I had a week after the school visit to catch up on things, so I used some of the time to keep messing with computer collage, gleefully recalling that this time last year I was stressing out over the annual SCBWI Spring Conference. Retirement is good.

Here’s the latest version of the collage I was working on to show the kids, who got a kick out of the thought of painting and then using the computer for the cutting and gluing:

It’s shaping up, but I need to add more teeth and other details. This collage is for an unpublished project I’m working on about rescuing the Pacific Northwest salmon. I also spent time working on My Dog Counts! a concept book idea that I’ve been futzing with for a couple of years. I don’t think it will ever quite work, but I don’t like to leave doors unopened any more than I like closing them.

But it’s time to switch gears again! My editor just sent back the outline for the next fiction project. Making art for a few days will hopefully help give fresh eyes to the task.