A long time ago at the Pierre Bottineau...

The www.illustrationfriday.com theme return gives me a chance to talk about the latest Children's Book Illustrators Guild show I'm involved in.  My oldish piece, Red Wings Over Red Wing is in the show.  Along with, Sidney the Unstoppable Squirrel.  The Red Wings piece reminded me of return because of all the birds that are returning to our neck of the wood at this time of year.  Actually Cardinals never leave.  And neither do Eagles.  And as for the Lake Creature?  Your guess is as good as mine.  Here's the scoop on the CBIG show. It runs March 1- April 30 at the Penn Lake Library 8800 Penn Ave. S.Bloomington, 55431 612.543.5800

And I couldn't resist tagging the venue of our last CBIG show on this post.  I took all these photos of the historic Pierre Bottineau library a long time ago in a far away land.  North Minneapolis to be exact.  The show is history and the library is full of history as well.  It used to be a brewery.  Here's the scoop... The newest old building in the Minneapolis Public Library system opened in 2003 at the Historic Grain Belt Campus. The 1893 Wagon Shed and the 1913 Millwright Shop were reused and merged with a new structure to create a warm and welcoming, state-of-the-art library. It is a lively neighborhood gathering place where people meet, read, and study. The library and the nearby Bottineau Neighborhood are named for Pierre Bottineau (1817-1895), one of the most colorful characters in early local history. An accomplished guide, trapper, and trader, he spent the prime years of his long, active life opening up the Northwest Corridor communities of the Twin Cities metro area to settlement.

 So there you have it.  A brewery tour with out the beer.  Sorry! And here's my piece, Toilet Buddies.  I had this and another funny kitty piece there.  Dessertus Interuptus. 

And it wasn't so long ago that I entered the latest TDAC big Kraft foods contest.  There are so many great illustrated recipes to choose from.  But there will only be 6 that will be able to bring home the bacon.  Here's my link! http://theydrawandcook.com/recipes/maui-luau-sandwich-by-sharon-wagner    

Hibernate

It is Friday again already. And that means it is www.illustrationfriday.com day. I picked an old illustration from my story, Sidney the Unstoppable Squirrel. I thought it would be perfect to follow my last chipmunk post. In my illustration Carmen the chipmunk is popping out of her hole to say hello to Sidney the squirrel. I sure gave Carmen a weird hole to hibernate in. All it needs is a manhole cover and she could be on the streets of New York. I'm sure that the chipmunks in our yard have been much more selective with their den placement. I know our little friend from my previous post put hers underneath our deck. And with all the corn she has stored up for Winter it must be huge! I don't think chippers actually hibernate so much as they sleep for long periods and then wake up for a snack. Kind of like a teenager I guess.