I just created a page “FOR KIDS” (and parents, teachers, big kids…) — it is now in my menu above. I think it’s super fun, and I hope it will inspire young authors and illustrators. At the top is an interactive page with 27 different “clicks” that shares some of my writing & art process and research for Same, Same but Different. Scroll down further and there are videos, postcards, journal entries, and more coming soon… Please share with your kids, their schools, your teacher friends, and let me know what you think. :)

I recently shared with some students that when you travel to a place and stay for a period of time, you make friends unlike any other. These friends are instantly your family, and sometime after you return home — it could be a month or it could be year later — you start to feel an ache in your gut. Or maybe it’s your heart. And you don’t know how to sooth it because you don’t really know what it is or where it’s coming from. You are home. You’re with your family. Then why do you feel homesick?

While I was in NYC, I was a guest author/illustrator at the United Nations Junior School. (MORE on this soon — it is an extraordinary place!!) As I was saying goodbye, the principal casually mentioned a book called Going To School in India — that I would like it. I ordered it from somewhere above the clouds at 20,000 ft, and it was waiting for me when I got home. And instantly, a tidal wave of longing drenched me in the sweetest way.

Tulsi and I have been singing our way through it. Seriously. With some books, she insists on “singing it” instead of reading it. And when we opened this book for the first time, she said, “SING IT MAMA!” And so I did, and she did, too. The book is alive. It moves, smells, twirls, and dances. The kids sing and shout, giggle and gaze straight into your eyes. They invite you into their world and demand your attention.

I love it. The creators have gone on to start goingtoschool.com and inspire children all throughout India to go to school and manifest their dreams, as well as sharing their stories with children all over the world with movie-shorts. WOW. Right?

Unlike some tales I’ve heard of children’s book authors who woke up from a dream in urgency to scribble down a story appearing to be a gift from the beyond, I had to travel to the other side of the world 3 times to find this book. The first time, I found only the title. The second time, I found the experience. And the third time, I found the content and research.

In 2000, eleven years ago, my friend Maria and I wandered around SE Asia for a month, and I jotted down a saying, “Same, Same but Different” that we heard in Thailand. My favorite part of the trip was playing with kids in a remote village in Northern Thailand  — which inspired me to return.

In 2002, I traveled to Nepal to volunteer at a school. I lived with a family of 14. Everything seemed SO so foreign to me, and I LOVED that. On the second day with my family, I was given a bucket of cold water and soap. Hmmm…did she want me to clean?

“Bucket shower,” she said. “Same, same but different.” There was that saying again…

I had been collecting M. Sasek’s “This is…” book series and had a secret daydream of picking up where he left off. I doodled ideas for “This is Nepal” in my sketchbook. I knew I wanted to make books from my travels.

I feel like it took me a while to find my way at the school — what did I have to share? I wasn’t an English teacher or a musician (like the amazing previous volunteer I heard so many stories of). So for awhile, we simply played and became friends with each other. We became a beautiful part of each other’s worlds.

After observing an art class with twenty 4th graders copying Mickey Mouse in their notebooks that the teacher had drawn on the blackboard, I decided to ‘play’ art with them every day, all day. The school building was dark. The rooms were small and cramped. There were even rats the size of obese American cats lurking in the playground corners. So we went on walks everyday to draw temples, people, chickens, cows, mountains, Buddhas, flowers, and more. We painted self-portraits and each other. We painted a 60 ft long mural in the playground. The school was buzzing with art. I emailed my friends back home and asked them to send postcards of their lives in America. Soon, photos and drawings of landscapes, families, pets, art, schools, food, gardens and cowboys showed up with messages to the kids. I thought Same, Same but Different could be a fun idea for a children’s book. When I was back in Kansas City, we had an art show of the students’ art sharing all about their country and culture.

Four years went by, and I kept in touch with my ‘new’ family in Nepal. Patrick and I decided to visit them and travel in India for several months on another book project. I also planned on writing a story to go with the title, Same, Same but Different, which was still in my list of books to write. And I could draw and shoot photo references for the book! So away we went. And what a FULL ride it was. Everyone who knows me or reads my blog knows I long to go back again.

After we returned home from traveling, I painted My Travelin’ Eye and let this idea incubate for awhile. Eventually, I began writing. Draft after draft after draft. Some long, some short, some in first person, some in 3rd person, some as a story, some as penpal letters. I tried out different ‘voices’ and names for the two boys while I walked. It took some months and a REALLY simplified version for it to finally sound right. I had shared the basic idea of the book with my editor who seemed to like it.

—>this is one of the many ‘story sketches’ i wrote down in a notebook.

Then I tackled the dummy. The idea called for art with tons of little details, so I knew I’d have to ‘show’ the book, not just have a manuscript. Plus, I knew drawing it would help edit the text and idea. The hardest part was editing out content. I had too much. The most helpful part was layering the edited-out ideas back into the backgrounds of other pages. I drew very rough sketches with my left hand. I didn’t want to get too serious/tight with the imagery yet.

I was so excited to show it to my editor when I finally finished it. Her response in short: I can’t publish it. The ending doesn’t work. She was right, the ending was cliche and weak. So I played with it more and shared the new ending idea with my sister who is an assistant principal of a gradeschool. In talking, she casually threw out one of those, “What if you did this…?” (What would I do without my sister, Patrick and close friends to help??) Within 2 weeks, I reworked the dummy, sent it to my editor, and she loved it. Hooray!

…some rough drawings from my book dummy in no particular order:

My editor said she’d like me to do a square book instead of the horizontal book I had imagined. My editor is the best, so it is easy trusting her. Again, she steered me in the best direction. I looked at some books for composition inspiration and thought about how I wanted to create the illustrations.

When I have visited schools, students have always liked seeing my hand-written drafts and my drawings. They have so many questions about the “how” part. I thought it would be cool to have a sketchbook for working out my drawings, collecting research and inspiration, and experimenting with medium. This could be a good way to show students my process. That was my initial motivation — very quickly, though, it became so useful to me!! I took it everywhere I went and wrote down ideas I didn’t want to forget. I also taped inspiration to my wall — photos with beautiful color combos, color studies, patterns, etc. I gathered lots of fun collage (some from my travels), refined drawings, painted little color comps and started painting. The entire journey is exciting, but painting is my favorite part!

I painted my first book in 4 months, but this one took much longer. I took a few month pause when Tulsi arrived, and then painted with her in my pouch…or on my back…or asleep nearby. I wondered how the stop-and-go would affect the energy of the book, but I know that becoming a mother added a new kind of wonder to the book.

Here are a couple photo references I took in Nepal and India and the finished illustrations.

ONLY 4 months until it’s in bookstores! Yeah! Leave a comment if you’d like to be included in the drawing for a signed copy when the book is released. :)

When we were in India the last time, we collected discarded matchboxes on the roads. There are so many, and it’s sorta like trading cards among travelers. These, along with the countless, amazing retro designs from India’s past (recorded in the beautiful book, LIGHT ON INDIA by Warren Dotz), inspired me to create chai spice icons for our chai book-in-the-making. These are most of them…Tulsi and maybe a couple others are still coming.

One of the best (and most challenging) parts for me with this journey in self-publishing is being my own art director and creating the illustration “jobs” throughout the book. I can’t wait to dive into the recipe section. I LOVE illustrating recipes, and perhaps even more, I LOVE being a taster for all of Patrick’s creative masala chai concoctions! It’s going to be a really yummy winter here…

A couple months ago, I received this incredibly beautiful book, Nurturing Walls, from a, somewhat abstract, internet friend in India (hee. I love that we live in a time that we all have these ‘friends’ out there who we’ve never met but love that they exist in space and in our lives :) ) What an amazing parcel to be gifted, right? Actually, it was one of ten or eleven beautiful books, but this one on the Mandana art of the Meena women is my absolute love. These women are true artists and create in such a unique, collaborative way. The book is a work of art, too, with their designs silk-screened on brown craft paper. Any of them could be framed…if you could possibly part with extracting them from the book. Their art is painted on clay walls and floors during festivals and the change of seasons, and is cherished in its impermanence. I think I’d prefer to paint like this, too, and let the natural elements wash and wear it away in time. I just love everything about their art. The spirit is contagious, no? I have already asked Patrick if we can visit Rajasthan during our next trip to India with the hopes of meeting some of these women, and perhaps, the slim chance of learning from them. I wonder if they sing while they paint… (Anyone out there every tracked down tribal woman of another culture to study an art form from? If yes, can you share how it came about?) In the meantime…remember that bedroom and entrance/mudroom we started building in May? We finished and now have 8 new, bare mud walls pleading to be painted with white clay paint, Mandana-inspired!!…below is one of our bedroom walls after the first coat of mud. YUM! I’ll be sure to share when I get to painting it.

Also, check out the publisher of the book, Tara Books, in Chennai, India. They have so many inspiring books!

And Joy, thanks again!! I look forward to gifting my part of our trade :)

It’s easy for me to daydream, or sleepdream, of being in India again. As far away as it is, and as difficult traveling there can be, I feel so ‘at home’ there. I don’t know exactly what it is that makes me feel that way, nor do I want to water it down by trying to explain it. It is funny how a culture that is so different than mine can also feel so familiar and comfortable. If you’ve been there, you know — it either is or it isn’t. I think the time I’ve spent in India and Nepal has had a big effect on how we live here — what it looks like, how we spend our time and money, and what is important to us and what isn’t. I’m sure a lot of people who’ve spent time in other countries can say the same.

I feel so fortunate to have a temple/ashram in our community. It’s a golden thread that connects us to India and our teacher. Today was one of those special moments in the temple room. In an instant, we were back in India. Just like that. Tulsi and I clapped and drummed and rang bells with a roomful of Indian women singing traditional songs that reminded me so so much of the village songs the women sang during Holi (the festival of Spring and colors) in Vrindavin the last time Patrick and I were there at Neem Karoli Baba’s Ashram (pictured above). The vibrations, energy and even giggles from the women occasionally forgetting words — it was the same today as then. Oh, and the voices. So full of life. I imagine it coming from someplace deep within them and back to their childhood and to their mothers and grandmothers. It would make anyone wish they were a part of their tribe or fluent in their mother tongue. Or at least just know the words. At least, for me it did.

Photographer (and Mama to Baby Arun) Rachel Movitz recently commissioned me to create a blog banner for her. She, her husband and baby Arun are headed back to India tomorrow for 3 months! Despite my book and other work deadlines, I snuck it into my late night schedule because I have had several dreams lately that we went back to India, too, with Tulsi (!). I am “too” excited for them! Since we don’t have plans anytime soon to go back, I’ll be living wildly thru her adventures documented on her blog, Mama India, Wandering Child.

I wanted the banner to have a fun, childlike feel along with India street, circusY life. India is an amazing place — especially for photographers and artists. Endless inspiration. I feel like I could have worked on this for a long time, adding more and creating different versions. Therefore, it was nice to have a quick turnaround on it so that I couldn’t keep noodling it. I think it turned out fun though, and it got me even more jazzed to focus on our Chai Pilgrimage book this winter.

Safe and beautiful travels you three!!!

This weekend was the big Bhandara festival at the temple. 108 Hanuman Chaleesas were sung from 4 am to 4pm while a maha-feast was prepared for hundreds of guests. The t-shirts turned out so fun! The four colors are below — the top design is small and centered on front, the bottom design is BIG on the back. By chance anyone wants one, they should be available soon through the ashram puja dhukan. The brown is men’s, pink + teal are kid’s, and lt blue is women’s.

Patrick and I made one of the 12-gallon batches of chai for Maharaji. Mmmmm. Here he’s smashing ginger (and sporting his new shirt). We also picked lots of flowers from our garden for the festival, including thousands of marigolds that we strung and hung. It reminded me so much of being in Nepal. Ah, I miss it so. The second picture on the top row (below) is Didjyu picking marigolds for a puja celebration at Sunshine School in Nepal. The others are of our garden. The last picture is a floating dhalia, which we’ve been doing a lot–they look like lotuses and last so long that way.

We’re in full-on harvest mode now, and I’ve proudly earned the name Little Miss Canner, storing up garden freshness and ‘summer’ for the long, cold winter. (Patrick overheard a local saying this winter is going to be ‘really’ cold because the ant hills are abnormally high and insulated. Uh, oh.)  Frederick the Mouse is my inspiration! My grandmother was also a big canner so it must be in my genes. The funnest part is admiring your work as it grows — so far, 50 plus quarts of summer veg soup, green beans, pickled beets, and carrots. Yesterday was ‘Operation Pesto’–about 20 batches joined tons of broccoli and greens in the freezer! The winter squashes are stored, and the potatoes and remaining carrots will be dug up soon. Hopefully salsa and pasta sauce will be next — if the tomatoes ever ripen — the peppers, corn and onions are waiting patiently!

A friend told me a funny thing about My Travelin’ Eye. Her 3 year old son has been saying, “I LOVE Jenny Sue!” when he reads my book. Then, the other day, he declares, “I WANT TO WATCH DR. DAVE, MOMMY!” Her response, “Well, Quinton, Dr. Dave hasn’t made it to the big screen quite yet.” Hee! That cracked me up. I’ll have to work on that one.

I’m really getting excited about my next kid’s book. I love what’s happening, and I’m just having so much fun with it.  I’ve also been really inspired (personally) by my dreams lately and will try to post drawings soon — if you promise not to analyze them! Ha. Have a beautiful week, y’all.

I’m having fun playing with tshirt designs for the annual Bhandara festival at the Hanuman Temple here in Taos!…trying to do something different than they have in the past–a little more kid-like and playful and less serious.

In Hinduism, Hanuman started off curious, naive and a bit mischievous–he also had superhero-like powers. Once he thought the sun was the juiciest piece of fruit he’d ever seen–he couldn’t help himself–and flew up to take a bite. Of course the great Lord Indra, ruler of the skies, struck him down instantly with a lightening bolt, hence his name, Hanuman, which means broken chin. Hanuman grew up to be the famous monkey god and most faithful servant to Lord Ram. There are so many stories of Hanuman. A couple classics are Hanuman flying over the ocean to save Sita (Ram’s greatest love) by burning down the palace of her evil captor, Ravana, with his tail (which he set on fire and grew miles and miles long.) Another is when Hanuman saves Ram’s brother Lakshman by flying to a remote mountain to retrieve a healing herb–he ends up carrying the entire mountain back since all the herbs looked alike to him.

I’m not sure yet, but I sorta like the idea of having one of the small images of Hanuman on the front center and the large image of him on the back reaching for the sun. Hmm, any thoughts?

I want to thank everyone for visiting our new chai site/blog! It’s really sweet to share our love for these cultures in this way. In case you didn’t stumble upon it, check out the map I made of our route. If you click on all the stars, images and even a video of a Baul train musician will pop up to show you a bit from that region. I had fun making it. Have fun exploring!

PS If you tried to RSS it and it didn’t work, it’s working now! Also, this is an awesome desktop blog manager that I just started using. It is SO much easier than bookmarked feeds!

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