What are you cooking up this month?
We’ve really been enjoying taking part in several in-person book events this season. It is so nice to connect with readers in person. And it is always so fun to see friends in the kidlit community – many of whom we hadn’t seen in two years. I never remember to take enough photos. Here are two taken by book festival volunteers:
Check out these awesome women authors’ work here: Isabel Roxas, Joyce Wan, Anna Kang, Misa Saburi, Aram Kim, and Ruth Chan!
Inktober Art
Every October, I try to take part in the #inktober challenge on Instagram. I started out a few days late but managed to catch up because I’m focusing on fast, small painting sketches of people and dogs in my neighborhood. For this year’s challenge I decided to use it to experiment with gouache and sumi ink. I’ve struggled with gouache for a while, trying to figure out how to use it more opaquely, like acrylic. I tend to paint more like I do with watercolor, which you can do with gouache. I love the versatility of it but still feel more comfortable with watercolor and painting with transparent washes.
What I am truly loving is playing with an old nib pen of mine and using sumi ink. It’s so much nicer than India ink. I love how it dries shiny, and how you can rehydrate it on a palette, yet it is waterproof after drying on paper. I’ve also been having fun drawing with an old wooden chopstick.
I hadn’t been doing much personal work in these past couple of months because I am completely swamped with work. I’ve found that just doing these little pieces every day raises my spirits so much. It’s so freeing to create things that aren’t “meant” to be used for anything. I find that when I don’t do that for a while, I get cranky.
Interview on the Illustration Department
A few weeks ago, I spoke a little about creating art in an episode on The Illustration Department podcast with its host, Giuseppe Castellano. I also chat with him about how I came to be a children’s book illustrator and how it took me awhile to come back to my art after pursuing a non-art career during my 20s. It’s something I am so thankful I was able to do. At the time it felt a little like jumping off a bridge, but I’ve never regretted it. I’m so thankful to my family and friends for being so supportive way back then! Have a listen here.
I’ll sign off here with an original recipe that combines all my loves: bananas, chocolate, and peanut butter! This ‘lil mug cake takes about 3 minutes to whip up. No sugar is necessary because BANANAS! Also, I use rolled oats which I grind in my spice grinder, making it gluten free, but this recipe would work with any flour of your choice. I have also made it with a combination of coconut flour and protein powder, but I prefer the texture of the crumb more with the ground oats.
Enjoy!
Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Mug Treat
Non-stick spray
½ ripe banana mashed (about ¼ cup)
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons of oatmeal ground (I use a spice grinder). Alternatively, you can use tablespoons oat bran, or flour
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of chunky peanut butter
1 tablespoon of chocolate chips, divided
1) Spray the inside of a small mug with non-stick spray. Set aside.
2) Mash ripe banana in a small bowl. Add vanilla extract and stir well.
3) Add ground oatmeal or other flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl and stir well.
4) Add banana mixture to dry mixture and stir until combined. Sprinkle in most of chocolate chips, reserving a teaspoon of chips.
5) Transfer ½ of batter to oiled mug.
6) Spoon peanut butter on top. Then cover with remaining batter. Top with remaining chocolate chips.
7) Cook in microwave for about 1 minute. Let sit for a minute or two.
8) Dig in!