opportunity for young readers, teachers, librarians, and children’s book lovers to become acquainted with new releases, and to build traffic and sales for independent bookstores. This is scheduled to be a yearly event and will go world wide.
About First Book
First Book provides access to new books for children in need. To date, First Book has distributed more than 100 million books and educational resources to programs and schools serving children from low-income families throughout the UnitedStates and Canada. First Book is transforming the lives of children in need and elevating the quality of education by making new, high-quality books available on an ongoing basis. Learn more at www.firstbook.org.
About SCBWI
Founded in 1971, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is one of the largest existing writers’ and illustrators’ organizations, with over 22,000 members worldwide. It is the only organization specifically for those working in the fields of children’s literature, magazines, film, television, and multimedia. The organization was founded by Stephen Mooser (President) and Lin Oliver (Executive Director), both of whom are well-published children’s book authors and leaders in the world of children’s literature. Learn more at www.scbwi.org.
Jean Reagan: jeanreagan@gmail.com
Anne Bowen: www.annebowen.com
Bobbie Pyron: www.bobbiepyron.com
Platte Clark: www.platte-a-tudes.blogspot.com
Kim Williams-Justesen: www.kwjustesen.com
Alane Ferguson’s Boot Camp
I’m not sure I would want Alane to assist with my heart surgery but she was a great doctor for our manuscripts. Utah/Southern Idaho SCBWI had Alane Ferguson’sBoot Camp last Saturday. We went over the first five pages of our manuscripts. You can learn a lot about critiquing by listening to critiques from 9 a.m. in the morning til 5:30 p.m. at night. We only had a short break to buy some books and grab a subway sandwich before we headed back to the manuscripts. I had a mouthful of subway and half a sandwich in my hand when they were herding us back to work.
When we broke for lunch, the conference attendees headed for the books before they headed to the food, crazy writers. Alane had the help of Carol Williams in the critiquing. The day was filled with great critiquing interspersed with laughter. Eight and a half hours of going over manuscripts might make for a long day but the writers had fun stories and Alane and Carol had great advice. We got caught up in the stories and how to make them better. And for those of us who use paint brushes and watercolor more than words, Alane was very kind.
Links: SCBWI Alane Ferguson Carol Williams
The Tomie de Paola SCBWI Award Details are Here.
| www.scbwi.org |
The Utah Watercolor Society
watercolor on 1/2 sheet watercolor paper.
I told my watercolor class that I would let them know about the Utah Watercolor Society Meeting tonight. Luckily I got a call from someone reminding me that it was tonight. Robert Burridge will be presenting tonight October 1st 7p.m. at the SLCC Campus, Gail Miller Conference Center, 9750 S. 300 W., Sandy, Ut. It will be in the auditorium. Look and ask around to find it. The show that Robert Burridge juried will have an opening reception at the Michael Berry Gallery in Salt Lake City this Friday night from 6 p.m. til 9 p.m. I had two paintings juried into the show. “Winter’s Last” was one of them. I hope you can come and join us both nights.
Getting the Right Angle
The first time I went up and took pictures, I couldn’t get the angle right. I had been commissioned to paint a friend’s house. There were trees on the curb of the house entirely covering the street view and the house angled steeply upward. When I got home and reviewed the photos, I could not visualize a nice painting. I needed to head up to the house again armed with a little known artistic tool, the tall ladder. If I climbed near the top rung, the angle was much better. The other option would have been to climb up a tree but that might have ended with a nice ride in the back of an ambulance and leaves in my teeth.
Even though I took great care to get the right photo, it is your inspiration and jumping off point. If you are a slave to the photo, your painting will show it. You need to think of design and color and move things around to get the essence of the view. When you are doing a watercolor of someone’s house, you want to portray the house but you also want a beautiful painting that captures the family, the love and day to day adventures that live within. It becomes a painting of family and memories.