Maybe Something Beautiful Book Trailer

Finding direction for Bravo.

Process painting on wood-searching for direction

Study of Cesar Chavez

Sometimes I like working more traditionally. This was a study on wood of Cesar Chavez for an upcoming book Bravo! written by my friend, the gifted poet Margarita Engle. I ended up creating a more graphic and conceptual approach to the portraits of Latino heroes but this was a great activity to help me find my direction. Our book is due out next year.

My Tribute to Prince

¿Cachai? Chile

¿Cachai? is a popular expression that means do you catch or do your know? I just returned from an amazing trip to Chile, invited by Nido de Aguilas to speak to kids about making books. Wanted to share some memories and thank the many new friends I made along the way.

Connecting with new librarian friends at Nido de Aguilas in Chile

Visiting Villalobos studio with Antonia López and Nevenka Pavic in Valparaiso, Chile

Peeling Textures

Museo Violeta Parra

Valparaiso

Liguria, one of the oldest and coolest restaurants in downtown Santiago

Sneak Peek: Behind the Scenes Creating Art for Maybe Something Beautiful

Thanks to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Young Readers for their recent post about the process of creating art for Maybe Something Beautiful.

In this exuberant picture book about transformation through art, Mira live in a gray urban community until a muralist arrives and, along with his paints and brushes, brings color, joy and hope to the neighborhood. Based on the true story of the Urban Art Trail in San Diego, California, Maybe Something Beautiful reveals how art can inspire transformation-and how even the smallest artists can accomplish something big. Pick up a paintbrush and join the celebration!

Available wherever books are sold on April 12, 2016!

December

Ice skating beside the beach at the Hotel Del this past weekend

Makers Fair in Balboa Park

Steampunk Inspiration

Cracking contraptions

San Diego State of Mind

Ice skating beside the beach at the Hotel Del this past weekend

Makers Fair in Balboa Park

Amazingly creative Steampunkers

Cracking contraptions

Diversions

A week I ago I dreamt about this tiger from India and had to wake up early in the morning to paint him.

His face blushing in shame. The temptation proved too strong for Ferdinand the Bull as he munches away at the last flower that bloomed on his hilltop.

After learning that Little Red Riding Hood and Grandma haven't spoken in years, the wolf goes for Plan B. Red however is very clever and decides to shop online.

Study for Maybe Something Beautiful

Here is one of the studies I created for Maybe Something Beautiful due out next April. The story was inspired by the work we have done with many dedicated volunteers in the East Village of downtown San Diego. I was looking for mood and atmosphere as the story written by Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell starts with a little girl who lives in a grey city.

I wanted to try something new and challenged myself to experiment with this book. Riding around on my bicycle I shot photos of buildings in our neighborhood. I then painted the outer shapes of the structures using acrylic paint on wooden boards to get the texture background. One of my favorite downtime pastimes is photographing textures and these came from my urban file. This was compiled digitally to deliver the grit I was looking for.

Maybe Something Beautiful

This year several new books took flight from my drawing table. This one hits home.

Maybe Something Beautiful written by F. Isabel Campoy and Theresa Howell due out this April from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

The genesis of this book was a personal journey that started in 1997 when my wife Candice and I bought an old car garage in an edgy neighborhood at that time, the East Village of downtown San Diego. We were in our thirties and put down all our savings to make it happen. My mother in law cried when she first visited and couldn't fathom our choice of a first home in a such a challenging part of town. Undeterred we rented two industrial wet vacuum cleaners to scrub the car grease off the floors and began digging car parts out of the back yard. For ten years we worked with our friend Daniel to transform our home into a live/work studio where we could create and dream. In 2007 we stood back and took a deep breath. The once cold, dark 3,200 square foot space at last felt warm, and inviting. We were happy, sort of.

You see there was a big issue all too evident the moment you opened the front door. Drug dealing and related violence ruled the streets. That gray darkness outside extended into our home. We noticed that most people in our neighborhood walked looking down. They were sad, depressed or perhaps just afraid to make eye contact. The signs of struggle were all around and the few families who lived nearby rushed across the streets to get inside quick and lock their doors. Not knowing what to do we put up flyers and held a meeting at a local school to try to figure something out. We decided the best thing to do was something we knew. To use art to transform our neighborhood. After many meetings in our loft which became the paint station and staging area, the Urban Art Trail was born. It started with the painting of electrical boxes once used as makeshift offices by drug dealers. I developed a series of large murals that worked like giant paint by numbers so untrained artists could be involved. The trail grew to include benches, sidewalk poetry, sculpture, urban bird houses and mosaics. Working together with neighbors, children, students, graffiti artists, teachers, designers, residents of women's and homeless shelters and many others we transformed our community.
The East Village today is a great place to live and work.

Imagine my excitement when Isabel Compoy and Theresa Howell crafted an inspiring story about young Mira and her neighbors based on the actual Urban Art Trail. Below are sketches from the pages of our book. Featured in this 2016 Picture Book Preview from Jbrary. Thanks Lindsay and Dana for your early support of this new book. 

As this story was so close to home, it felt right to take some risks and try new mixed media techniques. I blended original photographs I shot of the East Village with watercolor, acrylic on wood and at times stirred them up digitally. I look forward to sharing these techniques in future posts.