Poster for Darrell's next concert...Day of the Dead! I have another version, the only difference being the November 1st text is red instead of white. Whatd'ya think?

More Christian stuff

Christian the Lion

Rat Fink cover sketch

This is the cover sketch I will be sending to Dutton. The goal is to make the boy, (Logan) look a little rattish, but still cute...and the girl, (Emily) a "snot" but likeable in the end. So, I've given the boy, beady eyes, ragged hair, a long nose that ends rather small and two front teeth that are prominent. For the girl, an upturned nose and posture along with the down turned eyebrow help to make her look snobbish. I hope she still looks cute. Grandpa is in the background in his flowered towel, which in the end will be pink. The black boy is Malik, and what's in his backpack is the secret that turns Logan into a RAT FINK. What d'ya think?

A Musical Celebration

Darrell has given me another opportunity to exercise my graphic design muscles. I used the traditional Kanagawa Wave as the beginning, changed the background, took out the boats and fishermen, posterized it, changed the size and added text. Back in the 70's the great poster artist, Mac Magleby changed the wave, morphed the edges of the wave into birds that flew up into the sky, changed the shape from horizontal to vertical and added the text, "PEACE" across the top. His version pops up all over the place. It's a great wave. Oh, the school logo should be placed up in the left hand corner, next to the boxed text.

Rat Fink

Sketches are due on Tuesday, the 1st of October and I'm not close to being done...aaargh! Rat Fink is a cute middle grade novel. Black and white interiors and color cover. Basically, Logan (10 year old boy) is not happy that his grandpa (think dementia) has come to live with his family. Grandpa does goofy things...like going outside to pick flowers without getting dressed first, or as in part of this sketch, showing up at a school function and taking over the microphone to sing old songs. One thing Logan suggests to help grandpa find his way home is to give grandpa a camera. But it backfires on Logan when grandpa uses his camera to take a picture of Logan (left hand part of sketch), later used as fodder for blackmail by Logan's nemesis.

Two down, six to go.

New website ideas

I'm in the process of making a new website (sorely needed) and I'm toying with using this art (after painting of course) for the categories. Each animal would have a label, ie: books, portfolio, sketches, contact...you know how it works. Then when the mouse scrolls over the animal it would make a noise. Anywho, I'm not totally in love with this line drawing and might scrap the whole thing for something else...when I think of something else.

This piece and the one that follows were both done on brown toned paper. It's fun and easy...add highlights and shadows and...presto! The scary part is, I was the model for this one.

This was something just for fun I posted on http://www.drawergeeks.com.%20i/I love the site. Check 'em out. Each week a new subject. Lots of talent!

Betsy Jane Leavitt Hamblin

Last summer this art was used on one of three monuments in Arizona honoring my Leavitt ancestors. The other two monuments had images that worked together with this one. Theoretically one could travel to the three different monuments and do a rubbing that connects all three pictures into one larger piece, the background then becomes recognizable. Want to know what was in the background?

The School Library Journal Review

HOWIE, Betsy. The Block Mess Monster. illus. by C. B. Decker. unpaged. CIP. Holt. June 2008. RTE $16.95. ISBN 978-0-8050-7940-1. LC 2007007229.
K-Gr 3—Calpurnia has a Block Mess Monster in her room that doesn't want to be put away. Her mom who, oddly enough, can't see it, encourages her to clean up. And that's the little girl's problem. "Just say POOF!" advises Mom. But no amount of poofing makes Block Mess disappear. And no amount of cajoling on Mom's part convinces Calpurnia that Block Mess doesn't exist. But just when she's about to lose her patience, Mom comes up with a brilliant idea that resolves the issue. Watercolor cartoons brilliantly capture the humor and exasperation of this parent-child tug-of-war. Calpurnia, always in a different getup (including an Indian outfit) repeatedly tries to discourage Mom's attempts to clean the room. Droll vignettes depict the child in various guises trying to "poof" away the dreaded monster, while Mom's oversize hand reaching to clear away clutter and a close-up of her blazing eyes and downturned mouth cause Calpurnia to quip, "Oh great. Now there are two monsters." There are many picture-book stories that urge youngsters to clean their room, but this perfect pairing of text and illustrations is irresistible.—Marianne Saccardi, formerly at Norwalk Community College, CT

I'm told a good review in the SLJ will expose your book to tens of thousands of school librarians across the nation...one can hope!

The Quilt Store

Recently, a friend's daughter paid me to create a logo for her new quilting store, LadyBug's Quilts. Originally she asked that I create a black, white and red logo. Thankfully, she decided to use more color (afterall, it's a fabric store full of color!) and this was what we came up with together. She has this on her business cards and store bags and even on the cash register receipts. If you're ever in Manteca California make sure you stop and buy your quilting material from Jenny Dancy!

Bad Luck Chair

I read recently on James Gurney's blog that too much green on the cover of a book spells death. Ooops. This is the cover (minus the text) of a middle grade novel for Dutton titled The Bad Luck Chair. The color green figured prominently in the story along with a lot of magic and mystery. The inside has a slew of black and white illustrations. Any resemblance to anyone you know is purely coincidental. It must be doing okay, they recently asked me to do another! I LOVE Dutton.

Elephant

The text should read: "You Too?" Originally this art was meant to be a get well card and somehow the bandages became socks. I liked it enough to post it, but we'll see if it makes it to the next round...meaning, will it become a card?

Another Version

How's this one? More musical? Keep your fingers crossed.

Fun design, but no go

I liked this design...but unfortunately, by emphasizing the "Viking" text, the music camp got relegated to second fiddle. Back to the drawing board.

My Latest Book

The Block Mess Monster hit the book stores on June 1, 2008! It got a great Kirkus Review and was immediately picked up by the Children's Book of the Month Club. I hope it all translates into more work and more money!

Del Mar College Music posters

Thanks to my son-in-law, Darrell Brown, who teaches music at the college, I get a lot of opportunity to do music posters. Good for me and I hope good for him, too!

One of several bad ideas for Band Camp T-Shirts

O Pioneers

I come from a long line of pioneers. Leavitt pioneers to be exact. Last summer I was asked to create three pieces of art for three monuments that were being erected in Arizona to honor my pioneer forebearers. This is one of the pieces.