"Plein Air" sounds fancier than "That guy wandering around painting stuff."

Orange Painting #3, 2010. Oil on canvas, 12 x 16 inches.

Orange Painting #2, 2010. Oil on prepared paper, 16 x 18 inches.

Orange Painting #1, 2010. Oil on prepared paper, 15 x 14 inches.

But that's what it looks like to everyone else.

I've been trying to get out of the studio and wander around the neighboring neighborhood, taking advantage of some of the dereliction and crumbling facades before they're one day torn down and replaced with something more respectable. Searching for character is really such a selfish pursuit; I think overall it's better to try capturing these fleeting bits of ugliness than it is to fight their slow gentrification and lament the aesthetic loss. Plainness does suit the greater good, really, far more than falling bricks and exposed wires. The things I like about squalor have far more to do with how it catches light than how nice it would be to live amongst.

It's National Rationalization Day!

Kevin realized he'd left the screen door carelessly ajar, and for this he would surely be punished. Still, there were no longer any leftovers moldering in the fridge, and Mom had never really approved of those old hunting trophies anyway.

And...


Today also marks the launch of The Rhinoceros Boy's Lament Store on zazzle.com, accessible through the lovely widget panel to your right. You now have a one stop shop for Unholy Holiday ephemera and other high quality goodies.

Never again face Penguin Awareness Day without a gift to give!

The Low-down on Long-winded Me

I had the pleasure this past Monday of talking with Mary Ann Scheuer at greatkidbooks.blogspot.com , a part of the Sydney Taylor Awards "blog tour" interview series. My 2009 title "The Yankee at the Seder," written by Elka Weber and published by Tricycle Press, was recently named a Sydney Taylor honor book by the Association of Jewish Libraries.

The interview, along with a plethora of related art, is posted over at greatkidbooks.blogspot.com.

The Year in Pictures

2009 was a year of about eighty or so paintings around here; included in the mix were 36 watercolors completed in a two week span for an educational book packager, as well as two picture books taken from start to finish, and a few 2008 stragglers completed. Here are some highlights, in no particular chronological order.







From Calico Dorsey, by Susan Lendroth. Tricycle Press, 2010.

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From Blue House Dog, by Deborah Blumenthal. Peachtree Publishing, 2010.

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A handful of the afore-mentioned watercolors, though for contractual reasons that's about all I can tell you about them.

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Mind Your Manners, Alice Roosevelt! by Leslie Kimmelman was completed and released this past year as well. Peachtree Publishing, 2009.

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For my lovely sister-in-law's baby shower, of course. These were typeset with tongue-in-cheek dietary information and wrapped around baby food jars containing the party favors.

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Also published in 2009 was The Yankee at the Seder, by Elka Weber. Tricycle Press.

Mutants and Maps.

I had a nice opportunity this past month to work with the NYC firm Mutant Media, this time on a poster for Aramark's Fuel school lunch program, with art direction, design and photography by Jessica Mehlman and illustrations, hand lettering, and little touches of photoshoppy goodness by, well, me.

What's not to like about drawing a piratey map with platypus? Here's (respectively) the whole shebang, followed by some of the spots...

September 30th is Ask A Stupid Question Day.

I won't be in the studio to celebrate it, as I'll be out teaching all day. Which, come to think of it, might provide ample celebration...


September 30th marks the much venerated
Ask a Stupid Question Day.

But it remains a day
like any other for
Eliza Lee Bonodona, who,
for once in her vibrant young life,
would like to take
her Capybara,
"Mr. Whiskers,"
to the park without without
having to respond to
the ubiquitous,
"Dude,
how old is that
Guinea Pig?"

August 22nd is National Tooth Fairy Day!

While little publicized, it is nonetheless true that for every cavity, root canal, or pulled tooth, the Tooth Fairy pays one late night visit, during which she roots through couch cushions and laundry baskets, retrieving loose change from our less dentally fastidious populace. Every 22nd of August, she balances her books and purchases for herself a brand new tutu.