Troy Truck Explores Maui

Mandy Hedrick, fellow illustrator at 4RV Publishing is celebrating the release of her new book Troy Truck Explores Maui.

Enter a coloring contest to win a FREE first edition signed copy of

Troy Truck Explores Maui
Written by Julyn Watkins
Illustrated by Mandy Hedrick.




Eligibility

Children in 3 to 8 years of age are eligible to participate.

Guidelines

1. Contestants must color their own entry, without assistance from others.
2. The picture may be decorated with crayons, markers, paint, pencils . . . any way you like.
3. Entries must be returned to mandja1@gmail.com by December 18th 2009
4. No purchase is necessary in order to enter.

Prizes

Two contest winners age 3-5 and 6-8 will be awarded each a signed copy of Troy Truck Explores Maui Written by Julyn Watkins Illustrated by Mandy Hedrick TJW Books, mail at the expense of Mandy Hedrick.

Send completed coloring sheet to:

Coloring Contest
mandja1@gmail.com

Important!
Be sure to include your name, home address, phone number, email address and age as indicated above. This information is confidential and will be used for distribution of prizes. The name and address portions must be completed correctly to receive the winning copy of the book. Winners will be announced and posted on www.mandyhedrick.com , http://mandyhedrick.blogspot.com/ and www.troytruck.com on December 21th 2009 winners will also be emailed. If you have any questions please email me at mandja1@gmail.com

Animoto.com

My Girls

Most of you know, that recently I have been going through a rough time.
My husband and I have separated and after many years, I have moved back in with my parents.

These beautiful creatures pictured above, are my girls. Ananke and Kaya have been my saviors through all of this. It is truly amazing to witness pure love, devotion and loyalty from creatures whom are often given less credit than deserved.
When I cry, they both come to lick my tears away.

They, of course, don't social network or use computers to check their favorite blogs and won't see or even understand this post. Though I often think I could train them to, they are so incredibly intelligent. But they deserve a little recognition in the world and this is my Thank You to them.

I want to tell the world just how blessed I am to have such perfect guardian angels!

Kaya is on the left, and Ananke is on the right.
I am going to take some time this weekend to photograph them in black & white and do some neat composition things for new art in my our new loft. They will be excited on Saturday when I go get a new couch. Yes, they are spoiled, but not too spoiled.

I love them so much!

Lemur Troops & Critter Groups went to print!

A drove of cattle wore bells that rattle.

A leash of foxes hid under boxes.

Hey all!!!

My next book, Lemur Troops & Critter Groups has been sent to print and should be available for purchase before the end of the year!

The author, Rena Jones, has put together a series of rhyming sentences that introduce animal congregations to children. The illustrations take those silly sentences a step further and put the animals in humanistic scenarios and provide humor for children and adults.

You will be able to pre-order a copy in the coming days by visiting, http://4rvpublishingllc.com/index.html.

Also, visit Rena or I on Facebook and join the Critter Series fan page!

Hefty McFlea

Meet Hefty McFlea.

He is the strong flea in a flea circus!

He makes his appearance in the October issue of Stories for Children Magazine.

Just click on the link below to see what is in the issue.

http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org/InThisIssue.aspx

Recent News....

I just got an email from the publisher of the ABC's Press, Rita Mills, who published What's Wrong with Mud? She sent me this picture of, D'Artagnan Babel, reading the book at an event called, Destination Dignity in Houston, Texas.

I am liking getting pictures from people who are reading the book!

It is neat!!!

In other news...

I have an agent!

Anna Johnson of AJ & Associates LLC has signed me as an illustrator to represent in the book publishing market.

I didn't really think I would go the agent route until later in my career, but this opportunity sort of stumbled into my lap. Not to say that I ddin't do my homework! I researched and emailed and made a long list of questions. I had a phone conference and felt really good about things. I reviewed the contract multiple times, had others review it to and asked more questions... It was not an easy decision, but I decided to because right now in my career I have little to lose by this agreement and if things aren't moving in the right direction, I can easily terminate the agreement. With that said, I really feel like Anna and her partner Cindy and I, will have an wonderful relationship. They have the same goals as I would expect and seem to really be organized!

I am very excited about this opportunity!

See ya next time!

Some new Black and White drawings...

I have been going back through old work and fixing and inking....

Here are just a few of the pieces I have done recently...

Your thoughts?

Preble County Pork Festival Booth

I debuted What's Wrong with Mud? at the Preble County Pork Festival on Saturday.

Above are images of my booth, they are dark because I took them at 7:00 a.m.

I saw hundreds of people and met a lot of teachers, librarians, parents and grandparents.

It was a LONG, dirty and exhausting day, but it was so much fun!

People seemed to really enjoy the book and I had one little girl who was given the option from her parents to purchase one item to keep as her very own. Her favorite animal is pigs and when she saw the book she was overjoyed. Her mom and dad reminded her that she was allowed only one item and that they had only just gotten there. Keep in mind there are over 750 exhibitors here. Well, she decided to keep looking and after several hours came back to my booth and told her mom, this is what I want. She was so sweet! She walked away hugging the book...

Moments like these are why we do what we do!