So much serendipity in the production of this book.
First off, I couldn’t think of a title to save my soul. All
I could come up with was “What Da Hell” -- and that’s an
awful title really, so dreary sounding. All I did know is
that I wanted to find a way to work the name of a posture
or two.
My boss at the time, Frankie, looked up from her paperwork
and said one day, almost as an afterthought, “What about
the cobra and the rabbit”? Voila! (I can only take credit
for the adjectives.)
I called Teresa, my illustrator, and said, okay, we have a
snazzy title. Cobra, rabbit, draw. She did 3 sketches --
and while the first two were precious, it was the 3rd that
formed the base for the book’s cover.
Teresa’s doing a yeoman’s job on the interior
illustrations, but I keep nagging her about the cover.
Okay, snake and bunny are really cute, but shouldn’t they
be framed somehow, put into context, something?
Teresa confessed that the cover was just not happening for
her. She was as stumped as I was.
At this point, I’m less than four weeks from drop-dead due
date. The magic out-in-time-for Christmas deadline.
I can’t draw to save my soul, so I tend to think that those
who can draw can do just about anything. I kept pelting
poor Teresa with these pictures of the style I liked. I
finally learned that the style I so loved wasn’t some
random Hallmark robot, but an actual person.
Sherri Blum has been providing beautiful nurseries,
coordinating patins, fabrics, furniture and accessories .
She didn’t have time to help me out on short notice, but
she did refer me to Jessica Cohen, a fellow artist who
often helps Sherri out on local jobs.
Jessica happened to be moving that week, but I caught her
in the nick of time and she did the stage and curtains and
cobra and rabbit and lettering -- the whole shooting match,
in about six days. Quite the miracle worker.