The Position Has Been Filled...

Not that we were ever really advertising any position but if we were, it'd be filled. What am I talking about? I'm talking about the "Heart On My Sleeve," book project that I had mentioned previously. It's a book (and not a lame one) for children, about tattoos -- their parents tattoos, or perhaps on someone that they know or that they meet. It's a beautiful project that I hope beats down some stereotypes and eases uptight gasps into gushing sighs. That's what I'm talking about.

I'm also referring to my pleas for some help with the artwork. Well, a woman who I'll call a friend because:

a) We know someone in common who I make reverential reference to practically all the time for how talented she is, and for the work that she did for me.

2) If you were to follow along with her blog you'd see that she's almost certainly one of the best young women on the damn planet, the kind I would be happy for Zo to look up to...a fo real positive influence and the embodiment of "young" and "woman" and from this distance of several thousand miles, the kind of sincere and genuine girl that I hope my freshly minted daughter can someday be.

BTW...we did that whole a) and 2) thing on purpose so don't email me about it. I thought it was funny, okay, gigglesome at best.

Anyway, our new friend, Kelli Mercado, over at Doodle Poop has expressed an enthusiastic interest in illustrating the project. Deal done. Done deal for a number of reasons too.

First, I get an overwhelming feeling of inextinguishable positivity from her, the kind of thing that can soak a project like this right through and carry it to ridiculous levels of success without ever losing the point or selling the original sentiment off. Even with an ocean between our creative energies it's easy to tell that she's perfect for the thing.

Second, with Kelli living in Honolulu and me in Canada the idea of melting our ideas together across a continent and part of an ocean says a lot about what you can do when you've got two people who want to do something fun and cool, and when that effort means more than what it is on the surface. It's a nice lesson to all the funsters out there that anything is possible.

Lastly, I'm pretty sure the book will have to be launched in Honolulu...'cause I need a reason to come back and have Mia tackle some more work for me (and there's another example of a person I just implicitly believe in after the briefest of encounters. She's who I trusted to make the work I had done mean something more than a million other artists whose paths I had crossed, and she did) rather than go searching for someone else I want making permanent marks on me.

I'm ridiculously stoked for this project, and I really want it to be special. I think it can be with the right artwork, and the right storyline, and the right approach. There's really nothing out there like it, and it would be just about the most fun since that time I ate 73 brussel sprouts on a dare and didn't get sick.

Anyway...stay tuned. I have to get back in touch with Kelli and start sussing things out, but with any luck this thing'll move fast. Hopefully much faster than I was on my Fourth Grade Field Day. That was a bummer of a green ribbon day.