Bittersweet

As the title implies, this blog post is not of the one-note sort. Instead, it carries the musical variety and emotional range of a High School Musical showstopper. So, I'll divide this post into 3 parts: The Bitter, The Sweet, and the So Sweet I Think I Might Be Sick.

The Bitter:

If you've been following the publishing market, you know it's as unsteady as Zac Efron's singing voice (yes, all of my analogies are going to be HSM-based). HarperCollins had a round of layoffs on Tuesday, and the ax fell on yours truly. Many others, much more talented in their jobs than I, also lost their jobs that day- and their absence really is a great loss. I have no doubt that everyone who was laid off will bounce back stronger than ever- but it was still a very difficult day around the office. Many, many talented people of course remain to keep producing great books, and I will certainly be watching the Greenwillow list in the years to come when looking for great books for my friends and, someday, family. So to everyone at the Greenwillow and HarperCollins families: it was an honor to work with you, and I will certainly miss everyone.

Pretty bitter, right? What could possibly taste sweet after this bitter pill?

The Sweet:

Believe it or not, I was heading in to work that very day to hand in my notice! My husband and I are packing our wagons and heading out west! We're moving from New York to Portland, Oregon! For a visual reasoning as to why we're moving, please see the following examples of our experiences:

NEW YORK:

OREGON:

Yes, we're pretty excited, and we've been planning this for about the past year and a half. And now it's only two weeks away!!! I will, of course, keep a running commentary on this blog, as we move into Ramona Quimby and Twilight territory.

And last but not least, the sweet pit of sweetness inside the already sweet Everlasting Gobstopper (new analogy):

The wedding was fantastic, and thanks to everyone for your warm wishes! Because really, jobs and location don't really feel all that important, when you have love and happiness in your life.

Another trip down Memory Lane!

The time: the early 2000s. I was a fresh RISD graduate, back in my parents' house in Florida, when I read the following ad in the Classifieds of the Tampa Tribune (that statement's a time capsule in itself): 

WANTED: Portrait Artist for Carnival Cruise Ships

Well, I had nothing else going on, I thought I'd give it a shot! After some training sessions with "the best portrait artist in the Walt Disney World complex", I was given my assignment aboard a ship (the...Destiny? Celebration?... hmmm) sailing from Miami to Jamaica, St. Croix, San Juan, & other exotic locales!

While the portraits themselves were rather cheesy (they were on velvet paper, after all), to this day I think it was an immensely valuable experience. I was drawing people! 8-12 hours a day, seven days a week! Mostly from photographs, but sometimes people wanted to sit for a live portrait, which was always a) fun, and 2) somewhat panic-inducing.

It WAS a cruise ship, I had to have some sort of celebrity portfolio! This was, if you can imagine, a time when Harry Potter was NOT a household name! The first movie hadn't been released yet, and when I dressed up as Harry for Halloween, barely anyone knew who I was.

My Mom's the greatest!

Alright, I'm writing ANOTHER post about the wedding, but look at the picture my mom sent this morning:

Tell me that's not the cutest thing ever! I think my mom needs to open an Etsy shop. She's an artist herself (a fantastic photographer), and her handiness and creativity is, I believe, the main reason I became an illustrator. Not only did we always have art supplies around the house that we could use (EXCEPT, of course, for the sacred orange-handled scissors!)- but seeing her always making and creating is certainly what led me to a creative life.

On another marriage subject, here's a question that I've wondered about for many professional women about to get hitched: What did you do/intend to do about the name change? I'm planning on (and I think perhaps lots of women do this?) taking my new husband's name, but keeping Jamieson as my professional nom de plume. Since my website, email, postcards- let alone my books- all use Jamieson. And I don't know about you, but I always get confused by, say, Jamie Lynne DiScala (Sigler?), or Courtney Cox-Arquette.

For the Birds

I have been distracted from my blog-reading and upkeep duties, as I've been preparing for my wedding in TWO WEEKS! My creative outlets have been of the crafty variety recently- including the centerpieces for the tables. When I say I have been making the centerpieces, what I really mean of course is that I made a prototype, then employed an Andy Warhol-type factory of sweatshop laborers (my mother, bless her) to do my bidding.

*Spoiler alert: If you are actually invited to my wedding & want to be surprised by the favors, don't read ahead. Second spoiler alert: If you're still waiting for your invitation in the mail... don't hold your breath.*

If  you'll remember from a few posts back, my invitations featured birds:

And since Martha Stewart says that weddings are all about the theme, I wanted to make something birdy for the favors/slash/centerpieces. 

Bird tree ornaments! That will hang from some dead branches from the yard in the middle of each table. Oh, don't worry, it's going to be pretty, you'll see.

That's me sweating! See, it's a sweatshop, get it? Two of my lovely bridesmaids are helping me out this shift. See, it's not really a sweatshop, I let them eat! ONE banana each.

Aren't they grea.. Hey, what's this! Quit goofing off! I don't pay you those bananas to monkey around!

Here is the tray of bird eyeballs (EXPERTLY hand-dipped by my dad! Who said I got my artistic bend from my mom?!)

Some birds with their nose jobs...

and some top hats...

...and 116-odd birds awaiting their accessories!

My mother really is a saint for making 97% of these birds- Thanks, Ma! 

I'll post some pictures post-wedding of the final displays!

Memory Lane

Greetings from Florida! I'm visiting my parents in an extended vacation/slash/wedding decoration-making frenzy. So, what better way to take my mind off of the 1001 things left to do than take a trip down memory lane?

My mom's a saver, and I came across this book that I wrote and illustrated in the third grade:

 

I distinctly remember this day in school! We had someone come into our classroom to teach us how to bind the books, and we had a nice selection of wallpaper scraps to choose from for the binding. I don't remember how long we were actually working on the stories, though...

A little discouraging to see that my humor has not changed much since the third grade.

I remember being rather proud of the viewpoint of this picture. The story lags a bit from this point on, so I'll skip right to the denouement...

I also remember thinking this illustration was spot-on in terms of feeling and emotional tenor, but I was frustrated that I didn't keep all the chairs on a straight line.

This illustration, I recall, I considered to be the crowning glory of the book, and perhaps of my artistic life to date. A silhouette, against a movie screen, complete with fine cross-hatching skills?!? Top notch.

I guess I do still have an interest in barnyard animals.

I had some blank spreads at the back, so I added some illustrations. I think I was reading a lot of books from the library with color plates at the time.

Ahh, memories!

Fleece Navidad!

I thought that joke was so funny when I wrote a recent holiday card, I just had to use it again.

Above is the title page for Bea Rocks the Flock- f&gs are in, and they look fantastic! Just one of the many things I am thankful for this holiday season.

If you are curious from my last post, I regret to inform you that I will not be a Gotham Girl next season- I did not make the roller derby cut. BUT, it was all good fun, and all good research for the story I'm working on now. Maybe now I can write off all the money I spent on equipment and practices for my taxes. JK, IRS! ROTFL!!!

Wishing you all a very happy holidays- or as the Gotham Girls newsletter said, Season's Beatings!

Cheerio & Pip Pip,

Vicki

A Sporting Post

Here's a quick illustration I did for the New York Road Runners Foundation (a terrific organization that funds after school running programs in NYC): 

I don't normally like to work digitally (I stare enough at computers during the day, thanks), but I found it liberating, for a change, just to think about line, and not worry about color until the end. I don't think I'll make it my norm (or my Cliff), but fun for a change.

Speaking of sports, I have mentioned my love of roller derby in the past... and tryouts were this Saturday! It's funny how life imitates art, etc, no? My next story idea is about learning how to be a good sport. Well, let's just say that I did not feel that I did such a great job at tryouts on Saturday, and how quickly my grapes soured. I did not want to play roller derby anyway! I have other things to do with my time! I like all of my bones intact, thank you! Then, on Sunday afternoon when I received word that I made it through to callbacks... Well, maybe the tryouts were a LITTLE fun. Maybe I could give it one more shot. So callbacks were last night, and am waiting to hear the results. Really, I don't care one way or the other. I have my new book to work on, anyway.

You are invited...

...to see my wedding invitations!

(I took the info off, natch- I've seen the movie Wedding Crashers!)

It's kind of a goldy-glimmery paper (and believe me, I tried a bunch). I did the edges with some special scrapbooking scissors I got from the art store by my office (Lee's-- expensive, but the same one that Angelina Jolie brings her kids too!) (according to my magazines- I've never seen her).

So, my first foray into stationery was a success! If somewhat time-consuming & frustrating. There's some palpable tension between me & my printer now-- it started printing things askew & electrically shocking me every time I touched it. Hopefully all of my angry mutterings won't seep into the cards & infuse them with negative chi.

I also have some fun updates to share on Bea Rocks the Flock AND my roller derby tryouts (to be held on Saturday!!), but as it's dinnertime now, that will just have to wait!

Doodlers Doodling

I am a doodler. Always have been. It made me a little self-conscious in school, like my teachers would think I wasn't paying attention-- but I WAS. I think I pay more attention when my hands have something to do! Imagine my relief when I learned that our President Elect Barack Obama is ALSO a doodler!

And then the loss of that relief when I saw that Sarah Palin is too:

(she's more of a word/number doodler, though, so that doesn't really count, right??)

I still feel like people think I'm daydreaming when I doodle away during meetings, but if anything it keeps me more in the present. My only problem is occasionally not wanting to turn the page in our progress reports when I'm in the midst of a nice sketch.

(yes, that's an email from THE Surly Temple, of the Gotham Girls Roller Derby! Emailing ME! ... and a bunch of other girls)

Which probably led to this doodle. Side bar: I LOVE ROLLER DERBY PRACTICE. I've only been to 2 and am pretty convinced I won't make the team on Dec. 6th, but it is SO FUN. And for me, anyway, doing things outside of my "comfort zone" (literally- I've been in DIScomfort since the first practice), I get all fired up creatively. The day after the first practice was when I finally started in on that new dummy I've been thinking about for months now.

Didn't Barack Obama's sketch sell for like $2000 on ebay? FYI- in case you like what you see here...

I'm still alive!!

The Marathon didn't get me, although it tried its darndest! You'll never get me, Marathon! Look, here's a picture:

That's me, right up front in the Xtreme Closeup. I'm moving so fast the camera can barely catch me! You can tell it's early on, because I'm a) still smiling, and ii) still in an upright position. I was downright Cro-Magnon by the end! I finished, though! In 4:53... EXACTLY the same time as my first marathon. EXACTLY. I am nothing if not consistent.

What else have I been doing with my time? Well, as a matter of fact I am working on my next book dummy! I am super-jazzed about it at the moment, but being superstitious I will keep those cards close to my chest for the time being.

In the meantime, why not enjoy these pictures I took at the Salt Lake City SCBWI conference this past weekend? This was truly a lovely conference- so well-run, and we were made to feel so welcome by this group. And I don't know what runs in the water in Salt Lake City, but there was an absolute slew of talented up-and-coming illustrators out there! And it was nice to see the illustrators banding together in a support group- I think it's so important to have a group of peers to turn to in times of need. Thanks for making me an honorary BIFF*! (*Best Illustration Friend Forever).

The Mountains Majesty were majestic:


Another glorious sight? My hotel room! A quaint B & B right by the capitol building- by far one of the swankiest places I've stayed in.


And what's this? Do mine eyes deceive me? Is that a jacuzzi bathtub I see?!?!

It is!!

The library where the conference was held was no less swank:

I felt like I was in the MoMA, with architecture like this! And I don't know how anyone could concentrate on the books with a view like this out the window:

(I mean the mountains, not the Bodyworks exhibit. Not my bag, baby)

A hearty thank you to the Utah SCBWI group, and I hope that you'll all keep in touch!