Dog Dreams v.2 Opening at the Oakland Museum!

Kids (and those of you Kids with Kids),

Dog Dreams is like The Little Kid’s Book that Just Won’t Go Away!

We’re excited to invite you all to the re-grand-opening of Dog Dreams (v.2) brought to you by the kind folks at Gingko Press and The Oakland Museum. This is the second printing of Dog Dreams (you can see a gaggle of images from Dog Dreams here). The first printing was only 100 copies and those sold out, like, RIGHT AWAY, so I was more than thrilled when Gingko Press offered to do a second printing. This is the same book, mind you, we scanned in the letterpress prints and used those to construct the pages for the new book but this one was printed 175% larger (it’s 7″ x 7″!) and is has been pre-tested to work beautifully as both a board book and a chew toy.

Apparently, it tastes delicious.

Here’s a sneak preview of the new version.

And a video of me talking about this thing:

You might ask: “Michael? Will you and Andy and Suki be getting up in front of the gathered to embarrass yourselves again with tiny drums and a ukelele and badly-sung novelty songs about dogs?”

The answer, my friends, is blowing in the wind. And that answer is YUSSS.

What: Dog Dreams v.2 Opening!
When: Sunday, December 4. Starts at 2pm, ends when my pen runs out of ink.
Where: OMCA Gift Shop. The Museum is FREE that day. The address is 1000 Oak St. Oakland, CA 94607, and it’s very close to Lake Merritt Bart.
Who: YOU.
Why: BECAUSE WE LIKE YOU.

So. Come see us, grab a book, laugh at us. We don’t care. We like it. In fact, it’s ‘free day’ at the museum, so you can just come and laugh at us without buying a book and the whole thing will cost you NOTHING. Hey, it’s hard times! We understand! If we can momentarily distract you from the constant buzz of police helicopters overhead, then we’ll be happy campers. If you’re looking for a giftie for the holidays (I started to itch all over while typing that last bit), these puppies are priced to move. I will be signing books as well.

Another question: “Will this event be kid-friendly?” Yuppers. Most of my kid’s book events thus far have been in the evening, when our precious little darlings turn into flesh-rendering wildebeasts, so here’s your chance to bring ‘em out when it’s not dinnertime. Plus, you can take them to the museum and the cool gardens and let them run around. BONUS.

See you then?

x,m

A new bag design for Rickshaw Bagworks

Hey friendlies,

check it out. This is a bag design for the rickshaw bag company, which is located in the historic Dogpatch district of San Francisco.

This is why I was up until 2:30 in the morning yesterday and why I can’t spell properly today. It’s totally worth it. I’ll let you know when these are available for purchase!

xm

‘Secrets of the Dog Park’ selected for American Illustration 30!

Friendlies,

‘Secrets of the Dog Park’, my screenprint that explores the issues of the gay dog community, has been selected for inclusion in American Illustration 30, a sooper groovy hard-cover compendium of hand-picked images. This is the seventh time my work has appeared in the book. “From more than 7,000 pictures entered by over 1,100 illustrators, magazines, agencies, publishers and schools, the jury selected, by a majority vote or better, only 316 images to appear in the book and represent the best pictures from 2010.”

Buy yourself a copy of the print here.

Yay!

xm

A Dazzling Display of Dogs on shelves this week!

Friends to the Four-Pawed:

my second picture book, A Dazzling Display of Dogs (written by Betsy Franco – yes, that Betsy Franco), has been released and is available at your local bookstore and online. We’re super excited about it over here, and hope you’ll get yourself a copy!

The book release party has been set for March 23, at Diesel Books here in Oakland. Andy and I will probably, as with the Curious Cats opening, embarrass ourselves in front of you. Just to let you know.

Here’s a great review from School Library Journal:

Starred Review. Grade 1–5 – This follow-up to A Curious Collection of Cats (Tricycle, 2009) is dazzling indeed. Each of the 34 poems features a different animal, most of them engaged in true dog behavior. From farting in the car to wheezing and snoring while sleeping, these pups are funny and lovable even when they’re being annoying. The verses and the book’s design are beautifully matched. In “Emmett’s Ode to His Tennis Ball,” the text is enclosed in a circle held firmly in the dog’s mouth. It begins, “Slobbery, sloppy, slimy, sphere—oh, tennis ball, I hold you dear….” Like the poems, the pictures are funny and dynamic. The pages are definitely full, yet careful use of color, typeface, and detail means they never look chaotic. A note says the pictures were started in pencil and then finished using monoprints and Adobe Photoshop. Overall, a delight for kids, their adults, and maybe even their beloved canine companions.—Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL

Sadly, ‘A Dazzling Display of Dogs’ is one of the last books that Tricycle press will publish. I am so grateful to my editor Abigail Samoun for making this book happen!

See more images from the book here.

xm

lake merritt monsters, cryptic posters, and the 2011 dog dreams calendar…

are waiting for you at the wertzateria shop. I just updated the site, and that shop page is jam packed with stuff to buy your friends who have birthdays in January. NOTE: with every order in January, you will get a free 2011 Dog Dreams Calendar! (This offer doesn’t apply to outside vendors, like Oaklandish.)

Those Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker folks (who were nice enough to hire me to do another poster for their end-of-year shows) never disappoint! The show at the Independent in San Fransassy was sold-out, and they said they had some “surprises” in store. Well, turned out their rhythm section was stuck in the blizzard, so they had to improvise. It was still (yet again) an amazing show! The Wertzateria even got a nice shout-out from David and Victor.

I just finished a new tee-shirt design for There There, a spin-off company of Oaklandish. It’s my favorite San Francisco landmark, Sutro Tower.

I am charging a few doll-hairs for the 2011 calendars, but if you’re lucky enough to live close to Cafe 504 in Oakland, I’ll be dropping a few off there that you can go and grab for free. If you do go there, make sure and buy a delicious warm beverage and a home-made sweet. This café has made this sleepy little neighborhood into a community, and we’re lucky to have them!

Many thanks go to my copiously talented sister Julie Wertz for designing the Dog Dreams calendar (and making it happen every year!). Thanks also to Lee Wood Press for printing the calendars, and to Hanson Digital for the scans of the Dog Dreams prints.

Speaking of Dog Dreams, I have 2 or 3 of those little books left. If you want one, get one now. They’ll be gone soon.

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you had a most wonderful Holiday season.

xm

xm

Kids draw: Wertz-style!

These are so utterly charming!

First, a submission from a young gal who did a book report on Dog Dreams:

A couple of kids and a Dad who do a blog called Bookie Woogie did a review of A Curious Collection of Cats, and even did a few concrete poems of their own!

Hooray! Keep it coming!

xm

Dog Dreams is up on Etsy

Hi Kids.

We’ve been working like mad to get Dog Dreams ready for the July 29th opening. It’s a shiny little gem of a book, and we’re all very excited about it. Huge thanks go to Pam De Luco and Carolee Wheeler (as well as a handful of other kind volunteers at the San Francisco Center for the Book) for the hours and hours and hours of work that has gone into the production of this book. You can see the production photos here.

I have a feeling that this edition of Dog Dreams (100 copies) is going to sell out. If you are interested in getting yourself a copy of the book, go to the SFCB’s Etsy page and order one!

This is a book that I have wanted to make for a long, long time. The idea for Dog Dreams came to me while watching my (then new) dog Olive sleep on the couch next to me. She twitched, huffed, barked, and jerked her way through a series of (seemingly) thrilling dreams. I’m pretty sure she was dreaming the typical dog dreams: squirrels, cats, and ball. But who knows? Maybe she was dreaming of a trip to Paris – or of flying like a bumblebee. Maybe she was simply sitting for tea in the shade of her favorite tree. This book is about this – as well as a little taste (for kids) of what it might be like to be a grownup.

It’s been great fun to immerse myself at the center. I’ll miss having an excuse to go there every day.

xm

Dog Dreams Release Party – You’re Invited!

The Imprint of the SFCB is excited to announce the launch of Dog Dreams, an artist’s board book written and illustrated by Michael Wertz. Dog Dreams imaginatively reveals the hopes, wishes, and ambitions of over a dozen dozing canines through playful imagery and rhyming text. The book is letterpress-printed in two colors on a Vandercook proof press on French Muscletone paper and is part of the Imprint’s Small Plates series issued in 4″ x 4″ format, numbering 100 signed copies. Come join Michael and the Imprint crew in celebrating Dog Dreams’ publication on Thursday July 29, 6-9 PM at the San Francisco Center for the Book. 300 De Haro Street (entrance on 16th Street), San Francisco CA 94103 | http://sfcb.org | 415.565.0545

Please bring your (leashed and friendly) dogs.

Can you make it? Say yes!

xm