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.