“It’s Always Wonderful at Central Park”

I’m so happy to share that my children’s picture book “It’s Always Wonderful at Central Park” it’s now part of this world and available on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Walmart and many independents bookstores in the US, Canada, UK & Europe, Australia & New Zealand.

Even though, I’ve done some children’s picture book illustrations in the past, this is the first time ever that I wrote and illustrated one AND I also made the Modern Calligraphy that’s included in some words of each page! You can think as an early introduction to a cursive fun style!

It all started as a piece of a single rhyme in my head one day while I was rocking the stroller waiting for baby Luca to fall asleep.

Then another day, while I was literally trapped under my napping baby (yes, there was a time when we moved to NYC that Luca hated napping in his new space and the only thing that helped him was sleeping on top of me) that day, another sentence came to my mind. But this time, since I couldn’t go literally no where else, I grabbed my phone and started writing these sentences in a note on my iPhone.

Later that day, I showed it to my #1 fan, Victor, and he said to me that there was something interesting in it. That I should continue and make it a project, create my own illustrations for it and all. What a fan!

So that path I took. I started taking the kids to visit and explore all these places in and around Central Park that were listed in my story, took many pictures and came back to draw bit by bit, only during times my baby was asleep. (So it took quite a while, you can see).

Once I had all the pictures done, baby had to go thru a small surgery and the book project went on a break until he was fully recover by November 2019. After that, Victor helped me with the design of the book and we printed a first draft!

Marco was the first to read it at home and he loved it. Then, I showed it to Marco’s teachers at his school in NYC, they shared with me some great feedback, I worked again on it and then I got to read it aloud at Marco’s classroom and my book was also read aloud in another class. I was so proud!

The faces and expressions of these tiny New Yorkers while they were seeing many familiar places of their Park in the pictures and their excitement was such a joy to see!

An illustration of the Oak Bridge at the Oak Bridge in Central Park, NYC Jan 2020

After that first test, I went back to work and re-do some illustrations. Then we moved to California again, February 2020 and the pandemic started a few weeks later and everyone lives’ changed with it.

First there was no inspiration to continue working and I was overwhelmed with all that was happening in the world and adjusting to my new roles, saying goodbye for now to classes and events and between all that I had to change editors because of Covid too.

All in all, time passed, we continued working bit by bit in the little time that I had and in early December 2020 I had my new draft printed. Just one more change on the design layout that Victor quickly solved and we were ready to publish it!

I’m very happy with my first book. It kind of sparkled for me this part of creating stories and also dig deeper in the quest of finding my style in drawing.

So, with that quest in my creative heart, I’m working on another children’s book that I hope to bring it to life soon.

It’s a project that started while I was procrastinating this first book, and that with time, it kind of took its own wings. It’s a new world of inspiration and creation, this one of telling and drawing stories.

Stay safe, friends, stay weird and continue looking for something that brings you peace and joy ?