Little Mado & Hurricane Sandy

10/29/2012- Today with Little Mado

Preparing for Hurricane Sandy

Rainy Days are here again

I hope this umbrella is strong enough 

illustrated by Madonna Davidoff 

My Cartoon Strip Little Mado

This is an announcement for the launching of my cartoon strip: 

Little Mado, A Schoolgirl Adventure

OSM Magazine ( an online magazine for awesome global citizens) 

will be featuring Little Mado weekly soon.

I created this comic strip character Little Mado based on my childhood experiences

 in the Philippines during the 60's while attending an all-girls catholic school run by nuns.

Little Mado and her  classmates had to follow strict rules, go to confession, and obey their teachers.

Always restless and hyper, Little Mado's curiosity lands her into lots of trouble.

Her mother often gets called in by the school principal ( also a nun) for Little Mado's bad conduct.

She is always bored with her classes and comes up with creative ways to entertain herself which did not amuse her teachers at all. The only thing she enjoys and love is her Art Class.

Below is the first cartoon strip entitled: I love Art Class

San Francisco Exhibit

I'm participating at an exhibit organized by PapergirlSF

Opening is on Nov 2 at the Incline Gallery, 

Below is my artwork done in San Francisco entitled:

" Night Series #2"

I literally, did the painting at night, during my stay in that city overlooking the 

Coit Tower and the work I'm exhibiting is the middle one below "boxed" in red.

Illustration Friday Theme: Water

This week's Illustration Friday  theme is " Water"

Illustration Friday is a site that challenges participants to post their own illustrations based on a weekly theme.

Below is spread for an Illustration I made for a Picture book entitled Ranji the Baker 

© Maria Madonna Davidoff

I  created this while living in Singapore

The story is set in "old" Selangor, Malaysia.

Halloween in Bali

Balinese Inspired Illustration

by: Madonna Davidoff

Happy Halloween!!

© 2012 Madonna Davidoff

I created this illustration based on a Balinese mythology, inspired by my travels to the island of Bali. I was in Bali last June and I rented a small bungalow which resembles the one in my illustration below. This is an illustration of a Balinese witch who likes to devour children.
In the myth, the Balinese children saved themselves from being eaten by dancing.

Good news!! 

© Maria Madonna Davidoff

My registration was confirmed and I will be attending the The sixth annual KidLitCon  (Saturday Session ) on September 29th, 2012.
It will be held within the main branch of New York Public Library  in
New York City . KidLitCon  is an annual conference of children’s and YA bloggers.

We were given several choice of sessions to attend, rating them from #1 -4.Here are the number 1 choices I made:

For Sessions #1 (11:00-11:45) My first choice was:
Presenter: Sheila Ruth (Wands and Worlds)
Title: Who’s In Charge?
Description: Having a social media presence has become an essential fact of life for many in the Kidlit space. Authors, bloggers, and publishers use social media for marketing, engaging with fans, and communicating with peers. Librarians use it to keep up with industry information & book news, and to communicate with patrons. But managing a professional social media presence can quickly become an overwhelming time suck, leading to burnout. This presentation will help anyone who is using social media for professional reasons to take charge and manage it in an effective way. Participants will learn to create a strategic plan by answering the questions what, where, when, and how, and learn about technology tools that can reduce the amount of time and effort needed for social media management.

Sessions #2 (12:00 – 12:45) My first choice was:
Presenter: Marcia Lerner (The Diamond in the Window)
Title: Inspiring Reader Response
Description: A presentation that aims to give bloggers tools to strengthen conversation with their readers. One of the great things about blogging is that it facilitates immediate response. The rewards of blogging come from a wide variety of readers—librarians, teachers, and parents—who offer their wisdom and expertise on a regular basis. Yet one of the frustrating things about blogging is that sometimes readers don’t respond, and it can end up feeling like you’re writing into a void. The most common recommendations for getting readers to comment are to use giveaways or to end posts with a question. In this talk Ms. Lerner discusses how to create emotional connections with posts and platforms that explicitly value readers’ input.  Attendees of this program will be encouraged to offer their own responses beforehand on what has and has not worked for their sites.

Sessions #3 (3:30 – 4:15)My first choice was: 
Presenter: Melanie Hope Greenberg (Mermaid on Parade)
Title: THUMBS UP! PLUMP UP YOUR PLATFORM and MAXIMIZE YOUR MARKETING
Description: This workshop addresses the necessity of creatives to fine tune their marketing skills on all fronts: analog, digital and social networking. Become your own best publicity director (even if you already have one). Learn the points of access to reach out and let the world know about your published book. Online marketing will be covered with a special focus on Social Network Etiquette.

Madonna Davidoff at the New York Public Library

I was one of the speaker at this event at the New York Public Library on 5th ave & 42nd St.

Children's Literary Salon:A Conversation with The Children's Book Illustrators Group

The New York public Library Magazine below , Issue May-August 2012 below:

Madonna Davidoff Exhibits at the Yippie Museum NYC

I was invited to participate in a group show in New York City
with other international artists from Mexico, Eritra, Korea and Puerto Rico
The title of the exhibit is "La Bracera: Women and Work"

Below is the Invitation to the exhibit and Opening:

According to Olivia Canlas, who curates the exhibit with Leilani Montes, “it is seldom that we ponder upon the pivotal role women play in keeping the most basic structures of our society operational. It is AF3IRM’s mission to keep a constant focus on the critical nature of women’s work and to advocate for comprehensive equality and justice for women.”

Exhibit hours at the Yippie Museum are from 7-10 pm, April 21-May 5, 2012. Please RSVP to nynj@af3irm.org or call 212-726-2254 for either the opening or closing events, media coverage or to purchase a piece.

I was featured for OSM Magazine written by Marivir Montebon

MADONNA DAVIDOFF: Art is a Matter of Relevance

Posted by OSM ADMIN on March 29, 2012 in Main Feature

BY MARIVIR MONTEBON

Mention Madonna, and almost always the images of the lady Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, or the pop entertainer who is also referred to as the mother of reinvention (like a virgin, material girl, and all that stuff) strike the mind.

But comes now another Madonna, a Filipino, Swiss, and American rolled into one whose artistry have become pervasive in three continents with a stroke of a paint brush or a pencil.

“Art is a matter of relevance,” says Maria Madonna Angeles-Davidoff, the citizen of the world. She was born in the Philippines and has lived in Switzerland, Singapore, and New York City as a visual artist. For more than 30 years, Madonna has evolved into a sought-after illustrator, book cover designer, and graphic artist.

As she takes time to put down her paint brush, she performs her mother role to only daughter Bianca Marmy and wife to Bart Davidoff. Bianca just finished her International Studies at the Ecole Catholique in Paris and also at the The College in New Jersey.  These days, the Davidoff home is in New Jersey.  But Madonna takes special sanctuary in Bali, Indonesia for her artistic streaks.

In this time of global recession, the artist’s ability to survive is tested. “Life in the US has become more and more challenging. You just have to continue being relevant these days, while being yourself. Any artist would feel the pangs of economic times.  I continue to get book projects, and I believe it is track record, and being lucky too,” she quips.

Madonna is up for three art exhibits this year in New York and a book project before the year closes. On April 21, she will hold an art exhibit at the Yippie Museum on Bleecker Street, Lower Manhattan.

Way back in the late 1980s, Madonna and her parents decided to live in the US. She designed her life to be the artist that is she, working as freelance that earned her own keep and enhanced her own artistic distinction.  She shares a studio with other artists in Manhattan, where she works undisturbed.

The artistry of Madonna is distinctive in her colorful and comical rendering of nature, people, and still life.  Almost always, this artist naturally reflects her happy soul and can be seen in the icon Marilyn, the young meditative girl at the Central Park, or Barack, the jubilant African boy.

“My motivation in creating works of art stems from my enjoyment in expressing myself and exposure to different cultures continues to inspire me in so many ways. I have acquired a more global perspective on the symbols and images in art,” Madonna writes in her portfolio.

The youngest in the brood of 4, she studied graphic arts at the University of the Philippines and batik painting in Bali.

Madonna regards herself as a multicultural artist and has expressed that in her art form.  Her mix media “Scroll” series, for example is a reflection of her nomadic nature as an artist constantly on the move.

She says, “Having lived in three continents, I have this sense of displacement. I never really belong anywhere, and so I try to create my own cultural space wherever I find myself. It is a way for me as an artist to make sense of things around me. The scrolls make perfect sense since these banner-like images are “transportable” just like myself. The scrolls can easily be rolled up and carried around and like myself, could be reinvented, able to adapt and survive.”

She didn’t just survive, she shone in the three continents. Clients like Crane Publishing, Markus Wiener Publishers, Africa World Press, Alemars Publishing House, Bridge International Publishing, Van Nostrand, Republic National Bank, NYNEX, and Asia Lifestyle Magazine have applauded her works of art in book cover and illustrations and thus solidified her name as an artist.

In the summer of 2010, among the pleasant surprises she got was being featured by the New York Times while she was painting at the Turtle Pond at Central Park. Titled Summer Rituals, Painting in the Park, it was in that instance the NY Times photographer and writer caught her artistry into their own.

The gleeful rendering of Madonna’s art expresses the diversity and universality of her themes.  “I’ve also come to realize that symbols and icons all over the world speak of the universal themes of fear, joy, hope, pain, and celebration. I believe that we are one collective eye sharing a single planet.”