Page 10 from SHHssss

This illustration is acrylic and ink from the wordless picture book, SHHhsss, I sketched the storyboard in 1985, when my children were in the preschool, which I ran in my home. The animals are the children who came; the image suits each one. Dog gives the party, cat helps with the balloons, and rabbit counts, squirrel wants.  On each page the reader (parent and child) counts the sets of  balloons, gifts, and animals up to number 10. Then SURPRISE! raccoon enter we have number 11. 

I painted the illustration while in Patricia Polacco's studio, when she lived in Oakland in 1990's. Sarah Wilson was my mentor for the Nevada SCBWI program in 2006. Then I restarted my dream as a picture book illustrator.