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Categories About Me (Mostly) Art (my pictures) Art (other people's pictures) Books Comics Dolls Domestic Film Flowers & Green things Hooray for Mail! Music My Books Old Things Projects + Downloads for You Sewing The Magic Sock (A Random Assortment) To Eat or Drink Vagabonding Woes See More Visit the shop: Rotating Reading List Marcel Dzama: Marcel Dzama: Sower of Discord The Arabian Nights: Tales from a Thousand and One Nights (Modern Library Classics) P. G. Wodehouse: Carry On, Jeeves (A Jeeves and Bertie Novel) Richard H. Davis: Gods in Print: Masterpieces of India's Mythological Art Michael Ende: Momo Fanny Britt: Jane, the Fox, and Me Camille Rose Garcia: Snow White Christine Davenne: Cabinets of Wonder J.B. Kaufman: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The Art and Creation of Walt Disney's Classic Animated Film Rachel Wharton: Handheld Pies: Dozens of Pint-Size Sweets and Savories Lilli Carré: Heads Or Tails Melissa Milgrom: Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy Kyo Maclear: Virginia Wolf Alvin Buenaventura: The Art of Daniel Clowes: Modern Cartoonist Sophie Blackall: Missed Connections: Love, Lost & Found Angela Carter: The Bloody Chamber: And Other Stories Henry) Kiyoko Lerner, Nathan Lerner, David Berglund, photographs (Darger: Henry Darger's Room Arnold Arluke: Beauty and the Beast: Human-Animal Relations as Revealed in Real Photo Postcards, 1905-1935 Loren Coleman: Field Guide to Lake Monsters, Sea Serpents, and Other Mystery Denizens of the Deep Randall Jarrell: The Animal Family (Michael Di Capua Books) Subscribe to this blog's feed Once, There Were Two Sisters That's how their tale begins...and now they are in the world! Snow & Rose is released today, both in print *and* in audiobook. There are a few lines from a favorite song that stuck with me through the years I was working on this: "Out of sorrow, entire worlds have been built / Out of longing, great wonders have been willed" Because the ingredients for this story were this: an old sorrow and an old fairy tale. And from those two things, a whole world grew. It is the most of myself I've ever put into any one thing; in writing about these girls, the wolf-hearted and the rabbit-hearted, and what they lost, I was able to write about the history of my own heart, and my own loss. And tangle it all up in ferns and ancient trees and keys that might-or-might-not-be magic. I hope you will like my mysterious forest. You might, especially if you like any of these things: willful sisters, mysterious woods, boy mushroom-farmers, unusual libraries, strange enchantments... You can find it online, at your local bookstore, through my longtime friends at BuyOlympia . I've spent so much time here, and now it belongs to all of us... to you too, if you want. ♥ Save Save October 10, 2017 in Books | Permalink | Comments (11) Tomorrow is Snow & Rose day! One of my favorite things about the real, bound book is this little sketchbook section in the back. I can't believe my first proper novel will be out tomorrow...I hope you'll love it. ♥ October 09, 2017 in Books | Permalink | Comments (3) My Collection of Fairy Tales Snow & Rose is out in exactly one week (October 10th!) While we're waiting, I made a new page on my website celebrating one of my biggest inspirations: old fairy tale books. Click here to see some of my favorites & nerd out with me! Save Save Save Save October 03, 2017 in Books | Permalink | Comments (0) Floraphilia Originals Just a note to let you know that the summer's worth of Floraphilia originals (including the newest one, below) will all be in my shop tomorrow, Thursday 9/28 at 12 pm Pacific! The Garden of Eden / 8.5"x11" // watercolor & gouache on paper Save September 27, 2017 in Art (my pictures) | Permalink | Comments (0) Snow & Rose My next book comes out in just a few months (October 10th, to be exact) and I wanted to to tell you about it before it's actually here! Snow & Rose is an illustrated fairy tale, my first proper novel and the most personal thing I've ever done. It was also the longest in the making -- I imagined a reworking of my favorite Grimm's tale, Snow White & Rose Red, years and years ago -- and then it was several years in the writing, editing & art-making. I have so much to say about this story and the two girls that are its namesakes (and I will share more soon!) but for now I'll leave you with the words that grace the jacket flap, because I think it encapsulates the book so nicely: ************ Snow and Rose were two sisters, as different as night and day. They lived in the woods, but it hadn't always been so... Once, they lived in a big house with spectacular gardens and an army of servants. Once, they had a father and mother who loved them more than the sun and moon. But that was before their father disappeared into the woods and their mother disappeared into sorrow. This is the story of two sisters and the enchanted woods that have been waiting for them to break a set of terrible spells. *********** It is the tale of two brave girls, a strange library, and a boy named Ivo, of a wounded bear, of what it means to know and to believe. You can pre-order your own mysterious tale of the forest from your local bookstore , Barnes & Noble , Amazon & Powell's More soon! (October, kindly hurry up!) Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save Save August 02, 2017 in Books , My Books | Permalink | Comments (8) Floraphilia Ever week this summer, I've been making a new flower (or flower-related) painting. Shameless mixing Greek & Latin, I've called the series Floraphilia... Now that I'm about halfway through the project, I though it would be nice to have them all in one place, so here are the first six pieces! (If you want to follow along on the installments, I post them on Instagram & Twitter ) Floraphilia / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper The Serpent & the Bloom / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper Love Will Tear Us Apart / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper Rose of No Man's Land / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper The Hidden Garden / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper The Emperor's Peonies / 8.5" x 11" / watercolor & gouache on paper The series will be available in my shop when summer ends & the flowers are gone for the year! Save Save July 19, 2017 in Art (my pictures) | Permalink | Comments (6) "Don't Let the Bastards Grind you Down" in latin/nonsense I wanted to make myself a sign with these words (a secret message of resistance in The Handmaid's Tale.) And I wanted to surround the words with harbingers of all the beauty in the world, so it's two reminders at once. There are a lot of times when I need this sign, for all kinds of reasons, and I thought other people might too (so I'm posting a high-res version here you can download from the link below) I've already tacked mine right above my computer, and it's a very nice reminder. Click here to download a nice, big printable file ♥ Save June 01, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (9) Littlest Family Process Art Do you want to see what one of my books looks like at the beginning? Julie at the great Seven Impossible Things has posted a bunch of process art from The Littlest Family's Big Day -- click over for storyboards, cover sketches, etc. There is even more, but I pared it down to a good overview of what it looks like behind-the-scenes. I love these two early cover sketches so much. I think they were the first thing I ever made, when the idea was just percolating. Anyway, there's a lot more to see, along with art from two other books, The Lizsts & The Bear Who Wasn't There included in The Sweet & the Surreal, a post from her Kirkus colum last week. I love seeing the beginnings of things, all wispy and rough. Save Save Save Save October 21, 2016 in Art (my pictures) , Books | Permalink | Comments (2) Maybe you'll come see us at the cutest bookstore in town ? October 20, 2016...