Fun Floyd Crafts for a Happy Holiday!!

A very merry Christmas to all!!

Farley (Floyd) and Monroe (Larue) with new Christmas toys!

The corgis and I are getting ready for the holiday and lots of visitors. Monroe and Farley are enjoying their new toys from their dog friends which they already got to open (Mia is camera shy and ran off with hers when the camera came out!).

With only a couple more days to go, this is a great time to keep the kids busy with some some fun activities and crafts to go along with my book Floyd and the Irresistible Cookie! Just print out, color, cut and enjoy. And don't forget, the new companion video with both Floyd stories is now available on DVD, too!

Happy holidays from all of us at the corgi house!

December Events: AHA Night & Old Time Holiday Weekend

Happy holidays, friends! I have 2 fantastic December events to tell you about:

THURSDAY, DEC. 12, 2013- AHA Night: Made in New Bedford
Floyd and the Irresistible Cookie book reading, 6 p.m. at the New Bedford Public Library on Pleasant Street (downtown to locals). A fun time for all ages... I'll be reading my very own Christmas story for you and there's free Floyd coloring activities for the kids.  Books and the new DVD available, too! Sponsored by the Early Literacy Consortium.

SATURDAY, DEC. 14, 2013- Fairhaven's Old Time Holiday Weekend
10a.m. - 3p.m., Brick Church Fair, 34 Center St. I'll be there with my books, DVDs, and Winter Peace CDs, too. It's a great weekend filled with lots of things to see and do in Fairhaven--hope to see you there!!

What? You hadn't heard about the new DVD??????
Featuring both Floyd books to date, The Adventures of Floyd...Two Short Canine Tales has original music composed and performed by Matt Richard and narration by Heidi Swedberg. Cinematographer Philip Holahan did an amazing job creating these short films from my original illustrations in a way I couldn't have possibly imagined. Sponsored by the Somerled Chartiable Foundation, ALL proceeds from DVDs ($10 donation) go to the MSPCA-Angell!

Exciting November News!

A couple of exciting things to report today...

First, the Winter Peace CD project is complete and available to purchase in time for this holiday season! Visit my web page for more info. I am proud to have created the cover art as well as all of the layout and graphic design work, my first complete CD design project ever! I also sing a duet with Patrice Tiedemann on Gesu Bambino. My husband, pianist Matt Richard, wrote all of the original arrangements for this project. This project was made possible by the many generous donors who contributed to our fund raising campaign-- thanks to all of you!

The entire "cast" will be performing a CD release concert on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. at the First Congregational Church on 34 Center Street in Fairhaven, MA. Admission is $5 at the door and you'll be able to buy copies of the CD for $15. ALL proceeds from the CD and concert go to the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra's music education programs.

And--drum roll please-- FLOYD, THE MOVIE is ready and on it's way just in time for the holiday season! I will have copies of this Floyd companion DVD for sale at my upcoming events and it will be available on Amazon.com.

Featuring both Floyd books to date, Floyd...Two Short Canine Tales has original music composed and performed by Matt Richard and narration by Heidi Swedberg. Cinematographer Philip Holahan did an amazing job creating these short films from my original illustrations in a way I couldn't have possibly imagined. And HUGE thanks to Wendy Macdonald and the Somerled Chartiable Foundation who produced this project and are donating ALL proceeds from sales to the MSPCA-Angell! I'll be posting more info about this soon, so stay tuned!!

Kristine's October Updates

Happy autumn, everyone! It is absolutely beautiful outside right now in Fairhaven and I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend. I had an awesome time making puppets and talking books at Harvest Fun Day on Saturday, Oct. 12. If you missed it, you'll have to wait until next year and you'll definitely want to mark your calendars for that because it was a blast! Great job to Director of Tourism Chris Richard for organizing that event.

Here's an update on what I've been working on this fall so far:
I'm just finishing the art and design for the Winter Peace CD project. It's 99% ready to send to the CD production company where all of the little CDs will be born. The music sounds amazing, and I hope everyone likes it. Here are the before, middle and final results of the cover art...

Thumbnail concept sketches, July 2013

Preliminary art sample, July 2013

Final cover art- drawing stage, August 2013

Final cover art with text, September 2013

Harvest Fun Day and Autumn Happenings

It's back to school time for me, but also one of the best times of year: autumn!
Beautiful leaves, spooky stories, crisp air, any yummy thing made with pumpkin... I'm ready!

Come and celebrate all things autumn at Fairhaven's very first Harvest Fun Day on Saturday, October 12, 2013!! 

There will be lots of fun activities for families and kids of all ages. I'll be there all day, so stop by my booth for story time, make an autumn-themed Floyd, Tiny or Larue puppet, and take home some fun activity sheets for free!  I'll also have books and prints for sale as always.

And don't forget to make your scarecrow and bring it by for the annual Harvest Scarecrow Contest.

Thanks to Fairhaven Director of Tourism Christopher Richard for organizing this fun event for our community!

Art on Center is on 15 Center Street in Fairhaven

Also, I am happy to announce that Art on Center in Fairhaven now carries all of my books (signed, too!) in the Member's Gift Shop!! It is the only place in Fairhaven you can buy my books, so stop by and check it out. They have some amazing programs there for all ages and all types of artists. A percentage of your purchase supports the center, too, so shop shop shop!!

Summer, Fall, and Winter

Hooray-- we reached our goal!
Huge thanks to everyone who donated and supported the "Winter Peace" CD project. Recording has already started and I am going to begin working on the CD cover and design work.

All proceeds from this project will benefit the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra's education programs, and we will be having a CD release concert in November 2013 on Thanksgiving weekend.  Check back here later for more details.



Don't forget, I'll be at the Children's Museum in Easton this Thursday, August 15 at noon. I'm very excited to be part of this event, the Dog Days Summer Drop-in. Hope to see you there! Details below:

Children's Museum in Easton

Date: Thursday, August 15, 2013 Time: 12 p.m.
Event: Floyd Book Reading, part of the Dog Days Summer Drop-in at The Children's Museum in Easton, MA

I'll be reading Floyd and the Mysterious Night Time Noise, then you'll get a sneak peek at how I make the art work for my books. The whole day at the museum is all about my favorite topic: dogs!






There's also a new date on my calendar you'll be hearing about: the Harvest Fun Day in Fairhaven on Saturday, October 12, 2013! From 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the lawn at the Academy Building on 114 Main Street in Fairhaven (next to the high school), there'll be the annual Scarecrow Contest, free kids activities, vendors, and more. Stay tuned for more info on that fun family event soon. I am so excited to be part of this; it will be a perfect way to celebrate autumn in our beautiful town. You won't want to miss it.

Fun at the Farmers Market & More!

Well, my new friends and I had a blast at the Fairhaven Farmer's Market on Sunday. Thanks to Ann Richard for setting up this event!
We read "The Hibernating House" and the kids' choice, "Floyd and the Irresistible Cookie",  then we made Floyd character puppets. There were lots of activity sheets to work on, too. Thanks to everyone who stopped by! Here are a few pics:

It's story time!

Making puppets!

Great news! Thanks to many generous donors, we reached our funding goal on the "Winter Peace" project! It's not too late to donate or pre-order your copy of the CD. All proceeds from the project will benefit the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra's educational outreach programs. Click HERE for more info!

My "Winter Peace" Concept Drawing

Finally, just a reminder that I will be at the Children's Museum in Easton on August 15! It will be a fabulous time, so hope to see you there! Here are the deets:

Children's Museum in Easton

Date: Thursday, August 15, 2013 


Time: 12 p.m.
Event: Floyd Book Reading, part of the Dog Days Summer Drop-in at The Children's Museum in Easton, MA

I'll be reading Floyd and the Mysterious Night Time Noise, then you'll get a sneak peek at how I make the art work for my books. The whole day at the museum is all about my favorite topic: dogs!

 

Exciting Summer Project Updates!

So this morning I finished my full-size pencil drawings for Floyd and the Sparkling Seashell, my third Floyd book due out next spring. Yay!!

Since this is a 40-page book, I have to make 18 2-page spreads and a cover, so a total of 19 art works! Finished size is 17.5 by 11.5 inches, so this is a big order to say the least.

After doing all the thumbnails in my sketchbook and prepping my paper, I was able to get going on the final pencil drawing. They are pretty close to the thumbnails, but I did change a bit for the better in the final versions. Here's what that much art work looks like:

Monroe and Farley: Art Guardians

There is still some refining to do; I will go back and probably tweak a few things, such as poses or details, and get it cleaned up better with my erasers before starting the color work. I will also scan all of the drawings first in pencil. This way, if I have a major disaster, I still have a full size digital version to refer to if I have to do a complete revision. You never know, I feel better having this done even if I'll never use them.

Here's a bit of a close-up of the drawings, a little hard to see the pencil but visit this blog again and you might be able to get a sneak preview on some of the scans!

Don't forget I'll be at the Fairhaven Farmers Market this Sunday, August 4. I'll be there from 1-4 and the Story Hour will be at 2:00! Hope to see you there!

And check out a new project my friends and I are fundraising for, all to benefit arts education:
http://www.gofundme.com/winter peace

A New Project: Winter Peace

As I got ready this summer to work on my newest Floyd book, another project came my way introduced by my husband, Matt Richard, and my good friend Patrice Tiedemann. They are both musicians, and they developed an idea to create a holiday season recording, and maybe this recording could benefit music education in some way. And so, "Winter Peace" was born!

My original concept drawing...more about the art in a later post!

This CD recording will benefit the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra's educational outreach program, which brings music education to students in southeastern Massachusetts. As an art educator, I know first-hand how arts education needs support. The NBSO does an amazing job with their numerous student outreach programs and I know these funds will go to good use.

In addition to Matt on piano and Patrice singing original arrangements that you will absolutely love, a student ensemble (Southcoast Vocal Ensemble) joins Patrice on one piece, and 3 instrumental arrangements will be performed by The Southcoast Brass Ensemble featuring Dr. Mike Rocha, Bob Williamson, Ben Paille, Bill Kingsland, and Travis Blischke. Neil Sylvia will be featured on percussion, and cellist Peter Zay is leading a string quartet on a number of pieces as well. All of the arrangements were written by Matt specifically for this recording.

Here's the working list of songs so far...

I am very excited to be included in this project. Not only am I doing the art work for the CD packaging and marketing, I am singing a beautiful duet with Patrice: an Italian folk song called "Gesu Bambino". Some of you may not know this, but I have been singing for many years as a hobby, and Patrice has been my most patient and supportive voice teacher for about the past 7 years. She is basically magic. By the way, like many of the people involved with this project, I am donating 100% of my time on "Winter Peace".

We are crowd-funding this project so we need your help! Any donation amount is appreciated and donors will receive gifts, like free downloads or copies of the CD mailed conveniently to your home, depending on the donation category. Most importantly, if we do not make our goal online, this project will not happen. And I really hope it does because not only will it be amazing, it will help support music in our schools! The deadline to donate is August 7, 2013!

Here is the link to read more about it and please share with friends: www.gofundme.com/WinterPeaceCD

Thanks in advance for your support!!
Please message me if you have any questions at artgirlkris@comcast.net
(Hopefully, I'll be blogging about my work on this project in the near future, so check back in!)

And the Winner Is...

Tiny says, "Stay tuned for my next Give-Away!"

And the winner is...... Christine Matyi Duggan!! Congratulations on winning my first-ever Book Give-Away! 

Christine has won a beautiful autographed hardcover copy of “The Hibernating House” by Sandy Leahy and Kathy Tarentino, illustrated by me in my first-ever Book Give-Away!

If you didn't win and are very sad, there my be more surprise Give-Away chances in the future, so check my blog and my Facebook page to stay in the know.

And of course you can purchase a copies of any of my books on Amazon and I will have copies for sale at my upcoming events. My web site has all the info about purchasing links and brick-and-mortar stores. I will be happy to sign any books for your no matter where you've purchased them, just come on by to any of my events and I'll be happy to do so!

I'm doing three events this summer, so pop on by and say hello!!

Kristine's 2013 Summer Book Tour:

Partner's Village Store in Westport, MA

Date: Thursday, July 25, 2013 
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Event: Children's Reading Circle at Partner's Village Store and Kitchen in Westport, MA

I'll be reading The Hibernating House written by Sandy Leahy and Kathy Tarentino and illustrated by yours truly. There will be a fun related craft for the kids and copies of the book will be available for purchase.


Date: Sunday, August 4, 2013 
Time: 2:00 & 3:00 p.m.

Fairhaven Farmer's Market

Event: Children's Story Hour at the Fairhaven Farmers Market in Fairhaven, MA

I'll be reading The Hibernating House and my Floyd books at the times listed above. Shop the market from 1 to 4 pm and stop by my table to purchase or get your books signed, too! I'll have some free activities for my young fans, including new coloring pages and fun stuff like that.




Date: Thursday, August 15, 2013 

Children's Museum in Easton

Time: 12 p.m.
Event: Floyd Book Reading, part of the Dog Days Summer Drop-in at The Children's Museum in Easton, MA

I'll be reading Floyd and the Mysterious Night Time Noise, then you'll get a sneak peek at how I make the art work for my books. The whole day at the museum is all about my favorite topic: dogs!

 

BOOK GIVE-AWAY! Enter to Win by July 21!!

My first-ever Book Give-Away starts TODAY!

One random lucky person will win a beautiful hardcover copy of “The Hibernating House” by Sandy Leahy and Kathy Tarentino, illustrated by me! I will autograph it for you, too.

How to enter:

You’ll get one entry for each action below.

1. LIKE my Facebook page (if you haven’t already) AND leave a COMMENT on this post. You can write anything, like “I love books” or “Hi Kris” or “Sasquatch”.

2. SHARE this post on your own page. You must share this original post directly from my Facebook page to be counted.

Must be posted/shared by 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, JULY 21, 2013!

The winner will be announced next week! Good luck!

Sketching the Sparkling Seashell

My sketchbooks: storyboard and thumbnails.

A really hot summer day is a good time to stay cool and sketch. Today I'm working on my new Floyd book, Floyd and the Sparkling Seashell.

In this story, Floyd, Tiny, and Larue visit one of my favorite places, the beach. They discover some seashells, but of course the shell that Floyd wants is in the water, and he's afraid to go in...

Here's a little peek into how I get from words to illustrations:

There is a lot of imagery in the story I really wanted to expand on in this book, so my first question when getting started was "how many pages"? My last two Floyd books were 32 pages, which is a typical picture book length. Children's books are usually designed in multiples of 8 due to the printing and binding process (odd numbers of pages can leave blank ends and extra costs for pages you're not even using). I really wanted to do more, and so ideally I'd need to go to 40 pages. But would that work?

Usually I just start the illustrations by drawing thumbnail sketches, about half the size of my finished artwork (full-size 2-page spread sizes for these books are 11 x 17 inches), but first I needed to set up a storyboard just to see if the pages would work out to the number I needed before I spent more time on the thumbnails. So what I did was use Post-it notes for the storyboard. I used one for each 2-page spread, and wrote page numbers above. I could remove them or shuffle them to make the story work for the number of pages.

Post-it storyboard

Once I figured that out --and yes, a 40-page format it is!!-- I started my thumbnails in pencil. I print out my story in small text and glue it below the thumbnail so I can see what I'm supposed to be drawing while working. Horizontal lines represent where the text will be set.

A thumbnail sketch for Floyd and the Sparkling Seashell

I'm almost done with the thumbnails as of the moment, so it's back to work for me!

Don't forget: this week, my first-ever GIVEAWAY! Stay tuned...

2013 Summer Book Tour!

It's summer and that means you'll find me reading my books at a fun event near you!

I'll be at not one, not two, but THREE big events in July and August.
Here are the details-- hope to see you there!

Kristine's 2013 Summer Book Tour:

Partner's Village Store in Westport, MA

Date: Thursday, July 25, 2013 
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Event: Children's Reading Circle at Partner's Village Store and Kitchen in Westport, MA

I'll be reading The Hibernating House written by Sandy Leahy and Kathy Tarentino and illustrated by yours truly. There will be a fun related craft for the kids and copies of the book will be available for purchase.


Date: Sunday, August 4, 2013 
Time: 2:00 & 3:00 p.m.

Fairhaven Farmer's Market

Event: Children's Story Hour at the Fairhaven Farmers Market in Fairhaven, MA

I'll be reading The Hibernating House and my Floyd books at the times listed above. Shop the market from 1 to 4 pm and stop by my table to purchase or get your books signed, too! I'll have some free activities for my young fans, including new coloring pages and fun stuff like that.




Date: Thursday, August 15, 2013 

Children's Museum in Easton

Time: 12 p.m.
Event: Floyd Book Reading, part of the Dog Days Summer Drop-in at The Children's Museum in Easton, MA

I'll be reading Floyd and the Mysterious Night Time Noise, then you'll get a sneak peek at how I make the art work for my books. The whole day at the museum is all about my favorite topic: dogs!






Psst-- Check my blog next week for a very exciting first-time-ever KD STUDIO BLOG GIVE-AWAY!!!

Happy Summer!

Floyd's ready for some art time!

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” ― Henry James 

Happy summer to all!

As most of you know, for us teachers this is the most wonderful time of the year-- except of
course for the first day of school (but don't make me think about it just yet)!


I am happy to back in summer mode which means lots of projects and this summer a NEW FLOYD BOOK!!

The title is Floyd and the Sparkling Seashell.  It was actually written at the same time as Night Noise (around 2010) and will finally be illustrated in the next few months. Stay posted for sketches and lots of insider info on this new one.

A perfect summer read!

In other news, I'll be making a few appearances this summer, so check back in for a full list of where you can meet me and maybe have a little story time fun.

Also, The Hibernating House by Sandy Leahy and Kathy Tarentino is out and it is hands-down the PERFECT book for summer!! I'm so proud of the illustrations and I know everyone will love the story.

If you don't have a copy yet, you can get it in hardcover or paperback online. I'll be happy to sign it if you can catch up with me. (I will have a limited number of copies to sell at my appearances this summer-- but why wait?)

Check out some of my favorite summery scenes from the book:

The Hibernating House waiting for spring and summer...

The Jetty from The Hibernating House

A summertime scene from The Hibernating House

The house is sleeping-- and mostly everyone else, too!

Throw a Book Party!

I thought I'd share this idea I had to create centerpieces using pictures or artwork. You could adapt this for any type of event: favorite artist, books, sports, personal photos, or just about anything! Here's how I made these using a few things I bought, a few computer tricks, and a few things borrowed from around the house.

I created mine for my book club meeting, and we'd just read the book The Art Forger by Barbara Shapiro which was about the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, one of the biggest art thefts in history, still largely unsolved. So I wanted to pay tribute to the missing art and the dramatic Isabella!

Print out 2 copies of your images on card stock, sized about 3 x 2 inches

Trim your pictures using a paper cutter or scissors....

...one for the front, and one for the back so the centerpiece looks nice from all angles.

Flip one of the pictures upside down and apply strips of double stick tape to the top and bottom.

Get your floral wire ready...

Bend the wire in half gently.

Stick the wire's bent end onto the upside down picture allowing it to stick to the tape.

Sandwich the second photo on top and press where the tape is.

You'll have a whole bunch done in a jiffy once you get the hang of it.

I took some old crystal vases, mardi gras beads, and feather picks to glam up my centerpieces.

I used the beads in the bottom, anchored in my picture picks, and then fluffed it up with some feathers.

The table, with white linens and purple napkins.

When the party's over, all of the centerpiece parts can be reused in other ways.

 

Here are some variation ideas:
Kid's party: use plastic cups weighed down with sand, cartoons or kid's books, ribbon curl bows attached to wires to spill over the cup...
Wedding shower: pics of the couple, rings, cakes, etc, maybe sea glass or shells in the bottom of a vase, feathers or flowers to fill it out...
Garden party: little stones in a mason jar, greenery, seed packets or printed vintage seed packet art...