This year, I was selected as a finalist in the Illustrator's Portfolio category for the Tassy Walden Awards! The Tassy Awards for New Voices in Children's Literature are held by the Shoreline Arts Alliance and are judged by literary agents and children's book industry professionals.

I just got back from the ceremony, and I am still buzzing with joy! Everyone there was so awesome! The people who won and placed in Honorable Mention for writing read excerpts from their manuscripts, and I can't wait to see them in print so I can finish the stories! The winner for Illustrated Children's Book, Lynn Stephens Massey, also presented her beautiful book about the fascinating creatures that live along the Connecticut shoreline. Her book makes me want to learn more about horseshoe crabs! Marcela Staudenmeier won the lllustrator's Portfolio category, and not only is her art absolutely FANTASTIC (especially her collages!), she is one of the sweetest people I've ever met! :)

I've met Marcela before, as well as many of the other winners, presenters (Hi Doe Boyle and Deborah Freedman!), and attendees from the Tassy awards, at the SCBWI groups that I attend. They are such a wonderful group of people- nurturing, supportive and honest as they give great feedback to help everyone's art and writing grow. I love going to the meetings even when I don't have anything specific to show, I learn so much from everyone and they keep me excited and focused on making art through the month!

It was also really special because my mom and aunt were able to come along with me!

OK, so I'll quit gushing now! :) In conclusion: CONGRATULATIONS to the Winners, Honorable Mentions, and Finalists, and YAY FOR CHILDREN'S BOOKS!

I found my old elementary school yearbook in my parents’ basement, so I sketched some of the kids!

One of my co-workers commissioned me to paint a picture of her sister's dog as a gift. I was happy to make it for her, even more so after I saw the photographs of the pooch! SO FLUFFY!!!

Some sketches:

After we picked out the pose and composition we liked the best, I got to work on it in my little studio area:

And here's the finished painting!

I had a lot of fun making this! If you want a portrait of your pet (not just dogs, I'd be happy to paint a picture of your cat, bunny, gerbil, fish, cow, really, I just love painting animals!) feel free to contact me!

I have heard that this website may not work properly in some computers, so I have put some of my art for children in my Blogger account for you to look at if you are unable to see it.

Also, only a few more hours until the SCBWI conference! I can't wait to meet all of the cool people there!

This weekend I will be going to the SCBWI Conference in New York City! I am so excited! I just gave my portfolio a bit of a makeover for it, and this is one of my favorite pictures that I just added!

Also, I just recently created my own Twitter account! Follow me if you'd like! @AnnelieseArt

I finally made an Etsy store! I am mostly selling small original drawings right now, but I also plan on selling prints of some of my favorite pieces later on as well. Here are a few watercolor and ink paintings I have up now:

The picture below is a detail of a bigger drawing:

I'll post more later as I go along!

Right now I have a job working in an elementary school, and I spend part of the day assisting in a first-grade classroom. Today the teacher asked me to illustrate the difference between an alligator and a crocodile on the whiteboard for the kids. I kind of liked how the drawing came out, so I thought I'd share it here as well! Now you can impress all of your friends with your knowledge about the differences between these reptiles!

A couple of drawings I made this weekend...

It seems that there is some sort of problem with the feed from my Blogger account to here, so here is a link to my post about my experience helping to restore a mural in New York City! Hopefully the issue will be resolved soon!