MR. WILLEMS AND MR. WARBURTON AT THE ERIC CARLE MUSEUM

So remember when you said you were

planning on stopping by the

ERIC CARLE PICTURE BOOK MUSEUM

in Amherst, Massachusetts

one of these days?

Well, I've got the

PERFECT

day to do it:

September 23, 2017

That's when 

Mo Willems

and

I

will be there to promote

THIS:

I'm STILL not sure how 

Mo managed to promote

EVERYONE IN THE WORLD

(except me)

to co-author on the front cover.

But I at least got drawn as a pig

on the back cover:

Regardless,

we're gonna be at the museum

from 11:00-3:00

doing readings,

showing films,

hanging out with Elephant and Piggie,

and I'll even be doing a fun 

KND workshop with the kids:

I 

really

really

REALLY 

wanted to do a 

Muppet Babies

presentation.

But Disney PR 

feels it's a 

LITTLE

too early 

to show anything.

So we'll rock KND instead!

And it'll be a blast!

For a complete schedule of all the

Willems/Warburton

action,

head over

HERE!

Hope to see you there!

MR. WARBURTON IN THE NEW YORKER!

Have you seen the

February 6th issue of the

New Yorker

on the newsstands,

at the grocery store,

in the library,

or at a friends house?

The one with

THIS

cover?

If so,

take a peek inside and check out the article by 

Rivka Galchen 

that's 

ALL ABOUT ME!

Unfortunately, they spent 99.999%

of the article talking about 

MO WILLEMS

and only mentioned me once.

There's lots of 

GREAT

stuff about Mo's life, work and process.

DEFINITELY

worth a look.

You can read the whole thing right

HERE!

Just don't expect to hear much about me.

THE LAST TABLE DRAWINGS OF 2016

There was 

definitely some 

table doodling

 happening

at the 

tail end of this year.

Firstly,

we visited

the family Willems 

just before 

Christmas

and made their 

furniture look

SO

much 

better:

Once back in Los Angeles,

we ruined some furniture of our own

on 

New Year's Eve:

Unfortunately, the rest of the drawings got

smothered with the remains of the lobster and crabs

we dismantled for dinner.

Fortunately...

they were delicious!

Look,

do me a favor, okay?

Get yourself a roll of kraft paper

and cover YOUR table

and then

GET DRAWING!

It's FUN!

I promise!

THE RUINING OF MO WILLEMSESES TABLE

Mo Willems used to be dumb.

He used to invite lots of artsy fartsy people over for dinner

and then they'd draw all over his nice dining room table.

So he'd throw it out and get a new one.

And then it'd happen again.

And again.

But then one day,

his wife suggested putting paper over 

the table whenever art freaks came over.

And that's exactly what we did

LAST WEEKEND

when I flew out to do some 

top secret book stuff with Mr. Willems.

We had a delicious meal prepared 

by Mrs. Willems

and then commenced to drawing.

Here's the morning aftermath:

This was my mess:

And this is the boy with the dumpling for a brain.

He later transformed into this:

Mrs. Willems specializes in 

cool, colorful patterns:

Rebecca Leveille Guay

drew both Mo's daughter Trixie

and her own daughter, Vivianne.

Her husband Matt is a killer painter

and did some really amazing sketches.

Vivianne's got skills, too!

We spent a lot of time experimenting with writing 

and/or drawing with our opposite hands and/or our eyes closed.

Marquetry master and part time 

Model T driving Santa Claus

Silas Kopf

proved that every finger has a personality

as well as a story.

You should meet him.

He's a riot:

Trixie's art gets better and better

every time I see it:

Oh...

and whatshisface Mo did this:

And this:

It's always fun ruining Mo's furniture!

SaveSaveSaveSave

TABLING IT AT MO'S HOUSE

Last weekend I made a pilgrimage to

Knuffle Manor,

home of Mo Willems,

to help on a sooper secret project.

But it's no secret that when you go to

Knuffle Manor,

you're encouraged to

draw on the dinner table.

And I did just that with an 

incredible group of creative people:

Hillary Price,

who has been writing and drawing

RHYMES WITH ORANGE

for a thousand years

did this:

Her partner Kerry,

who claims to be a science teacher

and not an artist

drew this wonderful friend:

Here's A bird by Mo

(which I totally stole the next morning)

Datsun-powered painter

Scott M. Fisher

rocked this evil beauty:

And because he's awesome he always brings 

me an artist proof of the latest 

Magic the Gathering card

he's done:

Okay...

So I drew this dumb dinosaur thing:

And then dumb ol' 

Tony DeTerlizzi

has to go and make the sooper most beautiful drawing

of a dragon drawing my dumb dragon

while Mo's dog watches:

I TOTALLY took Tony's drawing home with me because

OMG!!!

Master of marquetry

Silas Kopf 

and

mega movie producer

Adam Spielberg

(no relation to Adam from the Bible)

collaborated on drawing an entire cast of characters and 

writing a story about them, 

most of it too hot for blogging:

And if I didn't mention there were enchiladas,

there were definitely enchiladas:

It's always creative people heaven

at Mo and Cheryl's parties.

I could have spent two days talking to each person there.

But the rent at Mo's place ain't cheap.

So here I am back in LA.

But I can't wait to go back!