Week 4: Gratitude!

I've been at it for a month now!!  It certainly hasn't felt like a month, more like half that.  But I do feel like I've done and learned so much over the past four weeks.  Sometimes progress has felt slow, sometimes I've been stressed, sometimes I've stared at a piece of paper for a ridiculously long period of time before knowing what to do with it! But inspiration is coming along more quickly and I'm finding myself more able to focus.

This week one thing I have been feeling in particular has been gratitude.  It is not lost on me at all what a unique and incredible opportunity this is.  Unfortunately not many people can say that they are able to make a living doing what they love the most!  I'm so grateful that I can say that I can, at least for a few more months!  I'm realizing that I need to make the most of the next five months so that I can keep on living my dream.  Now that I've tasted the sweet life, how can I go back??  

It's been really interesting this week to learn more about children's books in general.  Did you know that the industry standard for children's books is 32 pages?  That allows for twelve spreads and two half-page drawings if the book is self-ended, or fourteen spreads and two half-page drawings if the book has colored ends.

Don't know what the heck any of that means?  That's ok, I'm right there with you.  Maybe only slightly ahead of you, now that I've been doing a little more research.  I'm glad to know about all of this now, though, before I've really gotten* this started instead of later when I'm done with all of the illustrations.  

On a slightly unrelated note, as I'm illustrating I often think of Cynthia Coppersmith, a character in author Jan Karon's Mitford Series.  The book series is about Father Timothy Kavanagh, an Episcopal priest in a small town (Mitford) in North Carolina, and the happenings of the extremely lovable townsfolk.  They're some of my favorite books!  Cynthia Coppersmith is Father Tim's neighbor and is a children's book author and illustrator.  She often talks about deadlines and watercolors and sketching from nature, which pops into my head as I work.

Which reminds me, I took a little field trip on Wednesday to my favorite local park to do some "research" for the book.  I really just wanted an excuse to ride my bike - the first ride of the year!  Everything is still very brown - it's all still waking up from this cruel winter - but it was still great to see my favorite spots and anticipate the green that is to come!

When it's green, it's gorgeous! (The nature, not the bike.)

*Anyone else hate the word "gotten" as much as me?  I don't know what it is about that word, but it bugs me.  Not as much as the word "cacophony," but it's up there.