Now going up - "Skating Yes I Can" book

"Magic Man help me skate if you can" will be my new blog complete in two week. I am publishing this older work of mine and a friend Lee Ann Lehni's verse. http://skateyesican.blogspot.com/

Just noticed how close the message of the magic man book is to my Obama wood block paintings. In both the magic comes from within us inspired by a leading facilitator. The purpose of the skating book was to encourage the self-esteem of my children through the physical sport of roller skating. My kids were competitive roller skaters. They learned new skills by visualizing in their minds what they wished to accomplish. The purpose of the new Obama blocks is for my grandchildren to visualize that the teaming up of citizens can give them an effective voice in government.

Now one of my paintings is hanging in the Corvallis, Oregon Obama Democrate Party Headquarters, "Challenges us to know we can because Obama "won't back down from any challenge." This is the block picturing the high school aged Obama holding the ball of fair play. The quote is from his brother-in-law, the OSU Basketball Coach C. Robinson from his speech at the Democratic Convention.

Our current election has just too much fearful mud throwing. The reason that the Republicans are able to make fear an effective strategy in the presidential campaign is the low self-esteem of citizens. If the citizens of the United States of America believe in their ability to be heard, the fabricated fear factor in campaigns would just roll off and citizens would be able to make a clear choice.

The process of the original book was very different. I first made the illustrations on large silk banners and then found a writer who wrote the verse. LeeAnn Lehni gives me permission to self publish our work. LeeAnn is very gracious because we are very different. I am liberal and she is conservative.

Imagine conservatism and liberalism could exist without this very destructive polarization. It is like a third illness of fear destroying us. It is nothing new as in 1870 Mark Twain quotes his grandmother in RUNNING FOR GOVERNOR. " You have never done one single thing in all your life to be ashamed of - not one. Look at the newspapers - look at them and comprehend what sort of characters Messrs. Smith and Blank are, and then see if you are willing to lower yourself to their level and enter a public canvas with them." An expression for what his opponents did to Twain is - ad hominem. 1) appealing to a person's feelings or prejudices rather than his intellect. 2. marked by an attack on an opponent's character rather than by an answer to his contentions.

Excited to Illustrate J. H. Sweet's Foo and Friends early reader chapter book

The illustrator in me is encouraged by an invitation by published author, HJ Sweet. I have signed a professional contract and by the end of October or before I'll complete the first in a series of books about Foo and Friends. These books, for now, will be free books on the Internet. Joanne's writing has extraordinary characters and great action making illustrating her work both challenging and rewarding. I am now brain storming by making clay models of the faces of ceramic fantasy dogs, march monster, and an Evil Eye, a gnome, a gargoyle, a flamingo, a plastic owl and many more.