September Round Up ...

September has been a busy month for me! 

Here's a quick round up of the whole shabang ..

PRINCETON BOOK FESTIVAL, NEW JERSEY

This is the first really BIG book festival I have exhibited at .. exhausting, fun - I'll be back!

Jazams Book Store did an excellent job.

 

 At my table ... It was hot and humid and windy!

  

 With Linda Barth, author of our book.

  We sold out ... yippee!

 

 Saw lot's of famous people! John Bemelmans Marciano ...

 Bad Kitty and Nick Bruel (but he wasn't in the costume I hasten to add. This was one HOT Kitty).

  Brian Lies and his wondrous car!

 Michael Buckley!

 The cooler than cool, Peter Brown ...

 Awesome and prolific Roxie Munro!

Brian Floca!

PHILIP HOOSE PRESENTATION, PORTLAND, MAINE

A little later in the month I scooted down to Portland with the high-energy author Lynn Plourde to attend a presentation by Phil Hoose (National Book Award and Newbury Medal Winner) talking about his beautiful book MOONBIRD. Kirsten Cappy, from Curious City, did a great job putting this together.

NESCBWI  ILLUSTRATION SYMPOSIUM

Just before the month blew out in rain and wind (as it is today) I traveled with Anna Boll (SCBWI RA for Maine) to the Illustrator's Symposium at NH Institute of Art, Manchester. Great faculty, caught up with some friends and feel set for the long nights of winter to come ...

 

Anne Sibley O'Brien gave an excellent talk of drawing ethnicity in children's books.

 

Melissa Sweet and the team who designed her book 'Balloons over Broadway' gave an excellent panel.

 Brain Lies gave a great talk on marketing ... a reminder that we only get one go at a launch, so you had better plan!

 And I won a copy of Chris Van Dusen's book in the door prizes. it's a little spooky!!

I am ready for a few weeks at home in the studio WORKING!

Got good news coming in the pipeline too. Stay tuned!

Happy October

Toodles!

Hazel

http://hazelmitchell.com

Oh and I bought a Brian Lies bat, I love it!!

Summer NESCBWI Banner

This week I was asked to create a banner for New England's SCBWI Facebook page. This was an honour and a lot of fun to do. What better than lobster and water on a day that was over 90F .. phew, Maine!

Here is the banner.

View it on Facebook at NESCBWI page

I wanted to keep it fun and lively, so it's one of my digital drawings straight into Photoshop, no sketching. It stops me overthinking and it's a style that is appealing to younger eyes. And older ones too I hope!

Right now I am packing to go to ALA (American Library Conference) in Anaheim, CA. This is my first time at a big library conference and it's exciting. I have two book signings, so if you are going, catch me at Kane Miller (with Anastasia Suen, author of 'All Star Cheerleaders') at 11am Saturday and at Charlesbridge's booth Saturday 2-3pm signing 'Hidden New Jersey'.

I am looking forward to meeting LIBRARIANS and catching up with some industry friends. So please come and say HELLO!

There will be photos ...

Right, back to packing.

Toodles
Hazel

On the bedside table:
A slew of Emily Gravett picture books
'Picture This' and 'What it is' by Lynda Barry - recommend highly.

Win a Max Pack!

This week I got a lovely package in the post - a whole heap of goodies that accompany the children's motivational book 'Why Am I Here?'. I illustrated and did the layout for the book in 2009 for Simon and Schuster bestselling author Matthew Kelly.

Author of several NY Times bestselling motivational books for adults and top class motivational speaker, this is Matthew's first book for children, published by his own publishing company: Beacon Publishing. Matthew is head of a phenomenal organization and the book itself has sold thousands already. To go along with the book his foundation has developed a whole teaching pack, including dolls, lesson plans, posters ... and I worked on the design  and layout of everything you see in the photo ... including the packing boxes and hang tags on Max the doll. It was great fun, and even more fun to see it all together like this ... I feel quite proud!

So here's how you can win a goodie bag ... please be a follower of my blog and leave a comment on this post and you will be in the draw to win one of three packs including the book. Max the doll, pencils, badge, fridge magnet and a couple of other goodies! Good luck.

Other goings on in the life of The Wacky Brit ... next weekend on my way to the NE SCBWI conference in Fitchburg. Going to be entering the poster showcase again (last year I won 2 places, I am not expecting to replicate that though!). Here's my entry (this year we had to recreate a landmark children's book cover)
If your going, come say hello :-)

Meanwhile, working my way through the finals for the 'Hidden New Jersey' book for Charlesbridge Publishing. I love it when I get to the colouring stage, that's the most fun. The deadline is mid June so It's coming up shortly.

And in between I am putting together the school project for the local elementary school 4th grade that they have illustrated and written (it's about The Seasons in Maine).

So - heck it's been busy. Trying to stick to a good routine of bed early and up early. A bit like being a long distance runner .. pacing oneself.

Right I'm off - hope you will enter the competition!

Toodles
Hazel
aka The Wacky Brit

Lot's of book on the bedside table ... too many to mention right now.