Madonna Davidoff at Book Expo America 2013

One of my original illustrations will be auctioned off at the 

19th Annual Children's Book Art Silent Auction

on  May 29, 2013 from 5:30 -9:30 PM

during the Book Expo America at the Javits Center in New York City 

The proceeds of this auction will support
freedom of speech for everyone in the children’s books industry.

The Book Expo America runs from May 29 - June 1,2013

My illustration and design for the Picture book entitled: 

At Home Around the World

Written and illustrated by Madonna Davidoff

© 2012 Madonna Davidoff

publication date: Sept.2013     published by BaliBliss Press

Momsie's Book at Book Garden in Frenchtown,New Jersey

We are happy to Announce that " Momsie's Book" 

is now available 

for purchase at the Book Garden  

in historical Frenchtown NJ.

My Balinese Children's Book: Next project

This is a picture book I wrote and illustrated based on a mythological
little Balinese fairy living in Bali and a girl, named Wardani who found her.

I started this book while living in the Island of Bali, Indonesia.

Whenever I am in Bali, I try to stay in the same town called Ubud

This is the view from the porch in front of my bungalow:

I got the inspiration from one of the sketches of a particular Balinese lantern in

front of my porch which looks like this:

I imagined the little fairy living in this lantern that looks like a small Balinese temple.
The setting for my story started with this image:

Below is the porch where I sometimes wake up just before dawn ( yes--that early!)
 and I start to sketch the Balinese lantern below in the dark :

I love to wake up very early and sketch or write in my journal until

I hear the cock crows.
In Bali, you will always hear them crow when the sun rises.

They are actually music to my ears.

Here you can see one of my sketches while drinking coffee. 

Another illustration of my fairy character living in the lantern house:

More on my Little Girl in Bali story next time--to be continued....

Momsie's Book illustrated by Madonna Davidoff

YOU ARE INVITED TO A BOOK LAUNCHING EVENT:

Event: Children's Book Event & Launching of Momsie's Book 

by the writer/illustrator team of Bart and Madonna Davidoff 

When: April 14, 2013 ( Sunday) from 2:30 -3:30 pm

Where: Mercer County Library System's -Ewing Branch

61 Scotch Road Ewing, NJ 08628.                                    

In Honor of the National Library week beginning on April 14th and running through the 20th,  the writer/illustrator team of Bart and Madonna Davidoff will be presenting their children's picture book entitled Momsies’ Book on Sunday, April 14th from 2:00 to 3:00 pm at the Mercer County Library System's - Ewing branch. 

Momsies’ book includes a memoir entitled "Natie and Me" written and illustrated by Muriel Shutan-Davidoff in which she describes her childhood adventures growing up in New Haven in the late 1920's with her  younger brother Nate. 

Muriel has been living with Alzheimer's disease for the past 5 years and since she is unable to publish her work, Bart and Madonna decided to make it a part of Muriel's legacy.

During the book launching, Madonna will demonstrate how she created the illustrations and Bart will read passages from the book.  The Davidoff’s will donate a copy of the book to the Ewing library's collection and another copy will be awarded as a door prize.

Advance purchasing of Momsie’s Book may be ordered  online here at Lulu.com

Also available soon at Amazon & Barnes & Noble.

Mural Painting for Yoga Studio

I have been commissioned to paint a mural for my favorite Yoga Studio called  

Firefly Yoga & Wellness in Lawrenceville, NJ.

The mural is located in the entrance of the Studio.

I am really happy about this project because am I creating

 something that is close to my heart which is Yoga and Meditation. 

Also, Firefly Yoga & Wellness is a great place not only to learn Yoga but also

a place for meditation, tai chi, tea ceremony workshops, massage therapy,

crystal and sound healing classes.

Below is the color study for the mural:

I already finished the drawing on the wall which is colored light lavender.

Today, I will start to paint and put textures on the trunk 

and the leaves by using patterned paper ( collage style) and 

overlaying it with paint again.

This is so different from what I normally do (small size children's illustrations)

and I find mural painting challenging and exciting.

I look forward to finishing this soon.

I wish you all a happy day today.

Namaste...

My Wall Paper Design

How I Created my Valentine Card 2013

                First, I try to get some inspirations from some of my vintage greeting card collection :



I just love the way these greeting cards look.  I try to imagine the sender and the receiver of these cards, what their relationships were with each other, where do they live? What are their favorite food, what do they wear? What books do they like, etc. My imagination takes me far and different characters start to build up in my mind until finally, I start to draw them. And from there, other images appear until I choose one that I will finally work on.

For my Valentine Card, I chose this vintage card as my source of inspiration:



Step 1. Using the image of the tree I made a rough sketch :




Step 2. I finalize the sketch, ink it and scan it in Photoshop .
I also position the text. Here is the scanned image:

Step 3. I color the line art in photoshop
It's easier to change the color combination and
correct mistakes when you work digitally.

Step 4. I decided to create a collage of hand sewn skirt,
ribbons and laces for the girl's outfit. Here are the hand-sewn skirt
and ribbons I made which I then scanned in the card:

Step 5. Here's the final Version of my Valentine Card .
Now I am ready to submit it to 
OnlineGreeting Card Store
called Madonna Davidoff's Card




Happy Valentine to you all!!

Happy New Year of the Snake!

A greeting card I illustrated for The Year of the Snake 2013:
I just started a new line of greeting card illustration for
The Greeting Card Universe.

The name of my Greeting Card store is
MADONNA DAVIDOFF CARDS
where you can order greeting cards anytime.

It was fun creating this card for the year of the snake 2013.

My Process in creating the Card:

1. I made a pen and ink drawing of the girl and then scanned it using my Wacom tablet (Bamboo)

2. I colored the girl and designed the pattern of her dress digitally.

3. I painted the snake in Photoshop using the paintbrush tool.

4. Finally I chose the text and designed the layout of the card digitally and submitted it to
The Greeting Card Universe. for approval.

Madonna Davidoff Paintings at Robins Egg Gallery

My works are now at Robins Egg Gallery in Lambertville NJ.

I am exhibiting 2 of my paintings which is part of my " Little Girls and Boys " series
depicting children in different surroundings and their daily activities. 

This series is made up of small acrylic canvas paintings, size 8" x 8".

I enjoy making them and my source of inspiration are vintage children's books.

Below are paintings at the gallery:

Holiday Greeting!!

Happy Holidays to Everyone:

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa!!

This is an illustration I did inspired by my daughter growing up in Switzerland

where she learnt how to ski and snow board. 

Below is La Vielle Ville or the Old Town in Fribourg where my daughter was born 

where we used to live in a street called Rue de la Samaritaine: