Inspiration from SCBWI 2012 conference

I am just beginning to recover from the crazy (as in an exceptional kind of crazy) 4 days of the SCBWI 2012 summer conference.  There is just so much to report, which will be done, but not all at once.  I'm still processing it all.  This was my second year attending this spectacular conference.  Last year, I was completely new to this world and didn't know anyone.  I had to jump in and make friends.  This year was different.  This year,  there were many faces I recognized and knew from my region's writer's and illustrator schmoozes.  But more on this feeling later.

I began looking through my many notes and decided to look for the inspirational quotes I wrote down.  They stay with me all year long.  Here is my recap from authors, illustrators, author/illlustrators, agents, editors, and art directors:

Tony DiTerlizzi  "looking backwards to go forwards"

E.B. Lewis  "If you don't have the love of what you are doing, then you don't belong here."

Patricia MacLachlan "Children learn to speak to tell us the stories that are already in their head."

Bryan Collier "Artists, the whole world has been waiting for you to dream."  (This was my absolute favorite quote!  He spoke with such passion about artists and the "seed" of creativity inside all of us.)

Karen Cushman "To attain your hearts desire you have to help someone else."

Clare Vanderpool quoted an Siberian Elder "If you don't know the trees, you'll be lost in the forest, but if you don't know the stories, you may be lost in life."

Jon Klassen "You can't worry about the stuff you can't control.  You have to keep working and creating."

Ruta Sepetys: "You can't break the broken, but it's when you glue the pieces together you become stronger."

Antoinette Portis "Tell kids the truth."

Gary Schmidt "Write stories to give the reader more to be a human being with."

I noticed a commonality amongst all of the speakers.  It seemed as though the following phrases were heard in every keynote speech and breakout rooms.

1. Be open to surprise
2. Tell the truth
3. Create what the child version of yourself has always wanted

These things might seem like common sense, but in a conversation with a few of my fellow illustrators, we discussed how you hear the same things at every conference, but depending on where you are on your journey some words resonate with you.  We hear what we need to hear.  Sometimes we need reaffirmation of our path.  Sometimes we need guidance on a new direction.  Sometimes we need encouragement.  We all leave with something different.

What did I leave with?

-A stronger sense of community and a new friend, Laura Hoffman.  We had met at a variety of illustrator schmoozes, but we never really knew each other.  We were roommates for the conference and became good friends.  She introduced me to people, and I connected all of her social media.  She is extremely talented!  Check out her blog at http://www.laurahoffmanart.blogspot.com/.


-More confidence in my illustrations.  People had such wonderful reactions to my postcards and business cards.  I'm exactly sure how I thought they would react, but it was always fun to see them smile.

-A better understanding of how to write.  I have been struggling with my original Mizzle story.  I have been over thinking and over writing.  It was helpful listening to all of the author/illustrators, but Antoinette Portis seemed to help me the most.  At one talk, she said: "If it can go into the picture, then it has to go." At the illustrator intensive she told us: "Take out all of the words that are already in the picture and say the words that need to be said."

But before I end my post for today, I thought I'd end with my doodles and drawings from the conference.  There were more as the day came to an end. Here they are! :)

I was exhausted the last day of the conference and could not stop thinking about being home in bed :)

more sleeping

I'm not sure where she came from, but I find her adorable.

Sunday Agglomeration- Spring Yoga Retreat :)

This week yoga was on my mind.  It is always on my mind, but this week in particular because of the yoga retreat I went to this past weekend at the White Lotus Retreat Center in Santa Barbara, CA.  It was beautiful and amazing!  It changes you.  To get away from facebook, twitter, TV, texting, and just technology in general is a great sensation.  You are forced to look at your surroundings, and more importantly, yourself. Samantha and Alexis were our group leaders.  They are both amazing people!  If you ever get a chance you need to do a retreat with Samantha and Alexis (www.shantishantiyoga.com).  They were extremely encouraging and inspiring.

Sometimes life is funny how it all works out.  The past few months I have been feeling stuck.  The only way I can truly describe it is that I feel like I'm running really fast, but I'm not moving anywhere.  I am just suspended while I run and watch everyone pass by me.  It is a horrible feeling.  This retreat came at a perfect time in my life.  I've had a lot on my mind.  I have been thinking about my personal goals as an artist, illustrator, author, and teacher.  Changes are happening at work...bitter sweet changes, but it has put my personal growth into perspective. I have different goals for each aspect of my life and many times they are not leading towards the same path.  I have also, been thinking about my divorce.  It happened three years ago, but clearly there was something unfinished since I was dreaming about my ex.  I had no intentions of dealing with any of these thoughts on the retreat.  I didn't know what to expect other than doing some yoga, and enjoying the scenery, but the events only brought those thoughts to the surface and confirmed what I have known to be true in my heart.  On the last day of the retreat, we had to select a mediation card with our eyes closed before our yoga practice.  This is the card I picked up.

I have always told people that my divorce was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.  I'm not saying my ex was horrible because he isn't.  We were just really wrong for each other.  But that was the critical moment in my life that became the rock that fell into the water and created a multitude of ripples.  Those ripples were guitar lessons, fitness kickboxing, attempt at surfing, running, cooking, my master's degree, illustrating, children's book writing, yoga, blogging, gardening, and rediscovering my love for simple things like sunsets, the beach, waves crashing, trees, rain, and walking in the rain.  It took getting lost in order to find myself again, but walking backwards sometimes is the best way to see yourself with new eyes.  It has been an amazing journey so far.

The retreat challenged me physically.  We did a lot of partner yoga, some acrobatic yoga (which was probably my favorite), and we danced.  I haven't danced in such a long time. It was a lot of fun!

 I did poses I would have never thought was possible for me to do.

My best friend sitting on me like a chair.

I'm doing a shoulder stand on my friend's knees.

A few weekends ago, I had talked with my illustrator's group about feeling stuck.  I told them that at this point I was just playing with drawings until I was inspired.  They agreed that I should just continue being creative because it could help inspire me. One of the illustrators loved my Mizzle yoga pin that I made from the Shrink-a-Dink paper.  She recommended that I continue to create drawings of my mizzles in yoga poses.  I thought this was a great idea. Here are some of the drawings I created this week.

 These were inspired by the retreat where we did partner yoga.

My yoga instructor called this the double scoop.
Child's pose on top of child's pose

This she called backpack.

2012

In 2011, I completed my master's degree which focused on integrated teaching through the arts.  Even though it was a masters in education, it led me in an unexpected direction.  Before the end of the program, I found myself entering the world of children's books writing and illustrating.  I became a member of the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators.  Since then, my life has been engulfed by newsletters, blogs, books, and any other type of publication about writing and illustrating.  I have also began producing more work than I have in a very long time.  The year had ended with making the decision of participating in Novembers' PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month) and somehow finding 30 story ideas for children's book.  I'm not sure if they are any good, but it is definitely a start in the right direction.  I also sent in my entry for the Tomie dePaola Illustrator Award.  He chose an excerpt from “Chicken Licken,” by P.C. Asbjörnsen.  Here is what I entered for the excerpt:

So they went along and went along until they met Turkey Lurkey
“Good morning, Goosey Loosey, Ducky Daddles, Cocky Locky, Henny Penny,
and Chicken Licken,” said Turkey Lurkey, “where are you going?”
“Oh, Turkey Lurkey, the sky is falling and we are going to tell the King!”
“How do you know the sky is falling?” asked Turkey Lurkey.
“Ducky Daddles told me,” said Goosey Loosey.
“Cocky Locky told me,” said Ducky Daddles.
“Henny Penny told me,” said Cocky Locky.
“Chicken Licken told me,” said Henny Penny 
“I saw it with my own eyes, I heard it with my own ears,
and a piece of it fell on my tail!” said Chicken Licken.
“Then I will go with you,” said Turkey Lurkey, “and we will tell the King!”

 Tomorrow the winner will be announced.  It is exciting, but I can't imagine how they are going to decide on the winner.  Through facebook we were able to share images of our entries.  There were so many wonderful illustrations.  Regardless of the outcome, I had a fun time creating this image. Now my next part of my journey begins with the 12x12 in 2012 challenge, maybe the picture book dummy challenge, and my own new year's resolution to create one quick illustration a day(starting tomorrow).  I just need to get into the practice of creating more movement in my drawings, which gesture drawings will help with.  So welcome 2012, a productive year of writing and illustrating!