Ella German

I’m one of five “1st Place Winners”!  Grand prize went to the ultra-cute mushrooms getting hair cuts.

This was my entry for They Draw & Cook’s Kraft recipe contest. 

Get the full scoop on the judging  here. 

Wow, amazing to win, amazing to be featured.  I’m all smiles.

Lately my blog posts have seem limited to drawings I’ve done for contests. 

So before I share my latest contest entry, I’ll catch you all up to what else I’ve been doing.  And one of these days soon, I’d like to get back to my library book/vintage book of the week/month posts.  I really miss doing those.

So…

I continue to meet monthly with my amazing critique group buddies.  This past week I got to host.  They remind me I’m not the only one working hard to craft stories and drawings that few others get to see.  Their encouragement (plus critique) is invaluable. 

Most of us met each other in Joy Chu’s Illustrating Books for Children class.  A new session starts soon — April 5th.  I know a couple of us graduates are signing up again.   It’s no wonder when you get the chance for your work to be crafted (with loads of personal attention!) by a talented Art Director, hear stories about the artists she’s worked with, and possibly meet life-long critique buddies.  I highly recommend it. 

I’m currently on the tail end of a picture book mentorship program through my local San Diego SCBWI chapter.  My mentor has been writer/illustrator Andrea Zimmerman.  It’s been delightful to get my work constructively ripped to shreds. :)  No, really.  Of course it’s humbling,(“Why would someone want to read this rather than a Steig or Beatrix Potter?”) but she’s really pushed me to make my work stronger.  She has so much insight I always end up wanting to kick myself — “Now why didn’t I think of that?” 

My story is about a young squirrel who wants someone to read to her and the fox who wants to eat her.  There’s a cookbook and baking involved in the story, and speaking of baking….

Here’s my latest illustration for They Draw & Cook:

keep clicking on image to enlarge

As you can see, Kraft sponsored the contest.  You had to pick from among a selection of Kraft recipes.  I chose a wholesome tomato and egg dish called Sunrise Skillet.  My only qualm was with the canned diced tomatoes.  That’s a product I don’t use, but I reasoned that others could substitute fresh tomatoes like I would. 

So I bought a 2 lb. package of no pesticide Roma tomatoes, plopped them into a pot of boiling water for one minute, then transferred them to a bowl of cold water.  Their skins peeled off like magic.  Then I sliced them in half, scooped away their watery innards, and chopped them up. 

Doesn’t it looks just as good as the canned stuff?

The first time I made this dish, I removed it from the oven and realized I had forgotten to add the parmesan!  Ha!  This turned out to be in my favor, however, as when I added it and cooked it for another minute, I got to see what it looked like with the parmesan not truly baked in.  I think that made for a better illustration.  

This dish is pretty tasty.  I made it a second time,  adding a bit of dried basil and oregano and remembering the parmesan before placing it to the oven.  Good stuff.

You can find my illustration on They Draw & Cook here.  All 170+ submissions are here.  It’s still a mystery as to when the winners will be announced. 

In other news, April is National Poetry Month.  Librarian Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes has invited everyone to send him their book spine poems.  Lucky for me, I have a lot of books to play with.  Here’s one I’ve been toying with:

I sent two others for Travis’s April 2nd gallery.  If you want to take part, looky here.

Other than that, I’ve been playing with some recipes of my own.  You can see some of these on my home blog.  I also had some recent success with an unusual strawberry cake.  Will share that soon.

Happy cooking and happy drawing!