Peeps look a lot like canaries, I figure, so what better way to celebrate my book birthday? 
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Posted in Canary in the Coal Mine, kidlit, world domination
Tagged canary in the coal mine, peeps
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Drawing
When I got my first book contract, practically the first question that my friend Tom asked me was: “What are you going to draw?”
“Draw?” I said dumbly.
“When you sign your books,” Tom said. “What are you going to draw?”
“I don’t draw,” I said.
My friend Cece, who just happens to be married to Tom, asked the exact same question. “Hooray!” she said. “What are you going to draw?”
It should be noted here that Cece and Tom both do draw, successfully at that. It should be noted that I’ve never gotten my proportions quite right and that when I draw hands, they are conveniently placed behind people’s backs where no one else can see them. And it should be noted that, as it turns out, none of that matters.There IS something incredibly liberating and personal about drawing as part of your signature, even if your drawing is just a doodle or a little stick guy. Whatever you draw, though, you have to be able to do it fast. For Schmutzy, I just draw thought bubbles. For Happy Birthday, Tree, I tend to draw trees. For Canary in the Coal Mine, I’m drawing feathers. Here’s a look at my Moleskin, where I’m trying to see how quickly I can draw a feather that still looks like a feather. It kind of reminds me of my notebooks when I was in middle school and high school, except that there’s no Van Halen insignia.
Posted in art, Canary in the Coal Mine, world domination
Tagged advice, art, canary in the coal mine, drawing, moleskins, signatures, van halen, writing
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Musical Welcome
It’s been a while since I’ve done a musical welcome for a book, but I figured this was the week to get back to that because this is the week Art2-D2’s Guide to Folding and Doodling is out.
I’ve been thinking a lot about doodling lately — inspired by Tom Angleberger and by something Heather Ross said recently about drawing a little every day. When Tom and Heather (and R2) are in agreement, I think the cosmos is telling us something.
I’m welcoming Tom’s book with Art Class (Song for Yayoi Kusama) by Superchunk. Rocking, if not 100 percent family friendly.
Posted in kidlit, musical welcome
Tagged musical welcome, origami yoda, superchunk, tom angleberger
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Dancing cockatoo
Okay, so he’s not a canary. But this is clearly a bird who has found his happy place!
Posted in birds, Canary in the Coal Mine
Tagged bird, boogie, canary, frostie the dancing cockatoo
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Whipple Company Store
One of the best places I visited when I was working on Canary in the Coal Mine was Whipple Company Store.
Inside the company store
Located in Scarbro, W.Va., Whipple is owned and operated by Joy Lynn, her husband, Chuck, and their kids. Joy used to pass by the place as a girl growing up in West Virginia. It looked like a palace, she said.
Whipple
By the time she and her husband bought it, the Whipple store had fallen into disrepair. But it had good bones and Joy saw magic there. And lots and lots of history. Though she’s a bit of a snowbird, she and her family spend Spring, Summer and Fall giving tours and preserving the place the best way they know how. I’m not going to tell you Joy’s stories because those belong to her, and she’s got several books of her own that she’ll get on paper some day — oral histories about the store and coal camp life. But you’ll hear some of those stories if you take a tour with her. She’ll show you the safe, tell you some secrets about the second floor, and show you the carvings on the walls. She’ll tell you about the embalming room in the basement (she doesn’t like to go down there herself) and she’ll show you where to stand on the main floor so you can hear people whispering across the way. The store is open from May to November, and they have haunted history tours in October. You won’t find much gloss and polish there — just authenticity. It’s a place where your imagination can run free and where you can hear good, basic storytelling at its best. The New River Gorge is close by, too, so there are plenty of reasons to stop the car.
Posted in Canary in the Coal Mine, coal, researching, tourism, whipple
Tagged canary in the coal mine, coal, coal tourism, company store, research, west virginia, whipple
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