B. Lee Banks

B. Lee Banks had the second best academic record in the history of Palindrome Academy. The top honor was held by none other than Christopher Palindrome, the legendary student for whom the school changed its name in 1897, two years after his disappearance.
B. Lee strove to unseat Christopher Palindrome from his academic throne.
A century of glory was an adequate period of honor, and she was giddy for her reign to begin. Two more spelling bee victories and the title of Most Honored Student would be hers.

Maud Brindlebee

There were rumors that Maud could communicate with the spirit world. Kids said that Maud had witch parents. The truth was that no one really knew the truth about Maud. They only knew what they saw: a loner who dressed oddly and who carried a can on a string she called Poppy.

Obituary for Christopher Palindrome

Christopher Palindrome, aged 12, of Plainbridge, MA, was last seen on the evening of December the Fifth, 1895. He is believed to have perished in Farthington Woods. He is survived by his mother, Agatha Palindrome (née Karp), and father, Otto Palindrome.
Christopher will be remembered for his aptitude and zeal for learning, his shy benevolence, and the legacy of genius for which his school paid him homage by re-christening itself "The Palindrome Academy for Learning Arts".

Two friends becoming better friends

"Let's take a photo so we can upload it to Facebook and tag each other!"
They're all, "OMG!"
(No, these two are definitely not like that.)

I wonder how they would look on a painted background...

"No, take it with Instagram!"
 So I painted them again, and changed their hair and outfits a bit.
Girls are always changing hair and outfits, in case you didn't know.
"What filter is THAT? I look so washed out."
Then I had a "happy accident."
"Hi. I'm Marcy, and I have a tote bag."
Marcy looks better on her own, I think.


Ouija Outrage

Not sure what's happening here, but it looks like he got some bad news.
"You lie!"
Typical of the sort of thing I find doodled on the backs of unfinished paintings or color studies.

WTF Wednesday

WTF indeed- it's 60 degrees outside and I would LIKE to be doing this:

"Wheeeeeee!"

















Alas, perhaps a bike ride will be just the thing.


"Wheeeeeeee!"
I love love love my bike, by the way. It is HUGE and heavy.
I feel so safe and comfy on it. It is much more to my liking than the thrifted 10-speeds I used to ride.
It's a Batavus Fryslan, in case you are curious.
The scarf is from my friend Patrick.
I have a BIG EYE in this picture because I am always wide-eyed when I ride around the city, both because of the landscapes I'm taking in, and because there are lots of crazy antics in the road and if you don't pay attention you will run over people who wander into the bike lane trying to hail a taxi or take a photo, just like I'm doing in this run-on sentence.
Once I rode past a person who said "VROOM VROOM!".
That was funny.

WTF Wednesday

Is it Wednesday? or Tuesday?
I'm so disoriented after the holiday (even tho I'm a freelancer) and battling a dumb cold, coughing myself awake all night despite having NyQuil (now referred to as NyqWON'T), which resulted in a cruel alchemy of extreme drowsiness and inability to fall asleep.  But enough about me, let's talk about THIS:














A small doodle of a nice animal about to be kidnapped.
To tide you over until I'm back to my regular schedule.


Fancy Thursday: Lady Sybil

In honor of the return of Downton Abbey, I've dedicated today's post to my favorite look of Season 1: Lady Sybil's pantsuit!
Prom dress seekers, look no further.
Lady Sybil, you're looking smashing in those harem pants!















If I was, like, 7, I would totally be playing 'Downton Abbey' with Barbies. O'Brien and Lady Edith could be played by The Misfits from Jem and the Holograms.

"Oh you're so silent, Jens..."

...And maybe I am, maybe I am"
-Jens Lekman, Black Cab (Swedish songwriter)

Yes indeed, I have been a small, silent, holiday break-taking, technology hide-and-seek player! Alas, all pleasures must come to an end. I return next week with a new bag of tricks!

Until then please enjoy this vignette from my upcoming children's book Percy and TumTum: A Tale of Two Dogs, due out this Spring from RunningPressKids!

This is kind of how I feel about being on vacation, except on vacation I am usually smiling and have a glass of wine and a smörgåsbord in front of me, and am surrounded by nice people who don't want to lock me up in a cage.