Basketball diaries

I do a spot of work from time to time for the fantastic New York Road Runners Foundation. They support running programs in schools across the country-- and they're super fun to work with. I can credit NYRRF for getting me interested in running again- I used to volunteer as a race-day "running buddy", and I HAD to train so my 6th grade buddy wouldn't run me into the ground.

(click for a larger view)

Anyhooo, here's a quick drawing I did for their latest newsletter. Funny, I've always hated basketball, both watching (those squeaky shoes!) and playing (hey, how about getting out of my grill, other team?). And yet I overcame these objections to do this illustration, because I am a true professional.

Ramona dooooodles

My good pal Martha came to Portland this week to speak at the Oregon SCBWI conference. You can tell we are booky because the highlights of our tour included Klickitat Street, the Ramona, Ribsy & Henry statues in Grant Park, Powell's, and the central library. Martha will show you some nice pictures if you head over to the Greenwillow blog. Anyway, our journey into The World of Beverly Cleary inspired some Ramona scribblins!

(that's Picky-picky, the cat. BTW, "Picky-picky" was the answer to one of the questions at the Children's Book Council Trivia Night a few years back. Unfortunately, that answer was not enough to win me a coveted Golden Bunny award).