children's book illustrations - hank and the hurricane

i'm back to working on my illustrations for an author in the U.S., after a little hiatus. among all my personal hiccups, including moving from the U.S. to australia and trying to get settled sans all my "stuff", there were problems on the author's end with the publisher...

so, we're now back at it again!! i thought i'd start posting them as i finish them, and i have completed 10 to date.

the story line is about hurricane katrina, and how so many families were separated from their beloved pets. now, a little background here: 

the author, william riggan, was the chief editor at a publishing company i used to work for in college - it was a small operation, and the quarterly journal dealt strictly with international book reviews. i loved it! back then, i had my black labrador retriever, hank, who used to come up to work with me on occasion. and of course, all my co-workers loved him!! what was not to love? he was adorable. and so, when bill retired, he wrote this children's book, using hank as the main character, and he chose me to be the illustrator!! how cool is that?

this is the first color image in the book - where henry and hank are walking through the park on a nice sunny day... and i'll post more later...