September 24th is Fish Amnesty Day! Get a move on it!

No longer, Becky told herself,
would Mr. Squiggy be forced to circle
his tiny bowl of tepid tap water,
goggled by visitors and fed those small
factory made protein pellets.
No, for today he had been made free,
free to make his own choices, 
liberated from the stifling care
of his old home,
to chart his own course
and seek his own fortune.

In the New Stuff department...

This Fall, I'll have two new titles out, Jingle Bells: How The Holiday Classic Classic Came To Be, by John Harris and published by Peachtree, and Better Than You, a new collaboration with Trudy Ludwig, author of Just Kidding. Originally slated for release by recently folded Tricycle Press, it will be published by Knopf, an imprint of Random House.

 From Jingle Bells, By John Harris. Peachtree Publishers, 2011. Oil on Paper. 

 

From Jingle Bells, By John Harris. Peachtree Publishers, 2011. Oil on Paper. 

 From Better Than You, By Trudy Ludwig. Random House, 2011. Oil on Paper. 

 

 From Better Than You, By Trudy Ludwig. Random House, 2011. Gouache on Paper. 

New things are also afoot, and while I can't divulge much, I will leave you with this tidbit... and while I still cannot avail further details or specifics, I can relate at the very least that the protagonist is not, in fact, the stuffed flying badger.

 

Also coming down the proverbial pike is the corresponding title to this recently completed painting for Lee and Low...

...a 22" x 30" oil on paper for a book that is not about 19th century competitive bocce ball.

Who is this guy?

Well, for now his identity is classified, but he's definitely not the world's first major league deaf baseball player.

And while I can't divulge his identity at this point, I'll be posting further updates on his travails as his Fall 2012 world debut approaches. No action figures are in the works right now, but you can see why I might want one.

IN OTHER NEWS, I was recently profiled and interviewed by the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators NJ chapter regional adviser and all around go-getter Kathy Temean, and will be participating in the NJ SCBWI November 5th-6th Craft Day at the Princeton Hyatt Regency, with an oil paintin' workshop on Saturday, and sticking around to participate in their Illustrators' Day Mentoring Workshop on Sunday.

The whole kit and caboodle and be found here:
http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2011/07/02/illustrator-saturday-adam-gustavson/

Cobbled together.

15" x 22," oil on paper.

I still can't tell you much about this project, except that it comes out next year, and the main character is not a croquet prodigy who interns in his youth as an apothecary. 

 

I'll tell you what it's for in a year.

oil on paper, 15.5" x 22"

But to be fair, here are a few hints: it's not about badminton, and it doesn't take place in the future.

A little ol' workshop.

oil on canvas, 14"x18"

This past Friday, I was invited into Millburn High School, in Millburn, NJ, to conduct an oil painting demo and workshop, for what I can only describe as the most enthusiastic and attentive group of students I've ever been in front of. The model originally booked for the afternoon had to cancel, and this young lady volunteered to hold her pose for the four hours I was there. 

Not counting the "let's let the model stretch out her back muscles so she neither faints nor atrophies" breaks, she sat as still as a statue, and every time she returned to her pose, even the little dot of light hitting the far corner of her mouth was in place.  She really did a remarkable job.

Special thanks to Kathleen Harte-Gilsenan for putting the whole thing together, and particularly for amassing around her such an informed and passionate group of students.

 

photo: Kathleen Harte-Gilsenan

It's up!

Original paintings from my book The Yankee at the Seder by Elka Weber, published by Tricycle Press, are now on display at the Danforth Museum in Framingham, MA, mentioned this week in the Boston Globe's Art Critic's Picks.  I'll be at the museum on Thursday the 21st, signing copies of the book and giving two talks to students.

Special thanks, of course, to everyone at the museum who made this exhibition possible, as well as funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention Elka for writing such a fascinating book,  Joann Taylor, our editor, and publishing director Nicole Geiger, during whose tenure Tricycle Press put out such a consistent list of high-quality, dependably relevant children's books on all variety of both familiar and unexpected topics.

More information is to be found at the museum web site. Exciting doings, indeed!