Silvia writes:

“Hi Lilla, I was asked by Flow magazine to answer the question: “What makes life simple?” in an illustration.
I love growing things in our garden, so I made an illustration of it. They liked it so they put it on the cover of the book,
inside the book, and inside the book as a poster! It was a very nice surprise…

Flow magazine has an international issue too.

From Lisa’s blog:

“Most illustrators or designers will tell you that every now and again a job comes along that makes your heart skip a beat. Late in 2011, I got one such call from Chronicle Books. They asked me to illustrate a collection of Gertrude Stein poetry called Tender Buttons, Objects. When I got the call, I was currently going through my second period of obsession with Stein, her life and work, after seeing the phenomenal exhibit Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. My first period of obsession occurred in the early 90′s when I was in my early 20′s. At that time, I read everything I could get my hands on about Stein and her partner Alice B. Toklas, and their life in Paris.

So when I got the call, I was more than excited. I was ecstatic! This was for me a dream job.

If you know anything about Stein’s poetry, you know she played with words, and many of her poems don’t really make much sense. Here’s an example of a poem from Tender Buttons, Objects:

‘Enthusiastically hurting a clouded yellow bud and saucer, enthusiastically so is the bite in the ribbon’

And so I also knew this would be a challenging assignment, illustrating abstract poems. But I reveled in the idea of putting pictures to Stein’s words, as difficult as it might be. Chronicle graciously allowed me to concept all of the illustrations myself. This was the most creative freedom I’d ever had in a job, and I loved it.

Of course, I did get stuck a few times, and my editor and designer were there to help me concept ideas. In the end, we came up with about 40 illustrations for the book. Here is a sneak peek at a few of my favorites (without accompanying poetry; you’ll have to buy the book to see that!):

All the illustrations are gouache and graphite on paper.

Tender Buttons, Objects will be released this Spring, around March, so stay tuned. You can pre-order the book here on Chronicle’s website or on Amazon.”

Sarajo writes:

“Hi! Here’s the announcement I sent out for the launch of my new collection of

dolls for Land of Nod, along with a little background about what inspired them. Enjoy!”

Sarajo writes:

“Hi All,
Land of Nod showcased a room re-design featuring my one of my bedding designs in a recent post on Honest to Nod! It’s from blogger and mom Raechel Myers for her daughter Hazel’s bedroom. What a beautiful room and what a lucky daughter! Honest to Nod also features lots of fun DIY projects for parents and kids. Enjoy!
I love thinking about how many youngsters are sleeping on the dancer bedding and all the creativity that will infuse their dreams—sheets as creativity/dream vehicle!”

JJ writes:

“Hi Lilla,
The poster I was commissioned to make for the NYC MTA Arts for Transit Program is now up in subway stations around New York, and it’s been really fun to get photos from New York friends from different spots through the city. I loved working on this project!”

Suzy’s wonderful ornaments & painted dreidels for Crate & Barrel.

Set of 4 Fancy Octopus with Hat Ornaments

Set of 3 Fabric Whale with Hat Ornaments

Set of 4 Onion Dome Holiday House Box Ornaments

Set of 3 Fabric Girls in Dresses Ornaments

Set of 3 Painted Wood Dreidels

Sarajo writes:
“Here are some of the new products I designed for Land of Nod. I love designing things that eventually become products. It’s wonderful to be part of the process and translation from design to product and have the opportunity to see these things enjoyed by people all over! The doll collection:
Meet Evelina, Frankie, Ines and Lolly–my new collection of embroidered dolls for Land of Nod. These dolls were inspired by many trips I made as a young girl, accompanying my mother to visit two talented ladies, Eda and Kisha. They rescued dolls (from the doll factory) and created beautifully handmade Hungarian folk costumes for them, and when I would visit, I would always get to take one home. Eda and Kisha were close friends of my grandparents, who were also Hungarian émigrés living in Los Angeles. Learn more and see the collection here.”

Hsinping writes:

“This year I made these covers for The Land of Nod catalog.
I always love their products and catalog. it’s so exciting to work with them.
I have a lot of fun with these three little people in different seasons.:)

Here are the images I did so far:”

Silvia’s bedding for LON is the star of their new fall collection. See more here. – Julia

Our lovely agent, Susan McCabe, wrote about Jennifer Judd-McGee’s latest project:

“CLYNK, the Maine company that makes it easy to recycle and make a difference, celebrated the opening of its first-ever modular Drop-Off Center for redeemable containers on Sept 4. The new Drop-Off Center partners with local artists to help communicate the importance of recycling to protect our environment. For the inaugural Drop-Off Center, our very own Jennifer Judd-McGee was asked to create a custom paper-cut piece she titled “Local Color.” The piece was digitally enlarged to be featured on the Drop-Off Center at Hannaford’s in Portland, Maine.

Jennifer says about the project:
‘A lot of my artwork continually explores the ideas of community and living with intention. Working on this paper-cut design for CLYNK felt like a perfect fit: it’s about recycling, accessibility, local support and the ways we work together to strengthen the cities and towns in our beautiful state of Maine.’ ”