Sketch Upon A Time

Let’s see how this works.

Perhaps the 4th time will work?

Perhaps the third time is a charm?

Let try it again.

Let’s see if this works . . .

It has been awhile since my last post.

2010 has been exciting  year so far and busy. My 2010 ornaments are in production and I am gearing up for  a busy Fall.  Lots of events are planned  and for those of you who subscribe to the Landmark newsletter already know that I will be doing a five city tour- including stops in Tampa, LA, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Chicago, and NYC. Stay tuned for more in upcoming blog posts.

Also  this year,  you will be seeing  a line of stationery in stores that I am launching with a  Louie Award winning company called a la cards.

For all of you that know that I also work in Book Publishing- I am now VP Creative Director of St. Martin’s Paperbacks and  continuing to work on packages for  Emily Giffin, Kristin Hannah, Janet Evanovich, Lisa Scottoline, and others.

I am excited to share that I have  also illustrated  a book on the retelling of the journey of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem for New York Times bestselling author Donna Van Liere- who is known for her wonderful book The Christmas shoes. The book is called The Christmas Journey, in stores this fall

As I said, an exciting year for which I feel very lucky.

Looking back on 2009- what a wonderful season it was.   It was so great to see so many of my collectors at my events.  I had the energy to decorate my home withsix trees- photo highlights are posted. As you can see my pugs are always there to help me out…and they are honored with their own tree!

Soon I will be  attending the Golden glow convention in Milwaukee- I hope that I will get to see many of you there.

Until the next sketch!

My Eleventh signing was at Bergdorf Goodman- Posey Pugglesworth made her last personal appearance of the season. It was a great time- I met so many wonderful people and made  new friends with Anne and her niece, Robin  and her La La !

Robin bought the very last  Bergdorf Custom ball – congrats to those  lucky 72 people, that designwill not be out again next year.

My book A Very New York Christmas was selling fast and by the end of the event only a few  ornaments and books were left.

I felt very honored.

Until the next sketch!

It has been an exciting last two weeks and now I need to catch you up on all my past events.

At my signing at Barnes and Noble on Greenwich Ave, I was asked to give a talk about my  book  A Very New York Christmas and to read from it. This was the first time I had ever done this ( I normally  just sit at the front entrance and sign copies!).

So quick on my toes, I spoke about the origin of the book, my ornaments, working in publishing, my covers, my art , and answered insightful questions from the audience. As I am  a village resident, it was exciting to do a signing there.

My next signing was at Bloomingdales- when I arrived my ornaments were basically already sold out! Very few books were left and by the end of the event, there were none left!  It was  a very busy day there and I got to see so many great people, even a  few of my friends made it.

The 10th signing was  this past Saturday at Lord and Taylor.

Most of my stock was gone, and all of my books of A Very New York Christmas were sold out!

It must be due to the amazing  review from Outblush.com

Until the next sketch!

Monday night was a great evening at Borders on Park Ave- My publicist from St. Martins press, Nadea, came with me and helped as I signed a bunch of copies of A Very New York Christmas.

Everyone at Borders was so helpful and they had a nice setup by the entrance.

I even had collectors from Pittsburgh track me down to get a book!

When I left it was great to see all of the trees lit up along Park Ave- In December 1945 thirty lighted Christmas trees were placed along the Park Avenue median to commemorate the New Yorkers who had lost their lives fighting in World War II.

This and other interesting information is in my book A Very New York Christmas.

Until the next sketch!

On the sixth day of signings my parents came with me to Saks.

They are my biggest fans  and come down from upstate New York each year on Thanksgiving weekend to come out and support my work.  They love buying my ornaments, books, and china  as gifts for their friends.

It was a wonderful day and I got to see many of my collectors who come back each year. It is always such an honor to see them.

If you have been to my signings, you know that I keep a book to have  collectors sign to join my mailing list.  At this signing I was honored to have two young budding artists draw me pictures which I  posted to my blog “collage” above.  I love  seeing young people draw, it is so important to encourage and  support that  creativity in everyone.

Until the next sketch!