Gift Bag at Barnes and Noble

I was so happy to see this Gift Wrap Company bag that I illustrated, at Barnes and Noble recently. Perfect for Spring!!!

My Peaceable Kingdom Fox Birthday Card

I was so happy to see the fox card I illustrated for Peaceable Kingdom, at a local toy store! 

I just love their products and am so excited to have my work in their line.

Daily Painting - Day 1 - Succulent Plant

©Lesley Breen Withrow

I decided to take one hour tonight to paint my succulent plant (although I changed up the pot for something more colorful). Was so fun and relaxing! I would love to try to paint or draw or create art every day and post it onto my blog and my facebook and instagram pages. Even if I can't make it happen everyday, I am going to try. So, what better day to start than today!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY, EVERYONE!!!

Sketching Characters

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Lots of character sketches. So much fun!

Back to School!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Where has the summer gone? Happy back to school everyone!

Hot fun in the summertime! - My Nautical Postcard

©Lesley Breen Withrow

I had so much fun creating another postcard for my agent to mail out to children's book publishers. The theme this time was 'nautical'...which I LOVE! Growing-up by the ocean, I had so many ideas. I finally decided to have my little critters in a boat on one side of the postcard, and on the other side they are deep sea diving with a friendly whale and fish. And I love that I was able to incorporate some of my daughters painting and crayon textures into my art...makes it all the more meaningful!

Little Fox

Been having fun drawing lots of cute characters for a children's book I am working on for
Beach Lane Books!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Interview with Joy Peskin - Editorial Director at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers

Here's a link to a wonderful and informative interview with Joy Peskin, Editorial Director at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers.

creativeinterviews.com/publishing/joy-peskin 

And if you scroll down to the question 'Describe the book making process at FSG using a recent example' she talks about 'Bunny Bus' - the book we are working on together! How exciting!

Lesley Breen Withrow - 'Bunny Bus' postcard Fall 2013

Describe the book making process at FSG using a recent example.

My favorite types of books to make are the ones that only we can publish, meaning they start with a home-grown inspiration or idea. For example, I received a postcard from the agent Chris Tugeau featuring an adorable illustration of a bunny bus by Lesley Breen Withrow. I thought, I’d love a book about this character! So I reached out to an agent I know who has a great stable of picture book authors, Erin Murphy from EMLA, and shared the artwork with her. One of her colleagues, Ammi-Joan Paquette, who is both an agent and an author, took the idea and ran with it. She presented a wonderful manuscript that my colleagues and I all thought was fantastic when we discussed it at our edit meeting. Then my publisher signed off, and I presented the project at our acquisitions meeting. It was approved, and I made offers to the author and artist this week. The next step will be for me to make any minor edits to the text, and then when it’s final and copyedited, the designer can break it down page by page for the artist. She’ll submit sketches, the designer and I will review them and make comments, and I’ll share the sketches with the author. If revised sketches are needed, we will request those, and then the author will create final art. The sales and marketing folks have a say when it comes to the cover, and I truly value their opinion as I want us to go out with books that are most appealing in the marketplace.        -Joy Peskin

Hurray! I was mentioned in Publisher's Weekly Children's Bookself today. I am so happy to announce that I will be illustrating the children's book 'Bunny Bus' with the fabulous Joy Peskin at Farrar Straus Giroux Books for Young Readers! I just love the wonderful story that the extraordinarily talented author Ammi-Joan Paquette wrote and am looking forward to bringing her words to life with my art. 

Check it out at Publisher's Weekly Children's Bookshelf!
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/145d40b56cfc5433

©Lesley Breen Withrow

I hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day!

Fox Sketch

©Lesley Breen Withrow

Having fun sketching lots of cute critters lately!

Kitty Sketch

©Lesley Breen Withrow

I've been doing lots of sketches and character studies lately. Here's one a kitty tangled-up in a ribbon. It's mostly inspired by my silly cat, Desi, whose had lots of fun playing with our Christmas ribbons these past few weeks!

Happy New Year!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

(The front and back of my well-received fall postcard mailer that 

my agent send out to children's book publishers)

Well, 2013 has been an incredible year for me. In February I started working at The Gift Wrap Company, designing amazing patterns and products like: wrapping paper, gift bags, journals, stickers, kids activities books and more. A real dream job. In 2013 I also became a part of Chris Tugeau's wonderful children's book art agency. This fall I was thrilled to get such a wonderful response to my postcard mailing to publishers and I am happy to announce that I am working on my first trade children's book! (more about it in the future). So many of my dreams have become a reality this year. I'm looking forward to what's next. Happy 2014 everyone!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! We got our first big(ish) snow here last night. My daughter was so excited watching the big flakes come down. Really puts you in the holiday mood. I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season.

Since I started working at The Gift Wrap Company earlier this year, I've gotten the opportunity to work on so many amazing projects. I am happy to see one of my first bag designs is now available at Cost Plus World Market. Looking forward to seeing more of my art and designs hit the shelves in 2014!

'Little Ocean Books' - Baby Board book set I illustrated for innovativeKids

I'm so happy to see that the baby board book set I illustrated for Innovative Kids last year is now available! 'Little Ocean Books' consists of 10 chunky books inside a tower case. Each book is a short story about a different ocean creature.

It was such an enjoyable project to work on and I love the way it's packaged and printed on 98% recycled materials. 

Fun at the Lunch Table

©Lesley Breen Withrow

It's that time of year again...back to school! My daughter just started second grade so we are getting used to the new routines, new teacher and new classmates. She's loving it so far, which makes me so happy. I always remember the lunch table as being so much fun when I was a kid. Maybe it was because I got to see some of my friends who weren't in my class but I figure it was most likely because I new that recess was coming up soon. Gotta love recess! Here's to another great school year!

I have a children's book agent!

©Lesley Breen Withrow

I now an represented by the wonderful children's book agent, Christina A. Tugeau. Here's a snippit of art from my most recent mailer that she will be sending out soon. Looking forward to working more with her!

The Gift Wrap Company & The Stationary Show

I have had a wonderfully eventful past few months. I am now a senior designer for The Gift Wrap Company, designing gift wrap, gift bags as well as other wonderful gifting items. They are a fabulous company and the product is simply stunning. I feel so lucky to be apart of their design team! I got to go the NYC Stationary Show with the group in May and help set-up our booth. I have been to the Stationary and Surtex shows before, but I have never helped with set-up...it was such a great experience and I loved seeing the 'behind the scenes' of the show. I was so impressed with our booth too. We had six themed windows to decorate with our product as well the interior of the booth. Here I am in front of one of the windows I helped to decorate.

After walking the Stationary and Surtex Show, we had some time to explore the city bit too. A real highlight was taking a walk along the Highline...a walkway that spans across quite a distance in the Chelsea area. It had wonderfully natural spaces as well as sculptures and buildings decorated with murals and art. We also ate at Friedman's in Chelsea Market, where I had the best omelet ever!