Steal Like An Artist

3-D Map of our Known Universe

Just to put this into perspective for everyone- each one of those  lights is a galaxy like our Milky Way. In our Milky Way Galaxy we are in a tiny local group of planets- our solar system- when you look at our galaxy we are a barely distinguishable point of light among the millions of other points of light- those other points of light are other solar systems like our local group. In the Milky Way Galaxy alone, there are more stars than there are grains of sand on all of the beaches of our little planet. This is just what is known so far- The vastness of the Universe is almost inconceivable ...our little Milky Way Galaxy is 100,000 light years across - meaning it takes light 100,000 years to travel that distance...

Neil Gaiman on the Web

Will Your Child Inherit Your E-Books

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More on RRKidz

Here is the link to RRKidz.

RRKidz

Take look! It's in an iPad RRKidz (Reading Rainbow) and Thank You Miss Doover is one of their iPad app/books!!I'm super stoked- check it out link.

Quiet

Having a lot on my plate right now means that I'm in the studio for most of the day- pretty much from the time I get up until I go to bed with meal breaks and yoga break in between. I don't mind doing this for long periods of time. I'm perfectly happy with that.  One of the things I enjoy about being in the studio for long hours is that I can really get into a rhythm. I listen to music and audio books and draw, paint and write and am good with that.


This week I listened to a fascinating book that made me feel more at home in the world. It's called Quiet: the Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain. The last book I read that made me rethink things was Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers. 

Princess Posey Diorama

Today, I got to hang out with  some of my favorite peeps. One of them made this diorama of the book Princess Posey and the Next Door Dog. Seeing this was like , "wow!" ...you know you send work out there and at some point you hope that some kid is digging what you do, but then to see an effort like this....wow...so cool. Warm fuzzies for sure. 

Stephen Colbert's Maurice Sendak Tribute (uncensored)

The Colbert Report
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Little Fox

A little fox on a foggy day.

Grim Colberty Tales Pt. 2

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The Grim Colberty Tales Part 1. - something a little happier

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Maurice Sendak on Death (and Life)

Maurice Sendak

Bye Maurice Sendak

Sad news today...Maurice Sendak died today. Here is a lovely article in the New York Times about him and here is the last interview he gave on Fresh Air with Terry Gross. In the Terry Gross interview it sounds like he was ready. And here also is a collection of interviews and reflections from NPR. He was a game changer and a total original and someone who made his mark by being brave and curious and brilliant.


Here is a little excerpt from Leonard Marcus's book Dear Genius, which is about the legendary editor, Ursula Nordstrom. It is a from a letter she wrote  after Where the Wild Things Are came out.  She writes to a journalist named Nat Hentoff:


You asked me how "revolutionary" Where the Wild Things Are is. There have been a good many fine picture books in the past. (Some by Margaret Wise Brown, and illustrated by one of two or three or four talented artists. [Sendak]) But I think Where the Wild Things Are is the first complete work of art in the picture book field, conceived, written, illustrated, executed entirely by one person of authentic genius. Most books are written from the outside in. But Wild Things comes from the inside out, if you know what I mean. And I think Maurice's book is the first picture book to recognize the fact that children have powerful emotions, anger and love and hate and only after all that passion, the wanting the be "where someone loved him best of all."


Bye Mr. Sendak and thank you.

A signed copy I'm lucky to own. 

Thank You RRKids and LeVar Burton

I got the okay to tell you all this now from RRKidz. I've been keeping it all secret for about a year or so, But, no more...LeVar Burton and RRKidz have selected Thank You, Miss Doover to be one of their book/app selections!!!! The high quality of Reading Rainbow is well known and I'm super proud and grateful to them .

The Most Astounding Fact