sketches from Royal Spy

Here are two characters from Royal Spy. On the left is Morag, the old Saxon Hag who seeks to capture Rotaida. She wears the rune Hag, for old wise woman or witch. On the right is princess Rotaida, who has been assigned to spy on Morag. She wears Algiz, the rune of protection.

Rotaida in the time of Charlemagne

Here are some images for the web site for the Rotaida books, marjwatkins.com.

The map shows the old names for the places where the action happens. The woman scolding the girl is a scene from Rotaida and the Runestone.

"As a Dandelion"

Here are "As a dandelion" and "I am purple", in their latest versions. The whole book may go through another illustration revision after a very helpful critique from Nina Laden. She suggested loosening up, not trying to include literal representations of children of different races, but to look at the manuscript more as a child might see it. 

Keep your eyes open for the next incarnation of I Am Orange--or maybe it will be called I Am Purple.

These are sketches of illustrations for a picture book by Amelia Powers, with a working title of "I am Orange", or "People of Color".
On the left is a thumbnail for one of the pages, "I am yellow as a tiny dandelion, cracking the cement to reach for the sun". On the top is for the page "I am red as the ripening huckleberry..."
This is my favorite, a finished illustration for the page, "I am purple..."