Southern Breeze SCBWI Illustrator's Day!

Last Friday, August 31st, I attended the Southern Breeze SCBWI Illustrator's Day event in Decatur, GA.
I got to meet:

• New York Times best-selling author/illustrator, Peter Brown
• Coretta Scott King Award winning illustrator, Gregory Christie
• Editorial Director for Albert Whitman & Company, Kelly Barrales-Saylor 
• Various, awesome SCBWI coodinator/illustrators, including Elizabeth Dulemba, Michael Allen Austin, and Kathleen Bradshaw.      
• Some really great local illustrators and illustration hopefuls.

Peter Brown's Chowder illustrations have been on my favorite list for a while now, so I was thrilled to meet him. He was busily promoting his newest book, Creepy Carrots (written by Aaron Renolds). So, yes, of course, I purchased it and had it signed. "geeeh!" (girlish giggle).

It has happily joined the rest of my children's books (of which there are many). I also got a signed copy of Gregory Christie's Bad News For Outlaws (written by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson). Somehow, a signed book just feels so . . . well . . . signed! Deep thought for the day, I guess.

Overall, It was a great event. We were all presented with lots of new information to process and faces to match with names. The speakers were great, the atmosphere was friendly and enthusiastic, and the portfolio reviews were quick and to the point. I received a pretty positive review, which I must say, was lovely to hear. 

Elizabeth Dulemba, Illustrator Coordinator for the Southern Breeze region of SCBWI, has a great post about the event on her blog. You can even see me wearing a bright yellow sweater in one of the photos. Check it out Here.