Latest FarFaria Story: Leah's Lucky Hanukkah

My latest FarFaria story is out now on the iPad.  I did the illustrations for the story "Leah's Lucky Hanukkah."  Check it out here: FARFARIA

New Pet Portraits

Here are my latest watercolor pet portraits. 
Handmade gifts make great Christmas presents!

I am in a Brad Kunkle painting!

I am so lucky and honored to be painted as Mother Nature in Brad Kunkle's latest painting, a triptych titled: Ad Hoc quod iterum (To Be Again).  This painting is magical!  The image changes as the light changes.  The gold, silver and copper leaf glow as the light dims.  Brad is an amazing artist!  Check out his website: Brad Kunkle

Picture Book Idea Month Inspiration

It is Picture Book Idea Month and super cool blogger, Tara Lazar, is helping authors create ideas. Peter and I had the honor of being guest writers on her blog. Click this link to read our words of inspiration for all you creative people. Also, the comments are awesome, thanks everyone! I am glad our message was received :)
My Guest Post

New FarFaria Story is out: Pizza for President

In the latest FarFaria story I illustrated, Vinny learns the importance of voting. 
I find voting an extremely stressful event because there are always pros and cons to both sides.  For example, in Pizza for President, I would have a hard time deciding between pizza and salad.  My heart tells me pizza but my brain tells me salad!
If you are like me and have trouble making decisions, perhaps reading this story will help inspire you to get out and vote today.
Pizza for President is now available in FarFaria.  Check it out: FarFaria.com

NYC Book Store Trip

My fiance and I drove to New York City yesterday to browse the bookstores.  Our favorite place to be when we are in the city is the Union Square area because we can easily walk to Books of Wonder, The Strand, Barnes and Noble, Forbidden Planet, and several other small used book stores to get our book fix.  It was a successful trip.  I loaded up on some of my favorite illustrators: Jon Klassen and Oliver Jeffers.  There were many other books I was lusting after, but I will save those for the next trip.

I also picked up the new Hi Fructose Magazine because one of my all time favorite artists, Audrey Kawasaki, is on the cover.  As i was flipping through I saw that there was a great article on my artist friend Brad Kunkle.  He is wonderful, as are his paintings, and I highly recommend reading the article and following his work.

The trip and the bookstores definitely got me pumped and inspired.  I have plenty of books to enjoy and art to make to keep me busy for a while!

Now Selling Custom Dog Portraits

I just finished another pet portrait.  This one is of my Coonhound when she was a puppy.  We mistakenly named her "Doodle" because it was a cute floppy little name, however her rightful name is "Shiva: Goddess of Destruction."  She is adorable nonetheless.

I am now selling custom pet portrait paintings on my Etsy shop: Etsy Shop HERE, or you can email me pictures of your pets and questions about custom paintings at: kaylaskogh@gmail.com.

PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month)

Tara Lazar (super cool blogger and author of sweet children's books like "The Monstore,") is throwing a great event this November that everyone should check out.  November is Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo) and that means authors will be working hard to create wonderful story ideas to keep us readers happy.  Peter and I are proud parents because our baby, Doodle, was selected to be PiBoIdMo's official mascot!  Peter and I collaborated on a doodle of Doodle (he drew the lines, I colored) and we will be posting pictures of her throughout the month of November that will entertain and bring smiles.  Check out Tara Lazar's blog here: Tara Lazar and keep checking back to see more awesome posts about picture book writing and Doodle!

Photo-Retouching Job

Wonderful author Tara Lazar has a blog, Writing For Kids (While Raising Them), that is awesome and I highly recommend you check it out. 
Today I did some photo editing for her blog, here is the link: Ryan Gosling's Newest Book Pick

I am this month's featured artist!

 Woohoo!  I am so excited and honored to be the September featured artist of FarFaria!  I have been illustrating stories for this children's book app for over a year and have loved every minute of it.  My most recent story is Bats.
Thank you FarFaria!
Click here to see the blog post

My Latest Story is out in FarFaria

 BATS!
Click here to see the story

Commission Complete