Esperanza Means Hope...

I had a nice surprise yesterday afternoon. My latest book "Esperanza Means Hope" is finally available for purchase. The wait is always too long—but the payoff is sweeter beyond all imaginable proportion. I've already shown some of my artwork from the book, but there's nothing like seeing it in published form. Here's the jacket and publishers blurb.        

ESPERANZA IS HERE! The historical fiction book, Esperanza Means Hope (written by Gwen Harvey, illustrated by Guy Porfirio, and published by AHS) has arrived. Join us at the Arizona History Museum in Tucson for a book signing on Friday, December 3, 2010 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Meet the author and the illustrator in person. Books will be for sale for $17.95--all proceeds support AHS education programs.


I just got word—a little wrinkle has appeared in my book signing scheduled for tomorrow. Delivery of the books is delayed, therefore, my book signing will have to be rescheduled. Gwen Harvey, however, will still be presenting at the Arizona History Museum, well worth seeing. Gwen did an amazing job with the research and writing of this story. More later.

A little new work & a lot of snow...

I painted 3 new portraits. Here is how one of them turned out.

Detail of
the face.

I painted this holiday scene for the Duluth Trading Co. back in August.

I like to think that I'm especially equipped to handle snow scenes because of all the time I spent shoveling it as a kid back in my Chicago days. Believe it or not, I have very fond memories of shoveling snow. There's nothing like shoveling a sidewalk or a driveway late at night, especially if it's still snowing, which, of course, played a major role in supplying the inspiration for this piece. It's nice to know that all of that labor finally came in handy for me. I wonder if that would work with my kids. Well, one can only hope. The next time I have them do something around the house, I'll just say that I'm supplying them with inspiration for future use. Yeah, that's it—inspiration for future use.

Well as long as I'm on the subject of snow... Here's a piece I did back in 2001 for my book "Clear Moon, Snow Soon."

Here's one more...

And one from "Papa's Gift"...

And one from "Junk Man's Daughter"...