Sweet dreams!
Bons sonhos!
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| ©Craig Frazier |

Next comes "The Stray Dog" by Marc Simont (HarperCollins, 2001) from a true story by Reiko Sassa. A family out for a fun Sunday picnic in the park meet a stray dog. They name him Willy and play all day. When it's time to go home the dog stays behind, but as the week goes by no one can stop thinking about the him. The following Saturday they're back in the park, but where is Willy?



This is not a new illustration -- in fact, I created it last year for another IF theme (Infinite). But I have a soft spot for these two polar bears, and think they express perfectly this week's theme. Hope you like them too!
Too late for Illustration Friday, but still in time to help raise money for the animals affected by the terrible oil spill in the Gulf. You can read about this fantastic project by Kelly Light on her blog Ripple.
Usually I first draw a pencil sketch and then go over it using pen and ink. For this exercise, I drew with the ink pen directly on the paper, and then added a bit of watercolor. I had originally thought of this illo for Illustration Friday's "Dip", but didn't have time to do it. I'm way behind!
This past week I was in Chicago attending the Annual Meeting of the International Reading Association.




Brigitte from Atelier Brigitte and Monica from The Art of Puro have generously presented me with this touching award, created by Ces and Bella for their dear friend Renee -- a loving tribute to their friendship. Many, many thanks to Brigitte and Monica for thinking of me!
For this week's theme, I couldn't resist using an older illustration I did a couple of years ago and gave to a shelter near our home. Our dog Connie is a rescue, and my husband and I are big supporters of animal welfare organizations and firm believers in the benefits (and joys!) of adopting rescued animals. 
I haven't been updating my blog lately, but I wanted to tell you about a great one-day event that will take place in Washington, D.C. on June 25th, 2010 as part of the American Library Association's annual conference.