Showing posts with label Carolyn Dee Flores. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carolyn Dee Flores. Show all posts

Monday, April 28, 2014

Carolyn Dee Flores Singing CANTA RANA CANTA w Preschoolers





Watch what happens when Carolyn Dee Flores reads her picture book - "Canta Rana Canta/ Sing Froggie Sing" - to a class of 4 yr. olds from a Spanish Immersion Preschool in Houston for El Día de Los Niños.


She sings "Dona Nobis Pacem" (for Froggie's voice) - and out of the blue, the preschoolers start singing back!

 4 year olds, well, they're amazing!

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

San Antonio Book Festival - FROGGIE COMES ALIVE!

SAN ANTONIO BOOK FESTIVAL 2014, April 5
What an amazing event!
 
Here is an interview I did with some students Saturday morning at the festival. They were so professional!

 
 
 
 
 
 
Dynamic Author Malín Alegria of the BORDER TOWN series and ESTRELLA'S QUINCEANERA took this picture of me (Carolyn Dee Flores) Friday night atop the San Antonio Library Terrace. And I had my brand new book with me!!!! *floating*

 
Amazing time with this year's Caldecott medalist Brian Floca! Can you believe? I think yesterday was my lucky day! He is truly inspiring!

 
What an honor! With the First Ever Poet Laureate of San Antonio - legendary Carmen Tafolla!
 
Wow, a picture of me with fantastic author Angela Cervantes - Writer at the San Antonio Book Festival yesterday. She wrote the great multiple award winning book - GABY, LOST AND FOUND! Love it!

Monday, October 14, 2013

Its Official!! Book Release DAUGHTERS OF TWO NATIONS!!

Very excited to present the biography DAUGHTERS OF TWO NATIONS written by Peggy Caravantes and illustrated by me, about nine amazing Native American women from various periods in U.S. history.
Illustrated in Prismacolor colored pencil.
Book Release : October 15, 2013
 
 

 
Barnes and Noble
 
First copies of DAUGHTERS arrive! w Carolyn Dee Flores

 
I am extremely proud to be associated with such a beautifully written book.
 These nine women are important, dignified, and ground-breaking.
 Many thanks to Mountain Press, Gwen McKenna (editor) and Peggy Caravantes.

Carolyn Dee Flores

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Froggie Original Artwork goes to NY - ABFFE Art Auction


 Colored Pencil Artwork from SING FROGGIE/CANTA RANA by Carolyn Dee Flores
 
Tonight, I am prepping original artwork from the book "Canta, Rana, canta/Sing, Froggie Sing" for shipping to ABFFE's art auction at BookExpo America in New York City, May 29, 2013! It's such an honor to be asked.

ABFFE stands for American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression. The 19th annual Children's Book Auction at BookExpo America will be hosted by Jack Gantos and Lauren Myracle.

 
Colored Pencil Spread from SING FROGGIE/CANTA RANA by Carolyn Dee Flores

You may preview the art here. Support Freedom of Expression!
 
Have a creative week,
Carolyn Dee Flores
www.carolynflores.com

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

"Froggie" Drawing To Be Included in Mazza Museum of Picture Book Art Permanent Collection


BIG ANNOUNCEMENT!!The Mazza Museum for International Art From Picture Books in Findlay, Ohio - has requested a piece of original artwork from my picture book "Sing, Froggie, Sing/Canta, Rana, canta" published by Arte Público/Piñata  - to be added to their permanent museum collection!!

 This is an unbelievably big moment for me in my career. The list of illustrators included in the Mazza collection is mind-boggling! So humbled and honored. Here is a picture of the studio as I prep artwork for shipping tomorrow!

Prepping Froggie Drawing For Trip to Mazza Museum!
Link to the Mazza Museum for Picture Book Art: http://www.findlay.edu/offices/academic/mazzamuseum/Pages/default.aspx

Wonderstruck and terribly proud of this first book,
Carolyn Dee Flores

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Painting Banners for Studio 54 at the McNay


In 2006, The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio asked me to make some banners for a "Studio 54" themed event. Art patrons could buy a  V.I.P. section - and each section was named after a famous celebrity. There was an "Andy Warhol" room, a "Cher" room, a "Jackie O." room,  etc...

 I wanted every painting to look great under the DJ lights, so I made each "banner" 70" long,  out of colored transparency sheets sandwiched between two pieces of black theater skrim.  I sewed the whole thing together. Then I painted the surface with oil paint.
Here are some of the results:





Next day, I told the lady that hired me at the museum, "The very first thing you should say to yourself when you see me coming down the street is, 'Yeah, but has this REALLY ever been done before? ' "

She smiled and said that's what she liked about me.

Have fun taking the "road less traveled"!

Carolyn Dee Flores
www.carolynflores.com



Painting a Mural in Freezing Weather





Here I am painting a mural in 2006. It was 15 degrees above zero - so I wore hunting gear to keep warm. Also, I painted with oils directly onto the wall. Doctors in the neighborhood kept coming by to check my pulse. This piece was called "Gravitas." 


Little kids would run up to me and ask, "Are you the mural lady?"
How cool is that?


Finished product.


I love glazes. The blue paint was so deep, you could see it from the freeway.

Have fun this week,
Carolyn Dee Flores
www.carolynflores.com



Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Caldecott Medalist Eric Rohmann and Candace Fleming, and Ellen Hopkins in San Antonio This Week


Announcing 2 Big Book Events in San Antonio This Week!
Caldecott Medal Winner  Eric Rohmann and author Candace Fleming will be speaking at UTSA this Wednesday, December 5 at 6:00 p.m.
Here is the link:


Ellen Hopkins, esteemed author of teen novels in verse including Crank, will be appearing at Barnes and Noble at La Cantera Parkway, discussing and signing her new book "Collateral" at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday December 6.

Other News:
Guadalupe Garcia McCall's new book, Summer of the Mariposas, was just named one of School Library Journal's Best Books of 2012.

And on a personal note, my first picture book -  Sing, Froggie, Sing / Canta, Rana, Canta is now available for pre-order on www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, www.thereadingwarehouse.com, www.bookdepository.com, and www.allbookstores.com, among others.
The book is illustrated by me, Carolyn Dee Flores, and translated by Natalia Rosales-yeomans, published by Arte Público Press.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Anne Frank

From a project I am working on about Anne Frank. Very excited. This is Prismacolor colored pencil on paper.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Have fun creating,
Carolyn

www.carolynflores.com


Thursday, August 9, 2012

Most Enthusiastic at SCBWI LA


I made SCBWI National news! See ... I'm just as ENTHUSIASTIC in L.A. as I am in Texas. Tomorrow I will start posting some of the pictures I took at the SCBWI LA conference 41.
http://scbwiconference.blogspot.com/2012/08/most-enthusiastic-author-signing.html

Thank you so much to Carol Cook Barreyre for taking the pictures, Lee Wind for the article, Lin Oliver for asking it to be posted and SCBWI for ... well, everything. :)

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Drawing Little Tiny Houses

I just posted this on my facebook page - because I was taking a break. But I like the idea of seeing what a person actually does - in order to get an illustration to work.

So this is me, drawing a lot of tiny little houses using a model I made from an eraser so I could see the lighting and the angles.


Carolyn Dee Flores in the studio at midnight

By the way, I researched this - and this is exactly what the houses in Savannah , Georgia  looked like in 1733. I even tried to get those really tall trees in the correct place. And, then I realized I had two flags blowing in opposite directions *big mistake*.

The lady featured is Mary Musgrove:Empress of the Creeks.

P.S. A Bit of Trivia: Mary Musgove - Creek Empress - established a trading post on this bluff first. It  would become Savannah, Georgia. She allowed General James Oglethorpe to build a colony there in 1733.



This is for the book "Daughters of Two Nations" written by Peggy Caravantes and published by Mountain Press which will be out later this year.

Carolyn Dee Flores
www.carolynflores.com

Friday, March 2, 2012

Research is heavy!

I don't think people realize how much research is required when an illustrator works on a subject - OR how heavy it is!

 Here I am  coming back from the library with 14 books this morning!

 Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

P.S. My first book  - Daughters of Two Nations published by Mountain Press - is due out this fall. I'm excited.

 My other three books are due out at the beginning of 2013.

Happy Composing!
Carolyn Dee Flores
www.carolynflores.com

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Austin SCBWI Conference 2012

Writer Lisa Yee (of "Millicent Min,Girl Genius", "Warp Speed" fame) and Carolyn Dee Flores

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Announcing My New Picture Book Contract to Illustrate "The Frog/La Rana" for Arte Público Press(Piñata Books)

Wow! What a great birthday! I shopped with my friends, ate great food, and watched episodes of "Fame", (yeah, THAT Fame - the series from the 80's), all day.

 Topping everything off, when I arrived home I was notified that I had just won the contract to illustrate a new children's picture book for  Piñata Books/Arte Público Press tenatively titled "The Frog/La Rana" based on a traditional Spanish sing-a-long nursery rhyme. I am blown away!

This is my second children's book illustration contract this year. I am also illustrating a YA book titled "Deerskin Daughters: True Stories of Native American Women" written by Peggy Caravantes.

Underwater singing frogs AND Deerskin Daughters! It doesn't get any better than that!

Here I am - on my birthday - playing a lot of songs on the jukebox.


Have a great week,
Carolyn Dee Flores
www.carolynflores.com

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

My Illustration for Tomie DePaola 2011 Heidi Award


My illustration entry for the Tomie dePaola 2011 Heidi Award.

Heidi - By Carolyn Dee Flores

The challenge was to illustrate the following text from Johanna Spyri's classic children's book  Heidi.
"From the pleasant town of Maienfeld a footpath leads up through shady green pastures to the foot of the high peaks that gaze down solemnly and majestically on the valley below. Anyone who sets out in the path will soon catch the keen fragrance of low mountain herbs and grasses, for the footpath rises straight and steep to the Alps.

One bright, sunny June morning, a tall, sturdy-looking young woman, evidently a native of the mountains, was climbing this narrow path. She led by the hand a little girl, whose cheeks glowed as if there were a ruddy flame under deep-tanned skin. And what wonder? In spite of the hot June sun, the child was bundled up as if she were to confront the sharpest frost. She could not have been five years old, but it was impossible to tell anything about her natural figure, for she wore two or three dresses, one over the other, and a big red cotton scarf around her neck; her feet were lost in heavy hobnailed shoes, and the little girl looked quite shapeless as she made her hot and laborious way up the mountain."
How impressive to see everyone's interpretations! Wonderful experience.   
Carolyn Dee Flores
Soon I will post Part2 of  My Top 15 iPad Apps for the Writer/Illustrator (The Gadgets) #7-11

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Ka-Pow! New Toy



Carolyn's latest toy →  Strip Designer App for iPad to create comic strips. Neat-O!

Saturday, October 16, 2010

The Illustration Process


 "If They Could Rule The World Like Me"
Carolyn Dee Flores. Oil on cardboard.

THE ILLUSTRATION PROCESS … SOME OF THE BEST LINKS EVER!
Thumbnail to Finished Illustration -  Katriona Chapman

“The Art of The Cover” by David Weisner.

Left Brain Right Brain – Richard Jesse Watson

More from David Weisner – “David’s Studio” and “Straight from the Sketchpad”

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Pictures from the SCBWI Conference in LA 2010


Here is a picture of me with world renowned children’s illustrator Richard Jesse Watson.
Yes, THE Richard Jesse Watson.
I really lucked out this year, because Richard critiqued my portfolio and helped me a lot. I will discuss more about his tips on illustration in a future post.

However, this is one of only four pictures I took during the entire SCBWI Conference.
Reason being, as I walked out the door to catch my plane from San Antonio to LA, suitcase in hand, journal and quill pen tucked safely in my pocket, my friends yelled at me.
“And don’t go taking any of those pictures where you run out behind famous people and pretend like you’re really good friends – LIKE YOU DID LAST YEAR!”

Which, ashamedly, I did.
Here’s a picture of me last year running out behind poor Henry Winkler (The Fonz) and Lin Oliver– and taking them both totally by surprise.
I want to start my blog by saying something about the SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) Summer Conference 2010 :
I could write a book about all of the things I learned in those four days. But, the number one overwhelming impression of the SCBWI Conference in LA this year was that THE TALENT IN THE CHILDREN’S BOOK INDUSTRY TODAY IS STAGGERING. I’m not just talking about the faculty and published authors and illustrators. Everybody, everybody was great. I can’t wait to see what happens next! I’m really proud to be a part of this industry.
I look forward to talking with you about many different aspects of the creative process. Got some great links for you. Catch you later.
 Carolyn Dee Flores
http://www.carolynflores.com/