Joy's Blog

HAPPY HALOOOOOWEEN!

2011-10-27T10:53:00.000-07:00

Wishing you all a very scary, fun night! Don't get a tummy ache!

New fabric

2011-09-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

Just received my new princess fabric in the mail!Elizabeth Studios does such a nice job of completing the project!

Princess Party Video!

2010-08-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

new creations!

2010-05-14T08:22:00.001-07:00

I'm having a lot of fun watching my artwork turn into little clay figures for Kurt Adler's Joyville ornaments 2011 collection.

Atlanta Show Princesses

2010-01-20T19:11:00.001-08:00

Little PRINCESSES Debut!

The Atlanta Show

2010-01-20T18:59:00.001-08:00

These are my Joyvilles!

Joyville!

2010-01-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

This is first glimpse of my new ornament line of Christmas characters for Kurt Adler. This is from the ad in Giftware News! As time goes by, I'll show more.

Christmas/New Year Greeting!

2009-12-30T10:53:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends! I decided to do a religious drawing this Christmas in hopes that whatever belief one has...we all agree on this hope.

New little Number Six!!!

2009-10-29T14:24:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Baby Hattie Laura born today, October 29th! What a wonder! Not a very good shot of me but SHE'S so cute!

On the Halloween Train!

2009-10-29T14:20:00.000-07:00

Curt, Isaac and Luke and Aunt Angie....All Aboard!

Had a great time with my grandsons on the Sacramento Halloween Train!

Princess Party In Borders, Folsom!

2009-10-29T14:13:00.000-07:00

Party Hats a making! Cookies a baking! Folsom Borders was super!!

We had a great party!

OC Book Festival!

2009-10-06T15:18:00.001-07:00

Had a great time at the OC Children's Book Festival! Here's a picture of the authors and illustrators at the JacketFlap booth. I sat in between Erik Brooks and Dan Santat. What beautiful books they both had. And, they were very helpful when my posters and things started blowing away! It was very windy! :&) Had a ton of girls making Princess Crowns. So fun! Sold all my books I brought too! Other author/illustrators in this pic are Merrily Kutner, Susan Lendoth, and Ashley Wolf. Great day, but I sure was tired when I finished!

2009-10-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

I'm on TV!

2009-09-21T14:12:00.001-07:00

Katie Davis, author/illustrator of my grandkids favorite WHO HOPS, CURSE OF ADDIE McMAHON, and KINDERGARTEN ROCKS! reviews children's books on Good Morning Connecticut. She reviewed BABY SIGNS! You can visit and sign up for Katie's fantastic newsletter at authorkatiedavis.blogspot.com

Starting to Promote!

2009-09-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

New flyer/poster for PRINCESS PARTY. This one is for the Folsom, Borders.

Mom and I go to Wright's Lake

2009-09-07T17:08:00.000-07:00

My beautiful Mom (who lives with me) and I traveled up to Wright's Lake for a Labor Day excursion! I sure love where I live! Mom loved feeding the ducklings and did pretty good on the trail!

Shared Stitches Birthday Party!

2009-09-07T17:00:00.000-07:00

SHARED STITCHES, a fun fabric store right here in my home town, had it's birthday by having me come for a book signing! Princess Party books sold out! And, lots of my fabric sold like hot cakes! There were lots of people! I should have taken more pictures! Thanks all that came to support me! It was GREAT!

Merry Makers

2009-08-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

I'm working with Kurt Adler on a large project for Christmas ornaments. These are elves and Santas, etc. This is different than my princess ornaments. Here's a little taste of how they are looking.

A Sneek Peek!

2009-07-29T16:36:00.000-07:00

Here's what I've been keeping under wraps all year! My new little princess ornaments for Kurt Adler!!! I am thrilled! Only thing that's a bummer is that they won't be in stores until 2010. Still, it's been a lot of fun on my part creating these little girls! I'll show better images soon.

HERE COME THE PRINCESSES!

2009-07-21T09:38:00.000-07:00

ok! Is this the cutest thing you every did see? My friend Louise Beasley made this princess quilt out of my newly designed fabrics of princesses..sports, ballet, cowgirl and tea party! I just love it!!! And, with PRINCESS PARTY, my new book from Putnam debuting August 20th, I am thrilled. I hope you enjoy as well! If you are interested in getting your own princess fabric of my little girls, visit Elizabeth Studio's website at elizabethsstudio.wordpress.com. Look under "princesses" to view all the different fabrics. And, while you're at it, if you have a baby in your life, check out my fabric called "Hello Baby".

Hello Baby!

2009-07-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

Had a real treat this month! I discovered this full spread article on my fabric Hello Baby created from my book BABY SIGNS! Pine Tree Country Quilts created this quilt from my various fabric designs (9 total). For my friends interested in doing the same quilt as in this picture, you can go to www.pinetreecountryquilts.com. If you are interested in purchasing the fabric, or to see more of my designs (I did the princess fabric), visit www.elizabethsstudio.com. Fun, fun, fun!

Abigail Iris-The One and Only!

2009-03-25T12:32:00.000-07:00

Abigail Iris has hit the book stores. She's a darling story written by Lisa Glatt and Suzanne Greenberg. I had the best time taking my two oldest grandkids on an excursion to San Francisco where we learned all about the things Abigail learns about in the book! I highly recommend this fun, fun story!

Another try at my video experiment!

2009-03-17T01:04:00.000-07:00

Hello Bloggers! Some of you have seen my last video for my new book PRINCESS PARTY. I've tried some improvements and this is a NEW video. Any suggestions?

Acapulco Cruise!

2009-03-06T05:45:00.000-08:00

Do I have great kids? No doubt about it!! For my birthday, they surprised me with a cruise to Acapulco! It was the best! My daughter Bev and I had a blast!! We watched the cliff divers in Acapulco, ATV'd on the beach of Xhuantenao and snorkled in the coral reefs of Manzanillo! We shopped and shopped to our hearts content! Thanks all to my dear family!

First set of fabrics!

2009-02-20T21:20:00.001-08:00

Take a peek! Aren't they cute? This is my first set of fabric designs. They have been manufactured by Elizabeth Studios (a joy to work with!). Princess fabric is due out in a couple of months.

PRINCESS PARTY is a comin!

2009-02-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

What a fun, fun, experience creating my first picture book that I both illustrated and wrote. Thanks to the expert advise, help and holding hands of wonderful editor Nancy Paulsen, art director Cecilia Yung and agent Ronnie Herman! This was a "princess party" in every respect. Hope it is a huge success because it was challenging, yet a ball creating it!

My Dad

2008-10-13T12:27:00.000-07:00

On September 28th, my "Daddy" passed away. What a guy! He was full of life and fun. I sure will miss him. Mom and Dad have been married for 61 years. Or, should I say "in love" for 61 years because they weren't just married but in love all their adult lives. My brother, sister and I have had a great relationship with our parents. Dad was a wise counselor, and patriarch over our whole family. Bye for now, Dear Dad.

Joyful Creatures

2008-09-26T07:41:00.000-07:00

It's a new morning and I have a few creatures for you to meet!

Always A Princess!

2008-09-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

As I create more images for licensing, my princesses are making their debut. The upper image is the beginning of a promo for a product flyer. More to come on this one soon!

Licensing is A Happening!

2008-09-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

I know I have been terrible about posting to my blog! Since my last post I have a new grandchild (little Luke Christopher Britland!) and new books and tons of things! Last May I traveled to NY to attend the Surtex show and visit some of my friends in publishing. What a great trip! I picked up a new licensing agent Julie Ager from Artistic Designs Group and a foreign licensing agent Anke from Interlitho Licensing. I had great interest in my artwork and things are busy! Just check out some of the fun stuff such as a whole line of lovely fabrics from Elizabeth Studios! Hello Baby is the first one.

Here is a promo sheet that Julie is putting together for me!

I also signed up two new picture books that I'm very excited about. Ronnie Herman, my literary agent was wonderful in helping get these! I'll show you more on them soon. Oh, and I don't want to forget.....BABY SIGNS has been recommended on Oprah's Reading list as well as an ALA (American Library Association) pick! Isn't that awesome?!

My Jack

2007-08-17T09:06:00.000-07:00

Summer is beginning to come to an end here in the foothills of the Sierras. I take Jack, my dog, for a 2 hours walk every morning (6-8am) in the meadows behind my house. He swims in the lake, jumps after bunnies and runs through the woods looking for wild turkeys to chase into trees. When he jumps out of the woods onto the path, he is full of little stickers from all the weeds! He never learns. He just does it over and over each and every day with a big smile of pleasure on being such a "wild dog". That is, except when he gets stunk by a skunk which has happened twice this summer. P.....hew!
Have a great weekend!
Joy

Roberts Snow

2007-08-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

Well, it's been awhile since I posted. I've been busy working on some education books. Also, I painted a snowflake for the Dana Farber Cancer Research, ROBERT'S SNOW. So fun! Grace Lin put this together several years ago when her husband Robert, contracted cancer. She asked several illustrator buddies if they wouldn't mind painting a little wooden snowflake to be auctioned off as a way to earn money for the hospital. Well, it snowballed! So many illustrators volunteered that Grace actually had to get a waiting list going. I believe Robert's Snow has contributed over $250,000. This is my 3rd or 4th snowflake. I did mine in oils this time. I wanted to try that medium and it was really fun! I named my little snowflake, WITHIN REACH. Hope you like it!
Joy

Scrapbooking!

2007-04-30T09:41:00.000-07:00

I have several designs out in scrapbooking. Here is one that has sold also in greeting cards also.

I enjoyed getting my samples of my new Summer Cam book. This is actually the first Cam I've done inside and out. It is under the Penguin label since it is sold mostly as a softcover. Cam Mystery Book is the first under the Viking label. Confusing? You ought to read the contracts! Ha!

Saturday-end of the week

2007-04-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

Alrighty...the end of the week is here. I've been working on a couple of assignments. Sketches for Peg the Pig and finishing up a cover for a catalog.
Here's Peg.

This is the cover for the dummy. When creating my artwork, I read the manuscript over and over silently and outloud. This allows me to think about how the "child" is going to see this story. I go on the internet and library and gather as much as I can about the subject (pigs in this case).

Usually my first drawings are too close to what a real pig looks like. I need a day or so to digest how to stylise my character. Then I create her. It's not hard for me to feel how my characters think. For some reason, that's an easy thing for me. I make small thumbnails and then go to a larger format, finally placing the artwork in with the type. All of this is done in black and white sketch form. I really like using Painter's pencil after I've done the original sketches to refine the little bugs I see and clean up my artwork. Peg is now ready to send off as jpegs to the publisher. Hopefully they'll like her too. Here's a few more sketches.

I also worked on a cover for the WPS catalog. Here's what I have so far.
This was a fun project. Each piece is done seperately, including the background. It gave me a good idea for using the background for other licensing backgrounds.

Friday was my son Fred's birthday! Happy Birthday my guy! I love ya tons!

The House in the Middle of Town

2007-04-17T10:01:00.002-07:00

Well, today is the third day of my blog. Captain Jack, my dog, and I have been out on our walk at 8:00am. It's a great time of the year in Northern CA. Spring brings wild turkeys gobbling for a mate. I really love birds and every year I'm thrilled to find blue birds in my bird houses, red breasted sparrows sing their hearts out and tiny yellow finches (endangered) chirping in the trees. I have this tananger (at least that's what I think it is). It is so BEAUTIFUL! It looks like an oriel so maybe that's what it is. Anyway, it is bright yellow orange. It has a mate this year and it loves my humming bird feeder. Twice a day it shows up and pretty much depletes my supply of hummingbird nectar! But is is gorgeous and fun to watch.

I'm going to be working on a education project today. It's been a pain! It's a black and white tiny little pictures only 1 inch in size job. The AD has been asking for all kinds of changes. I'm not too thrilled with this assignment. But, all jobs have their not so fun things to do and I'll make it through.

In the afternoon, I'll begin my painting for a catalog cover for a child development company. It's a lot of fun and full of excitement. The sketch is approved and I'm ready to start color.

Here is the cover to a new picture book I did for Standard Publishing. It reminded me of when my church ward in Garden Grove helped me when I found myself raising four kids alone. Felt I HAD to do it just for them! It should be published soon.

Later in the afternoon, I'm going to take a break and watch my grandson, Isaac. What a fun little guy! He's 18 months with a great sense of humor so he'll make my day! Bev is going to the dentist and Craig is on a business trip in China. So glad I live close to my grandkids. They do more for me than I do for them.

What I've been working on

2007-04-16T08:10:00.001-07:00

I have some fun news about my licensing side of my business. Target has bought my giftbag design, manufactured by Garvin Inc.! It is out in their stores! Here's what it looks like, but dang, it's even cuter than this when it has the ribbons and die cut that Garvin did to it. So everybody head on down to your nearest Target, OK!

I've been working on 6 different projects in the children's book division, so it's been crazy! I just completed CAM JANSEN AND THE MYSTERY WRITER. This is the mock up cover(missing part of the title!). I'm happy after illustrating 27 covers of the past Cam Jansens, that I now get to do the new books both inside and outside. Suzanna Natti had been the illustrator for Cam for many years. She now does the Young Cam Jansen series and I'm doing her as the original older girl.

I finished BABY SIGNS! Here is the comp for the cover. BABY SIGNS is being published by Dial and is scheduled for Spring of 2008.

Well, that's all I have time for now! I'll post again soon!

My first blog

2007-04-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hello! Here I am!

Well, this is how I looked a few years ago. Ha! I'm trying out my first blog today. I've been admiring what my daughter-in-law NataLee has done blogging about the cutest girl baby in the world Mabel Joy (I have to say that because I also know the cutest boy baby in the world), and I decided to try it too! I haven't thought too much of what I'm going to do with my blog other than just talk about what is going on. Perhaps that's the way to start! Who am I?!

First I would have to say I'm a happy Mom and Grandmom! I really love being both! My grandkids range from 13 years to 7 months, and each one fills my heart. My "kids" are all grown up now. They have many adventures, challenges and great talents. I'm a lucky and blessed lady!

For work, I'm a children's book illustrator. People all the time say, "I wish I had your job!". Well, most of the time, I agree with them! Illustrating over 60 books now, has been a delight. But, it isn't with it's difficulties as well. Any business, takes a lot of work. Children's illustrating has many tough parts to it. But I love it! I love creating! Creating characters, stories with pictures...that's what I just do naturally!

I hope to get the hang of blogging and enjoy sharing some of my life.