Children's Author Leslie Patricelli Interview & Giveaway!

Our household is familiar with the author Lesli Patricelli, and her many board books and stories. The bright and bold illustrations in her books and age appropriate concepts and ideas are always captivating. We were given the opportunity to review her latest book, The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day, as well as interview the author, Ms. Patricelli! What an honor!

QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
1. Where did you get the story idea for your newly published book, The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day?
The four little Patterson Puppies materialized in my head one day while I was out for a walk. It was when I lived in View Ridge, in Seattle (we are living in Sun Valley, Idaho now). I remember exactly where I was on 50th Ave NE right in front of View Ridge Elementary when I "saw" them.

As far as the story for The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day, some people might wonder why in the world I would show my puppies dumping water on a carpet! So, here's my answer: I DID IT! When I was four, my friend Traci and I were having an innocent little "tea" party with teacups filled with water. One of us spilled our teacup onto her blue carpet. We decided to make a bigger ocean, found a bucket and proceeded to pour water all over her carpet. This continued until our parents, who were upstairs, came down to check on us and discovered us in our misadventure. My inspiration for the popcorn incident at the end of the story came from an event at this same friend's house on a different night. The idea for the indoor beach party came from my husband and kids, who used to set up beach parties in our living room on rainy Seattle days. The kids loved it. So combine those three events and there's the story!

2. What kind of medium(s) do you use for your illustrations?
I use acrylics on canvas. The canvas "paper" comes in sheets in a tablet. I apply two coats of gesso with an old, stiff brush to prep the canvases and give them texture. Then I paint a background of a mixture of burnt sienna and burnt umber. That's what gives my paintings the dark texture underneath.

3. How long does each illustration take?
First I sketch them and refine them until the sketch is just right. Then I scan them and clean them up in Photoshop. I choose all the colors in Illustrator and color them. This is my final color draft. After that, I print them. I take print-out, trace the drawing on the back in white chalk, then rub the outline onto my prepped canvas. At this point, I start counting my time. Depending on the complexity of the art, it can take from three to eight hours per painting.

5. Are you working on subsequent "Patterson Puppies" stories?
The Patterson Puppies and the Midnight Monster will come out this May. I have lots more ideas, but I will have to wait to see how these are received before I can start working on more. I hope there are lots and lots of them!

6. What are you working on now?
Right now I am finishing up the final art for two new board books, starring my Baby character. They are called 'Tubby' and 'Potty'. (You can guess what those are about!) It is fun to go back to the baby books after working on the much more complicated Patterson Puppies paintings. After that, I'm starting work on a new picture book called 'Be Quiet, Mike!', which will be a picture book for early grade kids about a crazy drumming monkey. I am also working on my first middle grade novel! It's loosely based on my fourth grade experience (the year I moved and met my new best friend). Lots of fun!

What wonderful answers! Thank you, Leslie Patricelli for appearing, courtesy of Provato Marketing. For other stops on her blog tour please check www.provatoevents.com.

If you are a Leslie Patricelli fan, and would like to win a copy of her latest book, The Patterson Puppies and the Rainy Day, leave us a comment stating which part of this interview you found most interesting, and we will randomly select 4 winners on November 30th, 2009!