Stomp Stomp was my first book. The art was created with watercolor dyes on Arches paper. It was before there was a command Z. There were many nights of working for hours and ripping it up before I went to bed. There is no fixing in watercolor. You either have to embrace what happens or try again. One of the difficulties about doing a book is staying consistent from start to finish. You have a tendency to get better and more confident as you work through a book. Most of the earlier images had to be redone.

Stomp Stomp was totally inspired by Where The Wild Things Are. As a grad student, I did my thesis on that book. I actually interviewed Maurice Sendak for the paper. He allowed me to come to his home and spend the day with him. We had lunch, walked his dogs, and I watched him paint while he generously gave me lots of interview material. He was very gracious and encouraging. Needless to say, a pretty big highlight for a young artist.