Birds do it. Bees do it.

Here's some illustrations from a work-in-progress. Did you guess that it's about pollination? Right now the project is very fluid, lots and lots of changes going on. I won't bother to give you the working title because that's been changing weekly right along with the story. Here are some page spreads which may or may not make it into the final book. So it's a sneak peek just for you. Shhhh, don't tell anybody.

A tiny fleet of insects wings its way to nectar and pollen.

Hummingbirds hover at petunias, and tango with trumpets of mint.

Flowers bloom around the clock. Some only bloom at night. The Cereus cactus blooms once a year so you better be watching. Most of us are familiar with daytime pollinators like bees, hummingbirds, lady bugs and butterflies. What about the nighttime pollinators? Bats, fireflies, hawk moths and even some geckos are a few of our nighttime heroes working hard to save our planet.

Their feast awaits.

By day or by night, pollen falls when creatures feed.

One of my favorite projects that capped off 2020 was illustrating a picture book by Ryan Caver and Jacqueline Bordeaux. The book is for CleanHorizons.org, an environmental Conservation Organization. Check out their inspiring instagram feed, @clean.horizons (https://www.instagram.com/clean.horizons/) and their website is https://cleanhorizons.org.  

For every book you purchase Oliver and his friends pledge to pick up a pound of trash in your honor. This is your opportunity to help protect our coastlines along the Gulf Coast, keeping our beaches safe and beautiful and our wildlife happy and healthy. Who is Oliver, you ask? Well, he's absolutely amazing! You really need to buy a book to get involved and find out more!... 

Below are some free downloadable activity sheets created for the book.

Cootie Catcher Sea Turtle Challenge Activity Page for Litter, Litter, Please Come Here

Be-A-MAZE-ing activity sheet for Litter, Litter, Please Come Here

No to littering! coloring sheet for Litter, Litter, Please Come Here

Scratching my head, trying to work out the kinks for the cootie catcher/sea turtle activity.....

Think I've got this thing figured out with a lot of help from kids who totally know their cootie catcher construction and games!

Thanks for taking the time to check out my blog. Clicking on the illustrations enlarge the images, much easier to see details. Click the links to go to Clean Horizons for more information about their environmental group and to purchase a book. You can also click on the activity pages to download them, print them out and enjoy!!

Cathy

Summertime Reading Beyond the Book

I love how museums and companies are thinking outside the binding to expand books way beyond their borders. As a volunteer for Fort Collins Museum of Discovery I've been able to share several of my creative nonfiction picture books through Storytime in the Dome.

Wild Ones: Observing City Critters by Carol Malnor

This program happens twice a month in the expansive 360° digital dome. The books always have a live narrator to keep it interactive for these young book lovers. The books are digitized with animated page turns and some include background sound effects! It's a fun, creative way to engage these young kids in reading. Afterwards we head down to the Learning Lab for a related craft.

If You Love Honey by Martha Sullivan

Here's a couple of the photos the Murray family sent me after reading If You Love Honey in the Dome. The girls created a bulletin board full of artwork, crafts and activities relating to the story, especially focusing on the honey bees. There's no limit to their imagination!

Over on the Farm by Marianne Berkes

Are you familiar with Ivy Kids Kits? These are monthly subscription boxes designed around a picture book. I've been in awe of this company for awhile. One day I was on their website and was surprised to learn they were featuring one of my books, Over on the Farm, for that month. (Seems the illustrator is always the last to know!) But it was a happy surprise and I was blown away by all the STEAM based activities created to enhance the book. Please check out more about their company at Ivy-Kids.com. I love their mission and wish they had been around when my own kids were little.

And finally, here's some illustrations from a picture book I've been working on that's a little different for me. The publisher doesn't want me to talk about the book, but says I can show a few illustration samples. So here's my show-and-tell. It's been a fun project full of flowers, fairies and the moon.

Thanks for taking a look at my blog. Click on the links for further information and the images for larger views.
Cathy

Good bye Summer, Hello Fall

My Studio With A View's South Facing View of the Mummy Range

Summertime is said to be "dead" in the publishing world. So many publishers are on vacation and the ones keeping up the pace might have their minds elsewhere, maybe on the beach or the mountains. This summer was anything but dead. However it can be hard to focus with nature calling to get out and explore. Here's a view from my desk to give you an idea of how enticing it can be working in the foothills northwest of Fort Collins.

Shortgrass Prairie

This mandala artwork, "Shortgrass Prairie" is part of a series I'm illustrating for my licensing representative.

Gardener Girl end page artwork

Seems one mandala leads to another. Here's art for front and back end pages for another book that I'm writing and illustrating. You'll be seeing more of this in the coming months. I've got a few books I'm working on and one just SOLD (after three years of writing, researching, drawing, designing, editing, submitting query after query and more revisions) so I'm stoked!

And below are some sweet peas for Seed Packets. If you're sensing a "nature theme" here you would be right.

Sweet Peas

Marianne Berkes and Over on the Farm

 Marianne Berkes is one of my favorite authors and from what I know she never rests. Here she is on her latest book tour. Over on the Farm is one of the books we did together and it's featured in Learning Magazine for the month of September. We've included lots of fun activities for kids too.

Sedona Trolley's New Logo and Badge Artwork

Sedona Arizona

And finally above is the new logo and badge artwork for Sedona Trolley. Collaborating with their marketing director was so much fun. She shared lots of beautiful scenery of the amazing Sedona mountains.

Thanks for taking a look. Please click on each image for more information or a larger view.
Cathy